How to Maintain Fitness and Wellness Habits: Tips and Techniques

How to Maintain Fitness and Wellness Habits: Tips and Techniques

Maintaining your fitness and wellness habits can be challenging, especially when life gets
busy. However, developing simple and effective strategies will help you stay on track and
keep your health a priority. This article will provide you with a comprehensive guide to
staying fit and healthy, complete with tips and techniques that you can implement in your
daily routine.

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The Saturday/Sunday Supporter

What does it feel like to come across the finish line of any race with the support of the race volunteers and spectators?   Personally it is a pretty good feeling.  What does it feel like with the support of fellow racers, family, and/or friends?  My emotions tend to be more positively charged, and to a much higher level.  Endurance sports tend to be a little lonely during races anyway, so the support level on the course may even be a determining factor on the outcome of an athlete’s personal race.  How do you feel when you have friends and family at a race versus when you don’t?

I had the honor of being support crew for two races this weekend.  The first was the culmination run for the last session of my Fit2Run 5k group.  The race was Saturday Morning, in Dunedin, at the Our Lady of Lourdes 5k.  I really enjoy having my students at these smaller racers.  Not only does it give them the experience of the race, but it also allows them the opportunity to stand on the podium.  This race, we had an age group winner within my circle.  To no surprise Linda Shutt again took 1st place in her age group even after being out for a small injury.

The course was a little tougher than I expected, but a good experience for my runners.  It was a trail run, that included soft soil, grass, and even sand, so for some of my runners these posed a couple of new challenges.   If you want to know the truth, the marking of the race was a challenge for me as I actually wound up lost on the course and ended up completing a 10k instead.  (Pause for laughter)  Luckily my girls, and Carl,  all came across the finish line smiling and a couple with Personal Records.  If you enjoy small races with a couple of small challenges, check out Our Lady of Lourdes Annual 5k Run.

Tanner, Jessica and Cheryl before the Swim start

On Sunday the first TriRock series triathlon was in Clearwater with the start and finish lines at Pier 60.  Overall, I thought the race was run very well, and seemed well organized for an inaugural race.  The weather was perfect in my opinion.  A little chilly in the morning, with it rising to just under 80 degrees by the finish of the race.  I had three Tri-Peeps running, Tanner Stevens, Cheryl Henderson and Jessica Glover.  This was to be Jessica’s first Olympic, so all of our eyes were on her, not to mention her positive attitude is completely intoxicating and endearing.  You may remember Jessica from my Jet City posting as she is the owner and operator of my favorite coffee hang-out.

Jessica Rocking out on the Run

The race has two distances an Olympic, or as they call it, Intermediate (1500m swim, 25 mile bike, and 10k run) and a Sprint (600m swim, 13 mile bike, 5k run).  All of my friends competed in the intermediate distance, because all of three of them are pretty experienced in all three events.  The race started with music from live bands which only enhanced the energy radiating from the voices of the announcers.  It was the typical mad rush for the athletes to setup their transition equipment, dawn their wet suits and head over to the swim start.  One of the announcers sung the National Anthem, and I was very impressed as it was sung acapella.  As a performer I understand how difficult a piece the Star Spangled Banner is and I was incredibly impressed with his version.   He sang with a bluesy undertone but with a rock attitude.  By the audience reaction I would say it was a success.  In my opinion it was at least better than Steven Tyler version during the AFC Championships earlier this year.

There were a few waves for each distance with the Sprint starting 15 minutes after the last Intermediate wave with the swim being an outer and inner loop.  The finishers did cross in some instances, but the finish line was wide enough to accommodate both.  I didn’t see any issues with transition as it was large enough to handle all of the equipment and runners of turf were actually put down for the athletes bare feet.  (Note to any Triathlon Race Directors reading:  This small detail adds a huge comfort to athletes.  Just sayin’.)  The entrances and exits were clearly marked and even with the two distances using the same course, there was not a lot of crowding.  As a spectator I did enjoy the run being an out-and-back south and then north as well.  I was able to see my friends twice on the run before the finish.

I didn’t explore too much, but the expo looked small, but loaded with great vendors, the beer tent was sponsored by Red Hook which is pretty decent, and the headlining band was an AC/DC cover band, which for me was perfect.  Being a child of the 80’s has it’s perks, obviously.

Overall , I was impressed with the event.  I actually wished I would have been able to compete in it, but I enjoyed being there to support.  Out of our little group we did end up with Tanner on the podium for third place in the 25-29 age group at a time of 2:24:16.  With a possibility of two IMs next year I do not believe I am going to be able to compete next year either, but if I have friends that decide to compete I will make sure to be here again.

