A Sheriff's Car, A Wedding, and 14 years later

No, I didn't fall off a cliff in Boulder or got eaten by an Elk, and yes I did survive my race. It was such a life changing event that it is taking me a long time to process. Not to mention since we have gotten back our life has been in overdrive. I will get a full update on the race up soon with lots of pics, but I could not let today go by without recognizing its significance. 

Please forgive my grammatical errors, but this post is about the Keebler Blog Editor in Chief so she can't read it until I post it. Today was the day that I was delivered to a small Methodist church in Snyder by non other than a local sheriff's deputy for my wedding day. A long but somewhat typical story of me in general :) It was also the last chance that my beautiful wife, Susan, had to run away. Thankfully she chose to stick around!

I could not have imagined spending this last 14 years with anyone else. It really doesn't seem like it has been that long, and every step of the way we have always been there for each other. Just writing this I can't help but smile thinking of all the joy and happiness we have had together. Yes like any couple we have had struggles, but they have been blurred by the good times. In my heart I know that only together can we be the best version of ourselves.

Today also is the anniversary from when we were honored to dedicate a memorial for my Dad (JD) at the Heart Cath Lab waiting room at Covenant. I just watched the video again that was done by the City of Lubbock PIO department for the event, and the emotions from that day instantly came back. It is a physical reminder of my Dad, but like this blog, I hope it to always be a place for inspiration for a better you.

Also, on this day of anniversaries it reminded me of what a great Dad he was, and watching him with my Mom he was the best inspiration for me to be the best husband that I can be for Susan.

I hope that you check out the video and are inspired to want to be better, and then go out and inspire others to do the same!

JD's Heart

A few more hours

Well it has been a few days and a few miles behind me since I last posted. We took our time getting to Boulder, and it was so weird to actually drive for 2 days through rain. I can't remember the last time that  I saw that much rain. Unfortunately, because of the rain, I wasn't able to get in some of my scheduled workouts, but at this point it is just good to keep moving. At this point, I am not going to do anything to improve my fitness for the race.

It is just so hard to chill out and relax. My family and the Hurst's (our travel buddies) have been off on some grand adventures, and I have been able to take in some of it. The majority of the time I have been trying to relax. You would think that would be an easy thing to do but it really hasn't been.

Even though I nearly always train by myself I really do like being around people. I always feel my energy comes from being around others, and I am hoping that tomorrow morning it really kicks in.

It would be a lie to say that I am not nervous, but I am surprisingly not overwhelmed with it yet. Maybe that will come in the morning. After thinking, talking, and training for this race all year I am ready to get it started.

I am most excited about getting to see so many of the Lubbock group racing tomorrow, and I wish them the best of luck and prayers for a great race for everyone:

Chris Toelle
Chad Elrod
Heath Pennell
Allison Pennell
Scott Burris
Nicole Adams
Jeff Hancock

Let's let Boulder see what it is like to have a lot of soulshine coming from Lubbock, TX!

I hope to see all of you on the other side of this Ironman!

Blessings.
Keebler

Just a few of the Keebler Crew at Athlete Checkin

Soulshine

                                                                    "Soulshine"

The Allman Brothers Band

When you can't find the light,
That guides you on the cloudy days,
When the stars ain't shinin' bright,
You feel like you've lost you're way,
When those candle lights of home,
Burn so very far away,
Well you got to let your soul shine,
Just like my daddy used to say.
He used to say soulshine,
It's better than sunshine,
It's better than moonshine,
Damn sure better than rain.
Hey now people don't mind,
We all get this way sometime,
Got to let your soul shine, shine till the break of day.

I have been thinking about this post for quit some time, but it wasn't until today that I really was able to get it right in my mind. These last few weeks of training have really started to strip me down not only physically, mentally, but spiritually as well. What I mean by strip down is with so much going on preparing for this race that decisions are very easy to make. I always tend to try to go over every angle before making a decision in both my professional and personal life. As it is my personal life is consumed with all things Ironman, but my professional life has been consumed with many issues as well. So their has not been any free time allowed for anything that is not either professional or Ironman. 

A small example of this also gives you an update from the last post. I was asked by my cardiologist to try one more medicine to help bring down my cholesterol. The last medication that my doc had me on, I had a reaction to it and it took over 9 months to work out of my system. I feel that I know him well enough to know that he wouldn't push this if he didn't think that I really needed it. Anyway I called them this last week to tell them that yes I have muscle soreness, but geez I am training for an Ironman! Also, there is no way that I can find one morning that I can fast to get blood work done after working out for 1-2 hours before work. So I'll just keep taking the medicine until I can get past this Ironman.

