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 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
by Dan | Apr 24, 2016 | Exercise, Goals, Motivation, weight lifting, Wellness/Health
There are always challenges that will come up in our life, from start to finish…how do we handle them? Do we control them, and do they control us? Do we work at them to the best of our ability, or do they take us down a path we would rather not experience? Who knows, as there are always different situations that arise for all of us on a daily basis. We have to take them all individually, and do the best we can. In life, you have control over 3 things: 1) What you think; 2) What you say; and 3) How you act or behave. Our lives are not like our computer. We don’t have a control key that we can just hit when we need.
And we certainly don’t have the power to restart, or redo things in life by hitting on that keyboard “control/alt/delete” at the same time. Sometimes we may wish we could go back and redo things. That is what life’s experiences teach us: We learn from past mistakes. Two things in life we are in total control of are our ATTITUDE, and our EFFORT. Exercise can help with both of these, and can also help feel more like we are in control. We have to have control when we are doing resistance exercises, or lifting weights.
If we control our movements when doing exercise, we optimize the use of our muscles the way they were meant to be. We have to concentrate, focus, and stay disciplined…which teaches us the basic things needed for our life as well.
My daughter Megan is a swimmer, and watching her, especially in the backstroke, it the picture of control. In order to do this stroke well, you need balance, strength, grace, concentration, and a positive attitude. Here she is first for the start of a race of the backstroke:
She needs strength to get up in her stance, stay focused and hold that position until the gun goes off, and then the strength to push off backwards, followed by the grace to propel herself back up out of the water, all requiring a lot of concentration, and all of which starts with her attitude. Then the next 2 pictures are her showing the strength and grace this stroke requires, one from her in front, and one from the side.
It is amazing to watch! All of those above attributes come out during this stroke, and she cannot see where she is going behind her, so as she passes underneath flag markers in the pool, she has to know when to go under, turn, and kick back off the wall to go back the other way in one fluid motion. It is a like doing a race blind…she cannot see behind her, but has to have the trust, and confidence, to swim backwards, and know where she is going. She is in complete control! Just before she goes under, she takes a deep breath, and then goes down, does a flip turn, and has to”let it go” by kicking off the wall to head back. That is a good philosophy to have for life in general. When times get tough, and we think we “can’t go anymore” we need to take a deep breath, and then “let it go”! Just let it go!
Our attitude and effort are at the far right, and we need it at high gear to accomplish things. Exercise can help us to focus better, to improve our attitude…all based on our effort! Our self control can be determined by multiple things in our life, and all need continuous work and effort, and a positive attitude.
Utilize these, and improve our ability and sense of control! And remember, don’t worry about things you can’t control…it is out of our hands. Control what we can, and then move on. Take a deep breath, and let it go! I will keep working on my exercise streak, and have hit a magic number of “3131”…where it ends, I don’t know!
Keep moving everybody!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 3131
