Infinity Gantlet 19.3 Mile Challenge

It seems like an eternity ago, but this last January Jennifer and I made the trip down to Orlando to run in some races. Jennifer did the Disney World Marathon and I ran in the Dopey Challenge which was a 5k, 10k, half, and full marathon in 4 consecutive days. At the time we said it would be cool to run one in Disneyland California sometime. Well, we decided to make it happen sooner rather than later because if you run at both places in the same calendar year then you can earn a special medal that is called Coast to Coast. So we signed up to run a race in November. Turns out this proved to be a very good decision because we later found out that the race we signed up for ended up being the last race at Disneyland for the foreseeable future. Jennifer didn't want to miss out on getting more medals like in Florida earlier in the year, so we both signed up for the Infinity Gantlet which was races in back to back days for a total of 19.3 miles (10k and half marathon).

Our first stop was the race expo. We wanted to make sure we got our packets since we had a race the next morning at 5 am! The process was really easy and it didn't take but a few minutes to go through the whole process.

After we picked up our packets we headed over to spend a little bit of time at Disneyland before heading to the hotel to get some sleep. First thoughts when walking through the gate was "Man, that castle is tiny!". We took a tour later in the week and they reminded us that this was the first park that Walt Disney built and at the time it was probably a huge undertaking. Millions of dollars later they invested in building a much larger castle down in Florida. Our first ride in the park was the Argonaut, which seemed to be a remodeled 2000 Leagues Under the Sea. It was pretty neat. The ride was themed after Finding Nemo. Jennifer would tell you that we made a huge mistake next in that we went over to ride Splash Mountain. I specifically asked for the front seats on the log. Well, Jennifer got completely soaked and she wasn't very excited about it! We didn't close the park down because we had a race early the next morning.

We got up around 3:30 in order to get ready and make it to the starting line in time for the 10K race. It was really great weather for our race around high 50's. Thankfully we didn't have to freeze like we did last January at the marathon when the temperatures were in the low 30's. Jennifer figured out our costumes. I was Captain America and I carried a toy shield for the entire race. Jennifer was Thor and carried the hammer the whole time.

There were plenty of photo stops along the race route through both parks. We actually stopped at almost every single one of the photo opportunities and almost every character stop. We saw Captain America, Mater, the giant Mickey Ferris Wheel, Santa and the reindeer, Mickey Mouse house, It's a Small World, and the Matterhorn.

We stopped and took pictures with Hawkeye, Thor, Black Widow, Spiderman, Loki, and the fuchsia girls from the Guardians of the Galaxy. In order to save some time waiting in line, I would run ahead of Jennifer and go ahead and get in the next line. We waited almost 25-30 minutes for a picture with Thor and the rest of the characters took about 10-15 minutes.

There were photographers all over the course ready to get some action pictures of you running the races. We got quite a few action shots together even though I ran ahead a few times. Sometimes we were right together, but the photographers didn't know that we were a couple so we sometimes got only a portion of the other person.

Since we were waiting in line to meet all of the characters it meant that our times were horrible. In fact around mile 4 while we were waiting in line for Loki we got passed by the two women in the first picture, the balloon ladies. These are considered the end of the race. They keep the pace for the slowest racers and if you get passed by them then the race crew picks you up and transports you to the finish line and you are not allowed to finish. When they get to each mile marker they stop and give a final countdown before people are "swept". When we passed them I heard them counting down "29,28,27". Jennifer didn't hear them or else she would have flipped out. We decided that we wouldn't stop at anymore stops for the final 2 miles because we definitely didn't want to be picked up. I did however talk her into stopping for a couple of more pictures in front of the castle and with the flowers shaped like Mickey. We crossed the finish line and received our medals. Then it was time to get cleaned up and head out to the park.

The next day was our half marathon. Jennifer dressed up like Iron Man and I went as the Hulk. We again had an early morning with the race starting at 5 am. 

