Mommy Needs Breaks Too

My lovely wife recently bought me a GPS watch (Garmin Forerunner 410) with heart-rate monitor (HRM) to keep track of my running workouts. On Saturday morning, I decided to ramp up my Warrior Dash training by running my normal course twice for a total of 4 miles (or only 3.79 mi as my watch accurately informed me). What's great about this watch is you can upload your workout data to a website and view the data visually in various charts and tables. You can see the data from my previous workout here.

Tary was set to leave the house for a girls-night-out but she was very upset when her cousins weren't ready to leave on time. I felt bad because she doesn't get to go out that often to relax and de-stress so I think it gets bottled up inside. The last thing she needed was to squander this free time waiting for others. I also need to be more helpful around the house so I can lessen some of the burden from her shoulders.

So Daniel, when you are old enough to read and understand this, please give your Mommy a big hug and a kiss and tell her that you love her. She spends hours pumping, cleaning bottles, doing laundry, cooking meals, changing diapers, and many other miscellaneous Mommy-tasks each week because she loves us. We just need to tell her that we love her too!

After a while Tary was able to get out of the house and do whatever girls do when they're out. I called my BFF (who I affectionately call "Uncle Jesse" from the sitcom Full House) to come over and help me watch Daniel. Things started off pretty well. I was able to clean up around the house while Daniel took a nap. I fed him an early dinner and gave him his bath. Then we started to fade...

Daniel is like an energizer bunny. He never stops playing and simply wore us out. Uncle Jesse fell asleep on the sofa. I started to drift in and out on the living room floor. Daniel took liberties to climb all over and around my corpse.

Mercifully another friend texted me while returning from Boston. She came bearing gifts of Korean fried chicken from Bon Chon and some Dunkins iced coffee. It was like sipping liquid energy! Ahhh!!!

More friends came by to visit and Tary returned from her night out. We sat around and hung out. There's nothing like having good fried chicken in the company of great friends.

Warrior Dash

A friend recently told me about an upcoming event in late June which involves a 3-mile run through mud and obstacles called the Warrior Dash. They give you a viking helmet (cool), a t-shirt (also cool), a voucher for a turkey leg (very cool) and beer (pass) for completing the course.

You are timed and it's set up like a race only it's way less serious. You can go with friends who can help you complete the obstacles or push you into the muddy water. Some people dress up in silly costumes just for added laughs.

I started training today by running a 1.2 mile course around the neighborhood that I plotted. After passing two houses, I was reminded why I hate running so much. This hurts!

God blessed me with a tall, (relatively) lean frame, long gazelle-like legs, skinny fingers, near perfect vision that any eagle would jealous of, and great hand-eye coordination. My body is a fine-tuned, well-oiled machine...

...perfect for sitting in front of a computer and typing super fast and writing code all day.
I'm clearly not built to run far. Or fast. My lungs shouldn't be burning so much.

Good thing God also blessed me with a good amount of dedication and a fierce competitive spirit. Training is hard work but that's one thing I'm not afraid of.