On Being a Warrior, and the Adventure Therein

On Sunday, July 31, 2011 at the Genesee Valley Park System in Mt. Morris, MI, I embarked on an epic 5k adventure that culminated 7 months of exercise and weight loss.  I ran in the first Michigan Warrior Dash with my brother, Josh.  My mission - finish strong, and don't finish last.  In the infamous words and massive banner of George H. W. Bush, "Mission Accomplished"!  Not only did I finish strong, but I managed to beat hundreds in my age group, and thousands on the day in a very respectable middle of the pack.

I feel I should lead up to this day a bit, give a little background.  Back in December of 2010 my 2nd son was born.  I decided I should probably get a physical, being over 30 now, just to check up on my vitals.  Turns out, that was the best thing for me to check up on.  They were bad - high blood pressure (155/95), high cholesterol (I don't remember the number, but it was just reaching in the "risky" category), and high weight (297, ugh).  I decided that now is the time to cut the crap and get the body in motion.  I was not going to be on meds for something that should be controllable through exercise and diet.  Of course, I also decided I better wait out the holidays...

Pushing a hammock to it's limits...

Fast forward 6 months to mid-June.  I have been using my gym membership regularly, and have a doctor-requested mid-year checkup.  This goes very well - I've lost 35lbs, gotten my blood pressure back down to 132/80, and he was happy enough with those results that he didn't feel it necessary to check my cholesterol again.  Hooray for exercise and diet!  It was around this time that I began hearing about the Warrior Dash, and some friends from Facebook who were going to run it.  I looked it up, read some eye-witness accounts, and watched a few YouTube videos - which all made it look like a ton of fun.  One problem for me, it was a 5k (3.1 miles), and I've never run that far in my life.  On top of that, it was 6 weeks away.  Feeling emboldened by my success so far, I decided to see if my brother would be interested in running it with me (he ran a 1/2 marathon recently, and has run several 5ks...I thought he'd be good to go).  He was stoked that I wanted to run a 5k, and signed up with me.  My whole family has been pretty supportive (as usual), so we centered our yearly family camping trip around the Dash, and made it so.

Having not run in years, and never distance (lets face it, running blows.  It's boring and hard), I started off on the treadmill in the gym.  Through the last 6 months I had been using an elliptical machine for 25 min, 3x a week.  I thought that would transfer over to treadmill time, but I was wrong.  The treadmill was much more difficult and stressful on my body than the elliptical.  At the same time I switched to a treadmill, I decided to change up my workout routine as well, to 4x a week.  With the treadmill being more difficult, it took me a week to build back up to 25 minutes at 5mph.  I ran for 2 weeks on the treadmill, and had planned to begin running outside in July after our vacation (whole other blog post on that coming...).  Just before vacation, I injured my knee - severely enough that I could barely walk.  I discovered that I had actually hurt my hamstring at the point where it connects to the shin, just under my knee.  This sucked, and took me out of running for 2 weeks.

Coming back from vacation I had 24 days left to prepare, and had yet to even run once outside - let alone for 3+ miles.  The good thing was my knee felt better after letting it rest through vacation.  So I woke up in the morning, and headed out the door looking for a distance I knew to be roughly 1.5 miles.  My house sits up on a very steep hill, and the river park I decided to run through is also fairly graded.  I ran down my street, and thus down hill, and down the river (also down hill) to a point I had mapped out to be roughly 3/4 mile away, and turned around.  Heading back was a disaster, and climbing Mt. Freaking Everest at the end nearly did me in.  I thought I'd have a heart attack on that hill - but I managed to very slowly get back home.  I also decided that I would start from then on at the park instead of at my house, and skip that ridiculous hill.  I mapped new distances to run (via MapMyRun.com) and used Google maps for visual cues on distances that would be 1.5, 2, 2.5, and 3 miles away, and each day I tried to run farther and farther.  Eventually, about 10-12 days before the race, I was consistently running 3.25 miles each run.  I found a great app for my iPhone (RunKeeper) which allows for my music to play and keeps track of time, pace and distance for me.  It took me about 37 minutes to run 3.25 miles, and I couldn't figure out how to go any faster.  Enter my brother-in-law, Jamie.  He suggested I do some training exercise on the track called a fartlek (sprint/jog/walk in a circuit).  I did this twice, then ran 3.25 miles again - and shaved 2min off my time!  I couldn't believe it worked.  The running outdoors also worked wonders for my weight, as I have now lost nearly 50lbs.  This lead me up to the day before the race, and my family and I headed to Mt. Morris to camp.

I hear the train a comin', it's rollin' 'round the bend

We spent all day Saturday at Huckleberry Railroad and Crossroads Village.  It was hot, un-air-conditioned, and a very long day where no less than 2 people were stung by bees.  We did get to ride the old steam engine train, which Seth and all the nieces and nephews loved (except Slade), and saw a not-so-funny comedian and ventriloquist show which Seth was brave enough to participate in (as were my niece and nephew).  Being in the sun was very draining, and we all went to bed fairly early that night - besides Josh and I had a 830a heat to make!

In the morning Josh and I rode together to the race site (we had to be there at least an hour before our race time) along with Josh's wife, kids and the oldest nephew Travis.  We parked and headed to the check-in, got our bibs (a number you pin to your chest) and time chips (a pretty cool little plastic disc the size of a quarter you weave in to your shoelaces), and slowly sauntered over to the starting line.  As we were applying our race-imposed stuff to our bodies, we missed the first heat...but had plenty of time to prepare for our own heat.  We were close to first in line, and very near the starting gate.  There was a DJ playing tunes and keeping us updated on time along hundreds of people milling about preparing to run (each heat had 600 people running at once).  Many people were dressed in costume or wearing paint of some sort, and all were fairly jovial despite what lay ahead.

