by Dan | Jul 22, 2018 | Exercise, Goals, Motivation, Weather, Wellness/Health
Don’t you wish everything in life was great, exciting, and worth jumping up and down about? Unfortunately, that may not always be the case. It doesn’t mean you sit and dwell on some of those bad circumstances. What are you going to do about them? They are part of your life. Are you just going to try and ignore them, or will you learn from them? The choice is yours. You can either be crabby and angry, and figure out how you can improve from them. We all have days when nothing seems to go right. But, we also have those days when nothing can go wrong! What was the reason for this? I would venture to say our attitude had a lot to do with our interpretation of that day. We decide how we are going to cope with it.
Last week, many of us here in Watertown did the Kampeska Mini Triathlon. Here we all are getting our instructions before the event was to start. Wouldn’t it be great if we had instructions on what was all going to happen in our lives that day? On one hand, our lives would be a lot more structured, planned, and maybe even boring. But life does not come with an instruction manual. Most of the time we are flying by the seat of our pants. There may be things that come up during the day we were not planning on, and we have to adapt to it, and figure out how we are going to handle it. Life is an adventure. This is also what makes life exciting. We don’t know what the future holds. It is a continuous adventure.
Granted, there are times when the days can be stormy. We don’t know what is going to blow our way. Thankfully, many of those times “go past us quickly”. Who knows, that same storm may look terrible one minute, and then next minute, have a totally different outlook.
The stormy looking clouds, and this picture were both while I was on the same walk. One minute I am thinking I better be turning around, and the next minute, they drift apart, and have a whole different look. This cluster of black clouds developed after those other “marshmallow” ones disappeared. To me, it looks like a group of birds with their wings spread out taking flight…taking flight on a new adventure. That is what can happen for us. Ride the storm out, and see what comes behind it, giving us a brighter outlook.
We all have those moments when we wonder why we do certain things. Why do we try to take care of ourselves, and try to work on doing more exercise? It is work! Are the rewards what we want them to be? I say yes! But, sometimes that realization may take a little longer to come to some days!
All of a sudden, things start clicking! We are in a groove, feeling good, doing things we enjoy to do. We are enjoying life! We start to see things differently. We appreciate things, and people, more!
Here is this same area of the lake the following morning after the above storm. Things are clearing up, we may even see reflections of where our life is going. We see things in a totally different way! These are the times that life rewards us. This is why we want to be around longer. This is why we need to take care of ourselves. This is why we need to strive to survive!
We need to be ready for anything. The Kampeska Half Marathon was yesterday. The finish line was at City Park, and the start was at Lunkers. We had to get that 3/4 mile to the start. People were piling into a few cars to get there. Keven drove us, but the car was packed. Sarah sat on my lap, and Amanda was crammed into the far back. We needed to adjust to the situation, and get to the point where the race was going to begin. Where today was going to begin for us. We laughed and joked on the way over. Now we will have another moment to laugh about later. Memories! Life! I can’t wait for the next moment! Keep moving everybody!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 3938
by Dan | Jul 15, 2018 | Exercise, Family, Goals, Motivation, Wellness/Health
The 34th Annual Hyvee mini Triathlon (“Tri”) at Lake Kampeska took place yesterday. It starts off as a 1/4 mile swim along the shore, then biking 14 miles around the lake, and finishing with a 5k run. It is a fun time, and a lot of people, friends, from the run club were there. Many other friends were also there. You are all there for the same reason: to challenge yourself, see what you can do, and then also to support and cheer each other on! You truly never know what you are capable of doing in life until you give it a “Tri”!
Here Sarah is getting her station ready prior to the race. There is a central station where you have to enter and get ready to take off for the next portion of the race. You have to plan this as well as the clock is still going the whole time during these transitions stations as well.
The girls, and guys, were showing off prior to the race. A lot of us do our training together, and our competing together. But it really is not about the competition. It is about the time you spend together getting ready, encouraging each other, laughing with each other…just spending time together!
Steve and Sally were coming out of the water at the same time. This was the first time for Sally doing this event. They basically did the triathlon together. No worries about time, just about the challenge of being involved, and doing it, and getting in some exercise. Everybody thinks that they cannot do this, until they give it a “tri”. What are you waiting for? You have no idea what you are capable of until you “tri”. Our biggest obstacle with exercise, and with things in life in general, tends to be affected more by what is between our ears than any physical limitation we may have. That is why the support from your friends is so important!
Exactly! Support your friends, and they will support you! The same goes for your spouse. Always be there for them as well!
