by Dan | Apr 2, 2017 | Exercise, Goals, Motivation, Wellness/Health
In order to build up our endurance, stamina, overall energy level, we have to be willing to get out of our comfort zone. We are getting to the time of the year here where there are all kinds of exercise events coming up: walking, running, biking, swimming! Take a chance, and see what you can do. The next one coming is Saturday April 8…the Spring into Action 5K/walk, and will be in support of the upcoming Child Advocacy Center that is coming to Watertown to help child abuse victims.
The first picture is the Hospital Hill run/walk, taking place on Saturday June 10. It will be our 21st Anniversary of the event. Time to sign up. Some people get scared off by going to events like these, but they are the perfect way to get out and exercise, and be among a crowd of people doing the same thing. I have heard enough people say “if I do this I am going to die!” That is why you have to build up to it, then you will be saying:
Then you will be hooked! You will be on your way to becoming a better you! Here are other examples, this next one being at the SF half marathon event held in the Fall.
It is a great run, with great weather, and you often times meet up with friends! We also have the Lake Kampeska minin triathlon, featuring swimming, biking, and running, and you can do solo, or as a team. Take your pick!
The big thing to remember with all of these is it does not matter what your time is. Time is irrelevant. Go for the experience, the adventure…step out of your comfort zone!
Become a better you! Make a change. Incorporate the 3 C’s in life:
You have no idea what this change in your life can mean…what doors it can open up in your life, and how you approach life, and appreciate life. Be adventurous! Take a chance, make a choice, and make a change! Become a better you! Keep moving everybody! Next week I will show how to incorporate resistance activities into your activity routine.
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 3473
by Dan | Mar 26, 2017 | Exercise, Goals, Motivation, Weather, Wellness/Health
It is that time of year. The time when Winter is about done, and you can hardly wait to spend some time outside. Spring officially is here, but he weather needs to be continually reminded of this. It is going to be in the 50’s this entire week coming. The snow, other than a few little scattered, isolated piles, is gone. The trail is in full use. People’s moods in general are starting to pick up. This is the perfect time to take advantage of this and get out and move. Time to work on getting some exercise and activity…time to become better…in health, mind, and body.
So take advantage of this time of year, and Spring into Spring! It is probably the easiest time of the year to start getting motivated, especially when we have been stuck inside for all of the Winter. Get out and enjoy the scenery. There are many things to see along the trail, and in particular, when you go around the lake.
Even Zeus likes to stop and take it in. It is a great time to go think, get some fresh air, and work on your health at the same time. Don’t let the excuses for not doing this start rolling into your minds. Just get out and move!
Our run club has been getting out all Winter on Sunday mornings for a run. The smiles on our faces say it all…the weather is improving! It is great to get outside. Time goes much quicker when you exercise outside versus inside on a treadmill. It is much more boring inside. We have our route going around the zoo. It never gets dull here. We were hearing the trumpeter swans in full chorus this AM!
It is time to party! It is time to celebrate! Who needs New Years resolutions when Spring is so much more accommodating for getting things accomplished in this regards. Take advantage of this. You don’t know what you are missing until you do. And, take advantage of the trail system. The scenery really is very nice to look at, and just get lost in your thoughts, and at the same time, getting some exercise. It involves taking the time for you…to become a better you!
Here was a view overlooking Lake Kampeska from the bike trail earlier this week. The clouds and colors at Sunset were impressive! I did not even feel like I was out walking and working. I was out observing and thinking. It is a great time to solve issues/problems that went on from the day. You don’t know what you are missing until you try it, and then…you will be hooked. Get out and move, and appreciate what life has to offer. Then, you will realize your life is all that much more rewarding and special. Become a better you, and get out and appreciate what living here has to offer! You won’t regret it!
Keep moving everybody!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive exercise day #: 3467
by Dan | Mar 19, 2017 | Exercise, Family, Goals, Motivation, Wellness/Health
Our lives all take us down different paths, all leading to different experiences, both good and bad. That is why we need to enjoy those unique journey paths. Journeys that are not the same for any of us. That is also part of the success in life, and how we can work at trying to become better. The relationships we make help all of us, as well as those other people in our lives. Who we allow into our lives also determines that journey. Be open to different ideas, different people, different paths!
Our pets can be just as important in our lives as anybody else. They also help keep us moving, or even help get us moving! They make great training partners, great friends…and best of all, a great part of our families. Our families are integral to our success, and for helping us become better. Who knows where each of us would be without them.