The starting line

They fired the start (literally, the starting "gun" was 2 giant flame-thrower cannons), and we were off.  Immediately, many people surged ahead of me.  I didn't know it at the time, but quickly came to realize these were people who had no idea how far 5k was, or how to pace themselves for it.  I found myself overtaking a lot of people about 3/4 of a mile in, which was difficult due to the sheer mass of bodies and space allotted for running (the whole course was roped off).  The first leg of the race was 1-1.25 miles before the first obstacle, which was "road rage" - a series of tires laid flat that you were supposed to high step through, and cars pointed end to end you had to climb over.  This is where I saw a fantastic fall by a chick who tripped on the very first tire that came to her, and she dove face-first into them.  There's always something funny about watching people fall a-la AFV style....

Next, we ran about 1/4 mile to "dead weight drifter", which was the edge of a pond, roughly waist to belly button deep, where you had to wade through and jump over 5 floating logs.  After this, we ran on again to "barricade breakdown" which was a series of waist high and knee high walls that you had to go over and under.  Running on again, the next obstacle was the "great warrior wall" which was a wall, about 15 feet high with horizontal slats and ropes hanging down, that you had to scale and then climb down the fixed ladder on the other side.  "Chaotic crossover" came next, which was a horizontal cargo net, then on to "teetering traverse" which were skinny chicken-walk like boards about chest high you had to run across.  The last in this roughly mile long series of first obstacles was the "blackout", which was about 100 foot long of trusses clad with black plastic set about knee high you had to crawl through.  Apparently, more people are claustrophobic than I'm aware of, and this scares people.  To me, it was a low 100' long dark sauna to crawl through, with 150 people grabbing you because they can't see where they're going...

This all leads us to the worst part of the race - a disgusting mud bog laid out in a swamp about 3/4 of a mile before the finish line.  It was about 100 feet long, and waist deep with stagnant water that smelled like a cow pasture, and was thick as pea soup.  After struggling to get through this (due to the super-slippery mud and random roots/stumps/logs that would trip you up - although it was amusing to see the random person lose their footing and go under that mess) you had to scale a muddy, super slippery slope.  This led to a series of moguls that went on for roughly 1/4 mile, and really sapped any energy you had left.  Once you got out of that, you had to weave your way through "arachnophobia", which was a bunch of bungee cords all tangled up through the trees.  Once you got through that tangled mess, you went on to "vertical limit".  This was a rock wall of sorts that you climbed up, then slink down a knotted rope on the other side.  Since this was after the mud bog, the rope was caked in mud, and you slipped right quick down it.

Coming over the cargo climb

These series of obstacles led to a roughly 1/4 mile jog that rounded a bend and brought you close to the end. With the sounds of the DJ pumping tunes and the crowds cheering people on, you came to the biggest obstacle, the "cargo climb".  This was a wall of cargo nets roughly 20 feet tall that you had to climb up and over.  Once you completed this one, you had to hop over 2 roasting fires, and then dive in to the "muddy mayhem".  This was about 18" of muddy waters you had to crawl through.  To make sure you crawled, barbed wire was strung low over the pit.  Get out of the mud, and sprint the 100yds to the finish!  As you crossed the line, you were rewarded with a medal, some cold cups of water, and a banana or granola bar if you wanted it (I did not).  After I caught my breath and calmed down, I found my family who were watching at the finish, and they congratulated me on a job well done.  I then made my way to the semi-truck water tanks to rinse off in the ice-cold "showers".

So c'mon, jumpin' the fire!

 In the end, I finished with a time of 49:32, garnering me 490th place in my age group out of 855 and 4555th out of 9774 total for the day.  I say, not too damn shabby considering 7 months ago there was no way I'd be able to do this.  Hell, 6 weeks ago I wouldn't have made it....My brother did very well.  He finished 14th in his age group out of 715 and 167th overall with a time of 30:29!

I just finished, still all muddy

So here I stand, a warrior having completed (and competed) his dash.  What's next, were do we go from here?  I'm not sure, but I see Harbor Springs has a run in October...who's coming with me?!  Having something to work towards definitely keeps my feet moving...

All cleaned up...well, rinsed at least

A writer for the Detroit News happened to run in our 830a heat wearing a headband camera, and wrote up a bit about the Dash, with video.

24 days to be a Warrior

I ran outside yesterday for the first time in years.  Lots of years.  And I use the term "run" as loosely as I can...I was swinging my arms and marching along nicely enough, sweating my balls off at 7:30am when it's only 54 degrees outside.

Some of you know, I signed up with my brother to take part in the Michigan Warrior Dash at the end of July.  I started working out this January, and things have been going along nicely enough that I thought "why not?".  So, I recruited my brother, and here we are, on the homeward stretch of training.  I was hoping to be farther along than I am now, but I injured my knee (actually turned out to be my hamstring, at the point where it attaches to my shin) which set me back nearly 3 weeks.

So, I ran outside yesterday.  There is a new walk/run/bike path that the city has created along the Bear River, and it's quite nice.  It happens to start right at the end of my street, and it connects to the Little Traverse Wheelway which runs around the Little Traverse Bay (Lake Michigan) connecting Harbor Springs to Petoskey to Charlevoix via a nicely paved bike path.  The Dash is a 5k, roughly 3.1 miles - so I mapped out a run that would be that far, taking note of landmarks so I could build myself up to that length.  My plan is to start off at 1.5 miles, then slowly tick that up over the next 2 weeks until I'm at the full distance.  I will then continue to run the full length, but attempting to go faster each time.  This is my plan, we'll see how it unfolds.

