I just had to see where I was at, time-trial

On May 1st, Saturday of this year I did a time trial. Saturday night I went to the BYU track and ran 5 kilometers as fast as I could and I did it in 17:16. Mile 1 was 5:21, mile 2 was 5:36 and 3 was 5:41 plus the .1 (because 5K is 3.1 miles) equaling 17:16.

I've been doing a lot more mileage lately, especially this week where I ended today with 83.5 miles. I just had to see where I was at. So I woke up this morning, read a talk out of the Ensign while I drank water and ate some grapes. Then I went to the BYU track and ran a 5K as fast as I could. It wasn't as fast as I would have liked, but I feel pretty good about it.

My overall time was 17:38 so about 22 seconds slower than last time. Mile 1 was 5:45, 2 was 5:38 and 3 was 5:38 too. I think there are a couple reasons why it was slower and I feel okay about it--not great, but okay...

1. I think I probably needed more food (energy) with more time to digest.
2. When I ran the 17:16 my total mileage was 39 miles, for this week I had doubled that mileage so I was/am more tired than I was that day (May 1st) when I was pretty fresh.

Suffice it to say I feel okay and maybe I'm feeling better about it than at the beginning of this post. I just had to know if training was going well and for me to know I have to time-trial and that's what I did. Time-trials help me to run fearless. Have a good weekend, even though it's half-way over. Run fearless.

A New Secret To Motivation: The Self-Interview

I thought I would tell you something I've been doing in the past few days that has been really cool and maybe I'm on to something or maybe I'm not and maybe I'm onto something for myself and not for anyone else or maybe I'm just crazy.

Going running at 4:00 a.m. can be a little lonely. It's dark. No one's around. The cars are few. Sometimes I'll see teenagers driving fast, or an early morning worker driving to work. One time I saw this ten year-old kid riding his Razor scooter really fast--it was 4:10 in the morning, what the heck was he doing?!

Anyways, a few days ago I started interviewing myself. I pretended I was on a talk show like a sports show or a talk show. Always it's in response to the great running that I'm doing and how I'm suprising a lot of people because it's like I came out of nowhere and won these big-time races. Today Runner's World interviewed me.

I ask the question as if I'm them, then I answer as me. The questions I ask myself are questions like...

1. To what do you attribute your success?
2. When did you start running and why?
3. What are your plans for the future?
4. What was your strategy during this particular race?
5. What's it like becoming so fast...so fast?

And the list goes on. I really like this. It's very encouraging and motivating to me and what's better than that when you're running 15.5 miles a day. Interviewing myself helps me run fearless. Try it.

Fireflies Fearless with Owl City

I just thought it was time to talk about a song that helps me run fearless. Call me what you like, but I really like Owl City and I'm still in love with Fireflies and when I'm running and that song comes on I am inspired. I have posted the video right here for your viewing pleasure, so watch if if you want then I'll tell you why I like it so much...



Okay, so this is why I like it and why it's inspiring. The part of the song where he says "I like to make myself believe that planet earth turns slowly" in my opinion sums up the whole song where the message to me is that with imagination anything is possible. I mean this guy has a friendship with fireflies and he almost starts crying when they leave. The fireflies hug him, cry and teach him how to dance. It's just ridiculously incredible and that's why it inspires me. I think sometimes I am ridiculously reasonable and practical if that makes sense and this song strikes a chord with me.

The last thing I'll say is that when the chorus goes for a second, time and a third time, it comes in full, I'm not a music guy and that's how I describe it. It's powerful and every time it gives me this surge of energy. I want to throw my fists in the air, mainly my right fist. Or I want to raise both arms up parallel to the ground, palms up as if I was getting something from the heavens and look straight up into the sky and make myself believe that I'm receiving energy from God. Okay, so maybe I actually do that and maybe it's mostly when I'm alone.

Anyways, music is inspiring to me and this song specifically is. You heard it, Fireflies by Owl City helps me to run fearless. Who would have thought? Run fearless.

(BSRF) The Boy Scouts of Run Fearless

This will be short because it's late and I need to sleep, but I want to write and there will probably be more on the subject of Boy Scouts because it really is something that has helped me become that person I am today.

I am an Assistant Scout Master. That's what I have been assigned to within my church unit. Specifically I am with the eleven-year-old scouts as they transition from Cub Scouts into Boy Scouts. Every Wednesday night I meet with them from 7-8:30 p.m. and we do fun things and we pass off requirements as they head in the direction of the Eagle Scout.

I am an Eagle Scout. I did Boy Scouts all growing up. Some experiences were good and others not so good. For example, camping in the Pacific Northwest, which is where I grew up, is not as fun as somewhere where it's dry. Somehow we managed to pick a lot of rainy nights to camp and part of that could be because it rained a lot. I really like the rain, but not to camp in.

On the other hand I really liked scouts. I learned a ton of things. I feel like I could prepare for and go live in the wilderness and be just fine. Boy Scouts was like another school. Each merit badge had/has a specific purpose--Each is like a class or a series of classes you take. There are certain merit badges you're required to earn and others you can take because you want to.

The culminating activity is earning the Eagle Scout. To earn it you have to earn a certain amount of merit badges, have served in leadership positions within the troop and you must have done a worthwhile project that stretches you and shows the leadership qualities that you have developed along the way.

