"Love Wins" By Rob Bell

I just finished up reading "Love Wins - A book about heaven, hell, and the fate of every person who ever lived" by Rob Bell. At first I wasn't going to read the book just because there has been so much controversy over the ideas that Bell has written about. But then Audrey found it at our local library (which was a complete shocker to me that they would have it), and she checked it out for me.
So I read it. I guess for me, just as any other book that I read, I take the things that I agree with and agree with them, and then the things that I don't agree with I say, "That's not true." And then continue on with life. There are parts of this book that I don't believe are truth, but there are other parts that I totally agree with, and I really like the way that Bell writes about them. He is a good author.
Maybe the real importance of books like these that question things within Christianity is that it causes you to look at your beliefs about the Bible, it makes you search out what is exactly said in the Scriptures, and it makes you stand up for what you believe in.
I'd say go ahead and read the book, because it will at least make you firm in what you do believe.

Death In His Grave by John Mark McMillan

Busyness & Stress = Running Killers

I'm not sure how everyone's week has gone, but as for me it has been one of the busiest and mentally exhausting weeks I've ever had. Not to mention emotional pain as well. Let me start off by letting you know that for Pastors the Easter Week is probably the busiest of the year. Sure, Christmas is a busier time than most, but it doesn't hold a candle to the Easter Week.
There are Good Friday Services, Sunrise Services, Resurrection Services; and even others in some cases; Maunday Thursday Services, Communion Services, Palm Sunday... This is just my viewpoint here, from a Pastors perspective: This is too many services. I know that they are all tradition and they all hold their important place in the Easter Week, but for me, by the time Sunday rolls around I feel more burnt out than joyous that Christ rose from the dead. (Which is an amazing event!!!)
So, not only have I been gearing up for all these different things all week, but there was a man that went to the Church that I am a Pastor of who died. I had the mixed emotions and feelings of walking with the family through this tragic event, and at the same time being honored that I would be able to bring the funeral message. All in all this has been a very exhausting week.
And I've still tried to have some semblance of my running schedule, which let me tell you hasn't worked at all. I ran 2 miles on Monday, 1.5 miles on Tuesday (I quit after this far because I could just not get my head in the right place to run), took Wednesday off, ran 2 miles on Thursday, 4 miles on Friday, and 2 miles today. Pretty pathetic compared to my normal weekly running routine.
Which leads me to my title: Busyness and Stress are running killers, not to mention killers of other things in life as well. Killers of sleep, of relationships, of eating healthy, of self care. The list could go on and on and on. I guess I'm just venting out my frustrations with it. In the words of someone wiser than me, "You must ruthlessly eliminate busyness from your life."

Slow Motion Stride @ Boston Marathon

I've been working on my stride lately, and found this video pretty interesting. Watch where their feet land (underneath their center of gravity), how their feet land (on the mid-foot, not heel striking), and how the rest of their body is straight up and down, not hunched over. Pretty good form for distance running.

Garage Sale

Audrey and I decided it was time to get rid of some of our "stuff". And according to Dave Ramsey having an Emergency Fund is the first thing you do to have Financial Peace. So, we teamed up with another family in town to have a garage sale. You would think that April 15th would be late enough in the year that the weather would be fairly decent.
Not herererer in Kemmerererer. The temps weren't too bad, 30's and 40's, but it was the constant 30 mph wind that made things really seem cold. I guess this is normal Spring weather because we had a pretty decent turnout and we did make some money. I am pretty exhausted though. I think the thought after every garage sale is, "Is it really worth it?"
I'm not sure how to answer that question, but we do have "free" money that we wouldn't have otherwise.

Took A Little Trip And Took A Little Run

This past weekend Audrey and I got to take a mini-vacation down into Southern Utah, and more specifically Moab. We left Kemmerer on Thursday morning in 30 degree weather and snow, and made it down to Moab around 2:00 p.m. where it was a little overcast and 60 degrees. We stayed at the Riverside Oasis Campground in one of their cabin rentals. When I made the reservation I really didn't have a whole lot of an idea of how big they were, I just knew they were really cheap, and that worked for me!

The "Saloon" Cabin

And instead of saying that it was really small, we will refer to it as "cozy". Once we unpacked our belongings and made the "cozy" little shack feel like home, we headed into downtown Moab to walk around and check out all the shops. Since we were driving all day it felt good to get outside and move around.

Walking along Main Street

Bucking Bronco!

The Bucking Bronco was also a little "cozy".

Friday was a nice relaxing day. Had breakfast at our little nook, and made coffee with our French Press (which by the way if you don't have one of these, you need to buy one right now). We decided to drive around a little bit and then maybe do a little rock climbing as well. Nothing too serious because one of the other reasons we were in Moab was for a race. Which I will get to a little later.

Park in Moab.

On the climb.

Looking back down.

Headed down.

The tahoe!

Almost there.

 After we did some climbing and walking around we headed over to Moab Coffee Roasters for a little coffee. It was a very interesting coffee shop that was combined with a middle eastern clothing store, but the coffee was really good. We both got Americanos. They also had Gelato which looked too good to pass up, and we were on vacation after all. It was so relaxing to sit and talk and drink coffee and not really have to be anywhere else.

The Grasshopper was really good!

Coffee faces?

