Float

Float - To glide across the earth without bounce, without strain and with purpose.

Marco and I have been working on Float. It's very important in running to float. Every runner from time to time does not float. It wasn't until my last trip to china that I found my float. I noticed recently while Marco was running that he was bounding. We had a workout given by his coach recently to run 600m repeats. We ran side by side and focused on float. The more he found his float the faster he ran. There was a father on the track watching his daughter play field hockey. He said in amazement "I've never seen a kid that young run like that, it is beautiful". Float.

Today I lost my running float. Probably something to do with traveling across the US, the Atlantic and half of Europe. Hopefully it's back tomorrow.

But float is not just running. Float should be life. Glide across the earth without bounce, without strain and with purpose.

It's a good life....

Dave

Off to Germany

We moved to Germany 4 years ago and it was our second time to the country. We moved back just over a year ago and now I can't seem to stay away. I never had a reason to go to Germany and now I go at least twice a year. It's funny how life comes around like that. It's not rough this time. The Bavarian Alps await.

It's a good life....

Dave

WWPD - 2011 Goals

Based on the crazy year I've had, one in which I'm happy to put behind me I've taken a different approach to my goals. My Dad (Papi) is not here to provide input but I sure can use his life as a guide to what would make the most impact on my life. So the goals are titled WWPD (What Would Papi Do) goals.

Marriage - Simply put my goal is to put Mary first in everything I do. Through all the things flying around if Mary goes first we all win. She deserves that kind of attention and she will get it.

Marco - We are going to learn something together. We'll work on it this winter and by spring we'll make it ours. It will really be up to him. I know what I want to learn but if it's not what he wants we won't do it.

Money - Save, Save and Save. Our current savings rate is about 15% of our income. My goal is to get it closer to 25% of my income. In this world where we are lucky to have a job, a 25% savings is the smart thing. To do this I'm going to have to cut some of the things I take for granted. More on this as the year goes on. Any suggestions would be great.

Motivation - Papi spent the last 20 years of his life continually refining his faith. I think I need to do the same thing and first up may be that I define it. Then I need to continually refine it. I think this leads me to question it all. I can say right now that I don't define myself by a religion. Some heavy research is needed here. Some help or direction from others is welcome.

Me - I split me into two places that matter most.

1. Competition - I can't lie, I still want to compete. Last year I did zero in this world. At the end something had to give. My "Fitness" didn't give but I did no racing. So in 2011 I plan to do an Ironman and to do well in it. What that mean's is I have to cross the line and feel like I gave it everything and the results show. I also have to do this in the scope of everything here. I've been known in my younger days to put this first. That will not get me anywhere.

2. Relationships - This is one Papi was a master of. He had more personal relationships then anyone I know. I have 360 or so friends on my Facebook page but I don't know how many are truly personal. That needs to change. So my goal is to develop relationships all year long. This is probably the biggest stretch for me. Personal is the hard part. I have lots of relationships but personal is not what I would call them.

Now if I read this as Papi I think he would sign up for it. Put family first, take care of your money, build relationships and realize you are just a part of something bigger.

It's a good life...

Dave