There are a few things to note about running outside that differ from the treadmill.  First, the road does not continue moving underneath you for motivation to keep your feet from stopping running.  Second, hills pretty much kill you.  I thought it'd be a good idea to run right from my house down to the trail, along the trail for a certain distance, and then back home.  Unfortunately, I had to climb Mt. freaking Everest on the way back, at the end of my run.  This is not easy, and I thought I was going to have a heart attack....so, from now on I will be starting and ending at the bottom of that hill.

With daily dedication through the rest of this month, and any luck, I'll be ready for the Dash!

Music and Reflections

I love music, and have a wide range of tastes from some old country to classic rock of the 50s/60s/70s to rap and pop from the 80s/90s to some very heavy metal.  I used to think my parents were crazy for not wanting to become very immersed in the music of "the now".  They loved listening to what they always loved, and weren't too impressed with what was coming out when I was a kid.  I always thought to myself that I'd never get out of the loop like that, that I'd always want to maintain relevance in the music world.

Fast-forward to aught-10s, and hear the music that spews forth from the radio.  I find much of it to be garbage, and find myself hearkening back to the 60s and 70s rock and roll...the golden age of rock, where new sounds were being forged and boundaries pushed.  When artists actually played instruments, wrote songs, and toured shit-hole bars and clubs making a name for themselves as well as learning how to perform live.

I grew up listening to the likes of Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, and a large assortment of "trucker" style songs via my Dad.  I have a fond recollection of our vacations, driving to campgrounds listening to this music blaring with "4-55s" as my Dad used to say (4 windows down at 55 mph, the only a/c available in a truck at the time) cooling us off.

My Mom has more of a rock background in her, coming from the hippie 60s growing up in larger cities being a Navy brat.  I didn't realize she had a little hippie in her until much later in life when she told of Joplin concerts and getting in to trouble for fraternizing with the "wrong color" in high school during the times of integration.  Her station of choice was always "Oldies 96.1" on the radio.  They played a lot of 60s rock and roll - Beatles, Doors, Led Zeppelin, Monkees, Kinks, Animals....on and on, some of the greatest music ever, although  I didn't realize it at the time (it WAS called the oldies station).

Many of you reading this know already I tend to listen to some pretty heavy stuff.  As a kid, my first foray in this direction is now known as hair metal.  I still have a soft spot for some 80s hair metal - Poison, Cinderella, Motley Crue, Whitesnake, Crocus, and on and on.  I was coming in to my own at a pivotal time in music, perhaps the last real movement in rock, that of Grunge.  Guns N Roses and Metallica of the late 80s and early 90s did a good job of putting a death stake in hair metal, but when Nirvana came on the scene, they decimated it, fully decapitating the beast.  Grunge was and still is such a great genre of music - the aforementioned Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice In Chains...They took stripped down elements of punk, turned it on its head, added chunky and highly distorted riffs, threw on a flannel and gave a big middle finger to the decadence of the hair bands preceding them.  In the background though, heavy metal continued to churn along.

I started college in the fall of 1997 at the University of Detroit Mercy.  Having grown up in a small farming community in mid-Michigan, I wasn't too familiar with the "big city scene".  I quickly gained some new friends who had similar affinities for rock music, and they showed me the heavier side of things.  Marilyn Manson (who was fairly new on the scene of shock-rock, clearly taking cues from Kiss and Alice Cooper) was the first real heavy concert I ever went to.  It was downtown Detroit at the State Theater (now called the Fillmore Detroit, for some unknown reason).  I've now seen him probably 7 times in concert, but I'll never forget the first - being smashed in tight when he came on stage, some crazy bitch biting my arm, the mosh pits and crowd surfing.  I had never been to anything like it, and I loved the energy of it all!  It seems violent, but not all things are as they appear.  There's a real camaraderie within a pit, a mish-mash of like-minded people syncing up with one another, feeling the music.  If someone falls, many people help pick them up. No one really wants to hurt anyone else, and no one passes judgement on you if you can only muster a couple minutes in the ring.  The pit is still my favorite location to be at a concert, even though I'm now the "old guy" in there.

Just a friendly get-together

By going to these concerts, my friends and I learned of other heavy acts.  One friend listened to Type O Negative, and he introduced us to them (they're now my favorite band, and I've seen them in concert about 8-10 times, mostly at the greatest venue in Detroit - Harpo's).  We gathered music collectively - Korn, Limp Bizkit, Static X, Rammstein, Deftones, Chevelle, Hatebreed, Mudvayne, Tool, Coal Chamber, Slipknot, Dope, Rob Zombie....and we went to as many concerts as we could.

R.I.P Green Man

I'm a lifetime member

After college, I went to work at  Plootie Holmes, and met more metal heads.  A guy, Rob, who started working the same day as me, was/is an old-school metal head.  He started getting me in to the older heavy stuff, and I found a bunch of "new" music that I'd never really known or listened to - Danzig, Pantera, Slayer, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Rainbow....I also began revisiting some of my old music like Ozzy, Megadeth, Metallica and even Guns N Roses - all of which had been releasing new albums.  I continued to discover new bands and go to concerts as often as I could, and the atmosphere of music-sharing was again that of college.  When we found something great, or got something new, we made sure to inform each other.  One of the guys formed his own band, Recoil, and we helped encourage them as often as we could.  We also got in to Tenacious D, who if you haven't listened to, you really should.

I've since left Plootie and all my friends in the D (which is still difficult for me as I miss them very much), and moved to the great white North of Petoskey, MI.  I still listen to as much music as I can get my hands on, and try to find some new bands to listen to (like Five Finger Death Punch and Chimaira).  I continue to hearken back to the classic rock, and find "new" artists within that era that continue to excite me.  There really is nothing as sustainable as those great bands from the 60s and 70s...