Boy Scouts is something that has helped me learn how to run fearless. I am grateful for those that helped me along the way and I'm grateful to the Scouting program for how great it truly is. Run fearless.

See What You Want, Get What You See

So this is principle 11 of The Success Principles and the chapter/principle starts off with the following quote:

"Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions." -Albert Einstein

Here are a couple things I found really interesting from the chapter:

"When you perform any task in real life, researchers have found, your brain uses the same identical processes it would use if you were only vividly visualizing that activity. In other words, your brain sees no difference whatsoever between visualizing something and actually doing it" (p. 81).

"When you visualize your goals as already complete each and every day, it creates a conflict in your subconscious mind between what you are visualizing and what you currently have. Your subconscious mind tries to resolve that conflict by turning your current reality into the new, more exciting vision" (p.82).

Add as much detail as you can to your visualization. Feelings, emotions, sounds, smells, light, dark, time of day etc. get as much detail as you can in there. You can use printed pictures to help, especially if you have difficulty visualizing, because some of us do. Vision boards and goal books help too, but I'm not going to go into detail with that, Google it!

On my runs to and from work, especially in the morning I have a lot of time where I am all alone, completely. Almost zero cars and I can count on one hand how many humans outside of cars I have seen at that hour. This morning I visualized an interview I was having on a sports channel. I asked myself questions, watched a clip of my most recent win on the T.V. and then talked some more. It was wonderful.

Ever since high school I have been visualizing what it would be like to win and run so fast. Figure out what you want and start getting it by visualizing it already there. Run fearless. Live fearless. Be fearless.

I saw lightning and heard thunder today

When I went on my brunch break at 10 a.m. it was hot outside. I was dreading my run home from work because I thought it was going to be really warm outside. When 2:00 rolled around and I went outside I realized that it was overcast and it wasn't that warm. I began to run home.

Because I had left a little later than I wanted to I decided to turn today's run into a fartlek where I ran 1 minute hard then 4 minutes easy alternating back and forth for the whole 6.75 miles home. It turned out really good and was really a great workout.

As I came closer and closer to my house I saw the sky turn darker. Then I saw the lightning. I love lightning. I think it's SO cool. I love catching it with my eyes because for so long growing up I never saw the actual bolt. I always saw the light from the bolt, but never the bolt itself. So I love to catch it. I love to count and see how far away it is. I believe the rule of thumb (or maybe it's the rule of science:) is that from when you see the lighting to when you hear the thunder for however many seconds you count that's how many miles away it is (or is it seconds between thunder? I think it's between lightning and thunder. How does it work in Europe? Because we use miles, but you guys use kilometers...)

I was planning on running an extra 2 miles around the park when I got home, but I thought that if the lightning was too close I would forego that plan. Then the light rain started and that was heaven sent. It felt so good and took my back to Vancouver, Washington where much of my training growing up was done in the rain. The lightning never got too close and I ran at the park barefoot as the rain really started the come down.

Great workout. Cool run in the weather. Good distance. I am happy. Run fearless everybody!

They Walked Fearless: The Story of the Ultra-Walkers

Today is a holiday. Not all over the country like the 4th of July and not all over the world, but it's a holiday because it's Pioneer Day. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints this particular day has a lot of meaning to me, but it hasn't always. I didn't really enjoy pioneer stories or songs or anything growing up. There would be times we would dress up like pioneers, but I really didn't like it. Let me tell you what changed that and how that helps me run fearless.

The pioneers were some of the first members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They were instructed by God through the prophet Joseph Smith to move west. They did that. Many times they didn't have any money so it was all by walking. Sometimes with oxen or horses, but mostly by walking, hence the song we would always sing in primary: "Pioneer children sang as they walked and walked and walked AND walked." These people didn't really run fearless, they walked fearless.

When I was on my mission in Argentina (September 2004-end of August 2006) I was in my first area in Rosario. That was the first city I was in and it happens to be the name of the mission itself. I had a few books that were approved by the church to read and one of them was called Our Heritage and it changed my whole outlook on the pioneers.

As I read that book I read about the sacrifices those pioneers made. They left their homes and went across the United States of America with their whole family in handcarts. They went through rain, snow, heat etc. Their parents died and/or their children died and/or they died themselves because they knew what they were doing had been commanded of them by the Lord. They had a testimony like I have, only stronger probably (and you can read about my testimony and what I believe on My Beliefs page.)

I remember reading about when they were traveling through the snow. There was nowhere to go for shelter, food, protection etc. and all they could do was press forward towards their destination. I remember being impacted deeply when I read that they sometimes didn't have shoes and as they would walk in the snow they would leave footprints of blood in the snow. Now that's pretty graphic and as I'm writing this it makes me a little sick, but can you believe that? Can you think of doing that? I LOVE the pioneers and I am so grateful to them.



Another story which is famous in the church is about three young men. I had heard it before, but this particular time on my mission it, like the other stories, really struck me. There was an ice cold river. It was winter-time. There were three young men who decided to carry people across instead of everyone getting wet, cold and miserable by crossing themselves. One by one the carried each pioneer in the company across the river. Because they did that later on in their lives they died because of the effects that the exposure had on them. I don't know about you, but that is INSPIRING to me.

