The reason I’m grateful for this today isn’t really relevant to the post itself. The simple fact is that there was a situation presented to me that brought back an awesome lesson that’s been bouncing around in my brain since the conversation.

When I set the goal of running my first marathon I followed the training plan I selected almost exactly as it was laid out. There were over 16 weeks of runs laid out for me, specifically, how many miles would I run each day. I’d studied what it was like to train for a marathon and read a few books about what to expect, what was important, how to select nutrition and gear, and everything possible related to running 26.2 miles.

Each week I ran what I was told run. I focused on my goal of completing the marathon and didn’t let myself get distracted with delusions of grandeur of trying to hit a specific time. Even when it hurt and felt awful I still followed through on the plan. If you ever want a fun story ask me about my first 10 mile run, my first 15 mile run, and my first 20 mile run. I remember them each clearly even though they were over a dozen years ago.

I studied the course and had it memorized. When we’re the uphills. Where were the water stations. I took care of the logistics. Where would we stay the night before? How would I get to the starting line.

By the time it was race time I had put in all the work. I had prepared almost to the best of my ability. Everything was ready, it was simply up to me to put one foot in front of the other forty thousand or so times. It was time for me to perform.

Guess what happened?

My adrenaline was out of control. My imagination ran wild with crazy fears and concerns. I was panicking. I started second guessing myself, my training, my preparation, and my ability to finish the race. I got myself all worked up.

While I was in the middle of my freak out moment my little brother started joking around. I paused, took a deep breath, and told myself to chill. Next thing I knew Nick and I were joking away and helping each other relax and loosen up.

I started the race loose, I stayed calm, and I remembered all that I’d done in preparation for the race. I had already put in the work, followed the training, dug into what to expect, and had logged many, many, many miles of running to get myself ready for this moment. I told my panic, that self questioning voice in my head, to shut the hell up. I then did what I’d trained to do. One foot in front of the other. Over and over again until I crossed the finish line 26.2 miles later.

What did I learn from this? Put in the hard work, be gritty, and prepare as completely as possible. Once the pressure hits and I start to tense up it is the exact time to pause, breathe, and remember that I have prepared for this. I remind myself that I have put in the work and have trained, I need to be confidently relaxed and let the execution happen. Put another way – if I’ve put in the work to prepare there is no reason to panic, I am ready. All that is left is to execute.

Confidently relaxed. The best state of mind to be in to execute, to access that wonderful state of flow.

Sorry panic, there’s no room for you. Preparation took up all the seats on the bus before you got onboard. Sorry dude, you’ll have to wait for the next bus. This bus is headed to success.

Thanks!!!

Today’s been a wonderful day all around. What really sticks out to me is a higher than average dose of insightfulness. There have been many times in which I’ve listened at the right time to the right thing and made a connection I would have otherwise missed. In talking with others I put full effort on listening and picked up wildly excellent ideas which will and already have pointed me in the right direction. When being intentional with the audio inputs I’ve been rewarded with still more thought provoking insights.

Early in the morning I listened to a podcast that helped me prevent a potential strategy which would have most likely failed. Instead it shifted my perspective and helped me chart a new course. While the entire podcast was fantastic there was one specific line which would have been easy to miss. That one line made a huge difference today.

On the drive home I listened to a different podcast, one Becky recommended. As I listened and thoroughly enjoyed it I was reminded of how grateful I am for the joy my faith provides. I had an excellent conversation with someone about faith last week and it helped me think more on the why behind my faith. Today it was so readily clear. In learning more about it I live into a better version of me. In practicing it I become a better me. In focusing on it my life is more joyful. Whether my beliefs are right or wrong, that is not the point. The point is that my faith is helping me lead a better, more complete, and more joyful life as I live.

Last, there was another podcast I listened to after taking some quiet time to think on my book. They talked about journaling and how it helps us take an “internal voyage,” to learn more about ourselves. I’m beyond grateful for stumbling onto this therapy, this daily focus on capturing and processing my thoughts. Throughout my blogs I find I am continuing to learn more about myself, to dig deeper into what really provides me joy, and how I can work to close the gap between who I am and who I am called to be. Taking this daily voyage into myself has been amongst the best investments in time I’ve ever made in my life.

