The Circle of Life

Yesterday marked my 25th annual Birthday Celebration. 25 years old is supposed to be big deal because your car insurance rates are supposed to go down. I am glad for that. I always hate that part where my mom used to say (no longer will she now) your 6th month car insurance is due you need to pay 600 dollars. I don't think I ate much of anything that was healthy for you, except maybe for breakfast. The picture up top is a cake my mom got me. It is really great!!! Props to mom for that one. Then yesterday along with a few birthday cards I got two more cakes. One was from work that ETMC bought me. I had three slices there then one of my most faithful water aerobic students made me a homemade peanut butter cake. I haven't indulged in this one yet but I've shared I hear it's really good.

I woke up this morning and I can tell I am getting older. I had stomach cramps which rarely happens, I suppose from too much sugary cake. I think this is supposed to have a negative impact on my training, but I got on the treadmill today and hammered a ten minute tempo like run this morning starting with a 5.30 pace and working to a 5 minute pace on the treadmill the last two minutes. This a recovery week thank goodness so it's best to keep it short and sweet. But today I am having little twinges behind my left knee, so I need to be careful.

Since last time I've blogged we've had a few grueling workouts. I did a 1000m swimming time trial last week. I wish I had beat my expecations, but it was about where I expected I would be in 16.11.

Here is a quote from from Brent Poulsen a pro triathlete I trained with one weekend back in December that saw me swim. "Nice work dawg you keep improving every time I hear from you." That's encouraging.

Then there was a run where we did 4x10 minutes at 5.39 pace or so on the treadmill and felt really good. It was tough though. Next weekend I'll be doing the Radio Shack Cowtown 10K in downtown Fort Worth.

This next picture was shot in Timpson, Texas (just north of Nacogdoches) at my granparents house. For some reason my Pa has his truck parked in the cow lot. More pictures on the farm can be found in my facebook album's.

I went home to Carthage, Tx last weekend. The trip was orginally to celebrate my birthday with mom, but my Grandma had a massive stroke last Thursday night. I went home Saturday after work and hung out with mom and ate strawberry cake....along with a healthy meal haha. Then Sunday after my morning ride in the cold we went to Timpson to see my Pa and then we drove to Nacogdoches to see my Grandma.

At the hospital it hurt to see my Grandma laying there so helpless. She can barely move her hand and can't speak. When she saw me for the first time that day you could see her eyes light up. It was amazing. Unfortunately, her time in life is almost up. A long life she has had. She would be 92 this summer and married to my Pa for nearly 70 years. WOW!!! That's a long time. My Pa says there perfect for each other because nobody else could have put up with them haha. Probably true.

In this picture my Pa (aka "Red") is 17 and my Grandma is 21. Married on May 6, 1939!

Grandma is not expected to live probably past tomorrow. We'll see. She's toughest woman I know. She has been through a lot especially the last 3 years. She has been a blessing in my life more than words can describe. God has blessed her with a long life. I'll miss her a lot that's for sure.