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King Kong ain’t got nothin’ on me!

That’s right folks.  Today is Training Day.  Well, the first training day of a 3 month schedule I came up with.  If I was smarter I’d figure out a way to attach my schedule so you could see.  As I’ve already said, I’ll be running a Half Marathon in November but I’ve reading a book called “Born to Run” and it’s getting me really jacked up to run farther distances.  Having run zero far since July I’m already wanting to run a full Marathon.  We’ll see how my first run goes today.  I’ll be changing up my running form in hopes that a different foot strike will ease the pain in my knees and ankles.

This is the pull up assist I finally buckled down and bought.  Right now my count is around 8-10 after a month or so of doing nada and I plan to get it up to 30 pull ups by my birthday in March.  This thing is awesome!  I’m excited to get back to working out and having a schedule.  I like having a plan and for the past month and a half, I haven’t had one for my workouts.  It makes it very easy to skip them and just chill on the couch.  By chill I mean chase Paige around and take little crumbs out of her mouth.  With my running I’ll stick to upper body workouts with the X and X2 and cardio/agility with Insanity and Asylum.

And here I go.  When Paige takes her morning nap.  Then I’ll start.

Top of the muffin to YOU!

I’ve been meaning to add this recipe for quite a long time but just didn’t get around to it.  It’s pretty awesome because of it’s versatility!  We’ve used shredded chicken, ground turkey, brown rice, white rice, and have done basic seasoning as well as taco seasoning to give it a Mexican flair.  The Mexican style cup is great with a little sour cream and salsa.  These muffin cups come from the P90X2 nutrition guide and are great for grabbing on the way to work or good to pair as a side dish with pretty much anything!  We love them and make them with leftovers after taco night quite often.  That way the chilies and onions are already in the meat.  And we usually double it because they go like hot cakes!

Ingredients

• 1 Cup
  Cooked Rice
• 1/4 Cup
  Shredded Cheese
• 3
  Eggs
• 3 Tablespoons
  Milk
• 2 Tablespoons
  Green Chilies
• 2 Tablespoons
  Chopped Onion
• 1/4 Teaspoon
  Cumin
• 1/4 Teaspoon
  Garlic Powder
• 1/4 Teaspoon
  Sea Salt
• 1/4 Teaspoon
  Pepper
• 1 Cup
  Ground Chicken or Turkey
• Cooking Spray

Cooking Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400
2. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix together
3. Coat six muffin tins with cooking spray
4. Divide the mixture into the muffin tins
5. Bake for 20-25 minutes

2 Muffins

280 Calories, 12 g Fat, 18 g Carbohydrates, 23 g Protein

Upcoming Events!

Before my last race

There’s a free Half Marathon coming up here in Las Vegas in November so I’ve prepared a training schedule for myself.  After the training success I had with Asylum I decided to heavily incorporate P90X, X2, Insanity, and Asylum into my schedule and only run two days per week as opposed to three or four.  I haven’t run a half in a couple years and I’ve only done two in my life but I’m hoping to cut about 10 minutes off of my previous finish time.  I’ll be shooting for a 1 Hour 35 Minute time.  It’s going to take some work but it gives me something to do.

Along with the 1/2, I have a few other races I’m already registered for along with a bunch I’ve been looking into.  I’d like to do at least one race every month but that is a little difficult during the month of August in Las Vegas.  (Except for this.)  While I was searching I found a link to something called the Goruck Challenge.  I’ve heard a little bit about this race from the running group I’m in and it looks to be pretty awesome.  From what I’ve read it’s not so much a race as it is a team challenge of 15-20 miles over 8-10 hours including ‘missions’ that the instructor has you complete.  I’m very interested in this but I’m not sure if we’ll be here or on vacation somewhere when it happens.

Here’s a picture of me and Paige after my 5K finish in Montana on the 4th of July.  I came in at 22:57 which cut 4 minutes off of my previous 5K time from April.  I was also 3rd place in my age group (20-29) and seeing how I won’t be in that group for much longer I took a peek at what I would have placed if I was in the 30-39 division.  Still 3rd.  More work to do!

Who wants to run a Half Marathon?

Sweaty

Just Checking In

She likes to pull hair

We’ve been on vacation for the past three weeks and we’re about to wrap it up and head back home.  I’ve been away from the blog so I just wanted to post a little check in so you know I haven’t given it up!  It’s been a pretty great trip and it will probably be recounted with at least two blogs.  A lot of food has been eaten so I have some work to do when I get back.  Paige has also learned how to clap and wave hello so that’s pretty sweet.  It’s been a vacation of non-stop teething so that’s been fun as well.  Here’s a pic of our family photo shoot this morning.  Can’t wait to get back to the Vegas heat but they have one thing Montana doesn’t seem to believe in: Air Conditioning.

Vacation, All I Ever Wanted

Yellowstone

We’re getting ready for our vacation and we’re pretty excited!  We are also finding out that packing for Paige is a lot harder than packing for a camping trip.  If you go camping then you know there are a lot of components, lists, and double-checking that goes into a trip.  Last year our car was packed to the brim with supplies for camping and this year all things Paige will take their place.  But again, we couldn’t be more excited to get out of town for a while.  We’ll have some time in McCall, Idaho with my entire family and then onto Bozeman, Montana to hang out with Shelly’s fam.  There’s something to be said for free babysitting.