So there it is – a very insightful day. So many better ideas and thoughts when I pause to intentionally focus on the right things, when I focus on listening to others, and when I take time to reflect.

Thanks!!!

This morning I changed things up and went for a bonus run instead of hiking. I knew I wanted to be outside, but I wanted to get a little extra sleep. If I hike I have to drive 10-15 minutes there and the same back. By going for a run I still got my outside time and the benefit of a few extra minutes of sleep. Definitely the right choice.

Becky was lifting so I went on my first solo run in quite a while. I figured it’d be a good time to experiment so I used the session as a nice little running lab. Focusing on heart rate I decided to see how close to 137 I could keep it. That was more difficult than I’d expected as slowing down too much caused it to drop rapidly. Before the halfway point I decided to finish the run without breathing through my mouth – nose breathing only. That was wild! I was almost forced to maintain a pace that kept my heart rate below 138. All in all – it felt great to experiment and bring some freshness to my run.

There’s been a song stuck in my head over the last week and a half. I’ve liked it since the first time I’d heard it but our recent backpacking trip really enhanced it for me. The song is Frozen Pines by Lord Huron. You can check it out here: https://youtu.be/fG_WCN3PdZk Fantastic song that gets me thinking about the forest we walked through in the Porcupine Mountains.

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve had a few reminders of the importance of one of the behaviors I’m focused on in 2021 – being a better listener. I can get very excited about things and talk everyone’s ears off. I’m focusing on how to listen more often, more intently, and more actively. What I’m finding is that I’m often getting so much more out of conversations now and I’m enjoying hearing more about the lives of others. I’ve got a long way to go but I’m already seeing how much more joyful life is when I listen more often. I’m also realizing how much I appreciate people who already are talented at this skill. A seemingly perfect conversation is such a delicate balance and dance of getting all parties involved while all listening significantly more in proportion to the number of people. There is so much for me to work on, though I’m already seeing I’m much more often listening intently rather than waiting for my time to talk. Small steps forward but I’m very grateful for them.

Thanks!!!

It definitely feels a lot more like a Sunday than a Monday. That said, it’s still a Monday which means it is an exercise day. Becky and I opted for a 20-ish mile bike ride instead of our typical run.

Talk about an exhilarating time! Getting out on my bike was totally the right call today. The sun was out and we hit the road when it was about 60 degrees out. The clouds where whispy and provided the right amount of shade. Birds were everywhere on the trail, flying and singing. At one point there were a couple of huge rabbits playing on the trail in front of us. The views from the bottom of the valley were as wonderful as they always are.

In addition to the views it was awesome to get back on the bike for a longer distance. This winter I’d been riding it in the living room on the bike trainer 2-3 times per week. Once the weather got a little nicer I switched gears to hiking with a pack on instead. I was a little nervous how my biking shape was going to be for this first ride but I was pleasantly surprised at how well it went. My legs are a little tired now, but they felt awesome during the ride itself. Pretty sure I had at least another 10 miles in me! Not too shabby for the first time of the season.

So much to be grateful for on the first ride today. Everything went smooth. The ride was awesomely peaceful. Becky and I got a mini date in on the bike trail. It doesn’t get much better than that!

Thanks!!!

Another first in the Kreiling house today – Gavin drove the boat for the first time since passing boater’s safety. It’s crazy to think he’s now old enough to take control of our boat. Seems like only a couple of years ago we picked up our boat and we would watch him sleep on the deck after a busy day on the sandbar. Now he can drive while I sleep on the boat after a long day of sitting in the sun. 😉

The boys keep getting older and older – each first reminds me of that fact. Dad always said time would keep going by faster and faster, each day it seems like he was even more right than the day before. I am grateful for these firsts as they remind me to pause and think about how much they’re growing and maturing.

Congrats on a successful first run on the boat Gavin, you did great!

Thanks!!!

Another first in the Kreiling house today – Gavin drove the boat for the first time since passing boater’s safety. It’s crazy to think he’s now old enough to take control of our boat. Seems like only a couple of years ago we picked up our boat and we would watch him sleep on the deck after a busy day on the sandbar. Now he can drive while I sleep on the boat after a long day of sitting in the sun. 😉

The boys keep getting older and older – each first reminds me of that fact. Dad always said time would keep going by faster and faster, each day it seems like he was even more right than the day before. I am grateful for these firsts as they remind me to pause and think about how much they’re growing and maturing.