These pioneers had gained a living testimony that what they were doing was exactly what God wanted them to do. They had read the Book of Mormon and gained unshakable testimonies of its truth. They are an example to me and as such they help me to run fearless. More than once I have been in pain thinking that a long run or a hard workout was unbearable, and more than once as I have had those thought have I thought about the pioneers and what they went through and that has helped me. Praise to the pioneers. Even though they have all passed on they help in my life to run fearless.

The Barefoot Race Is On! I'm so excited!

I just wanted to tell you what's on my mind. It's the only thing I can really think about to post right now, but I'll start with a more blogesque piece then move to the barefoot biz.

I want to make it a habit to take my wife on a date every week. I think that's a good way to show her I love her. I want to continue courting her even now, after we have been married. With that said tonight we went to the Museum of Art on BYU campus and it was wonderful. Okay, so we arrived 15 minutes before closing, but it was still great. Then we were able to see my brother Sam and his friend/my friend Jeremy as they were going to an EFY dance on campus. Then we got treats at the BYU Creamery. Simple, under $3.10 and I think my wife really liked it. Now I'm the best husband. I can deal with that.

Now the reason I can't think of anything else besides the Barefoot Race is for a couple of wonderful reasons that I want to tell you about...

1. Today I got the first check in the mail for the first runner who signed up. That was cool! And it totally pumped me up and made my day.
2. There's this lady who lives fairly close who's friends with the "Give One Million" guy (who I'm helping raise money for) and she sent me a message saying that she would be willing to help out with the race and secretly I have been wanting that help.
3. I'm getting a lot of questions from lots of people and who know how many people will be there, I don't, but it'll be fun and we'll raise some money for an incredible cause and I'm excited, over.

This kind of stuff helps me to run fearless, over and out.

Keeping Whole Grains Alive and Delicious

I have this little pamphlet that my in-laws let me borrow and it deals a little with how to prepare whole grains. The pamphlet/book is by John R. Christopher and I have found it to be really, really, really cool--and I don't say that about everything. (I also wanted to mention that my Hey there Delilah was a runner post was an idea from my father-in-law, I had forgotten to mention that and although he didn't say anything I remembered and wanted to give credit where credit was/is due.)

I used to think that grains had to be rolled or ground into flour or cracked etc. in order to eat them effectively and enjoy them. Boy was I wrong! Which is often the story of my life and I wouldn't have it any other way, I love learning and I love proving myself wrong event though it's hard to swallow sometimes... I have found a way to eat whole grains and personally I really like it. You might too. I make no promises...

How to prepare whole grains
Things you need:

1. A thermos
2. Whole grains
3. Boiling water
4. Maybe honey or some kind of sweetener

Now, I went to Sunflower Market then I went to Good Earth and found even more great whole grains. Here are some of the ones I found and I list them to illustrate the kind of options you have:

1. Whole Buckwheat
2. Hulled Barley
3. Pearled Barley
4. Oat Groats (Oatmeal before it's rolled)
5. Spelt Kernels
6. Kamut Berries
7. Rye Berries
8. Quinoa (which isn't really a grain, but we won't go into that right now.)
9. Buckwheat Groats
10. Whole Wheat (Berries)
    
    Now you can dispute this if you want, but when you break a grain you kill it. What used to be "alive" has lost some of it's life and as a result some nutritional value, thus the whole grain is considered superior to the "cracked" or the "rolled" grain. That could be material for another post and certainly it will be. Okay, there's probably enough material for several books.

So here's what you do. Take a cup or a 1/2 cup of your whole grain of choice and put it in the thermos. Then you boil water. Then pour the boiling water into the thermos. Put the thermos top on. Tip the thermos up-side-down, then right-side-up several times. Then go to bed. Sleep for many hours. Wake up. Do morning things you do when you first get up. Then go feast on your whole grains.

What I started doing was putting them in a Ziploc bag, then in my little back-pack and eat it later at work. You can put honey or agave or stevia on it to sweeten to taste! This is good nutrition and that's something that helps me run fearless.

The man is getting older and he still wakes up at 5:30 a.m. to run

There is a man and his name is Haile Gebrselassie and he's one of my heroes. Currently he holds the world record in the marathon and he's help several others along with several gold medals and the list goes on. I read one of his biographies, unless there's only one, then I read it. Inspiring. He won a gold medal in the 10,000 meter run in with an Achilles injury. I couldn't even barely make it through 6.75 miles running slow and this guy was racing!

In an article I read at http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/more-sport/athletics/2010/07/14/haile-storm-115875-22411607/ I learned that he gets up at 5:30 a.m. every morning to run. He's running 160 miles a week. That's every week, and here I am struggling to hit 70. Now for the amazing part, he's 37 years old and he's doing that. Inspiring.

Haile Gebrselassie is an example to me of what it means to run fearless.

I think I'm getting used to the heat

After I got heat exhaustion I used to judge people in my mind. I would see someone running in the middle of the day when it was hot and I would say something like, "You are dumb! Don't you know you could get heat exhaustion?!" I didn't say it out loud, although that would have been interesting, but I was thinking it.

Recently with my new job running in the heat seemed like the best answer. Also I knew that if I was going to try out for the cross country team that I would have to do workouts in the heat so I had to find a way to get used to it...

So I did some research and found there were things I could do that I wasn't doing in order to get used to the heat and avoid heat exhaustion all at the same time...