Then a close friend sent me a text that said: I hope this isn't weird. I prayed for you and your family this morning. Prayed for your strength and courage to get thru the training for the IM. Prayed for patience and support for your family. This is from someone that has been through this level of training and racing. It really reminded me that I needed this kind of support, and it helped me more than this friend will ever know.

Around the same day I had conversations with two other people that have gone through training and racing the ironman distance, and they both told me that I needed to prepare myself for the reality that some time during this race you will go into a pretty dark place. Then they both added but remember that no matter what you have to keep going because you will get through it.

Tim has gotten me to the point of being able to handle this physically, and Dr. Cooper has gotten me to finally understand how important nutrition is for training and racing. I have been wondering if I have done what I needed to do spiritually to make it though this race. No matter what, this race is going to come down to my spirit being strong enough to finish. 

Today I realized that putting myself though this is forcing my soul to shine. It has to because everything is slowly being stripped away. Then I thought of not only all of the bad things in the world that we hear about daily, but also all of the ups and downs that we as individuals go through every year. There are many times we believe that we can't take anymore crap from this world, but that also seems to be when our souls shine brighter. 

Then the lyrics above came back to me, and I know that when I enter that dark period during this race I will do what I will not want to do. I will smile! It is the only way I know to physically let the others around me know that even as bad as it is my soul is still shining. Smiling is really the only socially acceptable way to give all the bad stuff in our world the bird. I am hoping that me smiling at my worst will help others get through their worst. So even if your life will never have anything to do with some crazy endurance training we all will have bad times. Even if it is just for a second…smile…and let your soul shine.

In all my soul shining, smiling, keeblerness I wish you all the best this weekend!

Keebler

8 Days until Ironman Boulder

P.S. For those of you that have never experienced the auditory greatness of the Allman Brother's Band playing Soulshine below is the video. It is worth the listen!

The Allman Brothers Band - Soulshine Live

Listen Up Princess

Not long after I published the last post I realized that I was ignoring something. Mainly the fact that after finishing a workout one day last week and I had the chills. Not really thinking that I was sick I decided to go ahead and check my temp. Boy was I wrong! I had a temp and an explanation why my body would not respond to what I was telling it to do.

This brought me back to a conversation that I had with Elliot taking him to the airport after the Buffalo 70.3 race. We were both talking about how when you are training and racing there is always a fine line between healthy and sick.

Then he said something to the effect that, "The reality is that a person's body is like a princess." 

At that time I just thought that it was a funny statement, but if you really think about, this is a very true statement.  

Most of us believe that if we aren't sick then we are healthy. The reality is that your body is always talking to you. It will tell you want it wants and needs. Like a princess, if your body is getting what it wants it is a smiley happy person, but if the slightest things is wrong or not right,  it will start kicking and screaming. Now the difference between being healthy and unhealthy is that the better you treat your body the better you can hear what it is saying to you. 

I learned this lesson after the Grassland's race, because my body was telling me something for a while and I ignored it. Then this last week I was probably pushing my limit again, and ignoring that I needed more rest. Hence getting hit with a fever and cold for the first time in a very long time and being forced to rest.

I am now less than two and a half weeks from the biggest challenge that I have ever tried to accomplish, Ironman Boulder. I am not sure if it will be as much about me surviving my first Ironman as it will be about me surviving the training.

For now I am doing my best to listen up to what my body is telling me with the workouts that Coach Tim is giving me.

 (Tim's comment to me yesterday was that he considers it a success when every day goes by and I am not texting him that my leg is hurt :))

 I am also trying to do my best with the tools that Doc Cooper with CNS Athlete has given me on nutrition. As much as we want exercise to be the only answer to how healthy you are it just isn't the only answer. You have to pay attention to what is going in for fuel.

Those of you that have followed me on this journey know that it will always be about more than the race, and who knows if I have what it takes to be an Ironman. All I know is that there will always be bad stuff that we will all encounter, and if you wait until that happens to you in your life you might not be able to fight.

So decide today, do you want to listen up and fight or just give up?