Dressed and ready to go!

This trip has been planned since February and we’ve really been looking forward to it.  I think this will be the first time my whole family has been together since a couple of Christmases ago.  McCall is a great town, or it was.  We lived there when I was a kid and it’s right on a lake.  Very beautiful.  I can’t say enough about Bozeman though.  It’s just a great place to visit and I’m sure living there is pretty awesome as well.  There are some pretty great restaurants and while we have great places here in Las Vegas, there’s something to be said about small town joints.  While we’re on our trip I’ll be doing some Insanity, running, and even dipping into a little Turbo Fire with Shelly.  I have every intention of eating some burgers and drinking some craft brews but I’m going to be serious about keeping up with my workouts.  I decided that a 2-3 lb. weight gain would be acceptable.  But that’s it.

Amazing place for breakfast

This has been a great week leading up to our trip.  Shelly and I celebrated our 3rd Wedding Anniversary by going out to dinner.  Thanks to our good friend Melissa who babysat for us!  It was also my first Father’s Day which was pretty cool.  Hey, I’ll do what I can to get anything comparable to another birthday!  Shelly let me sleep in and I even got to play some video games for a few hours.  That doesn’t happen very often.

First Father’s Day

I hope you all are having a great summer!

Born to Run

I ran a 10k race this past weekend and I did pretty well for myself.  In all of my previous races I consistently averaged a pace of 8:40 per mile.  For this race I ran at a pace of 8:02 per mile (I’d like to be around a 7:40 per mile pace).  I ended up placing 2nd in my age group and 7th overall.  I was pretty happy about it.  I’ve really stepped up my competitive side and it’s all because of that last race I did.  The winning becomes infectious.  I’ve never been much of a runner.  At all.  I ran a little in high school but mostly to chase my golf ball into the rough.  I never thought I’d do well enough in a race to earn a medal so once I did, I wanted to do it again.

For me it’s important to note that I completed this race and earned a personal best with absolutely zero training runs.  This year I’ve jogged a ‘Color Run’, ran the ‘X-Terra 5K’, and stumbled through the ‘Rhino-Course’.  Other than those races I haven’t run outside at all.  For my ‘training’ I’ve only been doing P90X2 and Insanity: The Asylum.  I’m not much for running on pavement and used to run exclusively on treadmills at the gym.  Now that I don’t have a membership, I just don’t run.  I miss running 3-4 days a week but the extended training on pavement kills my ankles, knees, and shins.  Which brings me to an important point about the days after my race this weekend.

While I was able to crank out a great time (for myself) and earn a respectable place in the race, my quads, ankles, and shins were killing me in the days following.  Now I know that the training in Asylum is awesome enough to get me through a race but it’s important to put time in on the road to get my body used to the pounding it takes.  I also could have rehabbed a lot better with some Yoga and Foam Rolling but I was being lazy.  I’m currently looking for some new running shoes that I can race 5k’s, 10k’s, and 1/2 Marathons in as well as the obstacle races I’ll be doing.

The Wheel in the Sky

We’re getting to the point where Paige is starting to have a little bit of a personality.  What I mean is, she’s starting to cry when we take something away from her.  Nothing big, mostly cute, but it’s making me realize we’re entering serious parenting territory.  I’m not quite sure how much of her future personality will be developed in the upcoming months but I definitely don’t want her to grow up to be spoiled.  There’s a few important traits I want her to have that are strongly lacking with a vast majority of people these days; common sense being one of them.

I’ll be the first to tell you that I’m not always the nicest guy in the world but having Paige has been a great way for me to be a little more mindful of my attitude.  Being around negative people has really opened my eyes to how annoying it can be to act that way.  I sure as heck don’t want Paige to grow up around negative personalities, myself included, because negative people just suck.  After some self-evaluation I realized my biggest flaw is being critical of other people.  For instance, I think everyone should check their blind spot, drive a Costco cart with some common sense, leave their house every once in a while, and have some basic social skills.  But this isn’t a perfect world and I guess I have to come to terms with the fact that some people just aren’t awesome.

So the pressure is starting to mount for us to make Paige have the absolute perfect personality.  And it’s a lot of pressure.  I think I’ve started out okay by singing her some sweet 80’s rock.  That has gotta go towards some magnificent spark in her social development.  I’d say the next step would be to show her some great films but I’m certain “The Shawshank Redemption” isn’t age appropriate for a baby.  I’m sure I’ll figure it out a little more every day.  After all, people who are less competent than me have had daughters before.  I just don’t want her to grow up and hate my guts.  These are the things I think about on a daily basis.  Like I said, it’s a lot of pressure.