1. Wear sunscreen. I never did this until recently. I think I thought that wearing sunscreen would mess up my ability to sweat effectively, so I didn't wear it, but I really think in the last couple weeks that it has made a difference.
2. Don't just workout in the heat after having done a lot in the cool times of the day. That was one of my biggest mistakes last year is that my body was used to running in the mornings when it was cool. That's how I had acclimatized my body. Then all of the sudden I did a long run in the heat and it was hard and it hurt equaling heat exhaustion.
3. Slow down. Referring to point 2, I was trying, on top of all of the sudden running in the heat, to run really hard and fast like I had been able to do in the cool. Your body can't handle the same effort in the heat as it can in the cooler temperatures so slow down and don't feel bad if you can't produce the same effort. SIDE NOTE: When you run in the heat your heart rate increases more than normal and so does your core temperature.
4. Wear a hat.
5. Wear sunglasses.
6. Take water along AND drink it. (For more water info refer to my H 2 the izz-O post on the importance of water before/during/after exercise.)
7. Don't be afraid to slow down and even walk.

That's all I got for you. My paradigm is shifting as usual and I'm learning. My ignorance and prejudices and opinions are changing as I learn, read and search. That's how I run fearless.

Free Yourself

It feels good to be free. I have felt really good in the past two days and I think it's because I'm free. Remember Wednesday I got an injury and that caused me to reflect and think as I talked about in my post on Friday. I thought of things in my life that I wanted to change to become better and I changed. Call it what you like, but I call it repentance.

I think the word "repentance" can sometimes have a stigma attached to it. I think it's something we tend to avoid if we can, or we try to live in such a way that we don't have to ever do it. The thing is that we all do things we shouldn't. From the words of a Coldplay song, "It doesn't matter who you are" we all do dumb things, or we fool ourselves into thinking that we can get away with doing something naughty, or that it only affects us personally when that is never the case because we always affect others and the list goes on. This knowledge comes from things that I've done, don't think I'm some perfect kid, BUT do think think that Caleb Scoville is trying hard every day to master himself because that is true.

Anyways, there are 5 steps to repentance from what I've read, experienced and practiced (there are other ways to explain/teach, but this one works for me and it's pretty basic, not full of details, enjoy):

1. Recognition (Recognize that it is/was wrong)
   
2. Confession (to the Supreme Being, God, and to injured parties)
   
3. Godly sorrow (feeling how God feels or at least trying)
   
4. Restitution (apologizing, paying back)
   
5. Living righteously (Never doing what you did again/to the best of your ability)

So the point of all this is that since Wednesday when my repentance started I have felt free. I have felt so happy. I have felt so good. I know it is because repentance equals freedom. It helps me to run fearless.

My Barefoot Story, Unleashed!

This is the full barefoot story, unedited, unabridged uninterpolated (yep, just made a new word.) I wrote a little post on Barefoot Running back in May in response to a comment a friend on Facebook made and an article I read that was against barefoot running (which I recommend to my friend Jon who has inspired this particular post at this particular time. I don't know if the post of his is accessible to all, but here's the link so give it a read if you'd like http://www.facebook.com/#!/note.php?note_id=409842761731 I hope that's okay Jon:)

Last year I was getting back in triathlons. You have to know that when I was injured I started biking and swimming and this made me become interested in triathlons. The first triathlon I ever did was an Olympic distance and I had a lot of success placing third overall and posting a pretty good time. (You can take a look at my PRs and Times page if you're interested to know more.) Anyways, so I was getting back into triathlons, hoping to improve, which I did, and after my first race of the season last May 2009, I wasn't really enjoying triathlons. I wasn't really enjoying any exercise including running which I always had and I didn't know what I wanted to do.

So I prayed and I searched and I got an answer. The answer came at church, which is where it rarely comes for me personally. Don't get me wrong, I love church, but most of my answers from God have come when I have been alone somewhere. Anyways, at church this guy named Gian, who eventually became I really good friend of mine, told me he had read a book called Born to Run and that I would be interested. I read it and I can't share everything in this post, go read it for yourself, but it advocates barefoot running.

Since I wasn't really training for anything I said, "Well, I've got nothing to lose, I don't really care what happens right now. If this doesn't work at least I'll know it doesn't work, rest, recover, move on with my life and try something else." So I started running barefoot. Almost every single workout I did was barefoot. I never ran barefoot on cement or asphalt etc. Always at parks. Small parks, big parks, parks with lots of trees, fields with no trees. I did up to 18-mile runs barefoot. I did tempo runs, fartleks, repeat 400s, 800s, 1600s and obviously easy runs all barefoot.

Since high school I had suffered IT-band tendinitis and when I started running barefoot my injuries literally vanished, disappeared. The only injury I got was when I was crossing the street and I stepped on a rock and I'm pretty sure I bruised my heel.

One day I did a 4-mile time trial all out, all by myself and I did it as fast as I had done a 4-mile race when I was at my peak of running when I was a freshman at BYU trying out for the BYU Cross-Country team the first time. When I did that I knew that barefoot running had been an answer to my prayers, for me, and I started thinking about trying out for the BYU team again.

Unfortunately I got heat exhaustion right before the try-outs so I felt miserable, did half of the workouts with the team and then surprised myself at the 4-mile race running 30 seconds faster than I ever had before. Then I took a month off to recover from the heat exhaustion.

