Motivation, I need some

I'm in a running funk. I can think of no other way to describe it. Since running this past Saturday in the oven that is Las Vegas, I have been gutted when it comes to my training. My work schedule has been awful this week and that's made it very challenging, but not impossible. I am in the middle of training for another half-marathon and I am spent. I don't think it's so much physical as it is mental. I am in desperate need of motivation here. Maybe this will work...

Who am I kidding? I mean I like the way running makes me feel. I like what it does to my mind. I just don't get why I am in the funk that I'm in right now. I have got to get out of it. Otherwise, I'll turn into this again:
Cover your eyes!

May this never happen again. So, readers, toss me some motivation. What works for you? Would love to hear it.

From the CO President's Club in IAH

I've been a bit remiss in posting this week. A lot of things going on and had a weekend trip thrown in and I'm now on my way home from that trip. I'm in Houston (IAH) awaiting my delayed connection to ORD. Delayed, Chicago...are there two words that are more synonymous? I dare say no. Good thing I've got President Club access and can enjoy their free wifi and never-ending supply of Fritos (time to up the quality on the snacks, that's all I'm saying).

I'll be glad to get home. We're still down a kid in the Den. CAL got home yesterday from, and I quote, "the best week of my life." The Boy left yesterday for two weeks and he's already having, and I quote, "a blast." He's also already burning through the minutes on his pre-paid cell phone that we got him for his trip. Should I be concerned that my children seem to have a much better time when they are away?

Maybe I can ponder that nugget on the flight home. That is of course if I don't get distracted watching World Cup on the live TV that Continental has. Well-done on that in-flight entertainment enhancement, Continental, well-done!

"Oh the humidity!"

With all due respect to Herbert Morrison as he gave the live play-by-play of the Hindenburg as it landed (well, crashed) in 1937, all I can say is, "Oh the humidity!"

While not as epic as the humidity and heat combo platter in Houston or Miami, we are in the throes of a heat and humidity fiesta that has made being outside pretty much awful. Running in it is a test of wills, to say the least. I ran last night and did speedwork with my group. It was 91 degrees and the humidity was pounding. It made speedwork more like slow work. I ran again this morning at 5AM and did some hill work at the end of my three-miler and I pretty much came home as sweaty as the guy/missing link in this picture:

No wonder Ben Stiller is in full repel mode!

It's like being back in Miami again. Feels like I'm running in the deep end of a heated swimming pool. Ugh...and I can hear the thunder rolling right now. More thunderstorms. More heat. More humidity. And maybe a tornado warning. Midwest summers...they're never dull.

A melancholy Father's Day

It's a beautiful summer Sunday afternoon, one of those that makes living in the Midwest awesome. Another awesome part of the day - Brazil won its match against the Ivory Coast in World Cup play. Some fine fake injury drama on the pitch too during the match made it fun to watch.

The day dawned early as I had church meetings starting at 6AM. I was out of the house before the stunningly patient and mighty fine SML and the Boy were awake. We connected later at church. Our service focused on the love of our Father in Heaven and I spent a great deal of the meeting thinking about His love and the tender mercies He has shown me and my family. I could not help but think of my late father and the love always showed me. This is the first Father's Day since his passing last September. This realization is where the day's melancholy kicked in. I miss him and will miss not talking to him today, to wish him a happy Father's Day and to once again thank him for all he did for me. I'm most grateful that we had those conversations while he was living and that I don't feel like things were left unsaid. They weren't. I'm glad we had the relationship that we did and I'm most grateful to know that our relationship has not ended. It's just "on hold" until we are joined together again. And we will be, of that I am certain.

So that sense of melancholy is still hanging around, to be honest. The girls are together in Utah and I'm missing the Highnesses. But the melancholy is offset by the other events of the day. When I got home from my post-church meetings, I was told to go take a nap. So up to bed I went and shortly thereafter, I got my belated breakfast in bed. Vanilla scones. Pretty darn excellent. And then it was time to read the Sunday New York Times with one eye while watching World Cup out the other. And now I'm getting psych'd for dinner - spicy pasta and shrimp with red velvet cupcakes for dessert. I've said it before and I'll say it again, there is nothing that the cupcake can't do. They are awesome.

So, while I'm a bit melancholy, I'm also know I've been blessed by tremendous examples of fatherhood in my late father and late father-in-law and in the stunningly patient and mighty fine SML's stepfather, Paul. I'm grateful for those examples and they all make me want to be a better father to my children every day. I am so proud of our Lady of BYU, CAL, and the Boy. It's an honor to be their dad. I am grateful for that privilege.