We Don’t Need No Education

Resting

The past week has been an interesting one.  I had to take a few days off of working out because my arms were just aching.  Not a good ache.  The best way I can describe it is I felt like my bones were sore.  I figured it’d be better to rest than to get hurt.  Then the whole family got sick; first Shelly, then me, and finally Paige.  Paige fought it off the best with only one big vomit.  It was also Teacher Appreciation Week which pretty much means nothing.  We have friends that teach here in town who get showered with gifts all week.  Not us.  It’s no big deal really.  It’s not like I decided to be a teacher based on the promise of an amazing TAW.  I won’t go into why I decided to go into Education but let’s just say I knew being a Theatre Major wasn’t the best way to earn a living.

Ready to mold young minds

Whenever I tell someone I’m a teacher I always get the same response.  It’s basically a mixture of respect, pity, and something else I can’t put my finger on.  Everyone always seems to feel so sorry for me.  I used to eat it up and feel all great about myself, like I was working for some amazing non-profit organization or something.  I think I finally realized, I chose to do this and so did every other teacher out there.  I knew what I was going to get paid, how children acted, and what the parents would be like when I signed up.  It was a choice.  I’m glad I figured this out because I don’t think many people have.  Sure, there are a few unexpected things they could have taught me in college that may have swayed me a little bit.  I love it but sometimes it can get a little stressful.  But hey, that’s what Summer is for and ours is approaching fast.

Ollie in our packed car

I’m pretty excited for this Summer.  We’ll be going a nice long trip to get out of the heat.  One week in McCall, Idaho and one or two weeks in Bozeman, Montana.  My family used to live in McCall and Shelly is from Bozeman.  Both places are extremely beautiful and there are a ton of things to do.  My entire family will be meeting up for a week long stay at a cabin in McCall.  I think it will be interesting, to say the least.  My biggest challenge for this trip will be not gaining 12 lbs. like I did on our last Summer extravaganza.  I drank a fair amount of suds and worked out zero times.  This year I’ll make sure to workout out six days a week so I can afford the luxuries of vacation life.  Sadly, I don’t think we’ll get to do any camping this time around.  Last Summer we packed the car to the brim with our camping supplies but, unless we leave Paige and her things, I don’t think we’ll be able to fit them in.

Well, that’s just like, you’re opinion, man.

I know, I know.  This is like the 4th “Big Lebowski” quote I’ve used as a title but I just can’t seem to stop.  It’s such a great movie with some of the most applicable quotes in film history.

I had a brief moment of weakness the other day where I was 100% certain Paige should, and could, become a baby model.  I jumped on the internet and searched for ways to make it happen and stumbled upon a message board.  It was a message board full of moms bragging, without shame, about how amazing and beautiful their baby was and why he or she would make the best baby model ever.  I stopped right there.  I just couldn’t believe how crazy they sounded.  I was so close to falling into this trap.  This type of thing was something I could view with an open mind and outside eye before we had Paige.  Every parent thinks their child is amazingly cute.  Sometimes it’s not true.  Now I’m invested and might not have the perspective I need to evaluate the situation.

Perspective is a funny thing.  Whenever we go shopping Shelly teases me because I have a serious problem paying over $30 for any amount of clothing and yet, I’ll buy pants online for $90-$120. (Really awesome pants!)  I really can’t explain it. Some things you just don’t mind paying for and others are bit harder to pony up the dough.

I think the same thing can be said for fitness and nutrition products. It’s very easy to pay $20-$30 a month for a gym membership because it’s not that much money (until it adds up). When looking at the price for P90X or Turbo Fire, it seems expensive at $120 a pop. However, you’re getting that program for the rest of your life. No more fees attached to it. I’ve already stated the savings we’ve made per year for not paying for a gym membership. It’s a lot.  I went to a gym in Summerlin the other day and found out that membership fees are $120 per month.  I cannot believe someone would pay that much!

People often say that eating healthy is more expensive than eating fast food. Very true. I went to Whole Foods to buy ingredients for the Chocolate Chip Cookies I make and walked out $40 lighter. For cookies! It is more expensive, but I guess you have to ask:  Is it worth it? I say yes. I feel much better now that I’m eating pretty clean. I eat a lot more veggies, barely any white flour, no sugar, and about 60% less adult beverages than I did even 5 months ago. I’m trying to learn a ton about nutrition so I can keep improving my diet.

We’re also trying to transfer this healthy eating to Paige right from the get-go.  We have the Baby Bullet and are trying to buy Organic foods to make with it.  I don’t think feeding pesticides to Paige will win me parent of the year.  Or keep her primed for a future career in modeling.  That is, if she decides she wants to do it.  She has a lot of decisions to make in the future, for instance, does she actually like me?  I think she does.  She smiles at me sometimes.

Paige has already made the big decision to turn over mid-sleep while she’s still swaddled.  This was a scary discovery the first (and last) time we saw it.  No more full on swaddling which has led to the fun adventure of weaning.  (What a weird word.)  The internet says so many different things about this topic.  One person said to stop swaddling at 4 months.  If that’s true, we’ve failed.  She’s 7 months now.  We ended up deciding it’s just a matter of opinion.  It’s worked so great until now, but some things (peaceful sleep) must come to an end.  We’re starting with one arm out, then both arms out, then no more swaddle blanket.  Wish us luck!  We did learn, however, some conclusive evidence that Bumper Pads are horrible to have inside the crib.

Put that on the list of things that no one tells you!  Then cross it off because now you know.