Let’s rewind a bit and head back to where this all started. About 3 years ago in February 2007 my wife said I was looking fat. Now, to be honest I was looking pretty chubby at the time and I was thinking the same thing about myself but for some reason something finally snapped inside. At that moment I decided that I would do what I always had wanted to do and to race in a triathlon. That night I signed up for the TimpTriClub Triathlon which was a little more than three weeks away and set out to get ready for the race. My training wasn’t anything special and three weeks later I proceeded to finish what would start now become one of the loves of my life, Triathlons. I have since raced in over 25 triathlons and more than 30 running races and have lost most of the fat that my wife quipped about that one special night …  and I am so glad she did say something.

Let me get this out of the way if you didn’t already know it. I love triathlons! I love everything about them, the training, the anticipation, the traveling, the competition both personal and with others, the feeling you get after finishing one. I just love everything that has to do about triathlons. After leaving football  I needed something to compete in and motivate me and triathlon has taken it’s rightful place.

Even though I have done a bunch of triathlons over the last 3 years, including a couple Half-Ironmans, I have yet to conquer the biggest of them all, the full Ironman triathlon. 2.4 miles of full-contact swimming, 112 miles of biking and 26.2 miles of running to top it all off … in the same day! The Ironman is the  Everest of the endurance sports world. After watching the 2009 Ironman World Championship I hastily decided and registered, just like 3 years before, for the Ironman Coeur d’Alene (In Idaho) on June 27th 2010.

Fast-forward now to the present and I am 3 weeks into my official training schedule. Things are going well as I decided after much research to follow the 24 week  training plan from Multisports.com and also available from the book  Start to Finish Ironman Training 24 Weeks to an Endurance Triathlon by Paul Huddle and Roch Frey. One thing I have realized is that Ironman training takes a lot of time and requires a lot of help and understanding from family, friends and neighbors. Slow days require about 2 hours of training and heavier days can get up to 4+ hours worth of training. It is time consuming but my family and I believe it is worth it.

So if you see me running or biking on the streets make sure to honk. If you feel like I have checked out and haven’t seen me for a while now you know where I am at. If you really need me you could probably find me running or riding around Spanish Fork  somewhere.

The only failure in life is the failure to try,  right now is the time to achieve your goals and become great.

For some people, especially those who come from bigger companies, the constant change can be somewhat unsettling at first. If you are not prepared to deal with constant change, then you probably are not a good fit for the company.

We must all learn not only to not fear change, but to also embrace it enthusiastically, and perhaps even more importantly, to encourage and drive it. We must always plan for and be prepared for constant change.

Although change can and will come from all directions, it’s important that most of the changes in the company are driven from the bottom up — from the people who are on the front lines and closest to the customers and/or issues.

Never accept or be too comfortable with the status quo because, historically, the companies that get into trouble are the ones that aren’t able to respond quickly enough and adapt to change.

We are ever evolving. If we want to continue to stay ahead of our competition, we must continually change and keep them guessing. They can copy our images, our shipping, and the overall look of our web site, but they cannot copy our people, our culture, or our service. As long as embracing constant change is a part of our culture, they will not be able to evolve as fast as we can.

Zappos Core Value #2

The reason I have been interested in Zappos all these years is because I have wondered how the heck a company that sells shoes and has a weird name has been able to achieve so much. The main reason I believe they are so successful is their focus on customer service. I have once read where they call themselves a Customer Service Company that sells shoes. This is the perfect explanation of who they are.

Zappos is special and I am going to try to share how. For the next 10 weeks I am going to share each one of the Zappos Core Values. If you want to jump ahead of the weekly posts go to http://about.zappos.com/our-unique-culture/zappos-core-values

Zappos Core Value #1 – Deliver WOW Through Service

At Zappos, Anything Worth Doing Is Worth Doing With WOW.

WOW is such a short, simple word, but it really encompasses a lot of things. To WOW, you must differentiate yourself, which means doing something a little unconventional and innovative. You must do something that’s above and beyond what’s expected. And whatever you do must have an emotional impact on the receiver. We are not an average company, our service is not average, and we don’t want our people to be average. We expect every employee to deliver WOW.

Whether internally with co-workers or externally with our customers and partners, delivering WOW results in word of mouth. Our philosophy at Zappos is to WOW with service and experience, not with anything that relates directly to monetary compensation (for example, we don’t offer blanket discounts or promotions to customers).

We seek to WOW our customers, our co-workers, our vendors, our partners, and in the long run, our investors.

Watch these gospel-centered videos and feel free to share them with family, friends and anyone else you think might be interested.

I am learning that it is dang hard to stop eating the food that makes me and everyone else fat. Saturday night, after posting my 15 pound challenge, I proceeded to eat KFC and right before bed I had 2 eggs with toast and a bowl of cereal. The exercise wont be the hard part of this, it will be the eating part. Why is it that best tasting foods are also the ones that are so dang unhealthy. I just don’t get it. With all our innovation and advanced knowledge we should be able to make a Whopper that helps us lose weight.

Saturday Medium Run 5k on course 1. Time:25:59 - Cal: 368 - HR avg: 179 - HR max: 195 - Rate:8 -Pace: 7:46

Monday Medium Run 6.5 miles Time:55:30 - Cal: 833 - HR avg: 182 - HR max: 193 - Rate:7 -Pace: 8:32 Pace