Sarah and I have been married now over 26 years. We run together, work out together…do everything together. We make each other better. I think that would be the same for many other couples. These next 2 examples show that too.
Owen and Jenn McElroy, who are both part of the Watertown Area Run Club. They also have 2 daughters, age 6 and 8, who also love to run. They lead by example, and their kids get to see this first hand.
Jill Makepeace, who is also part of Run club, and her husband Tim. She does the running, and he heads up the support vehicle, cheerleading team. Support is important in many ways, and being supportive of somebody else goals and desires are what makes relationships a success. We cannot do anything alone! It is always easier when you have support. Support for trying to exercise, improve your diet, and just trying to stay healthy in general.
This one is my daughter Molly’s sorority group…out walking the trails together, as a group. A group that is supporting each other to get out and move, helping each other to become better. The thing we always have to keep in mind is success is not measured by accomplishing individual goals, or agendas. Success is in the journey that you have getting there!
This is printed on the back of the shirt I wear for the marathons I have been in. It keeps me going. It gets me fired up. And most important, it truly is how success is measured…not by the final destination, but by everything you go through in life along the way. The friendships you make, the people you meet in general…the experiences you have along the way that create your own individual life. It truly is what makes us each unique!
You can go down that path together, knowing there are people around you who truly do care about you. They will support you, encourage you…be there…for you! This is how we all become better. Be there for someone, and they will be there for you. If you already are working on your health, whether by working on your diet, your activity, or both, great! If not, what are you waiting for? Somebody else cannot do it for you. It takes one step at a time…one minute at a time. Keep working on it…keep moving forward. You may experience some set backs along the way, but pick yourself up and get going again!
Remember, one step at a time! Going forward, looking ahead. Don’t dwell on past mistakes, or experiences that did not work out the way we wanted them to. Become a better you, and enjoy the experiences…the journey along the way. Keep moving everybody!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 3460
by Dan | Mar 12, 2017 | Exercise, Family, Goals, Motivation, Wellness/Health
We all have our own unique personalities, our own unique things we like to do, and our own unique, in general, querks! We made fun of Jill in run club with this picture. Everybody else was just smiling, and she thought we were supposed to be stretching…but she was the only one stretching! It is times like this that make us individuals. But because we are all different, we all have something to share with everybody else. We all have something to offer to others. We have something to make someone else better, and as a result, we become better. We all have some underlying characteristics about us that just need to get brought out to the surface.
Sarah and I had fun at the most recent Halloween Hustle run going as minions. We got to run in a race, and yet got to express ourselves in a fun, goofy way. As I said that day, “my Sarah is one in a minion!”. We need to let those other inner aspects of us come out…learn to have some fun in the process. Bottom line, learn to…
When you learn to let go of stress that we all have, in a way that allows you to have fun, life opens up. We have enough times during the day where we have to be serious, and get things done. But, we can have fun along the way. Exercise, and especially for me running, can be a great way to release stress, and have fun. It opens things up during the day that you end up paying more attention to. Things you may not have even noticed, all of a sudden become very noticeable. Noticeable enough to make a difference…if we pay attention.
When we were recently in Mexico, we would run, and walk, on the beach, along the ocean, twice a day. It was breath taking. We don’t get to see that in SD, so we were going to take advantage of it there. Many things show up, and make the day even more enlightening.
The pelicans would fly by, usually in groups, and swoop down to get fish. You could just stand there and watch, and they would come by. Many would get very close as well.
They were very interesting to watch. Never a dull moment. Of course, along some of those same times, I would notice other things more clearly too. Here I am on a beach in Mexico, watching the sunrise, and noticing Sarah in a whole different way. Now for me, talk about breathtaking!
Don’t ever lose sight of what is really important in your life. Don’t forget what makes you better…and that you can make someone else better. In order to discover others, you need to discover yourselves!
Take the time to discover you, so you can discover other things/people as well. This is what makes you better! Don’t lose sight of this. Appreciate those people in your lives, and what they do for you, and especially, what can you do for them? Life is short. We don’t know what tomorrow will bring. Strive to Survive, and continue to work at becoming better…better for you and others!
Those other people in your life is what life is all about! Don’t let things go by with regrets. Appreciate them all at the time. Spend time with them, and for them. Guaranteed way to become a better you!