I knew from the time we booked the race and looked at the map of the course that it was going to be much different because only 4 of the 13 miles were actually in the parks. The other 9 miles were spent running through the streets of Anaheim, with a brief stop inside the Anaheim Angels stadium. I told Jennifer that I would run with her through the parks and then we were going to split up and run at our own pace. My favorite picture is the one where I am flexing and Jennifer is shooting something out of her Ironman hand. We didn't really stop at any of the character stops because it was all the same characters that we had seen the day before.

Here are the few things that we briefly stopped to take pictures with during the race. We got a picture with the Ferris wheel, the castle all lit up, one of the many Christmas trees, the Avengers ride and some random horse. After the 4 miles in the parks they didn't have any characters or photo stops with the exception being in the Angels stadium.

Here are some of the pictures that I took along the route and a picture in the middle of Jennifer and I with our medals. After looking back at all the pictures I still can't believe that I took candy from a stranger, but at mile 8 those red vines looked delicious. Running through the Angels stadium was pretty cool. We ran on the infield and behind home plate. As you entered they called out all the runners names too. The whole time all I wanted to do was lay down in the outfield and make a pretend snow angel, you know for Angels in the Outfield.

Besides running our races we spent the better part of 5 days exploring Disneyland and California Adventure. I still enjoy running all kinds of rides and especially ones that have a picture taken during the ride. After the first time I usually do something silly just to make it interesting.

California Adventure was a really fun park. It had Jennifer's all-time favorite ride from all the Disney parks, which is Toy Story Mania. I am super competitive and it frustrates me beyond belief that I can't beat her except for once in a blue moon. Maybe that is why she likes is so much, seeing me sad and frustrated. They also had a Cars ride that was really cool. I also had one of my favorite park meals here too, macaroni and cheese in a bread bowl. It was carb overload but so good and in fact it was actually a hidden menu item that I just happened to spot someone else with. They also had a pretty amazing light and water show too. The only downfall was that it was standing room only and there were a ton of people there the night we saw the show.

One part of Disneyland that we loved was that they changed some of the rides for the holiday season. The Haunted Mansion turned into the story of Jack Skellington and the Nightmare Before Christmas. It would have been much better if I had actually seen the movie, but we still really enjoyed it. After we got home I made it a point to watch the movie and it was actually really good. 

We got medals for our 10K, half marathon, for doing the Infinity Gauntlet Challenge and then the last medal (one on the left) is for doing a half marathon at Disneyland and Disney World within the same year - Coast to Coast Medal. After a couple of pictures in front of the castle we put away all the other medals and just wore the Coast to Coast medal. It's a Small World was so pretty lit up at night time. Every 15 minutes they also had a show on the outside of the building that was pretty cool.

It's a Small World also changed their decorations to coincide with the holidays. It was really amazing inside too! I think out of all three parks we visited this was my favorite Small World. It actually incorporated Disney characters into the ride which was neat. The picture of us holding hands was a throw back to when Landon was just a little smaller. He would just see the sign that is posted inside the boats and it looked like kids had to hold hands with parents. I never told him otherwise. Since Landon wasn't there I picked Jennifer to hold my hand. 

After our races we definitely wanted to show off some of our hardware at the park. We enjoyed some delicious Mickey shaped beignets. The fireworks were also nice with a holiday theme to them.

The Cars land was pretty awesome. If you have a kid that likes the movies Cars at all then they would love this place. We even got to meet Mater and Red (the fire engine).

We didn't wait in lines to meet very many characters because it just wasn't a priority to us. However, Clara Belle was one that we waited a few minutes for because we had never seen her before.

The last day of our trip was spent at Disneyland, which is the only park that Walt Disney ever got to visit during his life. We actually signed up for a tour that was a Walk in Walt's Footsteps. It was a pretty awesome tour and it concluded with a trip up to Walt's apartment which was right above the Fire Dept on Main Street. They only allowed the one picture that they took of us in the apartment. I knew that it was going to be a big day, so I was sure to wear my tie. This is one of my favorite shirts that Jennifer ever made for me.

