Get fit in 2013 thanks to these local clubs

We are lucky in OKC to have a terrific grassroots community of people that enjoy getting fit together. Your goals will be easier to meet when shared with others. You will also get the added benefit of making new friends and learning tips from others that have found success.
Intimidated? Do not be! These groups include all skill levels from the couch potato wanting to run a 5K for the first time all to way to elite ultra-athletes. The famous Oklahoma hospitality is alive and well indeed.


The OKC Running Club:  Landrunners
Thinking about running the 2013 OKC Marathon? The Landrunners offer free training runs that are wonderfully supported.
Oklahoma Bicycle Society: OBS
New to group riding? Try the famous donut ride.
Oklahoma Earthbike Fellowship: OEF
More than just an off road riding club, the OEF has promoted trail riding in the OKC area for years and works to maintain the system at Bluff Creek and New Draper.
TRI-OKC
Did you know OKC is home to a national champion triathlon club? Yep that is what they accomplished in 2012. With over 300 members and many local races to choose from, this is your best place to hit the goal of triathlon and duathlon.
Need to see the races for 2013?  Check out the homepage of DG Road Racing. They help produce most events in this area and are a great resource.
This list is by no means comprehensive. Do you have a favorite club that I have not mentioned? Feel free to add!
Just remember you are not alone! Get out! Get social and knock off some bucket list goals in 2013. You can do it!

Failing Forward

“The difference between average people and achieving people is their perception of and response to…failure.”
― John Maxwell
One of the key traits of successful people is a willingness to fail. There are many people out there that have never failed due to having never taken a risk. They have instead chosen the low road in life. The higher you try to climb the further you may fall after all.
The risk taker steps out in front of the crowd to try. She takes the risk, fails, learns and then goes at it again with a new and improved strategy.
This concept is known as failing forward and only a few have this great capacity. No one wants to be a failure but there are those who see missteps merely as chances to find new ways to win. Far too many people unfortunately use the fear of failure as an excuse not to try.
Perhaps they were a poor student before so the thought of spending money to go back to school brings memories of emotions felt when that “F” arrived.  Maybe there was love in the past that ended in heartbreak so the thought of the pain is just too much to risk again. There was the diet that went so well only to find the weight back just a few months later. The project we dove into with gusto and passion but found out quickly no one else was on board or willing to try something new and out of the box.
I say the heck with it.
What is the point of living if we are not pushing forward with a bet the farm; give it all everyday kind of attitude.
With just a few days away to the start of 2013, it is a great time to find some new ways to thumb the past and fail forward into the future. Take as stand and let the world know you are not afraid. You are willing fail because you understand that nothing really worth having was every obtained without some risk and some passion.
And if you do—2013 might just be the start of the best season of your life ever. It is worth a try at least huh?

Happy 14!

Fourteen years ago today I completed my final radiation treatment after a whirlwind 9 months of lumps, surgeries, lost hope, chemo and finally healing. Yes it was many years ago but at this time of year it seems like yesterday.

That is not a bad thing as each Christmas Eve I get a wonderful reminder of how incredibly blessed I am. This is true really for anyone breathing today. If you are alive you have a chance to make today and tomorrow even better. You can forget the past and move forward in hope of a better future.

There are a lot of crazy things going on in the world today and it can get so easy to be discouraged. I do not understand the whys behind sadness and tragedy. I think if you spend too much time on it the only result is to become bleak and bitter. Who really wants to live that way?

I am taking a new look this year as I move into my 15thyear. I chose not wonder about the why but instead take the special moments and just be thankful I am here and still have a chance to be alive.

I thank the Lord for every new day. May we all be worthy of whatever lot in life we have been given and do our best to live in a way that truly honors Him.

Merry Christmas

Being Present for the Holidays

The holidays are here and many people will take end of the year vacation time away from work to be with family and friends. My company has a use it or lose it policy and I have several peers that are taking days and still losing time.

I know that many folks that are technically off will still find themselves working every day by responding to e-mails, attending meetings and checking performance numbers. Managers are important people with many others depending upon them. At the same time, I think there is no more important job than that of a mother, father, grandfather, grandmother, brother, sister and friend.

Jobs are temporary but your family should be forever.

It took me a long time to learn this lesson and realize that it was hurting my family and ultimately my performance at work by not truly disconnecting from time to time. Here are some ideas that have worked for me:

• Chose a POC to be in your place when gone. This requires empowering the person to make any needed decision. Set this person up for success with good information and your confidence. Let her know that you will stand by whatever decision is made. This can turn out to be great development for the person and a motivator for the team as they see others being developed.

• Turn off e-mail. The e-mail icon with a growing number can be a terrible temptation. Turning off the sync feature will keep you from sneaking a peak and helps reduce the stress of knowing there is so much waiting.

