Good Intentions

It seems like the more stuff I have to do the more I like to put it off for another day. Then at the end of any particular day I sit back and think to myself "now that was a wasted day, I didn't get anything done!" I do this a lot with books, I always think that this book looks interesting, or that book has been getting a lot of press maybe I should read it. So I get books from the library and then they sit on the table or next to the sofa and never get opened. Despite my intending to read a little every day. Why do I do that? I could think of a million things that I could do especially with company coming into town, but I'd rather take a nap!! Then sometimes I feel like I need a vacation, but then I think..."vacation from what?" I put off all of my work for another day and another day after that, so do I need a vacation from doing nothing....or a vacation from procrastinating? Maybe I am really on vacation all of the time so when I feel like I need a vacation it really means that I should just do my work, hmmmmmmm???

Between visitors

The Brown family hotel is up and operating here in SLC! My sister and her son were here for a few days, they left this morning. And Bridgets' parents and sister are coming out this weekend for Aiden's first birthday! The following weekend my friend Justin and his wife Jacqueline are coming out. Guess this is one way to keep a clean house! We love to have visitors though, if you are reading this then you should be planning a trip out to see us!

Having guests does make it hard to eat healthy and exercise because I find myself wanting to take them out to resturants and spend time with them...not exercise! So this break between visitors I need to get my behind back into the gym and start eating healthy before the next round of guests!
From the Great Salt Lake:
(from Left to Right) My sister Liz, Sydney, my nephew Ryan, Bridget and Aiden, and Me.

And the results are in

Well it's over! Half sick, I ran the Icebreaker Triathlon on Saturday. Still having respiratory difficulties it was quite a challenge. I had a good time though, I was a little disappointed with my run time but I guess there is always room for improvement. There were 293 adult racers, I finished in 129th place. Not bad for my first race in 8 years! The swim was crazy because it was in a 50 meter pool, I've only swam in a 25 yard pool...so it was like I was swimming and swimming and swimming and finally I reached the other wall and had to start over! The bike ride was pretty easy, I wish I would have pushed it a little harder but I'll claim it was all of the junk in my lungs that was making it hard to breathe. The run was tough, had some big hills right at the beginning just to zap all of my remaining energy, and then it gets a little disheartening to see all of the great runners pass you like you are standing still! Here are the results:

129th place overall (male and female)
102nd male to cross the finish line
18th in my division (30-34 Year old males) 34 total in that division
Swim time for 300 meters (6:09.54)
Transition from Swim to Bike (2:13.44)
Bike ride for 11.5 miles (35:51.68) average 18.9 MPH!
Transition from Bike to Run (1:13.78)
Run time for 3.2 miles (31:07.57) 10:22.5 per mile
Overall time 1:16:36.05 or 19:51.30 behind the #1 finisher

Soon enough I'll be out there doing it again, maybe at 100% health next time!

Spring flowers

I told you spring had Sprung! These are flowers in our front yard, now that I am feeling better I might go out and get a head start on weeding, and removing some dead stuff from last year. Anybody know what these are called? They smell great! The first picture is from our plum tree, I didn't know it flowered!

Nervous Nelly

So as I mentioned before, Saturday is my first sanctioned triathlon since 1999. That means it is my first triathlon in the 21st century! Um, yeah.....and I'm still sick. I finally have some energy back, but now I have respiratory conflicts with all the junk in my lungs. I really hope it will clear out before Saturday. It also means that I'm not getting any exercise, so to add to the pre-race nerves I'm going to be wondering if I trained enough at the end. I'm hoping to exercise tomorrow, and maybe go for a walk on Friday just to keep loose. Well, I shall post some pics from the race and of course my times. While I am really nervous I know it will all fade away once I jump into the pool and start to swim!

Being sick STINKS

Well, guess what? I'm sick again! The kids and I have a fun game going on here, they get sick and pass it along to me. I think I need to start some sort of vitamin regimen to boost my immune system. It seems like I am sick once every 2 weeks or so. Bridget says it also has to do with being in a different area during cold and flu season, the germs are different here in Utah than the germs in New York. Her theory is that next year we will all get fewer colds than this year, let's hope so! And then there is poor Aiden who has been sick for about 5 days now. Not all of those days were bad, but he has had a snot nose for most of that time. He sees a Kleenex coming his way and he starts to scream cause he knows what is about to happen. Poor guy!

Hey Runners

Attention all you runners out there, I just got back from an 8 mile jaunt and I was really thinking about trying for a marathon. But I need suggestions on how to go about doing that! I suppose if I don't get any suggestions from you guys I might just go to the library and see what I can find. So if you have any reading suggestions I'd take those too! My 8 miles took me 1:17.06, or 9 minute 38 seconds per mile. Not bad for this big dude! Let me know runners!

1000 palces to travel

I was watching TV and saw an ad for a new show, 1000 places to travel before you die. I thought to myself, if I had the means and the time where would I go? So here is my top 10 list of places I want to visit before I expire:
10. Australia
9. Germany
8. Italy
7. Hawaii
6. Ireland
5. Alaska
4. Costa Rica
3. London, England
2. Mallorca - One of Spain's Islands
and the number 1 spot: Scotland - The castles, the history, and the scenery. I'll get there one day!

So that's my list, what's yours??

Kids

It never ceases to amaze me that kids, I suppose probably only your own, can frustrate you to no end and then you look at them and realize that you just love them so much. Take potty training Sydney for example, I'll take her in to the bathroom and make her sit on the potty for 15 minutes...nothing....but then with in 2 minutes she will pee all over the floor! Then when I am muttering under my breath while I clean it up she will say "Daddy it's OK, it was just accident. Take a deep breath." There is nothing more frustrating then when you are trying to be mad and grumpy and a 2 and a half year old girl tells you to take a deep breath and relax. Another example would be Aiden, right now he is dropping his lunch off of his high chair. Not a real big deal, he does it every day. But I just cleaned the floors to a shine for my poker game tonight. I am really fuming on the inside, but as I glare at him he grins with is goofy 8 toothed smile...all seems right in the world.