We were supposed to run the Moab Marathon on Saturday, but it was supposed to be 25 degrees and snowing at the top, not real well organized, extremely windy with gusts up to 40 mph, and we had to check out of our "cozy" cabin by 11:00 a.m. So I knew that there was a trail race on the same day, we called the director to make sure they were doing "day of" race registration and he said yes.
The race is called the Amasa Back Trail Run which is ran on the Amasa Back Trail. Pretty straight forward. The race started at 8:00 a.m. and was nestled in a canyon along the Colorado River. So the wind was not bad and the temps were higher because we were at a lower elevation than the start of the marathon.
The course was amazing! Running along slick rock and technical single track trails. The first 4 miles were all going up and the last two went down bombing along the Colorado River. At the very end of the race we had to cross a river that had risen up pretty high, it was almost chest deep in one place!

"Financial Peace Revisited" By Dave Ramsey

I just finished "Financial Peace Revisited" By Dave Ramsey. Audrey and I are enrolled in the "Financial Peace University" Class that we as a Church have offered to our community, and one of the assignments in the class is to read the book.
We meet every Tuesday night, watch an hour long DVD presentation by Dave Ramsey, and then we split off into small groups and talk about how things are going for each one of us. It has been pretty good so far, and we have a lot of people from the community in the class, I think around 25 family units at least.
The book builds on the principles that Dave lays out during the DVD sessions, and technically we are supposed to skip around to different chapters in the book depending on what DVD session we are on, but I am to much of an a to b, b to c, c to d, person to do that. When I pick up a book, I'm going to read it cover to cover.
I even do this with magazines, to my wife's amazement who looks at all the pictures first then goes back to read the articles that interest her. I have to move through the magazine from the front to the back, keeping my place so I can pick up where I left off.
So, back to the book. Ramsey is a pretty good author and throws enough stories, personal and from people who call in on his radio show, to keep things interesting. The first thought that came to my mind when I decided to read the book was, "Honestly, how is this going to keep me interested?" But, it did for the most part. There were a few areas that didn't apply so I skimmed over them pretty quick.
If you are in a place financially where you don't think you can get out, then you need to read this book and find a Financial Peace University Class where you live, or if you want a better handle on your finances then I would suggest doing the same. The principles and ideas are right on point. The only hard part is implementing them into your life.
So far things have gone pretty well. I think that's because we have the accountability of all the other people in the class. If I was trying to do this on my own, I'm pretty sure it wouldn't last. Also, if I had just picked up the book without all the other information in the class I doubt that I would be in as good a place as I am right now with it all.
So if you want a challenge to change the way you handle your money and live your life, then I would say read the book. If you are not ready to change how you spend money then you would be wasting your time if you read it.

Friday, Funday, Runday - To Me They're All The Same Day!

Here in good 'ol Wyoming we still have snow on the ground. The high temps are in the mid 40's, and it feels like the Cowboy State might actually be waking up from winter. Which means: 1. More races are coming. 2. I get to wear shorts. 3. It's time for a new pair of running shoes. And on that last note Audrey and I made a trip down to our favorite running store, Wasatch Running Center, in Sandy, Utah.

This trip was not just for running shoes. We decided to add as many things as we could into the short time we had for the day (Audrey had to be back in time to work out with two of her Personal Training clients -which I am super proud of her. God has truly gifted her with this talent and career.) So we also went grocery shopping and stopped by Eleanor's Gluten Free Bakery to stock up.

Alrighty, back to the events of the day. It started off at Wasatch Running Center where we tried on at least 5 different pairs of shoes. My choice came between two pairs of Sauconys. The Kinvara and the Ride 3.



 

Saucony Kinvara






Ride 3

 I finally decided on the Kinvara. On Saucony's website they say, "Neutral running shoe that allows your foot to run uninhibited, Lightweight, flexible, Minimal midsole construction with protection from the pavement, and Weight: 7.7 oz.



When I tried on the Kinvara the first thing that I noticed was how comfortable they felt. The upper is almost nothing. Very very thin and lightweight, and the cushioning on the bottom of the shoe felt really good. That might have been the deciding factor of purchasing them over the Ride 3.
Audrey ended up getting the Asics Landreth 6's. A great looking shoe that I think will be great for her. After figuring out the shoes we also decided to get the Pro-Tec Roller Massage. This little baby brings the pain when you have sore muscles. Different from the foam roller, the Roller Massage allows you to pinpoint smaller muscles and really dig into them. Such as your achilles. It also has a rubberized end allowing for trigger point therapy on different areas.

After Wasatch Running Center, we stopped in at Eleanor's, grabbed a quick bite to eat, changed into our running clothes, put on our new shoes and headed out into the 70 degree weather that was amazing!!! It felt like Summer. It was such a glorious run. The mountains in the background with snow still on them, blue sky, sunshine. Basically perfect. The new shoes did great on the first run for both Audrey and I. And considering we are running in the Moab Marathon this coming Saturday (April 9) the shoes being great is a good sign.
After the run it was time for the groceries. We are enrolled in Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University Class, and since April 1 is the beginning of a new month we are trying out a new revised budget. So everything is already laid out for the entire month. It is kind of freeing knowing where our money will go and that we have everything already set in place. So the groceries were right on target.
As to the title of my post you can see how it was a Friday, Funday, and a Runday. Maybe this should be a weekly occurance????