Becoming an "Adult"

As I sit here on my 34th birthday and look back at the years that have passed I am trying to figure out when do I start feeling like an "Adult".  At some point in my life I should have transitioned into what in my mind is an adult.  I don't feel that I have done that.  This isn't the first milestone jump that I feel I have missed.  I can remember being in elementary school and seeing the middle school kids and thinking look how much bigger and older they act.  I can't wait to be in middle school and be like these kids.  Well before I knew it fifth grade graduation was happening and I was moving up to middle school.  When the school year started I didn't see myself as bigger or older.  In 6th grade there were still 7th and 8th graders to look up to.  I thought maybe when I'm an 8th grader I'll notice it.  Fast forward to 8th grade and I didn't feel like the big deal I thought 8th graders should be.  At this time I could see the high school kids and thought how much older and cooler they are.  Well I graduated 8th grade waited the summer out and started freshman year.  Of course as a freshman you're going to feel small as the youngest of such a huge school.  Sophomore year came and went without feeling older or cooler.  Then junior year came and I figured this should be the year I am almost a Senior and I have been playing football, I'm one of the older, cooler kids of high school.  However nothing felt different.  On to Senior year we are the big kids on campus.  We are the real deal.  But wait who is that off in the distance seeming smarter and deserving my attention.  Those are the college kids.  I want to be a college kid, go to parties, have my freedom.  Well high school graduation passed, my college classes started, I was still playing football, and yet I still felt small insignificant in my mind.  Needless to say I graduated college, got a real job and have kids but at no time has my mind said your an adult, you made it, your life has started.

     I referenced school because it is the easiest to show the separation in ages and privileges.  The truth is the end all game plan is to be an adult.  Be free and run your life.  All the while going through school there are many adults in your life.  Parents, Aunts, Uncles, Teachers, Coaches, Etc.  You look up to these people and strive to be like them.  Your mind creates this image of what it's like to be one and how it's suppose to feel.  Then your mind plays a trick on you and never lets you fully feel that way.  I became a parent at a young age.  My first child was born when I was 19.  I stayed in college and I worked to support my family the best I could.  I had a great support group to help me along the way that made this possible. When my son was born I didn't feel like an adult.  My mind didn't create me in it's image as I had held my parents in my mind.  Over the years my friends have had kids and I see them growing as people but my mind still pictures us riding around on a Friday night or just hanging out. We are still kids in my eyes.

     I am free and running my life.  I have matured and become the father my dad taught me to be.  I know that I am doing everything that needs to be done by an adult and I am successful at it.  My mind just doesn't realize that I am there because there's always someone I look up to and guides me to a new point in life.  Which keeps my mind looking upward.  Once I get to where my mind is directing me it opens the next chapter and shows me what needs to come next.  In the end "Adult" is just a dirty word that society labels us.  Don't stop learning, improving, and climbing the ladder of life.  Keep your Health, live life to the fullest, Be happy with what you are doing.  You might not realize it but there is someone out there looking up to you as the "Adult" and striving to reach that goal.  Give them something great to achieve.

Welcome Back!

     So I realized today that I haven't written anything since January.  I am not sure if there is even anyone out there that actually noticed.  The house is almost done, the wedding plans are coming together, and the honeymoon will be here before I know it. 

     Since the last post I have started and completely bombed on a few workout gimmicks.  The deck of cards workout was going good but I got sick and fell off the routine and never got back to it.  I created a progressive calendar to build up my strength and get the workout routine going again but that fell flat.  I realized I'm pushing to much to fast. I jump into these workouts full steam but my body can't take them yet.  This discourages me and I tend to fade out from doing them.  I have started something recently that I have been keeping up with right up until a week ago when work and kids games got in the way.  The difference this time around though is I have jumped back into it with no hesitation.  The main reason being is it is easy.  Easy doesn't give the results I'm looking for but it's better than nothing and as it becomes second nature I can increase the intensity.

