Move That Bus!

Okay, not quite yet....but, the Extreme Makeover crew with Ty Pennington is in town to build a house for a well deserving family and my wife and I took the opportunity to serve together on the project.  We were actually the very first volunteer group.  There were 20-25 of us, and it was all very secretive and hush hush so they could surprise the family. We were told to check our email at a certain time and be ready to spring into action.  And we were.  The weather was great and we had a lot of fun.  

Behind us is where they are digging the basement for the house.   The recipient is Carl Hall, a former WSU baseball player who was paralyzed from the neck down last summer in a car accident.  He has a wife and 4 kids and from what I hear he's a great guy.   Our work was mostly prep work for all the other volunteers.  We set up the barricade fencing for the spectators, built flooring in the catering, volunteer, and VIP tents, and basically did whatever set up was needed.   They expect to have the house finished next weekend.  We are going to try to volunteer again and be there for the "reveal day."

Worth the Weight

This is the story of a guy I work with.  He went from 380 lbs down to 245 through gastric bypass and exercise.  It's pretty motivational, but kind of long (8 min.)....if you're strapped for time, go to the 4:50 to 6:50 mark and check out how he got into running and took his pant size from 56 down to 38.

Slowly Thawing Out

We got hit with the Midwest winter blast and have had wintery weather the last couple weeks--- lots of snow, ice, negative wind chills, and school cancellations.  

Of course, we didn't get hit quite as bad as our neighbors in Oklahoma, or Arkansas.  I heard that in Tulsa school was closed for two weeks.  And in NW Arkansas, they set a 100-yr old state record for snowfall in a 24 hr period (23 inches).  My company totally shut down there for 2 days, as did many other businesses.

All this cold stuff always puts a damper on my running (read: no running the last couple weeks).

But fortunately, the weather finally broke over the weekend and we've climbed into the 50's.  The snow is melting.  Woo-hoo.

I got out for a 3 miler last night and it felt great.  I have lost 12 lbs in the last 5 weeks (even WITH all the valentines candy!) and it sounds weird but I could feel it in my running, I felt lighter and stronger.   Still, I have decided that my body is old enough now that it needs extra rest days between runs, so I'm going to try to be smart about that and not overdue it.

Here is a pic of the snowman my boys made over the weekend, after it warmed up and the snow packed really good.

PS--Big win for K-State Monday night.  Thank you to KU for possibly saving our season.

Giveaway Winner! And Some Purple Hot Chocolate.

Thanks to all who entered my $45 CSN Giveaway.    The lucky winner is....................

Miss Zippy!

Congrats!  I will email you with your winning code shortly.

A co-worker gave me some purple hot chocolate for Christmas.  With the wintery weather upon us, we tried it last night.   For the record, it didn't taste as cool as it looked....

pic is kind of dark, can't see the purple-ness