I’m done with Xcuses! I keep claiming I’m too busy to work out as much as I know I should, so I’m finding ways to make it happen. Check out the video below for more on this and maybe even some ideas that might be of use to you too:
Do you feel blessed enough to “Frivagive?”
Do you like buying frivolous stuff for yourself that you don’t need but it’s just fun to have? Me too!
Do you like the feeling you get from giving to the poor and needy? Me too!
Here’s one strategy to do both. It’s a win-win! Join me in this movement to bless others in need because we are so blessed!
It’s called the Frivagive Challenge. It’s about blessing others because we are so blessed. It’s about altruistic, unconditional giving to those in need, without any expectation of a return, or even getting any credit at all, in any way.
Here is how the challenge works:
Keep buying frivolous stuff. No one judges! Then, for every frivolous thing you buy, place a proportional amount of money in a separate giving account, based on your income, to give to the poor when you feel called, in the amount you feel called to give.
For example, if you make $100,000 or more per year (net), and you buy something fun and frivolous that you don’t actually need, which costs, say $20, then you put 100% of that amount ($20) into your giving account to be given later when you feel called to do so.
If you make $50,000 per year, you put 50% of the amount of each frivolous purchase in the account. If you make $23,000 per year, you put in 23%, and so on, based on your income.
For more details, see the video below:
And now I invite you to join the movement with other people who have chosen to give in this way by participating in the Facebook group! Just click that link below.
You can help grow the movement by sharing the video (), comment below, email your peeps, join https://www.facebook.com/Frivagive/ and get your friends to join the movement!
It’s a fun project and a great way to help reduce poverty on our planet, so get on board today!
Schooled by Firefighters
I got schooled big time at the 2016 Big Climb.
I was allowed to participate this year in the LLS firefighter stair climb up the tallest building in Seattle. I’m not a firefighter, but the LLS staff is like family, so they let me in. I didn’t have a chip either, so it was basically just for fun.
Yes, I think stuff like this is fun.
Here I am, pictured right, lined up before the race, trying to keep cool, onnaccounta that gear is freakin’ hot just standing there in it, let alone climbing up a skyscraper. 
So I says to myself, I says, “How much harder can an extra 60 lbs. be and how hot can it get anyway?”
Well, my legs certainly protested loudly about all that extra weight, starting at about floor 9. But the worst part was the heat. It felt like hot yoga, starting around floor 20. That’s about when I started to fall off pace too. I picked 70 steps per minute (double-stepping) and that seemed pretty doable until the hot yoga part started. Then I just endeavored to keep double-stepping and quit listening to the metronome. I probably should have single stepped, at least for some of it, but I wanted to see if I could do the whole way up with double steps. I made it, but I’m sure it cost me time.
Floor 40 is the bottle change floor because that’s about the time most people run out of air and need to swap out for a fresh bottle. My low air alarm had just started, so the staff scooted me out for a bottle change. I wasn’t technically on a team though, so after walking around for almost two minutes, we gave up trying to find someone to help and I just went back into the stairwell. That added a bunch of time, but “meh – NBD” because I wasn’t being officially timed anyway.
Besides, that helped me set a bar so low I can roll over it, in case I ever do this race again.
Even with the nice little regrettable rest on floor 40, this event still kicked my butt. Here I am, pictured left, at the top, with my face stuck that way. This was how my face looked all the way up, as I labored to suck air from a tank, inside a claustrophobic, steamed up mask. My mom always told me not to make faces too long, or it will stay that way. She was right, but it thankfully, it wasn’t permanent this time. It only stayed that way for about 14 hours. I’m glad it went back to normal because I wouldn’t want to have to go to work like that tomorrow.
And that’s not hair gel you see in this picture either. That’s some nasty sweat – about 3 lbs. worth, in fact. That’s about as much as I remember sweating in an hour of hot yoga, back when I tried it – once.
Notice also there’s no “thumbs up” going on here like there was in the picture at the start line. I woulda if I coulda, but my thumbs were too tired to lift at this point.
If it weren’t for the nice ladies who were there at the finish line to help peel off my tank, pack, helmet, mask, gloves and jacket, I’d probably still be stuck in those too. I hear there’s a wait list for that job BTW. Apparently, the “undressing the firefighters” positions are the first to fill up.
Here’s the link to my Suunto data if you’re a biometrics nerd like me:
And the official race results are here: http://www.racecenter.com/results/2016/res_ff16.htm
But like I said, I’m not in the official results, onnaccounta I’m not a firefighter, but if I was, my 17:34 would have placed around 244th out of 1793. In other words, I got my butt handed to me by 242 fellas today and two chicks. The fastest female smoked me by more than 2 minutes in fact! I think I might have a new crush…
Finding Those “Gem” Restaurants on the Road
Travel nutrition can be difficult, but only if you think it should be.
It’s actually pretty easy with the right mindset and a web browser (smartphone or computer).
Last weekend, when I was traveling to Portland for a stair race with some friends, we asked the concierge at the hotel for a great healthy restaurant nearby. That’s usually a good first step, but in this case, he was worthless. He said he wasn’t from that area. What? A concierge who doesn’t know the area? Well, here’s an example of a hotel manager who doesn’t have the right people in the right seats on the bus.
So John and Casey got on their smartphones and Googled “grass fed beef restaurant.” This is a safe bet and certainly better than Googling something like, “healthy restaurant” because almost everyone tries to claim that in their keywords, hoping to snag some suckers. “Grass fed beef” on the other hand, is very specific and no one would put that in their keywords without running the risk of ticking people off and getting a bad online review. The search turned up several places, but the one we chose was called “Cultured Caveman” because we figured this would be legit paleo or primal style food. And it was. Check it out: