Random Picture of the Day

This is Mandi and I doing out best impression of Miami Vice. What do you think?

Getting Thrown Off Schedule

5:45am: It was back to a 5:45 wake up call today cause I had to get to the gym early to cram in the plans for the rest of the day. It was shoulder/leg day so the lifting part went fast and without any hitches. I then did some cardio for about 15 minutes. I wanted to go for more time, but I knew that I didn't want to feel rushed getting ready for the day, so I cut it short. I still got a good workout in and my lungs held up pretty well the whole time. They are definitely getting gunkier as of late, but I've also been off on my routine and I think that has a lot to do with it. It turns into a crazy cycle of getting to bed later and later, not getting good sleep, and then waking up later in the morning plus being more tired. Then, I would generally go to bed later the next night cause I don't get tired as early. It's so important to stay on as consistent of a schedule as possible. When it gets thrown off, I feel thrown off. Something has been different these last handful of days and I'm thinking it's a direct result of the crazy schedule. Somehow I need to get back on track.

Total Distance: 1.6 miles

Side Note: Speaking of getting back on schedule, it's going to be really tough for the next couple of days. Mandi's parents flew in from China today so we're going to be spending a lot of time hanging out with them and doing fun stuff. Luckily they're active old farts (sorry Nancy, I didn't mean it) so I'll still be active and not sitting on my booty all day. I'm sure getting the gym in should be no problem, but I may have to be creative with cardio.

Total Distance for Day: 1.6 miles

New Negative Lifting Routine + Movie Review

3:00pm: I'll tell you what, it's getting harder and harder to get up in the morning. Now, I didn't wake up at 3pm, but it was the first time that I did any other activity besides work. If I don't get to the gym to do cardio in the morning, cardio just doesn't happen. I can still do it later on during the day at the gym, but as far as walking the old pooch around the block, ain't happening. It is too stinking hot and getting up before it gets that way is getting tougher and tougher. This morning I woke up to my alarm go off at 6am but then some how blinked my eyes and it was 8am. Whoops. The morning was full of work and a little tv, but then I finally made it to the gym around 3pm.

I did a different arm workout today than I usually do and it turned out to be pretty cool. I think my muscles enjoyed doing something different and experiencing other lifts. I did a lot of "negative" lifting today. Every time I would bring the weight up, I would do that fast, but then I would lower it at a very slow rate. This is a good way to really get the fibers shaking and burnout the muscle quickly. I also did different lifts than I'm used to so I hit areas of my muscle that haven't been hit for a while. By the time it was all said and done I got a very good pump and my arms were fried. After lifting I hopped on the exercise bike and did thirty minutes. I tried to keep up a good pace but I was distracted often watching Sportscenter on ESPN and catching up with the latest from some gossip magazine that Mandi brought. I guess there's some huge love affair going on with actors from the movie Twilight. I've never seen it (is it a movie or a tv show?) and I couldn't pick put the parties involved from the crowd. I guess it's a pretty big deal though. Those magazines sure do make the time fly by!

Total Distance: 6.8 miles

Side Note: I went to see the movie Public Enemies tonight with Mandi and friends. Here's my review: 5 out of 10. It's just an average shoot em up old timers gangster movie. They do a great job at developing the main character (Johnny Depp) but I found myself bored when there wasn't a bank robbing scene. If you like the classic gangster movies I'm afraid that this one falls short.

Total Distance for Day: 6.8 miles

Went to See the Foot Doctor (with pictures)

So if you have been following this awesome little blog for any amount of time, you'd have noticed that I have a bum foot. My stupid foot has kept me from running consistently and at times I have threatened to chop it off and hope a new one grows in it's place. Mandi has reminded me though that I'm not a starfish and I should first see a specialist. Like an angel from the sky I met Lindsey through a CFF fundraiser who happened to be a what, that's right, a foot specialist (she assesses and then makes orthotics). She offered to take care of my foot and got me in to see the doc.

Here is the foot doctor journey in pictures:

POA of Scottsdale

These front doors could represent stepping into a new future of feet...I know a stretch...Sorry

My left foot is the one that has given me the most problems.

Here I am sweating bullets. I'm not at all used to doctors (I hope you can sense my sarcasm)

Why do all examination rooms seem to look the same no matter what they are examining?

If I knew they were going to have to tear the skin away from my foot to diagnose what was going on I wouldn't have agreed to the appointment. It hurt really bad, but I pushed through it.

They had me push my feet into foam to make some specially made orthotics just for me!

Here's the lab where they make all of the orthotics and fake limbs

Here's Lindsey. She's the sweetheart that made this whole thing happen. Thank you!!!!!

So I know you are all wondering what the diagnoses was. It turns out that I have pes cavus which means "highly arched" feet. For years, and I mean years, I've been telling people that I have flat feet. Shows how in tune I am with anything not called my lungs. I also was told that I have a "functional forefoot drop". What this basically means is that my heal and forefoot aren't on the same plane. My heel is constantly trying to get on that plane and by doing so it is affecting my arch. They started by giving me some "heal lifts" to try and even out that plane and then I go back next Tuesday to pick up a specially made orthotic for my feet.

I can't thank Lindsey and POA of Scottsdale enough for taking time out of their schedule to try and help me out. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Some Answers About My Foot

11:00am: So my day didn't actually start at 11am today, but that was the first time that I left the house. I decided to sleep in this morning a bit (until 7am) and by the time I got up it was a little too toasty to walk outside. I was very excited to get to the foot doctor today and see if he could get everything figured out. I got some answers which I will do a full blog on tomorrow with pictures.