Congrats on a successful first run on the boat Gavin, you did great!

Thanks!!!

One of the positives to come from the COVID era was family hiking. We put on way more miles as a family last year than we had in any year previous – probably more than the two or three previous years combined. One of the ways we found solace from everything being shut down was to get out on the trails as a family.

This weekend is a big one for us as there are many “firsts” for us since March of 2020. We’re all amazed at how weird things feel for a minute or two but when how regular and normal everything seems within a matter of minutes.

Late this morning, in the middle of getting back to normal, we opted to take a lesson from 2020’s normal and get out on the trails. It was awesome! Perfect hiking weather. Cool. Sunny. Quiet. Perfect.

While life gets back to more and more normal I’m grateful for pockets of new normal we created during COVID that we’ll continue into our new old normal 😉.

Thanks!!!

Another easy night of blogging for me tonight! there were a handful of serious things at work I am grateful for today, but two very simple things really take the cake today.

Gavin and Dominic each have a friend sleeping over tonight. This is the first time in well over 15 months that they’ve had friends over for the night. Hearing them talk and joke has me smiling as I type tonight. It’s nice hearing them having fun and getting back to get another piece of normalcy.

With the boys taking over the upstairs Becky and I have retreated to our bedroom so the boys have space. After our post dinner walk I laid on the bed with a book. Becky brought LuLu up on the bed and she snuggled right in. Within a short period of time I caught my eyes closing to match her sleepiness. After I’m done blogging I might just give in and sleep too. Laying on my back with LuLu snuggled up and using my leg as a pillow is about the perfect way to wrap up the night.

Thanks!!!

Tonight’s blog post is going to be a quick one in a very fitting way. I’m tired, it’s past my bedtime, and I’m smiling all the way. The reason I’m going to bed late is exactly what I’m grateful for today… I was hanging out with friends and gaming IRL (IN REAL LIFE)!!!

Spending time all hanging out in person and not in front of a Zoom screen was nothing short of awesome. For half a second it seemed surreal, but then it felt like it always used to. Another one of those crazy time warp feels created by COVID.

Yup, I stayed up too late and I’ll be a bit tired tomorrow. All good by me, it was worth every single yawn tomorrow to be back to normal.

Thanks!!!

There’s no real way to ease into this one tonight so I’m going to jump right in.

This morning while I was reading the news on the AP News website an article caught my attention. As I read it I became increasingly angry. My mind struggled to comprehend what had taken place almost 100 years ago. A minimum of 36 lives lost due to hateful violence (and possibly as many as 300). What I was reading about was The Tulsa Race Massacre:

https://apnews.com/article/tulsa-race-massacre-1921-100-years-later-3bc13e842c31054a90b6d1c81db9d70c

If you aren’t willing to commit to the entire article, I can sum up the hateful activity in one short paragraph from the article:

“More than 35 city blocks were leveled, an estimated 191 businesses were destroyed, and roughly 10,000 Black residents were displaced from the neighborhood where they’d lived, learned, played, worked and prospered.”

AP News – https://apnews.com/article/tulsa-race-massacre-1921-100-years-later-3bc13e842c31054a90b6d1c81db9d70c

Want your blood pressure to rise a little more? Just in case that paragraph doesn’t get you thinking “what the hell,” here’s another fun fact… No white person has ever been imprisoned for taking part in the massacre.

If you want more information you can find another article discussing the massacre here: https://www.history.com/topics/roaring-twenties/tulsa-race-massacre

How this was never shared in history class blows my mind. When I brought it up with a couple of different groups of friends there were only a few who’d heard of this event, and they’d only heard about it recently.

Our country has made mistakes in the past, huge mistakes. We can’t go back in time to fix them, they’ve already happened. The least we can do is engage in honest dialogue and remember the mistakes that were made. In knowing and remembering we can work to prevent making them again. By erasing them we’re doomed to repeat them.

Today, while I’m seething with anger that this hasn’t been taught, I am thankful for finally learning about an event I should have known about decades ago. At least now I have more of the truth and can see more clearly the past as it was, not as others would portray it to be.

Thanks!!!