Saturday, March 26, 2011

Hydrate Yourself- Lent Week 3

A few weeks ago I went for a fourteen mile run. The weather was very nasty out, but I had to get this done. I told myself that it could be nasty out on the day of the race that I am training for so I have to be prepared . I was so worried about the weather that I did not drink enough water .

Because of the weather , I didn't concentrate on the signs that my body was giving me  that it needed water . I was determined to make it through the 14 miles , which I did. I finished the run, much slower than I expected, but I felt the weather and a knee problem (that started on that run within the first couple miles ..it was a rough workout...but back to the story). I started to walk back home, I was so sold and wet from the run  I was shivering and extremely light headed . I made it home and peeled off my clothes and got into the shower. I took a long hot shower , then I went to the bathroom.

I apologize for being blunt, but my urine was red . I was a bit scared , but I thought it was because I was cold so I didn't think to much of it . I went to Buffalo to pick up a packet for a race I was running that weekend (The Shamrock Run) . I stopped to use the bathroom and it was red again. I decided to tell my wife and she convinced me to to go to the doctor and find out what was going on.

I went and they told me that I was not hydrated enough on my run. There was nothing wrong with me (especially by the time I got to the doctors I was hydrated and my urine was clear). Although I was relived, I was a bit embarrassed because I am constantly preaching about proper hydration on your runs.

As I was listening to the readings at church today it made me think about it in a different way. When we are baptized it is with holy water. This water is supposed to represent the way that God quenches our thirst in terms of being a good person and our thirst for the journey to be with Him some day. We however stray and think that we can do things on our own ,without including Him and we become "Dehydrated" without the water that God is trying to provide us. I am trying to make sure that God is there in everything I do from now on, but it will be tough. There will be times when I think I can act alone, but I need to remember that I don't have to.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Why do I Run?

Here is a video I found and wanted to share with you, very inspirational 





Monday, March 21, 2011

It is not hard you get Hit.... Lent week 2

Last Night I watched "Rocky Balboa" the 6th installment of the Rocky Franchise.There is a point in the movie where Rocky's son Robert is trying to talk him out of fighting . Robert feels that he can not get ahead with his own life because he is in Rocky's shadow, he feels that the fight will only worsen the situation that he is in. Rocky Responds with this :


Life is going to throw stuff at you, sometimes it may put to your knees . You need to rise up and keep pressing forward. This is true with our faith as well, it is going to be tested , but never lose sight of the goal, the goal is obtainable, but you have to work for it!

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Temptation

This year for Lent I gave up not going to church. True to my promise to God I went yesterday, one thing I have decided to do is write an entry each week on what I learned from the service that week. This week mass focused on temptation.

We are all familiar with temptation because we are tempted everyday,all day long . Mostly with small stuff , for example last night I knew I should have eaten pasta to help my run today, but ended up ordering corned beef and cabbage.

Giving into temptation can change your life as well. If giving in breaks some sort of promise or vow that you made to someone or to God, it can change you and the people around you forever. Too many times people will justify the action that gave in to temptation and it will make it OK....in their own mind. This only makes it worse. If you make a mistake , you need to own up to it and atone for it. The people that you may have wronged may have a hard time forgiving you or may not forgive you at all , but at least you are not compounding the mistake by pretending you were justified by making that mistake.

We need to take the time to think before we make decisions that may cause harm , there are very few temptations out there that you have to react right away to , you do have time to make the right decision , even though the right decision may be the more difficult one, it is called the right decision for a reason.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Political Discrimination

Today I attended a workshop for my place of employment about diversity in the workplace . I have attended many workshops over the years on the subject while at Denny's . I have to say that this workshop was hands down better than the previous ones I have been to on this subject.

It was a typical workshop where we talked about the differences in people such as race ,ethnic background,religious beliefs, sexual orientation and gender. The videos , role playing and topics flowed very seamlessly, I was very impressed. (Please don't be slighted Denny's.... this was just a great workshop!).

On my way home I thought about another area where discrimination occurs and that is with our political differences. In my 40 years on this Earth , I have never seen such a divide in our country and an unwillingness to try to reach out and communicate with the other side.Instead it is about who can call each other names and further their own agenda , which may or may not be the agenda of the American people.

For the record I am a registered republican who considers himself a conservative. I am not a member of the tea party movement , although I agree with many of their ideas , I want to be a free thinker and vote for whom I believe will do the best for our country,state and local government.

I have to say that the founding fathers could not have envisioned the country the way it is now, I believe that they wanted to have the freedom to discuss the issues that face our country. They wanted to be able to do this without ridicule. This is not happening today. It is ALL about the ridicule now. The name calling, the bashing of others ideas ,or ignoring people with different thoughts than you is basically what we talked about today when we talked about discrimination.

Do we want a better country? It is time we start listening to what the other side has to say....not just to poke holes into it, but because they may have a point. If we don't like what Barrack Obama or Sarah Palin have to say? Don't put them down.....just don't vote for them.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

And I am off!!

The 2011 Race season started today with a bit of a letdown. Even though I earned a Personal Best(PR) in the 8k today, I still am disappointed with the race. There are many excuses I can use ,like the Rain and wind and my knee feeling like crud, but the finish of the race did not meet my expectation . I have been working hard in weather that has been less than ideal (that is an understatement) and I was hoping not only to beat my PR but to crush it . I wanted to raise the bar very high so it would force me to work harder , to get faster. It didn't happen the way I wanted.

However, today I realized how far I have come since I have started this new "hobby" two years ago. I was pretty upset about my run today. Yes, it did get better when I saw my official chip time, but I was upset and a bit depressed about how I finished the race. As a person , though, I am in a better place than two years ago , I think about what I need to do to be a better father and  rather than what I need to do to be a better General Manager. When I am stressed I reach for my Nikes as opposed to Labatt's  Blue to relieve that  stress. Although it still brings me great pleasure to mentor my employees , it brings me greater pleasure when someone needs help with running, and I can help them.

You know what..... the only way I can fix today's performance  is to lace them up again and get them next time!!