3:00pm: It was off to the gym for a little chest and back. I've been a little tired today so I knew it was going to be a challenge to push through my entire workout. Luckily, Mandi wasn't really in the mood to be at the gym, so we were able to be unhappy together while we lifted :) We managed (somehow) to do the full workout and it was actually a decent one. I was able to increase the weight on almost all of my lifts and felt much stronger than I thought I would. I also sweat probably 43 gallons of sweat into my shirt. I was absolutely soaked. It looked like I had entered a wet t-shirt contest in Cancun or something. One reason I was so sweaty was because Mandi and I decided to take very short breaks in between lifts so the "misery" wouldn't last so long today. We both just wanted to jet. Like I've said many times though, if you can stay committed on days like this, imagine how easy it will be on the other days? Current Weight: 187 lbs.

Is a Little Infection Coming My Way?

6:45am: So here's what stinks about Arizona (just a little bit), I got out the door to walk at around 7am and it felt like I was stepping into an oven. It was barely even the morning yet! What's going on people?! About .5 mile into my walk I could tell that J Bell was dragging and to be honest, I think I was as well. I turned back to the house to get back into the comfort of some A/C. I figure that I either need to start doing cardio at the gym or I need to get up earlier. Since getting up earlier is become less and less of a viable option, it looks like the gym is going to have to be the place for the cardio. Luckily, J Bell was happy with her little one mile walk and was pretty pooped from the heat when we got back home.

Total Distance: 1.0 mile

The rest of the day was kind of blah. I had some work issues that were weighing on me a little bit but I think that overall I was just a little worn down. I wouldn't be surprised if a little infection is brewing as well. I've looked a little flushed at different parts of the day and have felt like I was running a bit of a fever. I ended up ordering some inhaled TOBI from the pharmacy that I will pick up tomorrow in case anything is going on. I took it easy for the most part today, but I felt like I had to do something since my walk this morning was only 1 mile. That something was playing in Mandi's pool with her and her brother Josh for about 90 minutes.

We played just about every pool game I can think of. We saw who could hold their breath the longest and I won!...just kidding, I held it for 30 seconds and thought I was going to pass out :) We did Marco Polo, we did sharks and minnows, and we did some other games that they might have not even come up with names yet. Mandi and I did some pool dancing and we tried to do some cheerleader lifts. That didn't go so well, I'm a bit too weak. I did however get some great cardio workout in and was moving some stuff up my horsing around in the pool. Just as a side note: before my last hospitalization I didn't have the energy to do pool games. Mandi even made that comment as we were playing around. It's nice to hear and see real progress like that.

Side Note: I'm going to the foot doctor tomorrow! They're going to check me out and see if a specially made orthotic will help with my foot pain. I'm soooooo stoked!

Total Distance for Day: 1.0 mile

24.1 Total Miles for Week of June 22nd

Week of June 15th: 11.85 miles

Week of June 8th: 6.95 miles

Week of June 1st: 10.6 miles

Week of March 25th: 17.85 miles

Week of March 18th: 11.75 miles

Week of March 11th: 17.2 miles

Week of March 4th: 17.7 miles

Week of April 27th: 15.7 miles

Week of April 20th: 22.9 miles

Week of April 13th: 18.75 miles

Week of April 6th: 20.95 miles

Week of March 30th: 31.7 miles

Week of March 23rd: 24.48 miles

Week of March 16th: 34.85 miles

Week of March 9th: 23.6 miles

A (1.7 million dollar) House Hunting Sunday

My Sunday started out like every other Sunday which is church and Dunkin Donuts. After church and DD we decided to do a little house hunting. Now, it's not really that I'm looking for a house right now, but if one fell into my lap that was a steal, I'd take it. The prices in Phoenix and in the surrounding valley are incredibly lower and I have a feeling will become even lower yet. The biggest reason we went on a house hunt today is because Mandi and I thoroughly love looking at homes and going into open houses. I find it very interesting when houses are staged and often times you can get great ideas on how to decorate your own home or which walls to paint what color and with what accent. Sorry, my HGTV spirit started to come out. We drove around a lot of Chandler weaving in and out of streets trying to get a feel for what type of homes are in the area. After many zigs and zags in Chandler we decided to switch it up a bit and head 40 miles north.

It's amazing how big Phoenix is. We drove 40 miles to the north of Chandler and were in city the whole time. We ended up looking at some custom homes outside of Phoenix that people ended up not finishing and were letting go at rock bottom prices. The only problem with the area that we were looking is even the nearest grocery store is quite a ways away. One thing that is very cool about the area though are the amazing mountain views, the wide open space, and the proximity to nearby lakes. We started to make our way back to Mandi's parents house by swinging through a "town" called Fountain Hills. We actually stopped about halfway through town and toured an open house. It had great views, but was a little outdated for my taste.

Before we went to Mandi's house we did stop at one more open house on the way. This one was in north Scottsdale in a gated community called Sierra Something or Other. The house was 6277 square feet with 6 bedrooms, 7 bathrooms, a theater, a gorgeous backyard, and about every upgrade you could imagine. It could all be yours for the new low low price of 1.7 million dollars. Here's the crazy part about that, it was recently reduced from 2.7 million dollars. To give you an idea of how impressive this house was though, it was rented out to Kid Rock for $10,ooo a week. VH1 rented it for 50,000 for two months to film the reality show Pick-up Artists 2. It was crazy cause I actually recognized certain parts of that house from the show. I was pretty awestruck my whole time in that house and I had one thing running through my head the whole time: If I bought that house, I would HAVE TO start an orphanage.

The day concluded with a trip to the gym. It was arm day and my arms felt pretty beat up after about two lifts. It was hard to push through at the gym today, but I'm very glad we did. I spent about 30 minutes trying to talk myself out of going until Mandi talked (twisted my arm) into biting the bullet and just going. It proved to be a good workout overall. I'm so lucky to have Mandi! Current Weight: 188 lbs.