by Dan | Jun 5, 2016 | Exercise, Family, Goals, Motivation, Wellness/Health
I have spent this last year discussing about exercise, life, motivation, and inspiration. I have had topics of me about how to stay “In it for the Long Run”, and most recently finished up a series on “Success in Life”. Now is the time to reflect back on all of this, and then incorporate it going forward. How better way to start than a picture of my friend Tom and I. We have been through a lot together. Many races, challenges, training runs, and all of these times has a story to tell.
Life is full of adventure, and ours adventures can fulfill our passions, and our passions create our life! This is what I will incorporate going forward. Discussing my adventures in regards to fitness and activity, how it fulfills my passion in life, and how this passion has helped create my life, and everybody and everything in my life. I will talk about how some of this passion of mine has rubbed off on other people, and what two people could this include more than some of my nurses, both current and past.
Here are Chris and Susan after they just finished their last adventure…having finished their first half marathon in Fargo a few weeks ago. The looks on their face says it all! Excitement, pride, accomplishment. They did it! Way to go you two! They started a new adventure, which all of us at times need to do as well.
We all have a time when we need to start something new. Something we have not done before, or go somewhere we have never been before. That is what makes life exciting! Explore! See what’s out there. Take advantage of each new day we have, and live life to the fullest. By the time we are no longer here, we want to be able to say “I lived my life with no regrets”! Time to become adventurous!
Here is Zeus waiting patiently as I am eating popcorn, just hoping that I will give in and give him some. His concentration is unbroken! He will continue to stare me down until I give in! Sometimes in life it is OK to wait patiently for things, and other times it is not. We need to make things happen, not wait for things to happen for us. Let loose…be bold…go explore…find out what we may be missing! Life is an adventure!
So hang on! Time to go explore! Time to go on an adventure with our life! Time to help find our own passions, and to live our life to the fullest. And so the adventure begins…I will take you on my adventures, and then see where your adventures can take you, as we all Strive to Survive! Keep moving everybody!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 3173
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
