Hi family and friends,

I hope you are all doing well and having a wonderful day. I plan to use this blog along with the accompanying FB page to share lessons, answer questions and provide resources to ways to improve our lives physically, mentally, and spiritually. If you have any questions, concerns or helpful comments please let me know. I may be able to answer your question outright, or at least help find the answer from other sources and then share the information with everyone.

While I do intend to use this blog to help promote triathlons as a means to encourage physical, mental and spiritual growth, it is not meant to be exclusively for triathletes. I would encourage you to use any tips that you find relevant to your life. I realize that not everyone can physically or wants to swim, bike, and run. I would like to inspire you to do something active, because that is better than nothing.

I would like to share a little bit about myself. I am a 40 year old father of four. My wife and I have been married for almost 20 years. We have three wonderful daughters who are 15, 12, and 6, our fourth child is our delightful son who is 4. My wife and I are both from Springville, Utah, although I lived on a ranch in Clover Valley, Nevada for about 3 years as a toddler, and spent 7 & 1/2 years in Gilroy, California, from the age of 7-14. My wife and I originally met in the nursery of the church we belonged to, as 2 year old's. We were separated by our parents when my family moved to Nevada. We did not meet up again until we were 14, after my family had moved back from California. She remembered me and soon was smitten by my rugged good looks, and shy demeanor. We became friends again, when I was placed between her and her best friend, our Junior year of High School in Trig class. I was the messenger boy, as it was my job to pass messages during class between the girls on either side of me. 3 months after serving an LDS mission to Riverside, California, we decided to tie the knot in the Manti, Utah temple. That was the best decision of my life and has been a continual blessing ever since.

Growing up, I struggled with asthma and was never very athletic. As a child I used my asthma for a crutch and was the excuse for why I couldn't run a mile with the rest of the PE class, or do push-ups, sit-ups, etc. During my teenage years, I was introduced to basketball. That soon became my obsession. I would go and play with my friends everyday after school, Saturday, Sunday and all summer long. We played year round. Here I first learned the value of running and having endurance. I started to set my asthma crutch aside and became more physically active. When I was 15, I had a seminary teacher who would tell us (the class) about the triathlons he competed in. I love to swim and bike but running had to have a purpose. Like associated with scoring points, trying to wear down the opposing defense, etc. Why would anyone want to run, just to run, that's crazy.

Within a few years of marriage I found my weight had crept up to almost 200lbs. Just as a reference, I'm a little over 6'0" tall, when we were married I weighed 150-155lbs and wore a size 32-34 pant. At that point I was closer to a 36-38 pant, and even though I was working a physically demanding construction job, I wasn't taking care of myself physically. I decided it was time to get healthier, I found some local friends who played basketball 3 times a week and joined in. Within a year, I dropped 20 pounds. Around the age of 30, I decided to enhance my endurance by training for a triathlon. Through hard work, and dedication I dropped another 20lbs and was down to 160lbs.

During this time, our lives were turned upside down. The construction market bottomed out, I was laid off and found myself needing to find a more secure career, to provide for my growing family. I ended up going back to college to acquire a Bachelor's degree in Exercise Science. I loved this area of learning because I was able to apply much of what I was learning directly to my own personal training. It was during my time as an undergraduate student that I decided to participate in my first triathlon. I had been training off and on for a couple of years and kept telling myself that I couldn't afford to do a triathlon. I finally came to the realization that we have the money for what is important to us. It is a matter of priorities, and I had made triathlon a priority. I signed up for my first triathlon which was the Herriman Blackridge Tri and it was awesome.
 I loved every minute of it. The next couple of years my oldest two daughters and I continued to compete in 2 or 3 events each year.

Started in 2011, added family members and friends over time

In 2015 we moved to Warminster, Pennsylvania., where I attended a Physician Assistant (PA) program. In late February 2016 while walking to school, I was crossing an intersection; in the crosswalk, with a green light; a school bus making a right turn failed to see me, it hit me and ran over my legs. This caused a lot of damage to my lower legs. Shortly after the accident I was dismissed from the PA program due to an inability to maintain the rigors of the program. Shortly after being dismissed, we moved back to Utah, where I was accepted to a nursing program in South Jordan. In March of 2017, I had to have surgery on the meniscal tears in my right knee. After the surgery, I fell into a depression. I had been rehabbing my body for the past 12 months trying to get back into racing shape, attending school and looking a job. I felt as though I was a failure. I wasn't smart enough or strong enough to become a PA, I couldn't get a job to provide for my family (I wasn't a good provider, which is very important to men's psyche so I have been told and experienced) and now my body was continuing to deteriorate on me. I became very withdrawn in my depression and found that I soon weighed 220 lbs. This was the heaviest I had ever been in my life.

WARNING !!! I'M EMBARRASSED AND INSPIRED BY THESE PHOTOS 

Shortly after reaching this level, I decided it was time to make a change. My wife came across a nice lady, who was a health coach for Optavia. Under her direction, I removed 30 lbs, getting back to 190
lbs. Her example has inspired me and I too have become a health coach. If you are interested in learning more, feel free to ask.

During the last few months I have sought guidance from a psychologist. Her guidance has helped me to correct some of my thinking patterns that were detrimental to my overall health. With all that I have experience and learned, I want to help others in obtaining a balanced, healthy lifestyle. My passion to be a healthy person combined with education and personal experience, is what inspired me to use triathlons as the basis for my own well-being. Life has taught me, there is more to a healthy lifestyle than just being physically fit, and that is why I am focusing on the body, mind, and spirit.