Sept 16 2012

            For this week school has started to get a little more challenging. I need to do a better job of keeping up on all my tasks. I have two tests tomorrow and I hope that I can do well. I’m not too concerned with my psychology class but I am concerned with my Anatomy. In the back of my head I remember the teacher saying that we can drop a bad test score but I believe pondering this option as the best option probably isn’t a good thing. This is the second test of about 8 total tests, and from the look of the material of the next test (the numerous points on the skull) the test on the inguinal system shouldn’t be the one I attempt to drop. Apparently my thoughts are enveloped around my anatomy class.

                Ted Brimley, a really close friend from high school, barely entered into the military and will be doing that for the next while in his life. Kelsey and I received a phone call from Adam Brown (another long time high school friend) in which he said that he was organizing an ultimate Frisbee night in celebration of him. While we were there we saw Brendan, Tate and their wives, Sterling, Adam, Ted, Carlos and others.

                We visited my grandma and grandpa Adams this week. My grandma has had issues with diabetes and much to my surprise; she had to have her big toe amputated as a result of a situation that arose. My grandpa takes really good care of her and she is in good hands, but it was nice to go and stay with her for a couple days last week.  

                While we were there, we let Beta out with all the sheep. Beta loved it and would sprint around directing all the sheep wherever she desired.  We took Beta on a walk again around the small lake here in my Grandma’s housing community. She likes the exercise and acts up if she doesn’t get it. We have thrown her into the lake the last couple times partly for fun (with the hope that she will not be as scared), and secondly as a quick bath for her. Beta has a lot of hair and the dirt will stick to her as the time of her bathlessness expands.

                We went to the dollar movies yesterday in Tempe. We saw Men in Black 3 and it was actually really entertaining. I have had bad luck with previously seen sequel type movies.

                I can tell that my level of fitness is increasing. I have felt very good in some of the workouts I have ran lately. I am excited to have my first race in 12 days. It’s hard to predict what kind of shape I will be when the race comes because I haven’t got a chance to practice with others of whom I know their ability, so I’m going in blind into this race. I ran the same course as the Chandler Invitation a week and a half ago and got 19 minutes flat running in trainers, alone without too much pressure to perform, but I have felt that I have done well in some runs by myself… I’m guessing anything from around 16 flat to 17:30 as long as I do not receive any injuries before race day.

                My grandma returned to her house a couple days ago and so it has been fun to have her around. We went to church today all together. Kels and I received the calling to be ward missionaries so that will be fun, we will get sustained in church next week. After church, my grandma cooked us dinner. We had fajitas, fried squash and a nice French salad. Kelsey and I are in charge of dinner next week.   Things are working out well and challenges in our lives are still at the “manageable” level- Nothing too hard.

9/2/12

 This last week has been fun. Before Kelsey’s Mom and sister left the house to go back to California they went to the store and loaded up the fridge with food. That was really nice, not that we starve but it’s fun have food around the house that isn’t the Royer traditional meals we have all the time.

Kels and Chandler’s XC team had their first Invite of the year this last weekend. The runners ran well with several medaling performances from the girls team; overall the girls got 6^th overall. The guys didn’t score due to a miscommunication with one of the runners and ultimately ran in the wrong heat on purpose which messed up the scoring, typical issues for the first meet of the year. The assistant coach (Sasha) for the team is the head coach of the soccer team and doesn’t have a ton of experience coaching XC but though he was a dilettante initially, his passion and love of the athletes is converting him to love and appreciate the sport. Sasha is a perfect assistant coach and unlike other typical dogmatic coaches, he is understanding and athlete-based.

After the race we said hi to some of the other coaches. Josh Burton a runner I used to run with at MCC is the assistant coach of the Mtn View Toros. It was nice to see him. I remember running a hard workout with just me and him a couple of years back on MCC’s track. Most athletes are not discipline enough to run tough workouts under such conditions. I remember switching the intervals back and forth throughout the 5-6 x 1000 meter repeats at 4:55-5 min/mile pace. We talked with Messer a little bit and he said he was planning on running at Desert Twilight and the end of the month. I have never ran Twilight, but I have watched it a couple times. It inspired me to run also. I planned out that I will be running 4 races in the next 4 months. Twilight 5k, Mcc’s 8k, Turkey Trot 10k and Sally Meyerhoff 5k are all on the list.

Yesterday I had fun taking Beta out for a run in the desert. Because of her obdurate and stubburn personality no matter how much I say “Beta Sit!” if she sees another human being she will instantly run straight toward them and make attempts to cuddle. So the desert runs are fun. I can take her off the leash and her and I can both run free. I want her to chase jack rabbits but by the time she sees them, they are long gone. She is so funny because she will run all out with me (I limit my runs to around 20 minutes with her) and once she gets home, lay out in her typical torpor positions.

My anatomy class voted on delaying the first test so rather than already having it, my first test will be this coming Wednesday. I hope I can do well. I plan on studying a lot the next couple days. My neighbor came over the other day to talk about a business proposal for me to join called legal shield. It honestly sounds like an interesting idea and predict that the company with continue to succeed in the future.

The last couple days I was able to perform my second set of running analysis videos, this one for the Chandler runners. I hope it helps, I know that I would have appreciated it if it was done for me when I was in HS. I am interested on how there gaits change throughout races, so I may get footage of them in one of their upcoming races and compare the two with them. If optimizing performance is the quest of a runner, feedback is a must.

I am determined to be more successful in what I do in life. I have recently been running, but not very consistently. I have been studying but not efficiently. I have been organized… some of the time. I want to train to race, study to excel in classes, and establish order in my life to enjoy it to the fullest. Though there are trials in my life, recently they have all been ephemeral and controllable. I’m excited for the weather to subdue and be able to walk outside or train at other times in the day besides being restricted to mornings or evenings.  Finally, I am secure in the fact that I know that no matter how bad I fail I have a beautiful loving wife with me through the good and the bad. Kels means everything to me and I love her so much, and though we joke, make fun of and at times get upset at each other, we are always there for each other at the end of the day.