by Dan | May 29, 2016 | Exercise, Family, Goals, Motivation, Wellness/Health
This is the final installment of my success in life series. How better way to end this series than to talk about inspiration. We all want to be inspired when it comes to getting motivated to exercise, or even in general, motivated in life. But, it is actually more important, and rewarding, to be an inspiration to somebody else.
Here I am last weekend in Fargo…running the 5k with my daughter Molly. I was running to help get her through, but she was my motivation for the day. There is nothing like coming across the finish with your arms raised in the air with one of your kids! The highlight of my weekend!
We all have those things that inspire us in our lives, but for me, nothing more than my own family!
Here was my son Nick after finishing the half marathon! He was pumped! He had never run a half before, and he totally took charge…and had fun doing it!
Nothing brings more joy to me than seeing how my kids get along, and how all of them help to take care of themselves and exercise. This picture of me with my twins when they saw each other for the first time after spending their first semester of college apart from each other…a first ever! They had tears in their eyes they were so happy to see each other…
…This of course put tears in my eyes! Nothing makes me as a Dad more proud then to see my kids get along with each other! I owe a lot of that help to my wife Sarah! Of course, our kids see how we get along, and care for each other, that this starts to rub off on them!
This is one of the views Sarah and I had when we were in Hawaii celebrating our 25th Anniversary! The view takes your breath away. Sometimes we all need to do that as well…stop and take a look at the big picture…figure out what is important in our lives, and then continue to work at it. That is what is inspiring! But you have to keep working at those things in your life! Nothing comes easy. The old saying anything worth having is worth fighting for…nowhere more important than here.
So, life, just like in a race or walk that you may enter, needs to have a start point!
Don’t limit your challenges! The sky is the limit. We are limited more by our own minds than our bodies!
Just remember to keep looking ahead, and focusing on where we are going, not where we have been!
Keep moving everybody! Be an inspiration to somebody else, and you will be surprised at how inspiring that can be for you! That is truly success in life! Now I am challenged to come up with some other ideas that maybe will be an inspiration to somebody else as well, and maybe help motivate them into taking better care of themselves, and work on their exercise and health. That will be my continuing ongoing challenge…and if it may help somebody else, that is what inspires me!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 3166
by Dan | May 22, 2016 | Etc.
We have all had times in our lives where we feel we were “wronged” by somebody. Sometimes we can move on, and sometimes it just keeps “hanging on”, and we keep bringing ourselves back to it again. We have to learn to let it go! We need to be surrounded by others, whether family or friends who support us, and help remind us, that they are they for us, no matter what. Here are my 3 kids when they were little, and I was running the Twin Cities Marathon. They were a walking billboard for me that day. This was the message on the front of their shirts. It can be a reminder to us all to “Go”! Keep moving forward, and learn to forgive those things in our lives, or people in our lives, who we have had an issue with. Exercise is a great way to help relieve that additional stress.
Forgiveness is not the easiest things to do in some situations…but for many, is the only true answer.
But can it ever change things going into the future! A huge amount of stress can be taken off of our backs just by doing this. Sometimes we may need time to think, time to go workout and relieve that stress and figure out what to do, and at other times, we just need TIME!
Forgiveness can help us move on. Exercise can be a source to give us that energy, and time to think, to be able to move on! You don’t, or won’t know, how much until you try it!
We need to rely on people around us, and closest to us to help with this. It is amazing how much this can help as well!
As I was coming to the finish line of the marathon that day at Twin Cities, my kids all turned around to give me another message! I have never forgotten this…ever! And I don’t think I ever will! This was huge to me, and a reminder to me that I have people who care for me as well! We don’t need to always do things by ourselves, or have to get through those tough times by ourselves! That is what family and friends are for! The picture is at the end of this post!
Keep moving everybody! Learn to forgive…learn to let it Go! I frequently look back on this picture…it is one of my favorites!
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 3159
Dr. Dan
by Dan | May 15, 2016 | Exercise, Motivation, Wellness/Health
As a runner, we continue to learn things on the “fly”. This is no different with any kind of exercise, or activity in our lives. If we surround ourselves with people who have either more experience than us, or can provide a different perspective from what we are used to, we can learn! Here are some of my training partners, Tom and Steve, and on the far left is world renowned marathoner Dick Beardsley. We met him at the Fargo Marathon Expo one of these past years. He was always one of my “running idols” growing up, and was also one of the sparks that got me into running. He is originally from Minnesota…a farmer…who ran for SDSU. He became more famous when he finished in second place to the then top marathoner in the world, Alberto Salazar, at Boston, losing by only 2 seconds. The famous “Dual in the Sun”, of which Dick wrote a book about, and I have an autographed copy of! Somebody else always knows more than we do, or at the very minimum, can write about, or describe in a different way of doing things that may click more with us. We are all individuals, and learn by different ways. We have to be more open to those different perspectives, and be willing to learn from them.
Last year we had Stephen Heidenreih, top miler and runner from Watertown, who came back to visit from Colorado and put on a class for education or runners, and yoga for runners, as well as a talk the day before about his experience as a runner. It was great! Another perspective on what running has done from somebody! Again, it does not have to be just running, but exercise in general.