Perhaps we can all learn a thing or two from our littlest kids, when someone wants you to do something right here and now...just say NO and then pee all over their floor. And when you are being held against your will, strapped into a chair so you can't make a mess....throw food at your persecutors and then laugh at them!

Triathlon Time!

Well I signed up for my first triathlon of the season last night. I am very excited, even if it is a smaller event. I have not competed in a sanctioned triathlon since the Ft. Collins Triathlon in 1999. I have done lots of triathlons on my own, just during the course of training. But this is the real deal, and it is only 2 weeks away! I'm so excited, I can hardly wait.

To top it off I ran 3 miles today in 23:59, that's 8 minute miles! Pretty sweet, huh? I doubt I'll be able to get that sort of time after swimming and biking, but you never know I could get really excited and get that adrenaline pumping then......LOOK OUT!

I plan to do one more triathlon over the course of the summer, I'd like to do more but they are pretty expensive. The one that I am doing in a couple of weeks was nearly $60. I want to do one that includes an outdoor swim, but then I'd have to rent a wetsuit which would cost another $35 making it nearly $100 to race. I should start a fund, the Chris Brown Racing Fund (CBRF). Contact me if you'd like to donate!

Has spring really sprung?

It is a beautiful day out her in SLC. It makes me want to tackle some of my outdoor projects, but I just don't know if we have seen the last of the snow. I thought a simple project may be to get the patio furniture out from under the tarp that they are under. I have already turned the soil in one of my flower beds, needs some more work though before it is ready. I did read that the last freeze isn't until May, so I'll have to hold off on planting until then. I've been thinking about buying some planters, but they are expensive! These few projects are just the tip of the iceberg, I have a mental list that is a mile long and would probably cost me a fortune to complete. I suppose I should weed out the non essential ones, and focus on the important ones like painting the house and putting a top rail on our chain link fence. Any helpers want to come out and help?!?

Big day!

I've been on a strict diet and exercise plan since October 25th. I reached my goal today, I have lost 75 pounds and a whopping 25% of my initial body weight! Here are some more numbers from my dramatic weight loss:

Since Oct. 25th I have:
Lost 75 pounds
which was 25% of my body mass
Body fat dropped from 31.34% to 19.49%
Fat mass 43 pounds now, 95 pounds then
lean mass now 181 pounds, 208 pounds then
I lost 8 and a half inches from my belly!

Pretty crazy, huh? But you may be asking yourself, is he done? Heck no! I am switching things up though, I am returning to the Body for Life plan which is my favorite diet and exercise plan that I recommend to everyone. I have set another goal of 15 pounds to lose by May 15th. That would put me at a svelt 210 pounds. Just for reference, when I graduated from CSU I weighed 225 pounds, when we moved to Omaha (2 years after graduation) I weighed 260 pounds. When I left Rochester I was 300 pounds, and I maxed out in Rochester at 315 pounds! So that goal of 210 pounds by mid-May would represent 105 pounds less than my highest weight ever...now that's what I call crazy!

Going a little green

I like to think I do my part for the environment, but there is always room for improvement! Take today for example, I was walking around Home Depot and I spotted a sale on compact florescent light bulbs. I've been thinking of replacing some of my home's bulbs, but they always seemed a little too expensive for me. Well, who can pass on a sale? So I purchased two 6 packs and replaced all of the most commonly used bulbs in our house! I replaced the bulbs in our living room and kitchen, master bedroom, and the entire basement and office. Each bulb supposedly saves $44, but there was one of those little asterisks next to that figure and I didn't take the time to read the fine print. Regardless, they are great for the environment and they should help my bank account as well! A true win-win situation!

Almost 1

Aiden is nearing his first birthday! Isn't that amazing? I can't believe he is already one, he seems like he is 6 months old to me. He is quickly approaching the walking stages, won't be long. In a way it makes me feel a little depressed cause I'm not sure we are having any more kids. So until I have grandchildren I won't get to experience "baby" anymore. Sydney is so independent, she always has been, but it won't be long until she is in preschool then kindergarten, then COLLEGE! I constantly find myself thinking that I need to enjoy each day with my kids, which is a great thought until it is chased out by the thought that they are growing up so fast. Guess I better get started convincing Bridget that I want another baby!

Has McDonalds gone too far?

I read the other day that McDonalds was releasing a new burger. It is made with Angus beef which is nothing new, Burger King and Arby's already have Angus burgers, but the scary part is that it will be it's biggest burger yet. At over 600 calories and 1/3 pound of meat is there no end? Add cheese and even bacon and you burger is over 800 calories. Still doesn't touch BK's triple Whopper with cheese and mayo which tops out at 1230 calories and 82 grams of fat! I guess my question is, do restaurants have a responsibility to protect its consumers when it's consumers are not protecting their health for themselves? In other words, I think ALL restaurants should be forced to publish on the menu the calorie, fat, carbs, and protein content, this way consumers may be swayed to pick the lesser of two evils and go with a slightly better Big Mac (550 calories). Instead of only trying to make a buck, perhaps they should work to do their part to help America's waistline!

In the Beginning I created.....

Blog blog blog every where you look someone is blogging about something. Well I figured I should get in on this blogging thing so that I could be in with the "in" crowd. This could be interesting cause I don't know what I have to say that anyone would find of interest, but stay tuned I just might say something great and brilliant-ical.