I came back thinking I would start small, like at the 4oo meters and work my way up and I started doing a lot of speed work on the track and some distance barefoot, but not much. With the sudden onset of intense exercise and with the exercise taking place on a hard-surface I was injured with either one or two stress fractures (the reason I say one or two is because it was confirmed in my right foot, but didn't tell the doctor about the identical pain the left foot because I didn't want to pay any extra money for x-rays and other stuff.)

Now, side note: One thing that critics say is that not enough real experts are coming out with evidence for barefoot running. Well according to my studies there's not a ton coming out with it against it either. I don't think many Athletic Trainers, Exercise Scientists, Exercise Physiologists and Biomechanic pros/experts/professors etc have done sufficient enough studies. Many people who argue against it or who don't have an opinion are the ones wearing a big swoosh (Nike) on their chest, arm, shorts etc. or any other sponsorship/endorsement. Don't get me wrong, I like Nike and I think their products are hot. So that's a point I want to make, that not enough research has been done.

I agree with my buddy Jon that evolution within humans has taken place. I think there is wonderful ground for argument there.

Something always has made sense to me, and you can see it on the videos I have here on my Barefoot page, is that running shoes create poor running form and biomechanics. With a huge heel, nice, cushy and heavy there is a tendency, almost a forced tendency in my opinion, to land heel first. I had a doctor tell to land heel first when I run. She was not a runner. Anyone who studies running knows that landing heel first puts on the breaks, creates more chance to get injured etc. Landing on the forefoot is where you want to land, but with running shoes that's difficult to do all the time, unless you train in racing flats or waffles or spikes which I prefer. Moral: improper biomechanics can cause any number of injuries, injuries I didn't experience running barefoot.

I guess to the critics, first, I love you. I'm glad you have your reservations because that's how we get answers. That's how discoveries and breakthroughs are made, keep it up! Second, don't trash it 'til you try it. Unless you have a major sponsorship with a major shoe company and your career and life on at stake and on the line I challenge you to try it. I was running 30-70 miles weekly barefoot, so give that I try before you analyze your way out of it. What do you have to lose? If you want to be a scientist, experiment. There's no better person than yourself to experiment on, unless you have a lot of money or a grant and you can pay people. Now there's an idea!

I've been running in the Vibram Five Fingers since last year too, a couple months after I started running barefoot. Then I was unemployed, was able to run a lot more, then I got a job and decided that the most economical, time-saving and practical thing to do was to run to and from work (13.5 miles total) which I did for a week and a half, all on roads and mostly in shoes and sometimes in my Vibrams. This last Wednesday I had sudden-onset Achilles tendon extreme pain, which never happened with barefoot. Who the heck know all the reasons why. I'm waking up super early, running a lot of mileage etc.

Other side note: Kenyans and Ethiopians are the best runners hands down. From the 800 meters to the marathon, they are the best, no question. Throw some Moroccans in there and bam! world domination. Many times growing up they train without shoes, not necessarily because the want to or because someone has told them that's the best way to train but because they don't have the means to get shoes. Yes, there are many other things to take into consideration: elevation, diet, lifestyle, physiology, economy etc. but the last time I looked they were human like us, only they didn't have shoes.

The last point has to do with grounding and connecting with planet earth. Removing the rubber barrier between us and Her. But if you want to know more about that you'll have to read about it yourself at http://healing.about.com/od/grounding/Grounding_Root_Yourself_Into_The_Earth.htm or http://healing.about.com/od/grounding/tp/grounding.htm.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Run Fearless.

You Can Change How You Feel, It's A Choice! (Part II: Return of the King)

Okay, so Invictus was incredible and a must see. I apologize for leaving you-all hanging, here's the rest of the story...

After my nap I went out to the couch, picked up the computer and started to do some stuff online, but I couldn't do anything. I was just frustrated and upset and really there wasn't a really good reason why. Injuries don't last forever, but I couldn't shake my feelings. Something that really helps me is prayer and I thought that I didn't really have any other choice, not that I didn't want to pray but sometimes I want to do things on my own. I went in to my room, closed the door, got on my knees and prayed. That's when the ideas began to flow.

God is real and He is great. I know he answered my prayers and many times I think He does so through my own thoughts. The thought that came to mind was empowering. "You don't have to suffer from your feelings. You don't have to let your feelings influence and control you," I thought, " You can control your feelings and you can change how you feel. You have power to face your frustration and depression."

I opened my journal and asked Heavenly Father what I needed to do and this is what came to mind. They were actually ideas that I had before, but I hadn't acted on them...

1. I realized that with all my crazy schedules and busy life I had been paying less attention to things that matter most. I decided to figure out what I was going to do to change myself so that I could be a better person and do those things that matter most, making them a priority.
2. I realized that something that would help me would be a Priesthood blessing. Usually that involves two men who hold the Priesthood that you know and you ask them for a blessing and it can be for many things, but for me it was to be a blessing of health and counsel. I was able to get a hold of two friends who came over that night (Wednesday night) and they gave me a blessing. It was wonderful! I am so glad I did it. (And a little p.s. is that I'll probably do a post on the Priesthood, so just you wait everyone!)
   
3. The third thing I decided to do was to stop my feelings in their tracks and do something about it rather than participate in self-defeating, self-sabotaging behavior.

I know that I'm different from all of you. I know that each individual is unique, but it is my experience and from what I have been taught by other that 1. We are the ones who control our feelings (with exceptions in every case of course) and 2. God wants us to come to Him, realizing our dependence on Him, and in turn He will enable us with the power to conquer. Those are ways that I run fearless.

