Give It A Try: My Journey from Couch Potato to Ironman part 1

This might be my all time photo ever taken of me, it was at the Gravenhurst Triathlon in 2009 when I was at the peak of my physical fitness that year, and perhaps in my entire life.  I had just finished the 1.5km swim of the Olympic Distance triathlon I was racing in.  I had done both races the day before as well, the Sprint Distance along with the Give it a Try race.  I had carefully planned out a schedule of races and events to test my physical endurance and to mentally prepare me for what the Ironman to come.

I had just flown out of the transition area, jumped onto my bike and this was about 500m out of transition area after climbing the first short hill of a 40km bike to come.  Your arms were still all pumped from the swim I had just finished, and I looked awesome.  The photographer, Mike Cheliak @MikeCheliak was perfectly positioned to capture this moment in time.  He also took the picture above as well.  Thanks Mike for making me look my very best.

It was about a month and a half before I would go on to complete Ironman Kentucky in August of 2009.

But let’s go back a few years shall we.

I grew up a very active child, I don’t think I ever sat still.  After all I didn’t have an iPhone back then, in fact I was fortunate to see the growth and invention of the home computer all the way to its modern counterparts.  We had to get up and turn the rotary dial on our antenna to change the channel on our TV that has maybe 10 or 11 channels… oh how far we have come.  I think of my Dad who will be 88 next year, and the changes that he has seen over his lifetime.  Brings new meaning to the word perspective. Continue reading Give It A Try: My Journey from Couch Potato to Ironman part 1

Welcome To Six Kid Chaos

Life is a funny thing.  Your perception is that everything is great, all the hard work you have put in over the years is finally paying off.  You have a great job, you have just bought your first house, and you have welcomed your sixth child in the world, and to top it off your first boy after many girls!

Life is great.

Any then it all goes to hell in a handbasket in the blink of an eye… well in my case is was a slow descent in madness.  Everything you thought you knew was wrong, that what you thought was important no longer is… the job is changing you into a different  kind of person, you’re unhappy at work and that spills over into your home life, it creates problems there and feeds the cycle back into work… you work longer and harder at work thinking that doing better there will help at home, it feeds into itself until before you know it everything you once held important to you seems to be slipping away right before your eyes. Continue reading Welcome To Six Kid Chaos