Keep moving everybody!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 3453
by Dan | Mar 5, 2017 | Exercise, Family, Goals, Motivation, Weather, Wellness/Health
Sarah and I just got back from a vacation trip to Mexico. The weather was great! We lost a day trying to get there because of the blizzard in SF, but still had 6 days to enjoy. We had a little twist thrown in when Sunday night we got a call from our son, Nick, that he was in the ER and was told he needed to have his appendix out! What a wreck we were. I had a ton of help from my brother Tim who was in SF, and helped with everything. Nick was home later in the morning on Monday, did well with surgery, and my brother Tim told us now to relax and have a good time…everything was under control! After that, we really did need to unwind and relax, and the beach and ocean was the perfect place for it. We got to just unwind, read, take a nap, listen to the ocean, and spend time together!
We still got our exercise in! We either ran or walked on the beach early in the mornings, and then in the afternoons, we always went for a 4 mile walk along the beach. Talk about relaxation, but yet we were still active. There were also other things to stay active with while we were there.
The paddleboards were a great way to get out and enjoy the water and weather, but had to work a little at it. Sarah even got into some yoga and water aerobics at times during the days.
Best of all…we got to spend some time together. We don’t seem to get to do this much unless we are literally out of town. We have to keep working at this as well. We have to become better to each other, which will overall make us better! It was great to get out and enjoy the scenery along the ocean as well.
The pelicans would fly by and then dive down into the water for food. It was really cool to see.
Best of all, I got to walk and talk with Sarah! We have all heard about the movie “Beauty and the Beast”…well, this is my picture that I have called “Beauty and the Beach”!
The sand on many of the sections were so soft, and then we would walk back and see our footprints. We got to see where we had been, and yet still had an idea of where we were going!
We become better when we spend time with those who mean the most to us! We become better when we take the time to relax and enjoy life along the way. We all work, or have worked if we are retired. We all have different degrees of stress in our life. If we don’t take time to relax, the stress will eventually get to us all. Exercise is also a great way to relieve that stress, but listen to our bodies, and recover when we need to. Become a better you, and take the time to relax, and enjoy life along the way! Keep moving everybody!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 3446
by Dan | Feb 19, 2017 | Exercise, Goals, Motivation, Wellness/Health
Over the years, we have all gone to school, and we have all learned. But, we need to keep learning. Nobody knows everything, and once you learn something, then you need to teach someone else. This same thing applies when it comes to exercise. We have all tried things, different activities. There are certain activities we may like more than others, but we learned this by trying it. And, if we see other people trying it as well, and it is not working for them, we can teach them what we already figured out too. Even more important, we can teach what does, or did, work.
This is a great summary, and oh so true! And by continuing to teach, we ourselves can learn even more…more about anything…diet changes, exercise changes, lifestyle changes…even changes in life in general! There may have been times in the past where we had a lot to learn, and felt overwhelmed, and never would you ever think you would be able to get all this, much less teach it to someone else.
That is what medical school did for me! Here I am at the end of the second year of medical school, just getting ready to take my first Board exam. All of this on the table was just the summary review material that was going to be covered. I will never forget that time. The amount of material to know was staggering. But, it set the foundation for the rest of my life…and now I am also teaching it. By teaching it to someone else, whether other students, residents, and patients…I know and understand it even better now. But, it is also more enjoyable as well.
There are always things in our past that we may not like to think about, or would rather just forget. But we also learned from those experiences, and now can pass that information on to someone else. Nowhere was this more true than this past year when many of us were training for the Twin Cities Marathon with our run club. Those of us running it are in the top picture. For one of us, it was her first. I had the most at 12 marathons. All the rest of us had experience, and we all shared our ideas on what the experience was like for each of us. The biggest part of all of this was we all had something to teach, and we all had something to learn. I am still learning, but have to admit from Paula what I learned the most from her, with this being her first, is that overall excitement and enthusiasm you have when it is the first. You need to make each event, race, workout, whatever it may be, seem like the first, and go at it with excitement, adventure, and fun. We should even change the name from exercise to “enjoyable physical activity”. The more enjoyable it is, the more we are going to do it.
How is this for excitement? And with all the different levels of experience in this picture when it comes to running, we all have something to learn, and we all have something to teach!
Inspire someone. Teach someone. And in the end, it will not only change them, but you!
Don’t ever forget this! Life is full of adventure. Stay active. Take care of yourself. Teach someone what you know, and the same will be returned to you many fold. Enjoy life and all of its adventures! Become a better you, and teach someone about you and your experiences…your life! We are all unique and have something to share! Keep moving everybody!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 3432