You Can Change How You Feel, It's A Choice!

You may have noticed, if you're adamantly following this blog which I bet not a ton are, that I didn't post yesterday. It's been a while since I didn't post on a day Monday through Saturday. The reason is because I had a break down.

Physically, emotionally, spiritually you name, it broke...down. I woke up in the morning so tired. Granted I am waking up at 3:40, leaving at 4:00 and arriving a little before 5:00 at my job. But I am going to bed pretty early. The sun is still up when I'm saying my prayers and falling asleep. But yesterday morning I woke up and I was still half-asleep and that hadn't happened. I was really tired at work and then the worst thing of all happened...

When I started to run home I felt some pain in my Achilles tendon. The pain intensified and I stopped running and walked. Hoping that the pain would subside, it did not and it grew worse. I said a prayer and told Heavenly Father I would be the best boy I had ever been and started to run again. I told Him that I had to run and that, in more of a pleading and begging way, He had to heal me and I kept running.

I made it home, but I was still in quite a bit of pain. I was still tired and I took a nap hoping that would help. When I woke up I was more rested, but I was depressed, frustrated and mad. I hate being injured. That is my scourge if that makes sense. Sometimes, like I mentioned in my post The Hurdle of Fear, I feel like I bring the injury upon myself, but other times I think God is trying to get my attention and tell me I need to slow down and remember Him.

I'm not finished with the rest of the story, and the other half is good, but I have a wife and she needs me. I think I need her more than she needs me. Anyways, my wife and I got some computer speakers with a gift certificate for our birthday, which just happens to be on the same day, and we rented Invictus from the Red Box and we're going to watch it. Run fearless forever!

Overcoming the "Parabilio" Curse

For those of you who don't know Harry Potter "Parabilio" is the curse that paralyzes. Okay "paralysis by analysis: is one of my favorite terms to use. I don't know why, i couldn't tell you. It's just so catchy and clever that I enjoy hearing it and using it. With that said this post really does have to do with paralysis by analysis or in other words how we sometimes have the tendency to over-analyze a situation so much that we don't get anything done and we are "paralyzed" by our tendency to over "analyze". Most of you know what that means, but for our readers who didn't know, well, you just learned something.

This post was inspired by a blurb I found in the Runner's World Racing News that I love reading. (That's how I stay updated in the running world.) The blurb was from an article about Toby Tanser who wrote one of my favorite book More Fire: How to Run the Kenyan Way and here it is:

"'A Bad Day Is Just a Bad Day,' Toby Tanser Has Learned
Tanser is the founder of Shoe4Africa, which has gone beyond the limits of its original mission to donate shoes to would-be runners in Africa and now stages road races to promote AIDS awareness and educational projects and which is in the process of constructing a school …and then, the largest public children's hospital on the continent. The interview at "More" discusses all of that, and instructs you on how to make donations, but it also includes some of the knowledge Tanser accrued from his training in Kenya. "When I coach Western athletes and somebody runs badly in the group, they go home to the Internet and research. Then, they come back to me and say, 'Maybe I have an iron deficiency, or maybe I have something else going on.' And I tell them, 'You had a bad run. You’ve had good runs, too. Just accept that you had a bad run and don’t think about it too much,'" Tanser tells us. "The lesson is not to over-think, not to over-analyze, to not look for what doesn’t need to be discovered. Africans are very philosophical in just accepting life as it goes.""

I think I have a tendency to do this. Yes, I think that small things can turn into big things. Obviously if you have a pain that's been going on for several days then that's something to research and go to the doctor about, but there have been times when I have had bad days and I start freaking out thinking there's something wrong with me.

Many times it has been that I didn't get enough water, or enough sleep, or my workout two days ago affected my workout that day because it took longer to recover than I thought it would and the list goes on.

Moral: Don't paralyze yourself by over analyzing. Take one day at a time. Step back, breath, in through your nose until your chest is full to maximum capacity then out through your mouth. That's something that helps me run fearless. Go, and run fearless!

The Water We Drink Today Affects Our Performance Tomorrow

I don't know about you, but when I was first running and racing in high school I didn't drink water very well. I usually waited until I was thirsty and then I would drink. Studies have shown that if you wait until you're thirsty that's too late.

Throughout the week I wouldn't hydrate regularly and then the day of the race I would. If it was hot outside then I would struggle and wonder why. I didn't know what I know now, that we can't wait until race day to hydrate, it must start before. Even drinking enough water the day before may not be enough. Sooner or later our lack of preparation in the past will catch up with us in the future. We prepare for today by what we did yesterday. We prepare for tomorrow by what we do today and so on and so forth.

I find types in the world and especially in running. So it is with this life. What we do today will affect our lives in the life to come. No one can tell me with conviction that there is no life after this one. If they can tell me with conviction then I can promise you that with even more conviction and a testimony from God that there is a life after this life and we will all be held accountable for the works we perform. We will be held responsible for the thoughts we think and the words we say.

I know that just as important as drinking water and eating well it is of equal if not more importance that we live good lives because according to how we live now that will determine how we will live afterwards. That is a principle that helps me to run fearless.