Losing some el bees, Redux

Well, not only has it been quite some time since I've posted in my blog, but it's also been nearly 5 months of time that I've been working out and trying to get into a different shape than round.  I begged you all to follow me, and I left you waiting on the front porch.  I have 4 entries in the works, and I promise to get them all out this month and keep on top of this thing.  The positive feedback is helpful, and I greatly appreciate you telling me how much you've enjoyed my ramblings.

So, on with the fat-boy talk.  As I mentioned, I've been heading to the gym now for about 5 mos.  I very quickly lost 30lbs, 50% due to some illnesses suffered this winter.  Getting to my goal #1 (from my first el bees post) has proven much harder than I allowed myself to believe when I quickly achieved the 30 pound peel.  In fact, I still have not cracked 40lbs, but I continue to work on it.

Despite not being able to lose weight at will as I'd hoped, I do see significant changes and improvements in my overall health.  At the end of the day, this really is the ultimate goal - to not keel over at a young age, and to be fit enough to play at will with my boys.  Since my weight seems determined to hover between 255 and 260, I recently (last week) decided to change up my workouts.  I had a good friend (Paul Gotowko) put together a 4 day workout instead of the 3 I was doing.  I think adding another day will help get my fat moving along, and off of my ass (or gut).

I have seen fairly impressive gains in my cardio abilities, particularly in the last 2 weeks.  The gym purchased some new cardio equipment, in particular some new elliptical machines.  The older ellipticals measure speed in RPMs, which doesn't really mean much  to me.  But the new ones actually measure in MPH, so I can accurately gauge how fast I'm running.  Running is a term I used fairly loosely when I started this quest, it was more of a brisk walk.  But, I've built myself up to 25 minutes on the elliptical machine 4x a week, and this morning I managed 2.35 miles in that time (averaging about 5.6 mph), which I don't think is too shabby for a 260 lb man.  I run on the "random" mode, which adds hills and things and makes it seem more like you may be running in the real world.  I don't plan on ever taking up my brother and sister-in-law's ambitions of half marathons, or even quarter marathons for that matter (there is a fun-sounding race that I am thinking of entering called the Warrior Dash, though).  I try not to let my heart rate get beyond 145 bpm during my cardio time.  When I first started, I was "running" at 3.4 mph for 20 minutes, 3x a week.  So, I'd say, a good and measurable improvement there.

In weight lifting, I've also seen improvements.  My weights have been steadily increasing, and my muscles are starting to come back to life and showing some definition on my body.  My gut is not, but it's a process.  I can see changes in the mirror now, my shoulders arms and chest taking better shape and forming some lines.  I have never worked out before how I am now - in utilizing focused muscle groups per day.  This new program has me working out specific areas on specific days (chest/tris, back/bis, shoulders/abs, and legs).  Before, I would just do a general "hit-all-areas" core-type workout.  The change is very welcome, as I was getting bored in my previous routine.

In all, the greatest change I notice is how my clothes fit now.  My pants need a belt, my shirts are too baggy...I've even managed to wear some shirts that I haven't been able to in a few years (not sure why I held on to them, apparently waiting for the time I got off my lazy ass).  I feel pretty good, too - more energized.  I have to keep seeing these little things and try to ignore for the time being my weight loss so as not to become discouraged in my pursuit of better health.

Gimli, son of Gloin

My wife and I were married in late August of 2002, a few months out of college.  Of course, with no jobs and no prospects, she was ready to have kids.  I, on the other hand, was not.  Instead, I thought it'd be great idea to get a puppy and surprise Maryann with that.

I wanted to get something specific, a dog with "substance" if you will.  No yippy dogs, no dogs smaller than cats, no useless "dress-me-up" breeds.  Something that when it barks, you step back.  When it gets up, it doesn't even need to bark to show it's presence.  Yet, at the same time, a loving gentle giant.  I thought "saving" a dog was a noble idea, and started to look at local shelters.  I also perused the classifieds to see what may lurk there...perhaps someone had a dog but had to get rid of it.  The shelters had crazy rules that I was not going to abide by (like having a continuous concrete rat wall under the mandatory fenced in yard), so I was quickly dissuaded by them.  After some time of looking (not letting Maryann in on the plan) I found an ad in the paper that sounded perfect.  A local breeder of AKC Labs and Collies had their dogs co-mingle by accident, which then had a litter of half and half pure-breed puppies.  These puppies of course were slated for destruction by the owner....I gave them a call, and they had 2 left, both males, and would only be available for the next 2 days (dated destruction).  I decided to run over there and check them out.

I found 2 very playful and cute puppies, both with quite large paws.  I decided to get the bigger one based on my aforementioned criterion, and left the breeder's house with no plan other than to meet Maryann at her job and show her our new son!  I had no provisions for the pup, so on the way to see her we stopped at the pet store to grab him some bowls, a collar, a leash and a toy to start with.  Since the pup had most likely never ridden in a car before, he proceeded to vomit all over mine on 3 separate occasions, which was very helpful of him to break in that aspect of vehicle ownership for me.

Finally, I got to Maryann's office.  After using up a few paper towels, I rushed her out to meet our new pup.  Suffice to say, she was less than thrilled at my baby cover up.  However, the puppy's cuteness and charm soon won her over, and we bantered over what to name him.  At the time, the Lord of the Rings series was just coming to film and thus names from Tolkien were fresh in our minds.  We toyed with Frodo and Gandalf, Legolas and Borromir - but settled that Gimli (the dwarf, of course) was a strong, simple dog name that worked very well for our new little pup.  Gimli, son of Gloin.  He has many nicknames - Gim, Gimmers, Gimmy, Gim-a-lee - and he'll come to every one.

