The second "F"

Sometime soon, i should do a summary of the first two SPF's so far, one of these days.

But for now, I'll tackle the second F (financial) goal/idea...I think an important thing to think about in your financial lifestyle is to make sure you live within your own means. It can be easy to try to compare yourself to friends or family who have bigger and nicer things like homes, autos, or other things, but doing so can make you want bigger and better things when maybe you can't afford them. Living within your own means can be a difficult thing to do sometimes but is a must if we want to stay out of debt, tithe properly, and save for things like college for the kids and/or retirement for ourselves.

Prayer today is for Adam Shay, who is layed up with back issues.

Postponed long run

Cara and I postponed our 8 mile run until tomorrow since it is supposed to be 60 degrees out. Probably a good day to rest anyways since neither of us feel that hot. Hopefully a good night of rest will do us some good.

Instead of a prayer tonight, I thought I'd share one of the verses I read today. Mark 5:28, "if I could just touch his coat that will be enough to heal me". Oh, to have that kind of faith...

2nd "p"

The next "P". I think it is very important to set goals for your diet or physical improvement. Whether it be a weight loss goal, or a workout goal, it is important to have something you are working towards. I also think it is good to set a realistic goal and a dream goal. My realistic goal is to get in to the gym or workout 5 times a week, no matter what. My "dream" goal is to run the May 12th half marathon in a 9 minute mile pace.

Prayer tonight is for my kiddos...nothing specific just for them in general.

Late run

Luckily I was able to get my run in tonight as Cara was giving the kids a bath. I am struggling to keep up with the daily blog...I can't seem to find enough time to spend to actually say something worth while. Workouts going well, eating only ok...

Prayer tonight is for Jodi and her pregnancy...due in April.

Weights

So I decided to work some weights into my workout plan. The schedule we are on has us running four days, cross training one day and two rest days. So, I am going to start lifting on the two rest days. Long lean muscle is my goal...we'll see.

Prayer tonight is for my wife... I love her lots.

end of the weekend

Well, the weekend is about over and to summarize how I did this weekend, I guess I would say I did average.  I ate better today, and got in my recovery run of just over 2 miles...my legs were toast after the 7 miler yesterday.  But, they feel pretty good now.  I ate a little better today than yesterday, and now at 10:15 tonight, I am actually starving and am having to fight the urge to go downstairs and grab something to eat.

This week I'll need to get back on my SPF initiative before the month is over.  I need to get back to spending a little bit of time on the blog as I have been slacking a little bit.

Prayer tonight is for Austin Miller and his heart isse that he has been dealing with.

Decent Saturday

okay, so last night I vowed to have a better weekend eating, and today I did a little better I guess, I didn't really eat all that great of a lunch, then we had ice cream after dinner...so really I didn't do that great.  We did however get in a 7 mile run, and I did that in an hour and four minutes (or about a 9:13 pace), so I was pretty happy with that.  It was pretty nice outside and we were able to run outside which is always good.

I must eat better tomorrow!

Prayer tonight is for churches and leaders of the churches across the world as they prepare for worship tomorrow.

Losing blog steam

It is amazing how after a month of solid blogging nearly everyday, I now struggle everyday to find time to blog. I know all of the blog followers are waiting on pins and needles for my next blog, (yeah right)...well I am finally back on, and I need it. I have been working out pretty good but my eating hasn't been so great, time to get back on the wagon. I am going to try real hard to eat good this weekend and see if I can drop a pound or two. We have a 7 mile run on tap for tomorrow...should be fun.

Prayer tonight is for the family of the guy who was serving in Haiti and died while working to serve others.

Run and swim

Cara and I had to do a six mile run on Saturday. It was cold outside so we had to take turns on the treadmill. One hour on the treadmill is a long time, but I did it without stopping. We had a real busy day on Sunday, so we took the day off from running. Today was supposed to be a rest day, but instead I got in the pool again, I did another 2,000 yard swim in 50 minutes that felt pretty good.

Prayer today is a praise that Eli's MRI came back with good results!

Better workout today

After my miserable run on Tuesday I had a much better run today. We had to do 5 miles today, I started off a little slower than Tuesday and built up. I still for some reason really wore out after 4 miles. I had to run/walk the last mile, but still got down in under ten minute mile pace. Tomorrow I am taking the prescribed rest day before we do a 6 mile run on Saturday...should be fun.

Prayer is for a friend who is trying to get pregnant (unnamed for now).

Rest day

I found out the hard way yesterday how important rest days are. Instead of taking the rest day on Monday, I swam pretty hard. Then yesterday I was supposed to run 3.5 miles and my legs were absolutely dead. So, I took today off as I have to run 5 miles tomorrow and 6 miles on Saturday...we'll see how I feel after Saturday. Morale of the story, take the rest days.

Prayer today is for the Spring Hill, KS community.

The next "S"?..Love

So with a new month, comes a new set of SPF (spiritual, physical, and financial) ideas/goals. To go along with keeping myself accountable to myself with my diet and workout plan, I thought I would also write out this idea I have had for some time about this SPF.

As I was putting Cameron down for bed tonight, I was laying there thinking about how much I loved him and Eva and then thinking about how much I loved Cara and how fortunate I am to have such a great family and great friends as well. I was thinking about how much I love the kids even after they can be complete monsters at times. Then I was thinking about God's love for us and even when we are "monsters" God still loves us. If you think about it, Love is really what makes the world go around. The ultimate act of love was of course God sending his son Jesus to be the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. As much as God loves us, we too should love God, others, and ourselves. When the religious leaders tried to trick Jesus in Mark chapter 12 verse 29-31 by asking Jesus what the most important commandment was, he answered "The most important one, answered Jesus, 'is this, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself'". So that's it, we should love God, love others, and don't forget to love yourself!

Prayer tonight is for Marc Lundy and family...

Small breaks can easily turn into long ones

It is pretty amazing, I didn't blog for two days and all ready I didn't want to do it again tonight. I can so easily get out of a habit it is not even funny.

I did get a good five mile run in on Saturday and the half marathon training is doing good so far. I did however eat way too much on Sunday while watching the Superbowl at church, but everything was so good so it was worth it.

Prayer tonight is for Theresa and her job situation.

Heading to the weekend

Improved on my swimming today, got in 2,000 yds in 49 minutes. I hardly ate all day, then went and stuffed myself at dinner...probably not the best way to do things...but a splurdge once in a while I think is good for you.

Prayer tonight is for little Julia Rodgers to get healthy.

Late post

Quick hit tonight...had a great night at Grow Group. Also ate pretty good and got a decent 4 mile run in this afternoon. Cross train tomorrow, then a 5 mile run scheduled for Saturday.

Prayer tonight is for all the prayer request we had tonight.

Swimming

I had a new swimming best workout today. I did 1,700 yds in 42 minutes at the gym today. It felt pretty good and thankfully my workouts in general are finally getting better. I ate pretty good today as well, pretty good start to February. On a church note, our Nathan Project Bible study was great tonight...a good bunch of high school boys have been coming pretty consistently.

Prayer request tonight is for one of the boys in our group tonight who is having some problems at home with his dad.