The Hurdle of Fear

Just a little announcement, tomorrow is my birthday so this will be my last post for the weekend... I think. Tomorrow will probably be a busy day. I decided to write today about something I read in the Runner's World Racing News

It was about a girl named Molly Huddle who said, "I need to be less afraid of trying to win...I can’t always doubt whether I can go with 600 left. I need to work on being a little more aggressive and being a little less intimidated by other people on the track."

I think that's something I am afraid of. Yes, you heard it, and you can quote me on that--Run fearless is afraid starting with fear of being great. I'm afraid of winning I think. I'm afraid of both positive and negative consequences that come from it. I think I'm afraid that if I start winning then I will become prideful, full of myself and forget the important people primarily God. I don't want that to happen.

I'm also afraid of injury. I think that's why I've had so many injuries in my life. Tons of tendonitis, stress fractures, twisted ankles etc. I have to get over that and hopefully we will be hearing/reading (from) a guest blogger about how to get rid of that.

I am afraid of failure. I am afraid that everything I'm setting out to do will not work out I will have failed.

The last thing I'm afraid of is letting people down. I don't want to let myself down. I don't want to let my wife down. I don't want to let you down or anyone for that matter. I want to be what everyone thinks I am. Or at least I want to be what I think that everyone thinks I am. What I think people think is that I'm great, incredible, amazing etc. Really, I'm just an ordinary kid trying to extraordinary things while I'm alive on this earth. That is why I want to run fearless.

Did you know "Hey there Delilah" was a runner?

Delilah DiCrescenzo is the Delilah from the Plain White T's song "Hey there Delilah". Did you you know that Delilah was a runner. For complete information you can go to Delilah DiCrescenzo wikipedia page. Turns out Delilah "finished 3rd in the steeple chase at the 2006 US Nationals, and won the 6K title at the USATF National Club Cross Country Championships in the fall of 2007. She competed at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials where she made the finals, but did not qualify for the Olympic team" (Wikipedia 8 July 2010).

The moral of the story is you never know anything. At least for me and my experience, as small as that is totaling 25 years worth, there is so much I don't know so I never throw anything out. There's always something that I don't know. For example...

Example #1: I thought I knew what it meant to eat healthily, I didn't really know and I'm still learning.

Example #2: I thought running with shoes was the only option, then I read Born to Run, my paradigm shifted.

Example #3: I thought I knew what it meant to train hard and run a lot, I didn't really know. I'm learning right now.

Example #4: I thought I knew how to be a good husband and father, I was wrong and I'm learning.

These are things and this is the attitude that helps me to run fearless. Check it!

The Secret to Being Healthy, Wealthy, Happy and Fast... Forever

Monday was a new day at work. I work from 5 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mountain Standard Time. It's really early especially if you run to work, which I do. It's about 6.5 miles one-way and it's great running to and from work. Up until Monday I had been listening in on calls. It was helpful because in my training the previous week we didn't go over what it would be like to deal with merchants from the U.K. There's not a whole lot different, but there are different standards and requirements.

I finally got on the phones and received my first few calls. My supervisor wasn't there because he was sick, so another supervisor was helping me out. The lady was Canadian living in the U.K. and it was, in my opinion, a great call especially for a first call. I hung up and then I got an ear-full...

"Good call but don't do this and don't do that and stick to the..." It was like he had totally looked past the positive/good things I had done and immediately jumped in to the things I had done wrong. The only thing he said that was good was the fist two words out of his mouth: "Good call." Now some of you would say, 'What's wrong with that?' Well, let me tell you, that's not how you give feedback.

Unless you want the person with whom you're talking to close up, become defensive and not really listen to you then go ahead--that's a perfect way to give feedback.

I started feeling anger, defense, and not even wanting to continue listening. Luckily I caught myself int he act and tried to be understanding but it was hard.

In that moment I learned that negative emotions can damage you. They can have a physical effect on you and bit by bit negative emotions can break you down.

The flip-side is true too. Positive emotions can heal. They can take you to new levels you normally would not have been able to achieve. They free you from emotional and physical bondage. I don't know if that makes sense, but we must release negative emotions, forgive, forget (to the best of our ability) and move on. Nothing good can ever come from harboring negative emotions. Only bad can happen.

If you find yourself in a rut. If you find your progress is being hindered. If you find that you are trying so hard to excel and SOMETHING is holding you back, chances are you have an unresolved emotional issue.

Yesterday my supervisor finally showed up. Still sick, but present and ready to help. He listened to several of my calls and after a couple I heard about 5-7 positive things and then some constructive feedback for what I could do better. It was like a breath of fresh air. It was inspiring, motivating and made me want to keep being successful and improve.

Something I didn't say was that at the end of my Monday shift (which, yes, was a holiday unless your main customers live in the U.K. and then you don't get a holiday completely) I took that supervisor aside and gave him feedback. I learned that he had pulled an all-nighter and had been up for 24 hours. I told him how grateful I was for his help because really I am/was grateful for his help. Then I expressed my concern and he took it very well. I was free and I felt so good.

I know for a fact of all facts that this will help you with ANY THING you are doing or will ever do. Some great resources for learning more about these principles is http://www.eftuniverse.com/ and the book Feelings Buried Alive Never Die by Karol K. Truman.

Anyways, for me forgiveness, love and letting go of emotional issues is how I have learned to run, live and be fearless. I still have a lot to learn and I'm not 100% fearless, but I'm getting there. Run fearless.

