What To Say When You Have Nothing To Say?

     Well as the title states, I don't really know what to talk about at this point.  For the last couple of weeks, I just haven't felt like I have anything worth talking about and thought maybe I was a little burned out.  Lately I just haven't felt like myself and I feel like I am wondering aimlessly trying to figure out where I go from here.  It is weird not having a huge goal hanging over my head like I did with my weight loss and now with maintenance I just don't feel like I have a true goal to strive for and it is driving me nuts.  I feel like I have to have this huge epic goal, the game changing type goal, but I am unsure if I can't find one because I don't need one or because I just haven't figured it out yet. 

     While I struggle to find my bearings I also feel like work seems to be consuming more and more of my life in one way or another with us coming into our busiest time of the year.  Last week I was in Milwaukee for four days for work, and the experience was absolutely amazing.  I learned a lot in some of the areas of the business that my job doesn't have me work with on a regular basis.  Spending time at the world headquarters for Harley-Davidson was a dream come true for a guy who just 14 years ago was detailing bikes, mopping floors and cleaning toilets at a dealership just so I could say I work for Harley-Davidson.  While I was there I was also able to visit and get a private behind the scenes tour at the Harley Museum which was located just across the river from my hotel.  It was a truly once in a lifetime experience that reminded that not only do I work for an awesome company, but I do something I can say I truly enjoy.

    
     It wasn't all Harley-Davidson while I was there, I did manage to get some miles in and hang out with a truly inspiring human being.  The first day I ran around the Harley Museum and stayed in town running along the Hank Aaron Trail towards the Milwaukee Brewers stadium.  Day two I headed over to the park that runs along the shores of Lake Michigan.  I can't explain how nice it was with a stunning sunrise peaking out from behind the clouds.  That evening I met up with Rik Akey from the Fat to Finish Line documentary and the man that was the inspiration that fueled my belief that this weight loss journey was even possible.  He had a running club fun run going on that night, so I joined the group for a nice easy 4 mile run before we headed to a cool local restaurant called AJ Bombers, for a bite to eat.  It was great catching up and learning more about what fuels Rik's passion for helping and inspiring others.

    
     Since I still don't know what direction I am running in right now I'll just continue to put miles on my feet until things come into focus.     

The Surprise!

     Well this weekend played host to a lot of races around the country, but one in particular I was wishing I was at, but instead I was at work.  The Indy Mini Marathon, the largest half marathon in the US with something like 35,000 registered participants and home to my Ragnar Sole Mates reunion was going on.  Around nine months or so ago Katie came up with a great idea to have a reunion for our Strangers to Sole Mates Ragnar team and thought that Indy would make a great spot for it.  Unfortunately five of the twelve were not able to make it, but for the seven of us that could planning moved forward.

     I registered, paid my $85 and booked my hotel while counting the days till I got to introduce Mandy to them and got to run one of my bucket list races.  For those that don't know, part of this race is run on the track of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and whether you are a race car fan or not, getting to do that is pretty darn cool.  Whether it was fate or karma, three months before the race the marketing staff at my work moved the dates of a very important three day event to the same weekend as the race.  Needless to say as a manager this required me to be in attendance for the event and cancel my vacation.  First I was pissed that I wasn’t going to be able to hang out with my friend then the idea of wasting money on the registration fee and missing out on the race quickly added to my frustrations.  I let my Sole Mates know that I was now the sixth member not able to attend.

     As the race drew closer I held out hope that I was going to somehow be able to go, I even waited to cancel my hotel reservation until two weeks ago.  It was around this time I thought I can’t run the race, but Indy isn’t that far for me and maybe I can figure out how to still at least see everyone for just a little bit.  From my work, Indy is about a two and a half hour trip, so looking at my schedule I thought I could shoot out of work Saturday, drive to Indy, visit with everyone and get back by eleven the next morning to work the third day.  I wanted it to be a surprise, but I also didn’t want to drive all the way there and have to figure out where they were all at, so I emailed Katie to let her know of my plans.  It was at that time she let me know that our teammate Hilary was now able to make the race and was flying in to surprise everyone as well!

     Saturday came and at first I was so bummed because I was seeing all the great pictures of all the fun they were all having on Facebook while I was working, but none the less I would be seeing them in a few short hours.  My boss was nice enough to allow me to slide out an hour early, so I texted Katie, hopped on my motorcycle and I was on my way.