Playing at the beach of Lake Michigan

Gimli was a good pup, but fairly hard-headed.  It seemed that he was quick to learn sit and down, but he was a tough one to potty train, and we quickly learned the huge benefits of crate training.  More than once we were late to a function or date due to cleaning up after his messes.  He was always playful and energetic, catch or tug are his favorites.  He also grew by leaps and bounds.

Canoeing - does YOUR dog do that?

Gimli looking regal on the beach

Very quickly Gim grew tall with a slender, greyhound-esque body type.  He could run for hours if you let him, take a quick nap, and be ready to run again.  As he grew, his body weight settled in at around 80lbs, and his height tall enough to sit and rest his head at the dining room table.  His tail is long and whip-like, which often will swish things off end tables and the ottoman (hold your cup!).  His nose is also very long and probing, and he uses it to thoroughly sniff out everything.  Gimli's favorite greeting is to jam his nose either in your crotch or butt, giving you a good "hello" goose.  He's also very good at sniffing in your face and hair, and loves a good run-by licking.

Gim the jungle-gym

Gimli LOVES Maryann and I, and loves us to be together.  When one of us is gone, he can't sleep well.  He's up, pacing, checking the door and finally resorting to sleeping at the door waiting for the whole family to be reunited again.  We've since had 2 actual children (both boys) that Gim loves just as much as we do.  We worried he'd be jealous or act out, but he never did.  He accepted them as his own, and loves them as if it were his only goal to do so.  He'll play any time with our 3 year old, Seth - unless I come on the scene, and he'll blow Seth off for some time with pops. When the newborn, Evan, cries, Gimli is there to make sure we know.  He'll give him licks on his head, nearly taking his hair out....but with only the love that a dog can give.

Gimmy is now nearly 9 years old (this November), and has settled in to a much more round body shape (just like me).  He no longer looks greyhound-ish, holding on to about a buck-ten.  He can still run with the best of them, but just not all day.  His face and chest have more grey on them than when he was a pup, but that doesn't bother him much.  He's a fantastic dog who can still go all day without messing in the house, and who no longer needs his crate to keep him in line.  Every day, he greets me at the door when I come home, wagging his whip of a tail, crashing over things on the end tables and ottoman, off the fridge, and knocking down Seth to get to me.  Although originally I got him to satiate Maryann, he really ended up my dog - and he knows it.

You can't stay mad at that face

Gim is, for the large part, a very good dog.  He gets passed on, put off and ignored often - it's easy to do with 2 young boys in the house.  But he won't hold it against you.  In fact, he'll make the first move to get your attention again (probably within 5 min of getting told to "go lay down").  With sad eyes and a very waggy tail, he'll shove his giant nose under your hand and force you to pet him.  He makes it awfully tough to stay mad at him...While we imagine our lives pet-free for a while after he's gone, it's tough to think about him not being a part of our family.

Buyers Remorse

In early 2005 I was driving a Dodge Dakota R/T.  I enjoyed driving this truck, except in the winter it was a bit squirrely in the snow (small, extended cab, rear wheel drive truck with a 360 V8 tends to do that).  But in the spring/summer/fall, it was a fun and fast truck that Maryann had found for me after I totaled my Mustang GT.  This truck did not replace my Mustang (really, what can beat a 5.0?), but it was still pretty fun...

That Memorial weekend I decided to take Maryann to the West Coast of Michigan for a day to explore the sand dunes.  She said she'd never been, so I started looking in to where to go, what to do, etc.  I remembered as a kid that climbing those dunes was a helluva lot of work, and thought it'd be much more fun to just drive on them.  I started looking, and discovered Silver Lake.  What a glorious discovery!  This town is great for outdoor adventures...you can rent everything you need from boats to ATVs to mopeds to Jeeps.  They have a huge area of dunes (nearly 2000 acres) set aside for off-roading.  I decided we'd rent a Jeep and have a good time for a day at the dunes.  A good time was an understatement.

I found a place to rent, called Parrot's Landing.  The place was fantastic.  They gave me a run-down on how to drive, helped us take the top off, and gave an overview of what to expect on the dunes.  Then, they let us go on our own.  We got to the dunes and headed in.  As you head into the main scramble area, you drive through the woods very slowly due to large bumps in the sand that roll like waves.  The drive through the woods opens up before you, and the scramble area of massive dunes and expansive sands embrace you to explore.  The Jeep was a simple base-platform Wrangler, with no off-road modifications.  Essentially, a straight-off-the-lot vehicle.  The off-road performance of this completely stock vehicle was better than anything I'd driven to this point, and had me very excited about wanting one.  I wanted to come to Silver Lake again, camp here and explore more here, and have many more days out on the dunes.

We went home that day excited about the Jeep (yes, both of us enjoyed it) and the time we had at the dunes.  I immediately began searching for a Wrangler of my own, and put my Dakota up for sale.  Garnering no hits for the truck after a few weeks, I decided to just trade in and lease the Wrangler.  At the end of June, I drove my leased 2005 Jeep Wrangler Rocky Mountain Edition off the lot.  It had California half-doors and a soft top, was a manual transmission with no cruise, and had no a/c.  I loved it!   


Jeep, camping...even Gimli loved it!