The Trail Running Princesses

Keep Fighting,
Keebler

Nearly Broke A**, Machismo, and Other Tales of Recovery

 Tomorrow will be the 4 week count down to my first Ironman race, and it has been a bumpy last few weeks. Since I last checked in with all of you I was dealing with a what I believed to be an ITB syndrome issue that was keeping me from running. Well that diagnosis is not fully right, and more than likely it might be some lower back nerve issue. Now in my case this sounds worse than it actually is, but in my defense it is extremely annoying.

Near the end of May I was still not training as much as Tim and I would have liked, but I was able to stay active. Then our annual family trip to Concan, TX at Neal's Lodges came up. Even though I was stressed about my lack of training I knew this was a great time to recharge. I normally would not bring my bike on a family trip, but this year was going to have to be an exception. Tim said that if nothing more this was a great time and place to get in some bike miles, and just forget about running for the weekend.

The first couple of days I got in some great hill country riding, and was barely feeling any issues with my leg. This wasn't just a great place for training, but it was also some much needed family time. I don't know if any of you feel this way, but many days Susan and I feel like we just high five as we pass each other in the doorway. As I have talked about balance this is one of the most important ones, family!

After my bike ride on our first full day there we decided to go float the Frio since it was really flowing  after some much needed rainfall a few days before. The last time were at the river it was so low floating was more work than fun, but this time it was great! We even had a few rapids that we actually had to walk the kids around. As a matter of fact I even helped a slightly huge pregnant woman down with her tube while her husband saved the beer tube.

Question for you readers:  Is chivalry really chivalry when followed up by stupidity?

Now back to the story. So since I really didn't want to miss the fun of going down the rapids even though I had lost my tube at this point. Well the obvious choice at the time was to go down without a tube. I had barely gone a few feet before I made rapid contact with very large rock. Now considering that I hit it hard enough that I saw stars I was pretty sure I had broken my tailbone. Anyone that has ever done this knows the pain I am talking about.

My next thought was seriously I am starting to finally get recovered from one injury, and now I have done this. Not to mention the fact I am going to have to tell my coach I broke my a**!!!

Thankfully while you are in Concan, TX unless you have AT&T you have no service at all. In this case I am really glad I didn't have to make that call. Actually now that I think about it not having service was the best part of the vacation.

The next day I had a 3 hour ride scheduled and decided to give it a try. It wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world but it was manageable.

Sophia hanging out by the Frio River

Here I am very thankful for my water stop Mom's on my 3 hour ride 

Other than just hanging by the river we did a little weight lifting!

 Besides the little accident it was a great time to decompress, and get ready for the Ironman training to come.

This blog started with my first visits to my cardiologist last year with the fear that I was already starting to have the same issues that many men in the family have had before me. Well I had a follow up with my heart doc Dr. Borno for my yearly check up. To recap last year we went though a few statin drugs to try and bring my cholesterol numbers down, but I kept having reactions to them. Since then I had some blood work and my numbers were well out of the range. Even with my lifestyle he wants me to try the last drug that he thinks will work. In his words as high as your numbers are your lifestyle helps but we still need to be aggressive. The funny thing is that I am sore all the time now from Ironman training so I really can't tell if I am having a reaction to this medicine or not. I will have to redo blood work soon, and maybe we will find that this has helped.

Now on to the machismo part of this blog. A big part of my plan going into my Boulder plan was to race the 25th anniversary Buffalo Springs Triathlon. Since my recovery has been so slow on this leg injury Tim and thought it would be best to test my leg out on a shorted course and hope it holds up. Now this was my first time to race this year which means you have to work out the race kinks. The only thing that I was not prepared for was the zipper on my new race suit to break.  Some experience helped me here because I didn't freak out, but I did have the race bike mechanic try to fix my suit before the race. Finally I just figured it is what it is and I just needed to go race.

Besides that my race went well I was able to finish in the top ten, and place in my age group. The best part for me was that I was able to run all out and my leg never bothered me. Now this wasn't a marathon, but it gave me some confidence that I might be able to finish the race in August.

This is Coach Tim and I at the finish. Open Shirt + Gold Medal = Machismo! Photo Courtesy of the Great Cam Mencio

Even though it was a great race for me the best part of the weekend was meeting our home stay that was in town for the 70.3 race. His name was Elliot Holtham a professional triathlete from Vancouver, Canada. Who had just won Ironman Australia a few months earlier. It was really interesting how a professional athlete prepares the few days before a race. One of the biggest things that I learned was to trust your training and relax. He didn't have the race that he wanted, but I hope that he had as great a time as we did hosting him. Those of you in triathlon remember his name he not only has the right mindset, but definitely the right spirit to be one of the best. 