In the process, you can also show off what you got, flex that power, pride! You spent time training, and getting ready. More important though, a lot of discussions and laughing has occurred during this process as well. Keep this going the day of the event also! If you are too serious with it, you will do worse because you are missing the whole point of being involved in the first place! Work on becoming great!
Set your sights high and reach for the sky! Don’t let your own doubts get in the way. Rely on your friends, and give it a “tri”! The finish line for that particular day will be in your sights. But, it is only the finish for that day. It truly can become the start for many more adventures and events in the future. Enjoy the ride! Keep moving everybody!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 3931
by Dan | Jul 8, 2018 | Exercise, Goals, Heart Health, Motivation, Wellness/Health
When I first started to see how long I could keep going with my consecutive exercise streak, I had no idea where it would take me. I was striving to see if I could maintain if for a year. I had no idea it would still be going yet…over 10 1/2 years, and counting. Some days though, it can be a real challenge to get out. Some of you may think this would be easy by now, but it is still an ongoing challenge. Trying to fit it in my daily schedule, with all of life’s twists and turns, can make it more challenging. Believe me, there are days when I don’t want to exercise. I could come up with many excuses to not go out. But, as time has taught me, I feel much better after I do. I need that stress reliever. I need that time to unwind, and either use it to get ready for the day ahead, or try and decompress from everything that life threw at me that day. “Uff Da” sums it up!
There are multiple things in life that pull at you for your time. You have to make the priorities and decide what is best for you.
There are always deadlines, pressures of work, and demands of people for your time. There are always hills to climb. But you have to face them. What do you do when you encounter this in your day? How do you handle the pressure of it all? Do you have any secrets to share with the rest of us? I would really like to hear from you! I certainly don’t have all the answers. I am trying to push myself, not to be better than anybody else, but to be better than I used to be. I only need to prove that to myself, and nobody else. Hopefully, over the long term, this will help me to be around a lot longer to spend more time with my family and friends. But you have to make if fun, or you won’t continue with it.
Sometimes I like to run, or walk, or bike, by myself. It gives me some time to clear my head, and think. The only one pushing me is me! I don’t have to wait to hear somebody else tell me advice, or try to expect an answer of help from someone else. I just need some time for me to process all this. Then there are those days when I really enjoy working out, or exercising with other people. What challenges are they facing? Maybe they have some advice or suggestions for me, or vice versa! I enjoy hearing how everyone else handles things in their life. We all have challenges, and we all work at them in different ways. How we go about it is individual to each of us. There are no two of us alike. We are unique to ourselves, and we have to figure those things out.
It sure makes it nice on those days when you are not by yourself, to have someone reliable to confide in, to bounce things off, to vent with, to exercise with! We all need those social times together to support each other, but we also need some of that alone time, to think and process things. Why do we do the things we do? The challenges we create really are of our own making. Turn them into a positive thing, and not another pressure of life. Sometimes I wonder why I continue to keep exercising everyday. I wonder what really is this proving. Then, after walking, or running, with time to process, I realize I am still doing this for me. I am the one benefiting by this. I am the one setting the tone for me. If maybe this helps get somebody else moving, and taking care of themselves, then great! If anybody has any ideas of what works for them to help get them motivated to exercise, please tell me! I always am willing to listen. If it works for you, then maybe it can work to help somebody else too. As individuals, we alone do not have all of the answers. As I wrote about several weeks ago, we all need to keep learning. But, we can also help teach each other things too. We all have something to offer, and we all have the ability to learn. Just do it! I can’t wait to hear ideas from you, so please, fill me in, and then I can help pass them on to. Some days I need help staying motivated as well to “keep my streak alive too”! We all need to help to keep moving!
Keep moving everybody!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 3924
by Dan | Jul 1, 2018 | Exercise, Family, Goals, Motivation, Wellness/Health
Life brings all kinds of challenges, some good, some bad. The same can go for the results. Life is like a roller coaster, with a lot of ups and downs, but there are always new experiences to be had. When the kids were little, we always had them with us when we would go to races. They were either spectators, or participants, but they were always with us. These pictures of them with their special made T-shirts were always a hit for me. I would come running by, and they would be cheering and yelling, and their shirts cheering me on: “Go Dad Go”. These are memories I will always cherish.
Now that they are older, I thought things would get easier to deal with. Wrong! As they get bigger, the problems get bigger. Sarah and I always worry about them. No matter what, they are still our “little kids”. Now that they are all 21 or older, we worry as to whether on not we did a good enough job raising them. We hope they appreciate what we did for them, and provided for them. But, we also want them to know how hard you have to work for the things you have. Nobody is going to just hand it to you. You have to earn it. We always were active, and wanted them to be active with us. You have to learn to take care of yourselves, and not rely on somebody else to do it for you. One of my daughters just texted me this week saying: “Ugh! This adulting is so stressful!” Yes it is!
