Freedomizing

**Conquering Ironman Coeur d'Alene: A Journey of Resilience and Family Support** The fusion of family and determination can transcend any obstacle. This was our mantra when my cousin, Joel, and I embarked on the Ironman Coeur d'Alene journey, championed by his parents, Barb and Dan, our steadfast cheer squad. Our adventure began on a Friday morning in Spokane, where I was welcomed by Joel, Dan, and Barb. Together, we strapped my bike box onto the car in true hillbilly style and set off to Coeur d'Alene. On the day of the race, nerves mingled with excitement. The first hurdle was the 2.4-mile swim. An unexpected calf tweak and leaking goggles made the swim challenging, even more so when I had to fix my loosened timing chip mid-swim, floating belly up. Yet, I emerged from the water with a personal record, an optimistic start that filled me with determination. Transitioning to the 112-mile bike leg, I was welcomed by an unfamiliar cramp in my hip and a seat post that had desce...

Recently, I had an experience that reshaped my understanding of the psychology of money. I took over a property management job where part of my payment came in physical cash, money previously directed to someone else for this task.  Most tenants paid digitally or by check, but one unit always paid in cash. Having that "management" fee/ maintenance fee tangible, in my hand, ignited a unique perspective. It wasn’t about the amount, but the form in which it arrived.  Sure, I could take a full-time job earning in excess of $10K a month. However, that wouldn’t necessarily change my life as it would only take more of my time, the one resource I can't regenerate.  Surprisingly, the extra $1K in cash monthly had a more significant impact, not because it was a windfall, but because it made me more mindful of my earnings. The physicality of cash and the process of earning it manually introduced a sense of value and respect for my work that was somewhat abstract before.  This p...

 We brought home our little Atlas, a German Shorthaired Pointer puppy, last night. What a bundle of insanity; as I write this I am looking at him behind a little gate-type enclosure, and he is decibel painful! Same decibels that he was at last night; how can so much "I'm dying" come out of something so cute! So far, he's fallen asleep on my wife, myself, and my youngest. Such a sweet puppy, a few accidents, but nothing major, I believe we would have avoided all accidents if it weren't 7 effin degrees and snowing outside. It's only meant to be a balmy 20-ish degrees for a week! AHHHHH! I have been doing mental stress tests about this for a while, and nowhere in my chaos thinking did I think Denver would become a tundra for a sustained period. I guess that's the definition of anti-fragile. And my planning was not but is becoming. My wife and I had to be up about every three hours last night for 30 ish minutes, calming him down, allowing him to fall asleep on...

I signed up for the IronMan Idaho, I did the Boulder IronMan in 2015, and Thermal Yoga was instrumental in my training, hence my working to get back into it. That's why I put the heart rate monitor on for class; I'm working on aerobic sustained maximum heart rate, which I'm still calculating and finding. The rule of thumb, which appears to be pretty accurate, is 180-age; thus, for me, it's 140, but there are some riders, like if you trained a bunch, then add five, etc. I was not in great shape when I started this a couple weeks ago; thus, I was working with 140; I've found that mine is likely closer to 145, as the other "rule of thumb" is you are aerobic if you can breathe through your nose. This indicates to me that I can run at 145, as with anything above that, and I have to take supportive mouth breaths. Thus killing the aerobic workout.  With a Yin/Yang purpose throughout Thermal Yoga, my guess is that I will soar through that maximum (145) heart rate....

 Been "practicing" yoga now for over a decade, and I've had mini steps forward, hardly noticeable, actually very much like the book "compound effect," little tiny incremental improvements that over the years manifest themselves into HUGE changes. Mentally and Physically. But today I had a breakthrough that is noticeable both mentally and physically, and I believe my "practice firmly" will improve immensely from it.   The best way I can explain it is a mix of "body by science" and Yin and Yang, push and pull. My ignorance is going to show in this next statement, but whatever the name of the pose is where you are lying on your back, this is the Bikram Yoga 26 poses right after your standing session. You pull your leg up into your chest, and my teacher, Tonya (the absolute best), said the same thing she has for over 10 years. "biceps bulge pulls your leg into your shoulder" but today, either its the first time; she said it or its the f...

A work in progress, listening to the Gap and Gain, this struck me as something I need to do, so here's my 30-second iteration:  I know I am being successful when: I am present with my family My fiscal outgoings are less than my incoming.  I have the flexibility to do what I want every day No one can tell me when or where to be I can be me whenever and however I want I can pay attention to my physical and mental well-being without affecting my income Actionable Items Coaching: Allow for Gap "sulking" for 5 minutes Allow for Gain "personal praise" for 5 minutes Allow for Gain What did the others do well 20 minutes End of discussion Other book thoughts, I'm going to write this quote from memory; therefore, don't quote me (That's funny) "Do you want to stop all wars and violence today, right now? Then do it! Stop reading the news; stop following social media; stop it all."  I love that concept; interestingly, it appears in all sorts of literatu...

 The saying goes better to love and lost than never loved at all. I couldn't agree more, and it rings true regarding the unconditional love of man's best friend. Our family rescued a Blue Tick Coon Hound puppy about 6 months, didn't know anything about this breed; it just appeared to me to have the potential to be a pointer that I could bring out to the fields with me on hunts. And she was cute as a button, so the family brought me in to inspect the dog.  She was so sweet; nothing we could do to turn her away now. Her coloring is gorgeous. And most importantly, the family was love at first sight. I was worried; I've never had a puppy before, always rescued 1ish-year-olds. So I was still determining what to expect. The first thing I did was refer to youtube for a bunch of training techniques, and away we went. She picked up training so naturally and efficiently, and training the family was just as easy; she posted a picture of the hand signals for coming to sit down and ...