The pro men ready to start the swim

Elliot coming back into Buffalo 

Keebler and Elliot

It is crazy watching the dedication these pro men and women put into this sport. There is no other sport where we as amateurs are able to interact so closely with the Pros. It was a great pleasure for our family to know Elliot and we will always be huge fans and we wish him the best with his upcoming nuptials!

As usual this update has gone on long enough,  even though I have so much more to update you on. I am hoping to update more frequent since I am less than 4 weeks out from Ironman Boulder.

Even though things gave been a little rocky and tough everyone of us is going to have our issues, but it is about always trying. I used to think that I was doing this to add more years to my life, but only God knows how that is going to turn out. What I can do is try to make my quality of life better for the time that I have here. 

Keep fighting,
Keebler

P.S. I didn't have a broke a** just severely bruised, but even with that it has been painful.

Perspective

The road has been a little rocky since the Grasslands Marathon. What I originally thought was just normal race pain that was taking longer than normal to recover from I have to now admit is an injury. After a few weeks of the same pain in the same spot in my upper calf I started remembering my Dad's issues with blood clots in his legs, and then considering that 30 minutes after I finished the race I hopped in the car and drove 4 hours. When I first thought of a blood clot I felt like I was being a hypochondriac, but when you have my families goofy blood history it wasn't something to ignore. After several tests and doctors we ruled out everything that could be bad. Then an old friend from my first year of racing 70.3's came back to say hi. If you have been cycling or running for a number of years, and never had a bad case of Iliotibial band syndrome consider yourself very lucky.

My first 70.3 in Oceanside, Ca in 2009 ended with me walking most of the last 4 miles of  the race. As Jerred said at the time I had a hitch in my giddy up. What took me so long to come on board with this diagnosis is that it has manifested itself in a lower part of my leg, but regardless I can't run more than a .10 of a mile without having to stop. I wanted to believe that it just came up with the race, but the reality is that I was probably ignoring issues for sometime, and the race pushed them over the top. Even as bad as last year was with the muscle pain from statins I was still able to train, but this has immediately sidelined me and cut my training time sharply.

What does this do to someone that is used to keeping really active?

I can only speak for me, but for my overall health I have to have a pretty high level of activity to help me feel balanced. Being active is only part of it. Staying physically active keeps me balanced spiritually and mentally, and helps me be a better person is all other aspects of my life. Sometimes we try to compartmentalize all parts of our daily lives, but every part of our lives affect the other parts.

What do you do when this happens?

You recognize it and don't ignore the fact that you need all the parts (spiritual, mental, and physical) balanced. Then you take a deep breath and remember that even a little work on each is better than nothing. You remember that you can't control each and everything that happens in your world, but in what you do you always look up and never give up.

Granted this has been the most debilitating issue I have had in the last several years of racing, and I was really starting to question the future of being able to do endurance sports. Then as always happens God reminds me to keep things in perspective.

Within a two week period 2 people close to my family passed away after long struggles with illness. I believe that both of these people would have loved to have stayed on this Earth longer just to be around the ones they loved, but at some point no matter what our physical bodies are just done.  I have said many times that I have been blessed with bad genetics that remind me daily that if I don't keep myself in good shape I won't be here long. When I first started this journey it was to be here with my family for as long as I could be, but the last few years I have added to that another idea. Everyday you wake up is a day you get a chance to try to be better and inspire others to be better. To do more good in this world.

Sometimes to do that you have to go through pain and sadness, but you also get to go through joy and happiness. Remember it is always tougher somewhere else, and everyday is a chance to do more good. If you are reading this then you woke up today, and you were given that opportunity to do more good. Recognize that and go out with a smile on your face.

Here I am using a new recovery method called Cryoboost .  After a massage from Lauren Ripple of Cryoboost. This was a great way to reset everything. Thanks David and Lauren!

Grasslands Marathon - Blood, Sweat, and a Chupacabra

A few weeks now have passed since Susan and I ran the Grasslands Trail Run near Decatur, and we have both been taking a nice few days of easier workouts to recover. As usual the flow of life took up any extra time we had, but at least we were able to do a few other things besides workouts.