We took them to our marathons that I was in, and tried to make it a vacation for all of us! I needed my personal cheerleaders with me!
We taught them young how important it is to keep active, and they continued with this as they grew up, whether running or swimming!
Our vacations included trips where we would go hiking, and exploring, and get to see things we would not have seen otherwise. We had fun doing it to! We did this as a family!
Last year we had them all back at the same time, and with boyfriends and finacees too! If you are going to be a part of this family, you will have to be active with us. We all were getting ready to do the Hump Day 5k run!
One thing will always be. I may be a doctor, and Sarah may be a doctor, but the biggest thing we want to be remembered for when we are gone is that we were a good Mom and Dad! That is what I would be most proud of. We may not have always done things right. After all, it did not come with an instruction manual. We had to learn this on the fly. We did the best we could, and hopefully it will pay off for them. That does not mean you quit worrying about them. When school struggles get tough, or work issues get tough, or just life in general gets tough, I hope they all know we are there for them. We love you guys! We want you to be successful. We want you to be healthy! We want you to be happy! Just like the back of your shirts told me at those races you were cheering me on with:
We love you too!
Keep moving everybody! Enjoy all that life brings you, the ups and downs, and learn from them!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 3917
by Dan | Jun 24, 2018 | Exercise, Family, Holidays, Motivation, Wellness/Health
It has been a busy 2 weeks! Sarah and I took off for Virginia and spent days with my daughter Megan. I got to spend Father’s Day with her, and the shirt I am wearing is what she gave me. A perfect present! A running Dad is the coolest! She is mainly a swimmer, but has been getting into running more and more. She had done a 5k the week before, and her and I went running a couple of times together while we were out seeing her. Virginia is loaded with things to do from a history standpoint. We stayed several days out with her boyfriend, and his parents, who live close to Williamsburg. We spent an entire day there, touring colonial Williamsburg, and the day before in Jamestown. I love seeing historical areas, and learning about the past. We had just began to scratch the surface of what was there to see. Over the weekend, then adventures got even better!
We spent one day touring the home of Thomas Jefferson, our third US President, at Monticello! Wow! I have always wanted to see this. The next day we toured James Madison’s home at Montpelier, our 4th President. Learning about things at that time, and what these 2 presidents did in founding our nation, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution. It was well worth the trip, and I learned a lot of things. After 5 days in Virginia, we then left to head back to Minneapolis, where I would spend the next 4 full days at a Sports Medicine conference.
Again, I learned a lot, but it was very intense. 30 hours of lectures. I definitely learned a lot! But, while we were there, we did exercise everyday. Sarah and I went running each morning before I would go to the conference for the day.
They had a bike trail, and side by side running trail, 3/4 mile from the hotel. It went along the Mississippi River. Great scenery! Lots of people out utilizing their trail systems every morning…walking, running, riding. It was a very popular place. The thing that was also nice about the conference is they had a separate room with 2 treadmills, and an elliptical, with the conference streamed in on TV in an adjacent room where conference attendees could go exercise in half hour increments, and not miss the conference. It was a popular place. I got on it once because it would fill up for the entire day quickly. I had never seen this done before with a conference. When you sit all day listening to lectures, it was a nice break to go do some activity, yet still not miss out on any of the talks.
Friday night we did manage to go have some fun. The hotel was 1/4 mile from Target Field, and the Twins had a home game that night, so we got to go!
We had seats in the second level, behind home plate! The Twins lost, but it was a great night to get out and relax.
Sarah and I just blended in with everybody else. The Twins may have lost, but the fireworks show they had after the game was well worth staying for. It was consecutive fireworks for a full 20 minutes!
All in all, we had a great time. We got to be away for a break, spend some vacation time with daughter, and then come back and learn about Sports Medicine. We always have to keep learning. No matter what any of us do in our lives, don’t ever quit learning. There are so many new things, and places to see, and explore. The days touring in Virginia we would walk anywhere from 5-7 miles a day. The better the shape you are in, the more you get to see. Take advantage of that. Never quit learning, and never quit moving. Life is too short already, and you don’t want to miss out on anything. If someone says they know everything, stay away from them! We all have things to learn. This was a perfect example of how to be on vacation, and still get an education! Keep moving everybody!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 3910
