Keebler & Gu

As you get into longer and longer distance races and training one really important factor you have to consider is your nutrition. It is not only about when you are racing or training, a key component is trying to recover faster to keep up the workouts.

When I started 7 years ago I rarely if ever thought about nutrition. In reality my nutrition if I worked out was to reward myself with beer, pizza, cheese fries, or wings. I think you get the point. Anyway with shorter distances you really can make it on very little calories, and a lot of us take in more than we need so I really didn't feel I needed to worry about it.

When I started training longer distances I started to try some of the products my friends were using, and nothing seemed to work just right for me. Then I went to the 70.3 World Championships in Florida, and was prepared to have the race of my life. Not only was I racing the biggest race to date for me, but I was using it to raise money for Covenant Hospital to name the Cath Lab waiting room in honor of my Dad. So to say the least I had a lot of expectations for myself and from outside. The short story is that I had a great race going until my stomach started giving me problems on the run. Instantly my race goes from good to nothing short of torture. It was so bad at the end for me that I really wondered if I could race this distance.

A few months later I was in Dallas running a 13.1 race, and at the expo I get to talking to the Gu booth rep and explained to him what happened. Right off he tells me the sugars in the products I was using was probably what caused my problems. He asked me to try some of their products to see the difference. Even being skeptical of another sales pitch I was willing to try anything. So I started with Gu gels and electrolyte mix and everything felt good stomach wise and my energy stayed good. This last season I started using the Gu Roctane and the Gu Recovery mix, and really could see a difference in how I felt during and after workouts and racing. If you feel better you will race better.

So at the end of this last season I was ordering some more stuff from GU and noticed they had a sponsorship application that was due that week. So I decided why not? The worst they can say is no! In a few weeks I get the email that says that they can't offer me a full sponsorship, but because of my passion they want me to be part of their 2013 Pro Program.

I never expected to get any sponsorship, but to get a chance to be part of their Pro Program is a great honor for me. Those of us regular people that do this sport rarely if ever get any help, and nutrition is one of the things that is the first to go when things get tight. Then the fact that I can still remember the guy that was 50-60 lbs overweight, who smoked, and could barely run a block now has a company that wants to help me be better. The reality is even if this wouldn't have happened I would still be using and ordering everything Gu. To have this help I can't express my appreciation to Gu, and especially to you Debbie for giving me a chance.  You won't regret it!



Sincerely,
Keebler

Gu Energy

2013 The Year of the Keebler?

I'm back! I know that it has been a while since I really posted anything, but the last few weeks have been stupid busy. The funny thing is that for once the busy has been from all of the normal things in life instead of workouts and racing.

The reality for me during this time of the year is that going through my birthday, and the anniversary of my Dad passing always gets me a little down. I know that would really piss him off, but it is also during this time that I really remember how much has changed since he has been gone.

I will never know if my path was always meant to be speaking about fighting for your health, but it is one of the things that drives me to keep trying to find more people and groups to share my testimony.

I haven't been completely ignoring the Keebler blog over the last few weeks, but with everything  going on it has been hard to motivate myself to finish posts. So that means there are a lot of half finished posts for me to roll out over the next few weeks.

Here are some of the highlights from the last few weeks good and bad (in no certain order):

1. The girls got a very cool new puppy

2. Stayed consistent on training even if I haven't really been driven to do it, and still trying to figure out this years race schedule.

3. Finally brewed some beer that had been sitting around for awhile.

4. First time to ever ruin beer in 10 years. Turns out yeast goes bad, but I still let my beer visiting beer apprentices think it was their fault :)

5. First time in my life I understand why people nap. My belief that you go until you collapse might be wrong.

6. After a long break in speaking engagements I have  3 groups on the books, and another 2 in the works. This really has helped me start to feel inspired again that I have a chance to make a difference.

7. Applied with a great nutrition company for their Pro Program and was accepted. Much more on this later.

8. Started feeling recharged again after a busy year.

9. Remembered again why I started speaking to groups and started this blog.

10. Haven't made it to Church as much as I have wanted, but have done a lot to keep working on my faith.

11. We have had a lot of family time.

12. Another visit with the Cardiologist, and had to schedule another visit in 6 months.

13. We were reminded how fragile our health really is after a few of our friends had health scares.

I guess that is enough for now, but I am glad to be back and I hope that 2013 will be the year of the Keebler.

Keep fighting,
Keebler

The girls with their new dog Lizzy.

Lizzy wondering what family she has joined!