So the last time you heard from me I was talking about trying to find inspiration. Well I think that my mind was on that post instead of actually running a marathon. After  posting that last post Susan and I went and had a nice pizza dinner, and then went back and chilled at the hotel. It was finally around 9 when I thought about actually setting up my stuff for the next day. Normally I have set it all out that afternoon, and have gone through it 14 times to make sure that I didn't forget anything. I even had a new nutrition plan from Dr. Cooper, of Competitive Nutrition Systems, that I was trying out for this race (I will fill you in more later on her company). Needless to say I really didn't have my mind or spirit in this race. I can't tell you why that is, but it was not normal for me. I was actually not even thinking about the fact that I was going to run a marathon the next day.

After a great night of sleep, because I am pretty sure I still haven't realized at this point that I am going to run for several hours nor did I seem to care. I think I was just ready to start and see what happens. Either way we were prepared for cold and rainy and instead we woke up to cool and no rain. The actual weather app said that the temp was 61 and the high for the day was 56! Never trust weather apps. I need to make sure you understand this whole morning was just going too smooth all the way to the point of actually standing on the start line.

Many of you will not be surprised by this next statement, but by the time the race was about to go off I had made a new friend, a veteran Grassland marathoner, by the name of Jay. Well he was at the front so when I went to say good luck to him the race started, and the next thing I knew I was starting off the race with the front group. Now here is the point where someone that has done this for a few years realizes that they are going out too hard, and wisely pulls off to let the group go by. That person is not writing this blog.

The first few miles of trails were very sandy and somewhat technical, but other than that it was at a pretty fun pace just harder than I should have gone out. After the first water stop I knew that I was going to have to go for a "nature break" soon, and yes this is actually going to be important in a little bit. The biggest problem was that I didn't want to lose the group I was in just to go pee. As soon as I could I dropped off the trail and jumped back in as quick as I could, but I still lost sight of the group I was with before.

Over the next few miles I started running with a guy named Dan. Then as we start approaching a nice little hill we see the group that was ahead of us coming back towards us. This will be the first of two times that we are lost on this fine day, but at least we were all one big happy group. During this break I look down to find blood running down my leg. Somehow during my "nature break" I scratch the hell out of my knee. As much as it was bleeding you would have thought I had taken a spill.

There was a lot of drama on this first loop with getting lost and trying to bleed out, but the truth was that for the first time in a year I felt perfectly at peace with what I physically could or couldn't do. I was just running and enjoying the fact that on this day I was blessed with being able to run.

During this first loop I never once looked at my watch as it ticked down the mile splits. I knew I was going harder than I needed to and harder than I had been training. I mainly just broke it down to the simple things: trying to take in some calories every thirty minutes (more like 45), and do everything I could do to keep hydrated.

At the end of the first loop I ran into the water stop and the lady says, "What happened to your leg?"

My response: "A Chupacabra bit me."

Her: "Seriously?"

Me: "You never know what will happen when you go pee in the woods." ;)

I was very fortunate to be able to run with Dan and this girl named Beth for the first several miles of the second loop. It was really nice to have a small group of folks to share the pain with for at least a little while.

When I reached the water stop around mile 18 I knew I was low on calories and I had a headache starting from dehydration. I tried to take in some extra water at this stop, but that just ended up making me feel bloated.

Out of this did come another funny conversation,
Water stop lady: "Your leg looks bad. You fell? Do you want me to try to clean it up?"

Me: "Thanks, I'm Fine. I got bit by a Chupacabra when I went in the woods to pee."

Water Stop lady: She smiles and says, "If you have a your phone I should take a picture. It looks awesome!"

After this water stop I really hit the wall and for the rest of the race I had times where I had to run/walk some, but as rough as I was feeling I knew that I felt different than I had for the last year. I knew that this wasn't an all consuming pain, but it was pain that was endurable. It was pain that you have to go through to reach the finish. It was pain that you could smile about and keep going. It was pain that might have knocked you down, but it wasn't going to keep you down. Sometimes through pain we find happiness. Sometimes through pain you find inspiration.

Finish Time: 4:25:59 22nd Overall

This is what I got from Tim after running the race. Still makes me laugh!

Susan and our cousins Alyson and Greg. I'm already out running at this point, and they are about to start.

Up close shot of the Chupacabra bite.

Susan, Keebler, and Alyson at the finish!

I have to end this post with a picture of something that has been harder to find this year than a Chupacabra. 

A man sweating, bleeding, in pain, smiling and named Keebler.

Peace,

Keebler