 Maryann and I quickly put together a trip to the dunes, securing a camp site at the State Park in Muskegon.  When we got there, the Jeep had a total of 700 miles on it.  All weekend long, it performed up to all my expectations and beyond.  We had a great time, and a new "standard" camping place to head to.  We took several trips over the next 2 years to Silver Lake and the sand dunes.  Beyond off-road, I thoroughly enjoyed driving in this vehicle every day.  It was just fun to drive.  On a hot day, it was great to strip the Jeep down to topless in the parking lot after work, and have a nice drive home.  All summer long, I had the top down as often as possible.  In the winter, it was much warmer inside than many people thought it should be with the soft top, and very capable in the snow and slush.

The ol' Wrangler out on the dunes

 Come August 2007, I had an unexpected opportunity laid before me in the form of a job offer from a small architecture firm in Petoskey (JLA, check us out!).  Maryann at the time was pregnant with our first son, Seth, and it was not going well.  She was in the hospital indefinitely on monitored bed rest, and I was unbelievably unhappy working for the soul-sucking Pulte (although I still miss all my friends there, they made the place worth my time).  I had wanted to work for JLA since I'd interned there while still in college back in 2001, and maintained contact with them hoping for an opportunity like this.  With Maryann in the hospital, I knew I'd have to be driving back and forth every weekend from Petoskey to Royal Oak Beaumont, and would need something that had better gas mileage than the 15 I barely managed in the Wrangler (why does a 6cyl lightweight vehicle only get 15mpg?).  I loved my Jeep, and wanted to stay in the Jeep family.  Knowing Petoskey and their winters, I'd be needing 4 wheel drive, too.

Luckily for me, in 2007 Jeep debuted the Compass and the Patriot, 2 purportedly fuel efficient 4 wheel drive options.  I test drove a Compass, and liked how it rode.  Since I was going to be driving a crap-ton of miles for the foreseeable future, I decided to turn in my lease and purchase a 2007 Compass.  All the previous stories were just fodder to finally pull you to this - the Compass is my buyers remorse.

At first I enjoyed driving it.  It had a lot more creature-comforts than my Wrangler - automatic, a/c, cruise, more space, etc....but I came to find it to simply be "OK" at everything it did.  While it was roomier than the Wrangler, the storage space is just OK.  It has a small 2.3l 4cyl engine, which is really not even OK in pep and acceleration.  In fact, I find it quite sluggish.  Having said small 4cyl engine, the gas mileage (22 tops on the hwy, 16 city - reported to be 24/18) was just OK.  The 4 wheel drive got me stuck on more than one occasion in the snow the first winter (I finally learned to turn off the stability control).  Everything about this new Jeep was simply mediocre, and I quickly grew to despise it.  Now, I'm stuck with the sucker for at least another 2 years.  At least I paid extra for the 60 month, 60,000 mile warranty which has come in handy more than once already.


The lame Compass



I wish I had simply bought the lease out on the Wrangler.  I've put about 45,000 miles on the Compass, and when I turned in the Wrangler it only had about 32,000 miles.  77,000 miles isn't that bad for a 2005, and it'd have been paid off by now.  I thought I was being responsible by getting a more "family oriented" car, better gas mileage, etc.  I guess that's why they say hind sight is always 20/20, as looking back I had more options than I thought at the time.

I plan on getting a Wrangler again when I'm done with this stupid car, probably a used one that's an older model and modified so I can have fun again at Silver Lake as well as all the trails we have around here.  My only carry-over until then is an older quad ('97 4x4 Polaris Xplorer) I bought late last summer...that ought to get me around the dunes!  Here's looking forward to summer 2011 - camping and playing at the dunes again, something we haven't done since 2007.

Male Cheerleader (Part 1)

I did not grow up hoping some day to be a cheerleader.  I was an all-area football player, I wouldn't be caught in polyester dancing around and doing some lame arm motions to a fight song!  But, I discovered, it was much more than that.

First year in college, sometime in the winter semester, I was with some friends watching some other friends play an intramural basketball game.  In the corner of the gym, the cheerleaders were practicing.  At half time, I turned my attention to them, watching them stunt (toss the girls around) and checking out the girls.  Suddenly, one of them approached me, and asked me if I wanted to come and try doing some things with them.  Really?  Me?  Why would I want to do that?  I'll pass, thank you, and keep my manhood in tact.

Just my luck, there happened to be a guy bigger than me.  He also happened to be an assistant coach, and was a Div.2 lineman in college.  He was about 6'-6" and at least 370 lbs.  "Big D" called me out, was insulted by what I'd said, and essentially scared me into coming over and trying some stunts with them.  At the same time, my friends were not helpful to my cause, and enticed me to just give it a try.  The bonus was I got to pick any one of the girls I wanted, which was a nice bonus.

After much cajoling, I reluctantly went over and plunged in.  To what, I did not know.  I picked out a girl, and they had me pick her up a bit to simply see how strong I was and if I could manage.  No problem, they're quite small.  Since I didn't yet know how to toss them properly up to my hands, they placed her up there for me, and had me try out some stunts from there.  Again, not too difficult for me (if you read my first post, you know I had already been lifting heavily for quite some time).  To equate a loose sense of form to manage the stunts in terms I understood, they used lifting terminology for me.  Clean and jerk, military press, etc.  There's a lot more to it than that, but that's what I understood at the time.  I had the girl standing in my hands at shoulder level, and they asked if I could "extend" it, which meant to put my arms up straight over my head.  They kept trying to give me pointers on how to properly get her up there, but I simply straight military pressed her up, which was apparently fairly impressive to the rest of the guys.  Stunting came easy to me, which impressed the coaches, and they asked me if I'd come to a few more practices and see more of the things they do.  Sure, why not?  I'll check it out.  I can always bail if it gets lame.