 

     This routine consists of walking.  It started out as a simple mile course I mapped out by my work.  The best part about the course is that I am able to add, or subtract, and repeat when necessary to get the desired distance.  I have been able to knock off time from my walks and increase distance.  I am at the point that I just take off for an hour and see how far I get.  I have also incorporated walks after dinner. Again I was able to map out an area that can be increased or decreased depending on my time limits.  As I increase distance I can start thinking about jogging.  I call it jogging because realistically I don't run, I'm not fast, it's more of a glorified speed walk.  Although I have been told that I am still slower than speed walkers when I try to run.  When I do jog I have only been doing a half mile.  My goal is to do a half mile in 4 minutes. Once I have accomplished that I will increase to a mile and work on getting that to 8 minutes. Once that is accomplished maybe I will run longer distances I haven't planned that far ahead yet.  I don't see myself running anymore races that don't involve obstacles so long distance running doesn't seem important.  In the beginning I knew I wasn't a runner but I gave it a try.  My experience with the road races weren't pleasant, they weren't awful or by any means extremely torturous.  They just weren't lets go again fun, I mean even during the torture of going up Killington and back down through the woods and the 10 hour duration there was an amazing feeling of adrenalin and accomplishment.  I didn't get that same feeling at the road races.  I do plan on getting back to Obstacle races once everything is complete with the wedding and I need to be ready for that.  That is why I will go on walks and jogs, I also plan on getting some circuit type training going as soon as I purchase the equipment.  A fellow Spartan friend informed me of how cheap it is to duplicate the sand carry, bucket brigade as well as utilizing a few cinderblocks to get a full workout in.  I am hoping to start that next week if I can get the supplies this weekend.  I will document the making of the equipment and submit any thoughts and ideas of the training as I go.  If I start off simple and work my way up I will be able to commit to it.  Leave me some love in the comments, or suggestions on things you would like to see written about or tested.

Welcome to 2015

WELCOME 2015!  After a great 2014 that included racing, working, getting engaged, and starting a blog 2015 comes in with a lot of waiting.  Waiting for the house to be built, waiting for the big wedding day, the honeymoon and waiting to get back into Spartan races.

     The house search ended with finding a great little development project in the historic town of Ayer.  This came after months of looking at houses that had one thing or another that we didn't like.  We had been looking in Ayer and liked the area.  It is about half way between both our jobs and is affordable.  When we first looked in the development project we noticed it had exactly what we wanted.  Close to highways and our jobs, an yard for my kids to play in, and a house built the way we liked it.  It wasn't until a friends wedding that we decided the search was over we are moving into this neighborhood.  At our table was a couple that we had gone to school with.  As we got to talking and told them about where we were looking to move to they said "That's where we live!"  This was great we found out so much about the community and the houses.  The next morning we started looking at the website and had our real estate agent (who has been very patient with us and our very specific requirements for our house) contact the developer and started the process of having a house built.  We were very fortunate to get picked for this batch of houses and the lot we received is perfect. 

     The initial look at the lot make the decision get the pre-approval and put 5% down was like a 2 week time frame.  We were very nervous about the pre-approval but the mortgage company that we are working with did quick work and was able to get it done in time for the deadline.  This was the sprint portion, which includes the picking of the upgrades but we had a few extra weeks to think about them.  Now the endurance piece is here and we just wait for the house to be finished and it's time to move in.

     With the house portion of our new lives together figured out it is time to focus on the wedding.  We have the venue, and the DJ booked.  The Bridal party has been picked and everyone is on board.  The Guest list drawn up with the save the dates on their way to us.  Next stop putting them in envelopes and mailing them to the guests.  Then there is the decision of what to serve at the wedding, what songs we want to be played and which ones we don't.  I am sure there are a lot of other steps I am missing but the Bride will remind me as they need to be done. 

     After the wedding will be the much anticipated honeymoon.  We have decided to take a cruise to the Hawaiian Islands.  We are biased to Carnival cruise line since that is where I proposed to her.  The cruise doesn't leave for a couple weeks after the wedding so we will have to go back to work with the vision of an amazing vacation looming in the distance.   It will be 15 days visit 5 of the main islands and have a lot of days at sea.  The islands are going to be gorgeous and we will have 12-14 hours on each one.  As the wedding planning dies down we will start to look at excursions and plan out what we want to do on each island. 

Once all that is done we can put our focus on getting back to Spartan glory.  This doesn't mean we aren't going to work out until then it just means we won't be signing up for any races.  I am going to do the Deck of Cards workout that I wrote about the other day.  I will be modifying it as the weeks pass to keep it from getting to stale.  I will also be looking to get into some other kind of workouts on my non work days.