We had planned to leave earlier in the day so that we could get back to Las Vegas well before our flight time, but Jennifer had trouble pulling me away from the park. We rode Dumbo and made sure to take plenty of pictures with Sleeping Beauty's Castle. The whole week we could not get over the fact that the castle was so much smaller than the one in Florida. Our tour guide told us, which made sense, that the Disney corporation had so much more money when Disney World was being built than Walt had originally when Disneyland was built.

Disneyland and California Adventure ended up being a really awesome experience. I can't wait for a few years from now when we will be able to take the kids to see all the different things that Disneyland has to offer. If you ever get a chance I would definitely recommend you going. I am so glad that we were able to make the trip out west to run our races. Especially since they have cancelled every race at Disneyland for the foreseeable future due to some issues with construction and the local government. So, for now we are part of the last group of people that were able to get the Coast to Coast Medals. We were so thankful to get away and just spend some time as a couple. My parents have been awesome to watch the kids so that we can go and enjoy some things together. Thanks for reading and God bless!

Hollywood Sign Hike and Pacific Ocean

In between our times at Disneyland we also found time to get out and explore and try a few west coast food staples. One of the few things that we had planned was a trip up to the Hollywood sign. All of our activities proved to be very successful little side trips.

After our half marathon we decided to take a little side trip out to see the Pacific Ocean. We just put in for google maps to take us to the nearest beach. We took a little walk on the beach and then I just had to put my feet in the water. The water was extremely COLD! Jennifer opted out of getting her feet wet which was probably a better decision. 

One of the places that we knew that we had to visit was In-N-Out. You always see people who visit the west coast and always go to this burger joint. I don't think that it was anything special, but what I did enjoy was watching them work with such efficiency. They make things fresh right there in front of you. They even cut their potatoes just minutes before placing them in the fryer.

The day after our races we made plans to head into Hollywood so that we could climb the hill to see the sign up close and personal. Before we made the hour drive into Hollywood I had looked up to see where we needed to park. After finding it we got out and started on the journey to the top. I forgot to grab the water that we packed because I thought it would just be a quick little hike up to the top. Boy was I wrong! The first part of the hike was on a very steep incline. Jennifer's legs actually started cramping up during the first 10 minutes and we had to stop a couple of times for her to rest. I was beginning to wonder if we were going to actually make it. Finally her legs started to feel better and we were able to start making a little better time. At times it seemed like we were getting further away from our destinations. After about an hour we finally made it to the top of the hill, which is just behind the sign.

We took a seat on a little bench at the top and just took in the beautiful sights. It was a little foggy so we couldn't see as far as we would have liked, but it was still an awesome view. The sign is behind a huge fence and there are lots of cameras around making sure that no one gets close to the sign. In fact there were even signs saying that police were at the top of the hill at all times.

On the way back down we noticed a sign that had a camera on it and pointed toward a new path and it said that it was 0.8 miles. We discussed it and decided that we had already come this far that we should just go ahead and do it. We were extremely glad that we did because this was where you could get good pictures with the front of the sign. It was a little sad that this place was littered with people. I asked them how they got up there and they said that they parked about 30 yards away in a neighborhood and then crossed through a gate to get up there. We couldn't believe it! We still had about a 3 mile hike down to the bottom of the hill. I talked Jennifer into jogging on the downhill parts and it turned out to be a great idea. It went so much faster and it actually didn't require that much more energy because we were going downhill. Hiking to the Hollywood sign proved to be a very fun, yet challenging side trip. I am just glad that we didn't do this hike before our races!

After our excursion to Hollywood hill we headed back to Anaheim and went to the restaurant that I found online, Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles. Apparently this is a pretty famous chain on the west coast. I thought it was absolutely delicious! I could eat this meal any day. Jennifer really liked the chicken, but wasn't a big fan of the waffles. Definitely a place you need to stop by if you are ever close to one!