• Still need to read e-mail? Schedule yourself time when it does not interfere with the family and commit to using that time only. I do this by blocking an hour very early in the morning and again late in the afternoon.

• Put the phone down! Believe it or not the world is not going to end if you put your phone away for an entire day. Give to your spouse if you just can’t resist.

• Set a no electronics time for the entire family. Make it known that you are committing to this and that you want everyone to join.

• Be an example! When you as a manager still overtly work when off, it sends a subtle message to the team that off is not really off. Many will think they must do the same and stay connected when away. Your folks work hard and deserve a leader that cares as much about their away time as their here at work time.

Material stuff is great but in many ways the greatest gift you can give those around you this holiday season is to be fully present with them. Do it now before you find yourself someday alone with only your e-mail as a friend. Pretty hard to get a hug from e-mail huh?

What about you? How do you disconnect from work and connect with the family when off? Got any tips to share?

Luke Rides Against Cancer…and for me

With so many fallen heroes around us it would be easy to become embittered and think our world lacks people of character who live more for others than for themselves. My observation is just the opposite with Luke N. as a mighty example.

Luke in 2012

Luke embodies everything that is positive about the Livestrong.org movement. He is only a teen and yet inspired by Livestrong.org and the Lance Armstrong story he has raised thousands of dollars over the years to fight cancer and he has grown to be one of the top young cyclists in the state of Oklahoma. His speed is powered as much by a passion to help others as it is by the countless hours of training and racing.

Luke rides for me and Luke rides for the millions of others like me that have been impacted by cancer. He has even gone so far as to found his own fundraising ride that will grow even larger next year I am sure .

Thank you Luke for who you are and for all that you are doing for the good of others. Stay inspired, ride fast and most of all—Livestrong!

Would you like to learn more about Luke and support his continuing fight against cancer? Check out his blog site and his Luke’s5Line site.

Lance Armstrong Lied. A survivor’s perspective

With Lance in 1999

Finally I have come to openly accept that Lance Armstrong cheated during his reign as the Tour De France champion and as the allegations spread over the years he engaged in a fierce campaign of denial to protect his reputation, his legacy and his foundation. Whew that hurts to write yet at the same time also feels good to face the truth openly.

There is a big part of me that did not want to ever admit to what happened. Deep inside I wanted to him to remain on the pedestal his legend created. After all, Lance and I did go through our cancer experiences around the same time. I even met him in person back in 1999 as I too was working on my personal comeback from cancer to start a life changed forever by the experience. Like millions of others, I wore the bracelet and felt inspired as he won tour after tour. Most of all, I saw firsthand the inspiration and good work that would become Livestrong.org.
Now thanks to piles of undeniable evidence my one time hero has fallen and my defense for him has come to an end. I want to believe that he did not do it. I want to believe that it was not all just a lie.  I want to believe Lance was a product of his cancer experience not of a sophisticated marketing machine. I want to believe that no man could look a balding child of cancer in the eye and lie. I want to believe in the Lance Armstrong that inspired so many people to do more and so many survivors to Livestrong.

Unfortunately the facts far exceed the want of my heart.

Wish I could sit down one on one with Lance and ask him to tell the truth but I am not sure even he knows what that truth is anymore. Lies are like that. We sometimes tell them so often and with so much passion that we grow to believe them ourselves. The hole becomes so deep that there is just no way to crawl out of the darkness that has enveloped us into the light of truth. This is especially true when the lie of the moment seems to be helping others be better and to do more.

Like with his return from cancer, Lance once again is in a position to show courage and move to the front of life as an inspiration to others. He can do this by admitting he indeed is human like the rest of us and he made a mistake. We are so used to people on pedestals falling that I know most would find forgiveness for him.

Lance—Show your courage again and just tell the truth. Only then can you move forward continue to help the millions of people that look to you for inspiration. Be human and you will be forgiven.

Meanwhile, I will keep on surviving and striving to remember the lessons cancer taught me.  I will press forward and I will strive to Livestrong.

What do you think?

Does it matter to you that Lance and his team led a complex system of cheating?

Do you think he should admit the truth?

Do you think the 1,000 pages of evidence are still not enough to convince you that he doped?

My Sprint Anniversary



The Sprint team from 1997

 Today is my 16 year anniversary as an employee of Sprint and anyone that has ever spent any time with me at all knows I love being part of the wireless industry. It is rare these days to work for the same company as long as I have but I guess I am the kind of guy that sticks with things.

Really that was an amazing few years in my life. During the period between September 1995 and the end of 1997 I experienced the death of my Mother due to cancer, got married, started a new job, purchased our first home, became a father, was diagnosed with cancer and completed cancer treatments with best possible results.

Now that is a lot of change and looking back it was a time that is fully impacting me today. Experiencing so many highs and lows in such a short span of time made me resilient gave me a foundational appreciation of life that carries me forward even today.

