Archive May 2010

Boxes. Little Boxes. Little Boxes on a Hillside.

My time in Utah draws near. I eat on outdoor furniture and just threw away some things I thought I would be buried with in my cozy little urn. I was thinking about a Greek Urn.

“What’s a Greek Urn?” Oh about the same wage as everybody else.

It’s fun to train again. I get up and do my little Goblet Squats and Swings and try to figure out a way to loosen up more. I have added a proud amount of fat the past few weeks and I’m dealing with that now. Then, each day, I train. I am doing the Boost workouts from Viking Warrior Conditioning and more presses than I ever thought I could do. I feel good. I am going to have some time to write soon, too, not just some rambling and musings.

I’m proctoring the last and final exam of my career. It just slipped past me…the time, the years, the days. Others have said it better:

Poem at Thirty-Nine

How I miss my father.
I wish he had not been
so tired
when I was
born.

Writing deposit slips and checks
I think of him.
He taught me how.
This is the form,
he must have said:
the way it is done.
I learned to see
bits of paper
as a way
to escape
the life he knew
and even in high school
had a savings
account.

He taught me
that telling the truth
did not always mean
a beating;
though many of my truths
must have grieved him
before the end.

How I miss my father!
He cooked like a person
dancing
in a yoga meditation
and craved the voluptuous
sharing
of good food.

Now I look and cook just like him:
my brain light;
tossing this and that
into the pot;
seasoning none of my life
the same way twice; happy to feed
whoever strays my way.

He would have grown
to admire
the woman I’ve become:
cooking, writing, chopping wood,
staring into the fire.

Alice Walker

Workout Idea

Rainy Day Workout…we put together a relay of jumps, sprints, med ball work into a race. I can’t believe how hard the kids worked. I’m always amazed at how a simple idea can get the kids to work so hard. People LOVE games!!!

Breath. It goes in. It goes out.

If you follow my Q and A over at davedraper.com, you might know what I am talking about. My daughter, Lindsay, thinks I need a massive heart attack, so she waits until the last possible second to win the state championship.

I trained today.  A kbell VO2 Max workout for just 15 minutes, but the clarity is amazing. Maybe that is why we train: not for the body, but for the mind.

I’m jumping at the bit to finish my book for Laree. There are grades to do for both my college and high school classes, but I literally can’t wait to finish this book. It is my “truth.” I strive to never BS you all in my posts, but after a lot of discussions and give and take, I feel like this book will open up the “answer.” Of course, the answer is like a Celtic Knot, unwinding it is impossible and turns it into a nothing. (Ask Pangur Ban for details!)

What a few days. On Saturday, when Lindsay mounted the victory stand (and was STILL shorter than second and third place), I simply began to sob. My mind drifted back to 1977 when I asked Mom what she wanted for Mother’s Day. She said: “A state championship.” She got her gift.

This weekend, I understood.

We pass through this little boat called “life” so quickly and seem to always look towards “next” and “then” as if the answers are “out there” somewhere. In truth, to quote the Epic of Gilgamesh, “Look at the child that is holding your hand, these things alone are the concern of men.”

We have killed millions since then, destroyed much, lost more, and I can’t say it better. I watch my daughters walk on into life and begin to pack my life into smaller and smaller boxes and wonder where the time has gone.

Gilgamesh, whither are you wondering?

Life which you look for you shall not find.

I am already playing and replaying the videos from this weekend and wishing I could “feel” that feeling again of elation and surprise. But, it is gone. Lindsay wants to head off to graduation parties and dinners and celebrations and I desperately want to grab her shoulders and tell her to love and embrace every moment.

Bur, like breath, it goes in and it goes out. Like life.

And so, tomorrow, I will get up, drink coffee, do the this and thats of life, train a little and keep on keeping on. Like breath.

Moving, Regionals, Life

Today, I am moving furniture. It is the only Saturday I have had off in months, so I am donating and giving a bunch of stuff away. It was very sad to give away (to a very nice person) our downstairs furniture. It was made of jean material which was perfect for a pizza and movie party for the girls. It’s gone.

Lindsay won the Regionals in the shot and took second in the discus. She is the shortest thrower by far, but she is so consistent that it puts a lot of pressure on the others. Her high school career is down to 12 throws, if she makes the finals. It happens so fast.

I’m sure there is a lesson here. There is an old old Irish bit of wisdom about asking the Creator of All to just stretch time a bit more to enjoy these beautiful moments. For those of you with young ones, I can remember always being in a rush to make sure of this and that and I let those seconds and minutes fly past me. I would like to breath out and smile a bit at the state meet this week and just enjoy the opportunity to watch my daughter throw. But, I’m sure someone is going to need a key or a pass or a baton or a drink and pull me away from this moment that never will happen again.

It’s gone.

My favorite “quick” workout…

I’m in the whirlwind, so workouts have to be fast. I like this little workout, and you can do variations of this all you want: pick a weight and get to 100 reps as fast as you can. Don’t do 100 singles, just do 100 reps. I did it today with the Double KBell Press with 24s (53 pounds). First set was 14, then you start counting right there…at 14 on your next set. I’m good for mid-teens all the way up. Rest period is enough time to pick a dandelion, do some Goblet Squat stretches and hang out.

In just a few minutes, you will close in on the 100 reps. Clean up and go. The heart and lungs take a hit here as the rest periods are not much. Moreover, if you had to pick “one,” Double KB Military Press is a pretty good choice.

On my nonlifting days, I am really working hard on the hip flexors and basic mobility. You can go far with simply lifting three days a week and doing everything else three days a week and watching the Kentucky Derby another day.