Our side trips turned out to be well worth the effort and drives in the California traffic. The west coast staples of In-N-Out and Roscoe's both lived up to my expectations. If I could only choose one of them on a future trip then I would choose the chicken and waffles at Roscoe's. Next time we are in Hollywood maybe we will try to find the quick way to get our picture made with the sign. Thanks for reading and God bless!

Be Here Now

I have lived here on this Earth for almost 33 years now and there are so many things that I feel that I have done right, but so many others that I have failed miserably at. A while back I had a talk with one of my cancer patients and his family and it really opened my eyes. Each time he was admitted to the hospital he had a phrase written up on his white board that simply said "BE HERE NOW". I asked them exactly what this was all about and the answer really opened my eyes a lot. They said that their is so much going on in the world around them, but while his treatment was going on they only had one focus. To make it through each day, each chemo and to enjoy all the time in between. God only knows how much time we have on the Earth so we need to embrace every second that we get to spend with those that we love.

I know that we aren't in the same circumstance as the patient that I took care of, but again none of us are guaranteed the next day. That is why I have taken the initiative to cut back on the amount of time that I spend on social media. I was completely addicted to reading about everyone else's lives that I wasn't living mine to the fullest. Facebook and Instagram were the first things I looked at when I got up in the morning and usually the last things that I looked at before going to bed. Any spare moment I would check to see if anything new was happening in all my friends lives. Jennifer and I both decided that we needed to do something. Jennifer completely deactivated her account and I left my account open because my mother was sad when I tried to deactivate it because she lost all of her pictures. This has been huge for our family and I feel like we are spending more time doing all kinds of stuff together and our children aren't having to fight for our attention from our phones. So I am sorry if I don't know what is going on in your life. I would be more than happy to hear about it when I see you out in the world or if you really want to talk give me a call. I have still continued to write and post my blogs so that you can keep up with us if you like, but the posts have never truly been about you all. My blog was started as somewhat of a journal for me to write down all of the things that we do as a family so that the kids could someday go back and read them. I thought it would be nice if something happened to me so that the kids would know exactly how much I loved them and they could know what all we did while they were growing up. It was pretty awesome too that Jennifer turned them into books that the kids could take with them later in life too!

Another failure that I have been unable to defeat is my weight and eating habits. In fact I would go so far as to say I have an addiction to eating. There are times that I find myself completely consumed in eating that nothing else matters except finding that next snack or meal that I can eat. I have periods of binge eating where I can't get enough to satisfy my hunger. A few years ago I attacked my weight by losing 50 pounds, but during that time I never truly figured out the eating part of it all. I just worked out more often and the pounds came off. Problem was that after hitting my mark of 50 pounds I slipped back into not working out as much and because of that I gained back half of the weight. So, now that the kids are in school I have been trying to take advantage of some free time so that I can workout and not have to worry about keeping the kids entertained during this time. The eating continues to be a daily struggle for me, but I am committed to doing it right. I also believe that it will be beneficial for the kids in the long run if we instill healthy eating habits for them too.

I am working everyday at changing my bad eating habits and I truly believe that this is the year that I get my health in order. I am also trying to get some form of activity in each and everyday as well. One thing that really hit home with me last year in my health is that I had a series of tests that showed a couple of issues. They found that my liver didn't look normal, in fact they decided that it was early signs of cirrhosis, more specifically non-alcohol cirrhosis because I have never drank alcohol. The scope that I had done last year also showed that I have developed small esophageal varices. These have formed because blood is not able to properly flow through my liver so it goes into these varices, which aren't necessarily used for large volumes of blood. That was all bad news that I received last year, but the good news is that with a proper diet and exercise plan that I can start to reverse the bad that I have done to my body. This is exactly the motivation that I needed to get my act together. 2018 is going to be the year and I am going to do it one day at a time and live in the moment, "BE HERE NOW"!