I am thankful to Sprint for giving me the path to provide for my family. I am thankful for my wife for loving me through those changes and those we are experiencing today. Most importantly, I am thankful to my Lord has given me these extra years so that I can be sitting here today reflecting.

Happy Anniversary to me

Do you stink?

“If you learn unhappiness too well you will get good at it”



David after 11 days on the trail

 This is a great slap in the face quote I heard recently from one of my favorite podcasters. The point was that the more time we spend unhappy then the more we will become comfortable with it.

I went on an 11 day hiking trip this summer and one of the rules was that we were not allowed to wear deodorant due to it being a smellable that could potentially attract bears. I wondered before the trip if an attack from a bear would be better than the smell of a group of unwashed and un-deodorized teen boys. Whew!

I realized on the trail this was not going to be a problem since we very quickly got used to our own smells and soon none of us noticed the stink. Things changed quickly however upon my return home when suddenly the smells that had surrounded me without notice attacked the senses much like a rampaging bear. Of course much of this was due to the equally powerful remarks from my repulsed wife that was thankfully working hard to launder and restore our gear back to pre-trip freshness. Thankfully we had taken showers before leaving camp so at least she was spared that little piece of goodness.

Unhappiness is a lot like our stink. Over time the things that smell up our lives can become so much an accepted part of us that we just move on and hardly notice.  We accept that our marriage will never be great, we will always be broke, we will never be close to our children and our jobs will always suck. To make matters worse, we often travel with a stinky crowd that accepts all of this just as the norm.

The reality is that it is way easier just to keep moving forward with things as they are verses taking the time to scrub away the mediocrity that is holding us back. Many of us also do not have a good friend that can look us square in the eye and say, “dude you stink!”

Fortunately for me have my wife, church, friends and others that are willing to crawl into my heart and let me know when a change is needed. For better or worse, I am also my own worst critic and seldom cut myself a break.

What about you? Do you have friend standing by with a good bar of soap? Have you and your partner set proper ground rules to ensure your feedback is out of love and not out of hurt? Do you take time to look deep inside to make sure you are not working to be a champion of unhappiness.

If not maybe it is time to turn a new direction and start that PhD of inner peace. Just don’t look back at that bear and get to running.

Getting on track again

I have been a little uninspired these last several months as far as blog writing for some reason. It was a busy summer with work (new boss) family (teen son) and Scouts (trip to Philmont). Now fall is approaching and I find myself in a difficult in between life event time. These are times when I find myself seeking a future goal to achieve and reflecting on my recent past. Looking back, I am finding myself once again wishing I had done more. More time in prayer, more time in deep conversation with my teen son, more time showing Michelle that I love her, more time being a mentor to the youth in our Troop, more time helping my team improve performance…. This list seems to go on and on.

The truth is that I never feel I am doing enough yet at the same time I also know I can’t do it all.

Glancing through my personal journal this morning a run across these questions that I posted more than five years ago:

• What are YOU passionate about?

• What has God put in YOU?

• What needs can God use YOU to meet?

• What breaks YOUR heart?

• What are YOU uniquely equipped and called to do?

What are my answers? Time to ponder and pray for answers.

What about you? What are your answers to these powerful questions?

Time is flying by..

It is hard believe that our son just weeks ago from completed his freshman year of high school. The realization that everyday day brings my wife and I another step closer to him moving on to college and life as an adult has hit me hard lately. Well and there is the whole turning 45 recently too.

The future is sitting hard on me. Much of it is financial with the expenses that come with children and time marching towards retirement. Trendy clothes, summer camps, a car (yikes!) and of course there is college. The current cost per year of an in state school is estimated at close to $20,000 per year if you include room and board when figuring expenses. The roller coaster that is life working for a company that has layoffs most every spring also does not help at times.

So how did this first year of high school go? Overall I would say Conner experienced success and the challenges one might expect as a student in a very diverse 6A public school. He made new friends, found himself with a new passion for music (jazz) and made his way through the maze that is teen high school life. Looking back, I am amazed at everything he accomplished and am proud of his choices

The picture of the man he will be in the future seems to be clearer all the time. I see a man that does not follow the crowd, respects others, loves to laugh, works hard, is a servant, is a leader, and more. Luckily he is many of the things I was not at his age and all of these are good.

We never know as parents what our child really feels inside. We hope their hearts are mostly filled with joy of the present and positive hope for the future. We know that at times it is filled with pain, self-doubt and questions. We pray that the positive and negative experiences of youth are simple building blocks to the trials that will come as an adult.

As father’s day approaches, I am so thankful to have such a wonderful son. Being a dad is the greatest of my responsibilities and the greatest of joys as well.

New Dads—Don’t let miss a moment of your child’s growth. They will indeed be gone before you know it.