I feel I should note my stature at this time compared to the stature of the cheer team.  I was around 230lbs at the time, and 6'-0" tall.  Most of the guys were 5'-8" to 5'-10" and around 165-185lbs, and most of the girls were 5'-0" to 5'-2", and 90-110lbs.  This meant that I could muscle my way through a lot of things, where the rest of the guys had to use a much more precise form to manage the stunts.  This also meant that I would be doing much of the heavy lifting, which was fine with me.  The more lifting I was doing, the less lame arm motions and dance moves I'd be forced in to.

So, I went to a few practices over the course of winter semester, and learned how to toss the girls around and some better form so I didn't drop them on their heads.  Come April, the coaches asked me to come to try-outs for the team, and I had some decisions to make.  Is this really for me?  Could I pull this off and not be a douche?  Can I manage this with my already difficult architecture studies?  I consulted with friends and my parents, and decided that being in a sport again would be fun...especially one this challenging.  Yes, challenging - it was much more involved than I ever thought cheerleading could be.  It turned out to be way more time consuming and intense than I had given thought to (more on this aspect later).  I decided to go to try-outs, and see what this might become...

Thus far, practices had been informal and fun, and mostly just learning to stunt.  Try-outs, on the other hand, were a very serious matter.  I'm not sure if you've ever seen "Bring It On", but looking back the try-out scene from that movie is a fairly good reflection of how they went (without the high school cattiness).  There was the head coach, G, a cheerleader through and through who had cheered in high school, at MSU, and was now the coach at UDM.  There was the assistant coach, Big D, who had both played football and cheered during the basketball season in college, and there were some guest judges.  They sat on an elevated platform at a long table with notes and papers, and you got to go out in front of them and show them what you could do, alone (save for a partner for stunting).  Try-outs were 2 days long, the first day we had to learn a cheer with hand motions to be done in front of the judges, and the second day was the actual show.  There were 3 parts to the tryouts; tumbling (of which I was introduced to on day 1 of try-outs), the cheer part, and stunting.  Most of the people trying out had been doing this for years.  Surprisingly to me, many of the guys were on teams in high school, and had been on this team for a few years.  Up to this point I didn't even know guys were on high school cheer teams.  For the veterans, this was simply going through technicalities, they were pretty much already guaranteed a spot.  There were many high school girls that were trying out, a few guys, and there was me, an anomaly amongst cheer nation.

Day 1, we mill around for a bit at first and go through some introductions.  As a whole, we form a huge circle and do some stretching, then form into lines of 5 or 6 (lead by the veterans), and go through some warm-ups.  The warm-ups lead to simple tumbling - forward/backward rolls, cartwheels, etc.  Suddenly, they decide to start busting out back handsprings.  I'd never done this, never been shown how to do this, and was quite amazed at the ease they showed in doing them.  I watched 3 or 4 people in front of me easily whip off a back handspring, and decided that I could probably handle it if they could.  Wrong.  I waltzed out on the mat, in front of everyone, and tossed myself backwards.  I managed to not rotate much, landing on my head and neck, crumpling into a pile on the floor.  Gasps filled the air, and I bounced back to my feet.  "I'm fine, I got this, no problem."  Someone called out "do you need a spot?".  "Nope, no problem.  I think I will get it this time."  Now, every one's eyes were on me.  All lines had stopped, everyone focused on my next move.  Naturally, I just go for it again.  And once again, I stop short in the middle, slam down on my head and neck, and crumple to the floor in a pile.  Gasps again, me bouncing to my feet again.  I was then instructed that I needed a spot, which I now accepted with reluctance.  Cheerleading can't be THIS hard, can it?

We finally wrapped up the tumbling warm-up, and switched to stunting.  This was the part I was getting pretty good at, at a fairly quick pace.  I discovered early why stunting with the veterans is MUCH better than choosing another newb to the sport of collegiate cheer.  New girls who are not used to being tossed in the air tend to flail, which leads to the guy getting kicked.  I decided to pick a hot little chick who was a HS senior at the time to flirt with her.  She proceeded to kick me right in the testicles on the first toss.  Wow, nice to meet you!  Surprisingly, this did not deter me in pursuing her (but this is another story).  I ended up helping her perform her stunt portion of try-outs the next day.

After the first day, I had a bit of new found respect for what I was getting into (sans the lame "cheering" part).  I liked everything except looking like a spazzed-out fool, high on spirit and excitement.  There was a lot of contact (when people fell off stunts, which happened often), a physicality to it that I had never expected, and a technicality to performing.  When people say that it's not a "true sport", I have to disagree.  The people who tend to say these things must have never tried it, because it is as difficult a sport that I have ever played.

The next day when the full-on try-out portion began, my nerves had settled some.  I was getting more comfortable with the veterans, making a few friends, and using a spot for my terrible tumbling.  Try-outs went smoothly (how many times in this post can I use the term "try-outs"?  Is there another term I could switch between?), and I was fairly confident that I'd make the team.  A few days later, the coach called to not only confirm I was in, but also to extend me a scholarship!  Only a few weeks before I was questioning whether to even give this a try, and now I get a scholarship?  I'm in! 

I was informed that non-mandatory practices were held periodically throughout the summer, along with occasional workouts with a tumbling instructor.  All summer long I went to as many of these practices I could (still living at my parents, it was a 2.5 hr drive one way).  I continued my quick learning of stunting, managing to nearly match the veterans in stunting ability by the end of summer.  My fearlessness and muscle control played a big role in quickly learning to throw a back handspring on my own.  It wasn't pretty, but it was progress.  The tumbling instructor told me on more than one occasion that a man my size was not supposed to be able to control his body as well as I could.  I would never manage to be a strong tumbler, but I could string together multiple back handsprings as well as back tucks (flipping in the air without hands).  As summer came to a close, 2 weeks before school started, the team shipped off to cheer camp for a week.