Release the Brakes: Creating Effective Affirmations

"Everything you want is just outside your comfort zone." -Robert Allen

Get out of your comfort zone. Don't be as dumb as an elephant. Stop re-creating the same experience over and over! What's your financial temperature? Change your behavior. Change your self-talk with affirmations. The nine guidelines for creating effective affirmations.

Okay, what do all of these things have in common? Yep, you got it. They're from the 10th principle in Jack Canfield's book The Success Principles. This is going to be quick. So here are the guidelines for creating effective affirmations:

1. Start with the words I am.
2. Use the present tense.
3. State it in the positive. Affirm what you want, not what you don't want.
4. Keep it brief.
5. Make it specific.
6. Include an action word ending with -ing.
7. Include at least one dynamic emotion or feeling word.
8. Make affirmations for yourselves, not others.
9. Add or something better.

Okay, you're probably like, 'That was more confusing than helpful.' So I'll give you three examples of how I've applied that to my running...

1. I am so happy, excited and grateful (especially to Heavenly Father) to be winning the NCAA Division 1 Cross-Country National Championships or something better.
   
2. I am ecstatic and elated to be experiencing great health.
3. I am so happy and grateful to be running hundreds of miles every week and to feeling so strong and fast.

It is recommended that we read these aloud to ourselves every day, three times a day if possible. I will end with a powerful quote:

"Your subconscious mind does not argue with you. It accepts what your conscious mind decrees. If you say, "I can't afford it," your subconscious mind works to make it true. Select a better though. Decree, "I'll buy it. I accept it in my mind." -Dr. Joseph Murphy

Thanks. Run fearless.

I was a mime once

My intention is not to be prideful, cocky or stuck-up about my country. I just want to share ideas and feelings about what I deem to be a great day. Today is a great day. Yesterday was even better. We are celebrating the 4th of July which is when the United States won a war that gave them freedom to be, do and have anything they wanted. I, personally, am grateful for that day. It has opened millions of doors and blessed billions, (is that exaggerating?), of lives. Let me tell how Independence Day helps me to run fearless.

I left for work this morning at 4:11 a.m. I decided to run to work and back (13 miles round trip) every day. I just thought, man depending on the time (meaning many years ago or something) and the place (meaning a different country) I could get or I could have gotten arrested for doing something that probably looked suspicious. I was the one running and I was even suspicious. I was also half-asleep... Anyways, my point is that I am grateful to live in this country where I can do that.

Many of you know that religion is very important to. Being able to worship God in a way that I want to is very important to me. (Click on My Beliefs page for more information on what's important to me.) There's a Bible story about Daniel who got in trouble for praying to God. He was actually thrown into a lions' den because he was caught praying. That and worse things have happened to people who have tried to worship in the way they wanted, but their government wouldn't let them without an intense price--torture or death or both. I am grateful to be able to "worship how, where or what I may."

Being able to have this blog and say anything I want is a blessing. I don't know if it's necessarily a blessing that comes from being from the U.S. but maybe it is.

Look at this picture below. I know, who is that stud? Of course, it's me. I am a mime for Halloween. What a crazy-cool country that lets kids dress up and get free candy. Kinda dangerous too, but mostly awesome.



I live very well. Even in a time when the economy is not doing its very best I was unemployed for a month and a half and now I have a job and still can do what I love to do: Run.

One of the many things that contributes to my opportunity to run, live and be fearless is the fact that I live in the United States of America. Thanks for listening to me/reading my post. You're the best, did you know that? Run fearless.

The quick version of why running long will help you run short

Okay, it's 4:39 a.m. Thursday morning and I want to post something good. I gotta leave for work in like 6 minutes so I'll do my best.

In your body there are three systems (and I'll do a more profound post on this later) and they are the ATP-Phosphocreatine system, the Anaerobic glycolisis and aerobic system. It just so happens that the greater the capacity of the aerobic system (which is developed through long slow jogging/running) the greater the ability the recover the anaerobic system.

For example, if you have a great aerobic capacity and you go out and try to run a mile as fast as you can, even though you're using a lot of anaerobic you will do better because your aerobic helps your anaerobic. Whereas someone really fast may go out fast and die because the fast twitch muscle is there, but the ability to recover deplenished systems is not.

Run. Fearless. :)

Avoiding death and making others happy

Right now it's 4:25 a.m. Thursday morning and I'm setting this post to post tomorrow because I'll be out of town. When you're reading this I'll be in the Seattle area which is where I was born, Bellevue actually. My uncle passed away in January if I remember correctly and they're holding a memorial this weekend so that all of the family can come.

I decided to take this post and talk about drugs, death and affecting others. My uncle did drugs. Don't get me wrong, I love that man. I didn't know him very well. He wasn't a huge part of my life. Actually I can't really remember him very much in these last several years, just from my childhood. You always here "Don't do drugs" and my uncle is an example of why you shouldn't. I was told that when he died he looked much older than he was and that was because of the drugs.

In the running world there are many athletes getting busted for using performance enhancing drugs. Rashid Ramzi from Bahrain lost his Olympic 1500 meter gold medal from the China Olympics because he was using drugs. Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery, from the U.S., lost medals from Olympic games for the same thing. Ben Johnson from Canada had the same thing happen to him. Especially with the sprinters, not only did they lose out, but so did their relay teams.

Moral of the day: Don't do drugs and you and everyone around you will be happier. Run fearless.