One way that I have decided to take a stronghold on my health is that I am making a job change to help promote a better living style. I have worked mostly night shift at the hospital for about 8 years and the last 6 have been on the weekends only. Night shift is sometimes very difficult on your body and I am quite sure I have felt this more the past year than ever before. About a year ago I actually fell asleep on the way home from work one morning and thankfully only damaged my car. I can't imagine if I had hurt someone else or myself. I think getting on a normal 7 day a week schedule of waking up in the morning and going to bed at a decent hour will be very beneficial to my body.

In order to become the husband that I want to be I need to again make Jennifer a priority in my life. After the kids were born Jennifer took a little bit of a back seat because she wasn't the only person in my daily life. This needs to change. God blessed me at such a young age with showing me the woman that I get to spend my life with. She has shown me nothing but love through all of our seasons of life. Thankfully, with the kids starting school we have been allowed some time together to do whatever we would like. I have taken advantage of this time by dating my wife again! I can tell that this makes a huge difference in our overall happiness because we get to spend one on one time doing things that we enjoy, instead of trying to spend time together only after the kids have gone to bed. It was also brought to my attention that I tend to write things on social media about Jennifer, but I rarely tell her these nice things to her in person. I will always love her, but I need to do a better job of telling her my thoughts and feelings to her face. Especially since I won't be on social media as often.

In order to become a better father I have implemented using my phone less when around the kids so that they can get my full attention. Never again do I want to tell them that I am too busy on social media or looking at my phone to spend time with them. One day they are going to be grown up and I know that I will be longing for the opportunity to spend time with them and by then it will be too late.  I will continue doing all kinds of stuff out in the world as much as possible. I love making memories with Brinley and Landon. We will continue to travel, play, learn, explore, hike, garden, and enjoy life. Some people have mentioned to me that I maybe do too much stuff with the kids, but life is short and I plan on spending it doing things with the people that I love and Brinley and Landon are 2 of my biggest loves in this world.

I am so thankful to have so many friends and family in this world that care so much about us. I am forever thankful for our friendships and I want you to know that I am always here for all of you all. If there is anything in this world that I can do for you then please just let me know. Whether it is just keeping you in my prayers or if there is actually something you need help with then I will try to be as much help as possible. Never be afraid to give me a call or send me a message.

I fail miserably at times of being the Christian that I want to be. I want to be the man that God wants me to be and that starts with being a better person. That means I want to be a better husband, father, son, brother, friend, and co-worker. I often speak before thinking about how the words that I am about to say will be taken. I fall into talking about people and situations that are of no concern of mine. I just need to try and take care of myself. I am going to fully try and become better at this. Again this has been happening for many years so it is going to take a while for me to retrain my brain. I have started by simply trying the old saying "If you can't say something nice, then don't say anything at all!" I want to be a person that brings joy, happiness and love not any sadness, pain, or despair. I believe that this best starts with the words that are coming out of my mouth.

Last year around this time my father got sick and it was a very trying time for my family as we saw the man that we love fighting for his life. They say time heals all wounds, which I don't really think is a true statement. I do however believe that time does make you forget the emotions and feelings you had during a difficult time. I remember last year that there was just about anything that I would have done to hear my dad speak to me again. Thankfully he got better and he was able to recover and we were in fact able to hear his voice again. Some families aren't as fortunate as we were in that aspect. Sometimes family members are taken from us and we never get to tell them exactly how we feel. Well, I don't want my family to not know my true thoughts and feelings about them ever again. Over the years I have discovered that many kids were not as lucky as I was to have both parents that truly love them. Growing up I may not have been as appreciative as I should have been, but looking back I've been so blessed. Until our time on Earth is over I will try to enjoy as many moments as possible with the two that brought me into this world.

Sorry if this all seems so random, but it was all the things that I felt like I needed to say. I just want to be the best version of myself and I want to help encourage others to be their best too! I feel like I will never forget the message that the patient and his family taught me about living in the moment and to BE HERE NOW. Life is too short and time is too precious to get caught up in the small and meaningless everyday things. We all have those times when we get caught up in the moment, but I want to try and act better when frustrated or when things don't go my way. Thanks for reading and God bless!