Losing some el bees

I'm a big guy, always have been.  I turned 32 in December, and the day after my birthday, my 2nd son, Evan Jacob, was born.  I decided I should probably get a checkup beacuse I hadn't had one since college, and that has been nearly 10 years already.  Man, time flies.

The checkup did not go well.  I stepped on the scale, and BOOM, the biggest numbers I've seen popped up...290.  Damn.  That's a lot to carry around.  I then went in to the little room, and the nurse took my vitals.  Again, some big numbers popped up that I'd never seen before.  BP of 155 over 95?  Shit.  That doesn't sound good.  The doc came in and worked me over, and I had to go give some blood to check my cholesterol (which I'd never done).  More big numbers, and a strongly worded letter by the doc saying I better get moving and get this under control.  He warned me about diabetes, multiple pills and perscriptions...the whole bit.  I decided I'd had enough of being fat.

I waited out the holidays, getting my last few kicks of unlimited candy and sweets that my mom makes.  You haven't had peanut brittle and English toffee until you've had hers.  No one makes them better.  Candy canes are a favorite of mine, too.

I have a gym membership as a benefit through my firm, and until now have used it extremely sparingly.  When mid-January came around (yes, mid-January...this wasn't a "resolution", so I wasn't going to start with the resolution crowd), I decided to jump in full force.  I'd given myself a few weeks to mentally prepare for this.  I came up with a plan, knowing I wanted (needed) to do something that I could stick to.  I've tried a few times to lose some weight and get in better shape over the years, but I usually aim high, make drastic cuts, and get drained from the process leading to my eventual failure.  This time, I put together an ultimate goal, and then broke that up in to a few intermediate goals.  Perhaps more importantly, giving myself much more time to accomplish them.

My ultimate goal is to get back down to the weight I was when I graduated high school - 225, or a bit less depending on how things go.  My first intermediate goal is to get down to the weight I was when Maryann and I got married 9 years ago, which was around 250.  That's a 40lb first goal, and I'm giving myself until the end of June to accomplish this.  It just so happens this timing is coinciding with a trip we have planned to North Carolina.  My second intermediate goal is to get down another 15lbs, to 235.  This is the weight I was while on the cheer team in college (yes the cheer team, another story for another time).  My time on the cheer team was undeniably my most in-shape years ever.  I was 235, benching 405, military pressing 205, and squatting around 550.  Not too shabby.  At the time I was also doing some sort of a workout 6 days a week, some times twice a day in that span, with practice, lifting, cross-training, and tumbling.  This second goal is going to take a shift in my way of life in terms of diet to get to.  I haven't acheived goal 1 yet, so I haven't put together a timeframe for goal 2.  After achieving goal 2, I will set my sights on the final 10-15 lbs.

So, I started toward my first goal on January 12, 2011.  That was a Wednesday, and the only day I managed to get in that week.  Hey, it was a tough transition.  Throughout this first stage, I'm not changing my eating habits too drastically.  I'm eating less, and not so late at night...that's about it.  As I get used to getting out of bed an hour and 15 minutes earlier than before, going to the gym gets better.  My workout is fairly simple, focusing on strengthening my core and stamina with 20 minutes of cardio and 45 minutes of weight lifting.  Very quickly I notice my strength build and my stamina increase.  Slowly, I add weights and cardio speed to my workout, getting within a month to a place I didn't think I'd be so quickly.  Already, barely into my 3rd month of regular workouts I've managed to lose 30 lbs!  My first goal is very much in sight, nearly 3 months earlier than I'd thought.  Helping my weight loss at the beginning of March I was very sick for 6 days, barely eating in that time.  When I finally managed to pull myself back to the gym, I'd lost 12 lbs.  This week is my first full week back after that sickness, and not only have I kept that weight off, I lost a couple more pounds as well. 

Here's to hoping my workouts and weight loss continue on this track, and I don't lose my interest as I have so many times before.  It certainly feels different this time.  I'm engaged, and actually excited about the changes I'm going through.  I know this is a big me-me-me first post, but darnit, I think that's ok!  My boys need their papa, not just around, but engaged and playful.  I can't continue on the path I was and manage that.  I have another doctor checkup scheduled for June 14.  I plan on blowing the doc's mind!

In the end, I don't really think I'll ever be thin or ripped, I just need to get healthy again.  I've been big my whole life, and always with a bit of a layer of fat that I could never seem to peel.  I remember being 180lbs in only 8th grade, which resulted in me getting my ass kicked regularly in wrestling (due to having to wrestle seniors since that was the weight group I was in), which in turn resulted in me never wrestling again.  That turned in to a light bulb point as well, and when I started hitting the weight room regularly with my brother and his friends (who were 4 yrs older than me).  Not wanting to change weights over and be a bother to them, I just lifted what they did.  Very, very quickly I built muscle, and was soon lifting more than them.  I liked lifting, I was good at it.  Being big finally had benefits.  I lifted all through high school, which helped me be a pretty good center on the football team.  I played a few sports, but lived for football and lifting.  Track was fun, being a thrower.  I took that lifting ability with me to college, which got me noticed by the cheer team.  The cheer team took my strength to a whole new level.  But after 4 yrs of lifting in high school, and 5 years in college, when I graduated I was a bit burnt out on it all.  Not to mention the time slips away by working full time.

Man, these tend to ramble on once you start dropping thoughts.  I hope I manage to keep spewing this much nonsense for some time on here.  Stick with me folks, I may just blow your mind.