Off Season

Fall is my favorite time of the year. The great cool weather. The beautiful colors. So many things happen in such a short amount of time. The next thing you know it's cold out. I have been completely off from any training for two months now on a much needed break. It was good to take the "I gotta get a work out in" stress off of everything. Family time has been great. Caucht up on some house stuff. Janet had her garage sale that she has wanted to have for the past couple of years.

The thing that got me into the "off season"was a last minute offer by Erek Swenson to go camping in the BWCA. It had been years since I had done that so I skipped my last tri and headed north. What a great experience to share with Erek. It was a fantastic trip.


After that, since I had no more races planned, my wife thought it would be a good idea to ensure that she would not get pregnant again. Somehow that had more to do with me than her. So under the knife I went. That's all I want to say about that procedure. We do want to consider having more children in the future via adoption. We were so close to adopting while we were trying. So if we feel that God wants our family to grow, we will be excited to do that.

My camping trip with Erek got me excited about camping. So I called up Covenant Pines to see if we could set up camp there and enjoy a weekend. We wanted "Team Swenson" to join us but Erek's wife needed to be sold on the idea. So our neighbors Lou and Ellen were kind enough to lend us their pop up camper for the weekend. So we had all the comforts of home. But it could still be considered camping. We did have a tent and cooked our meals over the fire and on the grill. I have to say that camping with Janet and the kids together was special. That really felt like family to me. Enjoying the elements together, "roughing it." It really dose develop a bond like nothing else. Very special, and so fun to share it with "Team Swenson."




Yesterday was my first day back to training. Man did I miss it. It honestly felt like I was missing something about myself. You know you really like something when you come back to it and you can say, you truly missed it. So, I am excited to be back in the swing of things. I am racing in the Elm Creek fun run next sat morning with Sean Pease and John Kinghorn. It is a fun time in the park reserve with lots of family fall things going on.

As life progresses, and man do it seem to never stop, I feel more and more blessed by the friends and family that surround us. The things in life that are important to us now seem to be so simple but so much more fulfilling. I know that all of these blessings are rooted in our faith. Life has been so precious to me in all stages of it. Young, school, work, play, single, married, responsibilities, loss, children, family. Be encouraged no matter where you are! Know that God knows your heart and open up to His grace and mercy. He is consistent, desire that calm consistency in your life and he will give it to you.