     Once I arrived at the hotel, I texted Katie and she met me in the lobby to hatch our master plan.  She went back to the room like nothing happened, while I hung out in the bar with a friend of hers, her sister and sister-in-law who also came to run the race.  When the four of us went to the room the girls walked in first saying they just met this cool guy at the bar that also has run a Ragnar and thought he should come hang out with everyone.  I walked in the room and everyone freaked out!  Hugs, tears, and happy faces were all that you could see.  I was so happy to see everyone and carry on a conversation that didn’t involve typing.

     We hung out in the hotel room for maybe a half hour or so before we all headed down to the hotel bar to get some drinks and play a freaking hilarious game called Cards Against Humanity.  If you have never played or even heard of it and you are not easily offended, then you should really pick up this game.  Sometime around midnight we all started getting pretty tired and loopy and decided to call it a night.  With everyone having different flight times in the morning, we knew this would be the last chance all of us were together, so we took a group shot before heading to bed.

     I was up and showered by seven to hit up breakfast before I headed back to work, but breakfast didn't start till 7:30 so I hung out in the lobby with Nancy, a fellow Ragnarian and Bonnie.  The three of us had a very in depth conversation about our weight loss and our inspirations that got us there.  I am not gonna lie, there were some tears shed, but it just shows the passion for the hurdles we've had to overcome.  Once breakfast started, Bonnie, Nancy, Paige, Katie, Rik and myself sat down to eat and continue our pre-breakfast conversations.  You may remember Rik from this previous post (click here).  Rik is one of the Ragnar Relay - From Fat to Finish Line team co captains that inspired the documentary of the same name.  Rik, unknowingly, was a huge inspiration in my weight loss / running journey and thanks to Katie I was finally able to meet him a few months ago.  We have since become friends and have talked about running a marathon together, but our schedules just didn't mesh.  Until now!  We decided to run the Glass City Marathon, my hometown race, next spring!

     Well as they say I hate to eat and run, but I really had to hop on the bike and head back so I could make it to work on time.  So after this long winded post, I can sum it up with what I posted on Facebook:

Worked 8 long hours followed by a 187 mile ride to spend a few short hours with my Ragnar Sole Mates before getting up at 6:45am to ride 187 miles back so I could work another 6 hours. #totallyWorthIt

   

The Text...The Visit

     

     Last night turned into a visit that was two and a half years in the making.  When I started this journey I came across a podcast episode from Runner Academy Podcast that featured Rik Akey and Ada Wong from the Fat to Finish Line Documentary.  They both told their stories of how they gained and lost the weight and how the Ragnar team and the documentary came together.  I knew nothing about Rik before this, but his story really struck a cord with me.  Just listening to him gave me hope that all of this was possible.  I must of listened to that episode thirty times to keep that fire inside me alive as I worked to meet the same distance and time goals in roughly the same time frame as Rik did.  I used what he accomplished as my goals like a compass pointing a ship to its port.  It would not be an exaggeration for me to say he is my weight loss hero and that he unknowingly saved my life.  It was always my goal reach out to him and thank him and even meet him one day.  

     In this day of electronic communication, Facebook made it rather easy to reach out.  I wrote him a long message thanking him for everything he had no idea he did for me.  Rik was so nice when he wrote back and even graciously offered to come run my marathon with me.  Unfortunately my race was the same day as a race he was already signed up for, so we took a rain check.  Well that race was going to be the Indy Mini half marathon that I was also running with my SoleMates for our reunion, but sadly I had to back out due to a work scheduling conflict.  I kept thinking I was never going to get to shake his hand little lone run with him, that was  till I got the text.  Just as I was walking in the door from work my friend Katie, from Runs for Cookies, texted me that Rik and his wife made a spur of the moment visit and asked if I wanted to come up and hang out.  I changed my clothes and literally headed right back out the door, because it's an hour drive from my house to Katie & Jerry's.  If you are a regular reader of Katie's blog you would know that Katie had another weekend house guest, Andrea, who was also a member of Fat to Finish Line team. 

     It was so much fun to just sit back, relax and listen to the three of them reminisce about their Ragnar Key West adventures and the documentary.  We talked about our up coming races, and Rik and I still plan to run a marathon together.  Rik is working on his goal of running a marathon in all 50 states and he still needs to cross Ohio off his list so we plan on getting together for that one.  The time seemed to just fly by and before I new it was past eleven and I still had an hour drive home.  We said our goodbyes, took a few pics so the rest of my SoleMates would be jealous; just kidding!!!