Zach Johnson wins the Masters!

Congratulations to Zach Johnson on his Masters victory. It's nice to see an Iowan bring home the green jacket. I ran a 28:42 8k this weekend on a chilly day. I'm looking forward to the upcoming road racing season. Happy Easter!

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Mr. Rodgers said it right when he said, "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood." I think he was talking about days like today. It's a tropical heat wave today with a high in 70's after only a couple weeks ago we had a blizzard and a bad ice storm. It felt great to run outside the last couple of days. I ran about 12 miles this morning and enjoyed the beautiful sunrise. I've been listening to Lance Armstrong's biography "It's Not About the Bike" on my MP3 player. His drive, desire and determination is amazing. I'm looking forward to RAGBRAI (Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa) to see if I can spot him out on the road. Happy trails!

What's this life for?

Have you ever thought about what your suppose to do with your life? Ok, I know that you have thought about different decisions and small things along the way, but have you ever thought about the big picture and what your life is for?

Running across the U.S.

We started this new thing at work where it is the goal of our six member team to exercise our way across the United States. Actual miles of running or biking are counted and 15 minutes of any other type of exercise count as one mile. We only have ten weeks to complete our trek and we are a little behind schedule after one week. If each member of our team recorded seven miles per day we would be on pace. I need to pick up the slack.

Lou Holtz

This morning I finally rolled out of bed around 6:30 to go for a run. I ran about 4 miles while listening to Lou Holtz's autobiography. He's a pretty inspirational guy and I would recommend his book or book on cd. One thing he said that makes sense is w.i.n. stands for what's important now. To succeed or win in life you have to be able to separate the important things from the not so important. John Wooden says, "You can't control the uncontrollables, but you can control the controllables." Being able to know and understand this is important in life. So much of our lives are filled with worries about the unimportant things and sluffing on the meaningful stuff.

I'm still getting over a cold, so it wasn't my fastest run ever but I got it done. I need to get myself out of bed a little earlier tomorrow for some extra mileage.

Dean's my hero

Did you know that there is a guy that is running across the country as I type this? Craziness, I know. I'm not sure why this seems so inspirational to me but something inside of me wants to run with him. This ultramarathoner, Dean Karnazes is approaching Cincinnati, Ohio on his way home to San Francisco. You can follow him at http://www.runnersworld.com He has already run 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days and now is running from New York to San Francisco. I couldn't even get out of bed this morning to do a couple of miles. I pulled a muscle in my calf yesterday so I thought I would take the day off. I received some exciting news this weekend as my dad bought my wife and me a treadmill for Christmas. I hope to get some serious miles on it this winter. I don't know if anyone will ever read this, but it feels good to atleast say that I have a blog. Have a great day!

My first blog ever!

I'm feeling a little nervous as I sit down to write my first ever blog. I wonder if anyone will ever read this besides me? I've been trying to figure out this blog thing for quite some time. Today I read about some guy running with Dean the ultramarathon man and couldn't resist the chance to start my own blog. I wonder what this blog could turn into someday? I hope it can capture some cool thoughts on life and whatever comes to mind. This weekend I ran the Living History Farms cross country race. It was quite the adventure. I had heard a lot of things about the race going in but had no idea what to expect. As I walked into the vistor center to get my number and t-shirt, a guy dress as an indian with only some deer skin around his waist walks in front of me. Interesting... As I journey back to my car I notice Santa Claus and his reindeer all tied together getting ready for the race. This is no ordinary road race that's for sure. I went out hard trying to fight for position amongst the over 5,000 participants. Everyone always goes out too hard for these races and dies after the first mile, but you have to be somewhat close to the front to have a chance in the end. I crossed the first creek without much trouble but I soon afterwards noticed that my shoes were much heavier from the water. Note to self, next time wear spikes. There were more creek crossings and steep inclines than I thought there would be. It was quite the adventure. At about mile five of seven a woman passed me and I thought to myself, I should follow her. This brought back some concentration on the race. More people started to line the trail as we neared the finish. I gave them the raise the roof motion to get them to cheer. We entered the home stretch and I gave it all I had. The race was a lot of fun and I will make sure to come back again in the future. I would recommend it to anyone who loves to have fun running and doesn't care about getting wet and dirty. The apple cider after the race is also delicious. Happy running everyone!