Athletes, Support and the Goof
Carpe Viam!


9-11 : 11 Years Later

September 11th will always remain a significant event in the history of this country.  The day when Osama Bin Laden dared to bring terrorism to the United States and unfortunately succeeded, at least at that point in time.  Where were you on that day?  I bet everyone I ask that question will remember exactly where they were.  Me?  I was getting ready to go on an interview for a job.

I was just coming out of the shower when the phone rang and it was a neighbor and really good friend of mine, Sue.  She told me that a plan had struck the twin towers and to immediately turn on CNN.  I swear I told her it must be a hoax until I actually did turn on the TV.  I was completely wrecked at the site of the replay of the first plane hitting the tower.  As the camera went back live to grab a shot of the destruction,  the other plane struck the towers.  I was completely floored and I felt like my whole body was over stimulated with anxiety.  Then the worst thing happened, I heard another explosion except this time it was not coming from the television.  It came from a distance outside my condo.  Oh, I didn’t mention that at the time I was living just outside of Washington DC and I had recently separated from the United States Army where I was stationed at the Pentagon.

Within three minutes CNN was relaying the story of the Pentagon.  I put some clothes on grabbed my Pentagon badge and left.  When I arrived just outside of the gate, guards were already posted at the parking lots and the entryways were fortified.  A soldier came to my window and told me to turn around, so I flashed my Pentagon badge and told him I wanted to help.  I had people in there and I was a trained EMT and I could at least help triage.  He wouldn’t have it.  I then asked to him to radio the head of security because I knew him and he knew me very well, but he had his orders and he was not going to make any special provisions.  I couldn’t argue with that.  All of the military police, security, and medical personnel were all under a great deal of pressure and being that I knew what that was like, I wasn’t going to argue.  I turned the car around and went home.  It took twice as long for me to arrive at home as it did for me to get there, but after walking in the door and immediately turned on the TV and there I sat, on and off, for two weeks.  I was a sponge for information.  I made frequent calls back to my old unit asking about people I knew.  On that day there were three soldiers who were, subordinates of mine at one time, missing.  Friends in other units also missing and two of my mentors pronounced dead; Sergeant Major Robert Strickland and Lieutenant General Tim Maude.

It was a crushing blow for me.  I had dinner at both of their houses.  General Maude would take me to the Officer’s Dining Room where “a little lunch” was a huge steak and baked potato with all the fixings.  SGM Strickland filled in instructing a couple of classes at Ft Jackson when I was in training and then continued my mentorship when I ended up at the Pentagon after Korea.  The only thing I could think of was that if I felt this bad, it had to be 100 times worse for any of the victim’s families.

My best friend Sean was living outside of Times Square at the time, and his auditions and work took him all over the city.  I immediately picked up the phone and gave him a call, but the circuits were overloaded.  I wouldn’t talk to him for three days.  The mood around DC and Virginia was somber throughout the coming weeks.  It was heavy with dread and confusion, but something positive happened.  I noticed that there was very little hostility toward one another.

Everywhere I went I could see citizens going out of their way for one another.  For example, an incident that happened to me; the roads were slick after a little rain and I ended up in a 4 car fender bender.  Maybe not a fender bender, but a hard love tap.  The front car hit the brakes, the car in back of her hit their brakes, then me, then the guy in back of me.  We all, got out, looked at our cars and we all had some small dents or paint nicks.  My Xterra had part of the bumper had come askew but it looked like it could be fixed pretty easily.  The weirdest thing was, no one was mad.  We looked at each other shrugged asked if anyone was hurt and basically agreed there was just too much crap going on at that time to worry about such a minor incident.  We didn’t call the cops, we didn’t exchange insurance info, we didn’t even exchange names.  We shook each other’s hands and went on our way.  I saw this happening everywhere I went.  Their were customers actually moving their carts to the corral at grocery stores or even helping the employee stack them.  I saw two, three, sometimes four cars stopping on the side of the road when a motorist was changing a tire asking if they could help.  The whole country was supporting each other.  It seemed to last for months before it started to slowly return to the normal disdain.

It was just an amazing sight.  I guess the question is why can’t we always feel that way toward each other?  Why does the country have to go through an incident of massive destruction for citizens to realize we need each other?

Unfortunately, there are not a lot of people that read my blog, but those of you who do, I challenge you to take an hour every day and think about other people before yourself.  As you are in your car, and you see another car that is really trying to merge into traffic but no one is allowing them to enter the line, stop and let that person in.  If you notice someone having issues loading groceries into their trunk, offer to help.  It is just these little acts of kindness that can change the world as we know it.  Lets prove that we do not need a major incident to bring our country together again.