The point is, we all have room to learn! More important though, we all have something different to offer and teach to someone else as well. We have to learn to tap into that potential. We just have to learn that sometimes we may need to ask.
Always Seek Knowledge Acronym
I can’t sum it up much better than this one!
Even though all of us on run club may do a lot of exercise/running…we don’t know everything…
…but we gain knowledge from each other! Every week we learn something else, from each other!
But, the biggest thing about knowledge…believe in yourself!
Keep moving everybody!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 3152
by Dan | May 8, 2016 | Exercise, Family, Goals, Motivation, Wellness/Health
Mom’s come in all shapes, sizes, personalities, and characteristics…but they are are some of the most important people in our lives. Here is my mom, and my wife, Sarah…mother to my 3 kids. These 2 are incredibly special people to me…every day, not just today, you are the most important part of my life…and have helped me be a success in life! I gained another mom with my mother-in-law Twyla as well. These 3 ladies all share some of the same characteristics that are universal to moms:
They all have worked hard in their lives, and continue to work hard, for their families. Nothing else ranks higher that this. They are human just like everybody else. We all make mistakes, but we can learn by them. Nobody works harder at fixing those mistakes than mothers. There is nothing they would not do for their families. My mom and mother-in-law have been good role models to Sarah as well, and I love you Sarah more than anything!
Every day, not just today, I see what an incredible mother and wife you are. So today, and every day, I want to be sure that you know how much you mean to me, and how much I love you!
Yesterday, we were down in Sioux Falls to run the Avera Breast Cancer Run…where everybody is out to show their support for their moms, wives, sisters, female friends…all fighting breast cancer. It is a great event, and again, well over 5,000 people, all there to show support for those women that are important in their lives.
Just so you know, I will always be there for you as well. And your kids will be there for you as well!
You have helped them become a success in life! This next slide describes all you do for them, and for us! As my mom has done for me, and your mom has done for you…and all moms have done for their families!
Thanks to all of you, my mom, your mom, and you Sarah, for helping to make our family a success, and for us to be a success in life! And with that, there is nothing else to say on this day, this Mother’s Day, but to wish you, and all moms on not only this, but every day…
Keep moving everybody! Take care of yourselves…our moms out there care about us!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 3145
by Dan | May 1, 2016 | Exercise, Goals, Heart Health, Motivation, Wellness/Health
When it comes to staying healthy, and in particular, exercising, self doubt always comes into the picture. We doubt we can “keep doing this”, keep working at it, as fatigue sets in, or our busy everyday life takes over. But, we need to make it a priority. We need to be confident that we can keep going. Above all else, we need to accept ourselves!
This is Susan, one of my former nurses. We workout at Anytime Fitness multiple days a week in their Fun Fit program. We both stepped out of our comfort zones, and keep working at it. As her shirt says, “Absolutely Amazing”! Believe you can, and you are half way there. If we don’t have confidence in our own abilities, we won’t get very far in life. We need to step out of our comfort zone, explore new things, do new things. Be confident that we can!
We definitely need to be strong, but there are those times when we need to feel invincible. If we don’t believe in ourselves, then who will we believe? And the only true way to keep getting more confident, is to push ourselves. If we never try, we will never know what we can achieve or attain.
Here Susan is after one of our workouts. Some days the sweat can be pouring off of us. Again, as her shirt says, “Good things come to those who sweat”. I was giving her a hard time about her “fashion wear”. High multi color socks, state of the art boots (we had snow outside!), and here she is just exuding confidence! We had just done one intense workout, and we worked at it, and she could have cared less what anybody else would have thought…it just happen to be me right then (which made it even easier for her to not care! Ha!) Believe in ourselves, not what someone else may think! If we get too wrapped up in what everybody else might think, we may never get off of the couch. Who cares! You should care about you! You should care about all of the reasons why you are trying to stay in shape; why you are trying to stay healthy. You/we want to be around longer, enjoy life, and enjoy our friends and family more!
Susan is a great example of this! Tell me I can’t, and I will show you I can! How true Susan! Way to go! You also know that this does not come easy. It has been fun having you in this class. We give each other a hard time, but believe me, it helps get me fired up, and motivated to keep going. This goes for everybody. We should not have to do all of this ourselves. Sure, there may be times when we want to go for a walk, or a run, by ourselves. But other times, it is much more enjoyable to work out with somebody else. The times goes by faster, and you keep each other going. That is why Sarah is one of my best running partners as well. These are all times to burn off frustrations, and to prove to yourself what you are truly capable of doing. Confidence! Never underestimate its power.
Here is my daughter Megan diving in at one of her meets (she is second from the left). Straight as an arrow heading into the water. Confidence! For her, this picture shows determination, power, and above all else, no fear! She is confident in what she is doing! “Get out of my way, because nothing is going to hold me back!”
How much better can I say it than this? Believe you can, and you will! Believe you can, and you will show how you can! Believe in yourself, and you are half way there to achieving your goals! Just be sure to have some time for yourself as well…
…after all, you earned it! So, go run for yourself, or walk for yourself, or bike for yourself…exercise for yourself! You deserve it. You are worth it after all!
Keep moving everybody! For yourself! Be confident in your abilities!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 3138
