Tag: #rbl2017

…and they’re off, well sort of.  Yeah so this was not the start of the Kentucky Derby or Belmont Stakes…no this was more like the beginning of a junk yard derby, except my car’s engine never even started, not really anyways. Okay, let me rewind a bit. After all if you’re going to be reading these blogs for twelve weeks you might as well have a little backstory. It makes it so much more interesting. So where do we start, in the beginning, maybe not that far back. Shall I say ,”it was the best of times, it was the worst of times”. Ok So definitely don’t want to plagiarize anyone, thanks Dickens. How about January 2015 and I had just been selected to be a part of RBL 2015 the Big 10 year anniversary. So excited with an amazing trainer and coach, I just knew I would be successful baring the fact that I must put in the work, which I did. I was so motivated, miserable, happy, sad, hungry, sore and getting in the best shape of my life. Things went awesome, I ended up meeting friends that I will probably have for a lifetime-along with a coach named Lou, who in the end become someone not only special to me, but my family. I ended up finishing second that year behind an amazing man of GOD named Brad Finley. the weight this guy shed was nothing less than a blessing from GOD, but I was pretty happy with my 49.8 pounds dropped too! That changed so much about my life and my family’s lives, heck we even ended up with a new edition to the tribe as a result of RBL2015. Fast forward a little and my wife was Beautiful , Happy, Glowing and 7 months pregnant. So what is the point your asking. Well She wasn’t the only one fulfilling those midnight ice cream cravings. No as my wife would eat more to nourish our unborn child , I too would increase my caloric load to feed my nonexistent baby.

The whole time all of this was going on God was changing me while making tremendous moves in my life. My faith and conviction as well as  my love  for the Lord continued to grow…and my waist line. I told myself that I was not going to fall back into deep disrepair. With RBL2016 starting I thought to myself that , Hey I will just workout and help motivate the new people on Team Verdae. Easier said then done. Life with a new born is hard , heck we had been five years separated from the diaper fillers and forgotten how much time and attention you have to give up. I have to say , “Adulting” (being a grown up) can suck sometimes, but the trade off is worth it. We love our kids so much and thank God for the blessings He has given us, but that still didn’t free up any time to work out especially with things picking up with my photography business. So 2016 is here then it was  gone.

Now to January 26th, kickoff RBL2017.  I had decided to give it another try, if I was chosen. I think one thing Rob likes is when he meets people that don’t give up despite having set backs. He is such an amazing inspiration and motivator. So  I was picked again and was to be back on Team Verdae.  I can’t express how joyful it was meeting my new teammates and especially seeing Lou again, an what a fun night. So the following Saturday we ran our mile to get a baseline time, except I didn’t run, I walked. Waking up on Saturday I felt so congested. I thought to myself man what a time to be coming down with a cold and not be able to breathe. I spent the rest of the weekend doing two photoshoots on both days. Each day I felt a little worse, but I just attributed to a super busy week and that I was just tired. I also happened to notice that my mouth was a little sore on Sunday. Not sure why, I figured while wrestling with one of my two children I must have gotten popped in the mouth. Then comes Monday, “Monday Monday, so good to me” uh no, not this day. My wife is normally always awake before me since she is a teacher, well when I awoke I knew something wasn’t right. I felt this intense pain radiating from the front of my mouth and no ability to move it much, at least not enough to call for my wife Keri.

Tracking her down to the bathroom I walked in only to receive a look of horror with a slight dash of sympathy glazed over with urgency. I peered into the mirror to bare witness. WHAT! I looked as if I had been hit in the mouth with a baseball bat or punched my Muhammad Ali. Trying to make sense of what happened I looked at Keri and in a muffled voice asked , what did you do to me? Keri responded, I’m calling in and we are going to the dentist. All the while I have seemed to notice my inability to breathe. What started out as what I thought was just a sniffling cold had mutated into something much more sinister, without a doubt something evil. It had to be evil, only the minions of the underworld could makes such sounds emitting from my chest. Needles to say after visiting with the dentist and learning, or I guess I should say confirming  I had a full blown abscessed tooth a and also full blown bronchitis. You’ve got to be kidding me…really? The first week of RBL 2017 and I am out of the race for a week. I didn’t even get started. I felt like I let my teammates, my coach, my family and myself down. I just felt so bad. I even posted on Facebook at one point that, I think I would have to get better to die. This week has been so tough. I did muster up the strength to hop on the treadmill Thursday night for a few miles, I mean heck I thought I was feeling better. I guess I paid the price. Today,  was pretty rough. I felt horrible most of the day but chose to eat clean the entire week. As I type this now I am unsure if I will be able to participate in my team’s first bootcamp in the morning, but one thing is for sure, regardless of how I feel I will be there to support my team. Soon I will be over these speed bumps and will be hitting it all full speed!

God Bless

Jeremiah 33:6 ” ‘Nevertheless, I will bring health and healing to it; I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace…”