stuff about stuff

Matt Hart just recently posted a link to this site about consumerism. Be sure to watch The Story of Stuff when you get a chance.
Unfortunately, our country doesn't have a good track record when it comes to consuming less. Our capitalistic society has glorified consumerism because of our collective love of the almighty dollar and it's coming around to bite us in the butt.
It reminds me of this:

Big Box Mart | Funny Jokes at JibJab

Much of Western culture takes the path of less resistance or the path of perceived greatest pleasure. This is evident in our rising obesity epidemic, the constant commercials for more luxurious cars, and the current market conditions in the housing/mortgage sector. People get in over their head because they're convinced that they NEED more luxury or more space. Why do we allow this to go on?
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for progress and technological advancement, but it has to be SUSTAINABLE progress. Newer and better gets shoved at us so fast now that we don't have time to fully utilize and appreciate what we currently have. When is the last time you repaired a hole in a pair of socks or mended something on your clothes? We've become so accustomed to everything being disposable because the price of consumables is low enough we don't give it a second thought. This also speaks to our lack of discipline. We seek the quickest or easiest way to achieve what we think we want. Instant gratification is rarely productive in the long run.
Have you noticed that the quality of most things has dropped substantially in the last 20 years? Computers/parts/peripherals, etc, don't last as long. Cars aren't driven as long as they used to be. Phone and/or cable service gets changed every few months now because we can save money by switching to something else, or because the service sucks. How many of you would rather go get another new printer or just buy new ink cartridges which cost almost as much?
Why don't we wake up and see that our love of money (corporate greed/ personal wealth and perceived status) is what is driving this? We need to start shifting our values to more substantial ones which will HAVE to start with taking our focus off of ourselves.

First time away

alright, once again, the obligatory baby updates (pics and vid) can be found HERE! (http://ben-reeves.blogspot.com/)
Saturday night/Sunday morning I got in from Brian's wedding in Atlanta. We had a good time and it was a beautiful wedding and another eligible bachelor is off the market. I'm glad I was able to be a part of it.










































While there, Allison sent me pictures of Isabella from her phone every morning. That really made me miss them both even more. It was strange for me. I'm used to being self sufficient while on the road and this time, although I was glad to be spending time with Brian, I really missed holding my little girl. Maybe that means I'll be a good daddy.

getting more handy

I got a good report from my hand surgeon on my follow up visit the other day. Going in, I was prepared for a scolding. My last visit to him, he gave me a prescription for a splint for the thumb and more physical therapy. I never went to it or got the splint, but I did stretching and exercises on my own for the hand. The Dr didn't scold me and was sufficiently impressed with my progress. I'm still hoping to get full range of motion back to all fingers soon, but it's not happening soon enough for me.

Thanksgiving

First thing's first. More gratuitous baby pictures are posted HERE.

That being said, after a little cuddle time, I decided that I've had enough of the indoors. A little play time was in order Trail Nerd Style!

Cuddle time!

I'm in the process of moving blog entries over to my other blog (The stuph of life) and will be returning this one to running, biking, training, racing, and injury recovery soon.

Although I haven't been a daddy for long, I'm pretty sure this is one of the best things about it. My daughter is turning me into a giant softie (especially around the middle) but I'm loving every minute of it.














Note that the cast is off the left hand now. One surgery scar is visible.



































I'm currently trying to figure out how to (easily) move blog entries from one blog over to another. If anyone knows, please clue me in.

She's home

Yesterday (Wed 14 Nov) we checked out of the hospital and brought our baby girl home after her and mommy both received a clean bill of health. We've had help from my good friend Lee in taking care of things around the house while we get used to some changes. It's been an amazing realization so far because thanks to all of our good friends and family and their generosity, we have everything we need and it's so nice not to have to worry about not having anything to provide for our little one. I think it's really cool when I notice all the different gifts from various friends and family that added up together, complete the necessities that we need to provide. It makes us really appreciate our friends and family who are part of us welcoming Isabella into the world, even if they are not here with us. Here's a short clip of her that I took of her in her room after a feeding.


Thank you all for your compliments and well wishes. We look forward to Isabella getting to meet everyone who is such a big part of our lives.

Daddy's girl

Here's a short little clip of our new girl. She's sleepy because she has a full belly. And because it's exhausting having daddy kissing her all the time.

Meet Miss Isabella Marie Reeves

Our little princess arrived at 1:05 am on Monday morning November the 12th, 2007. Although she was 13 days early, she weighs in at 6 lbs and 15 ounces and is just over 18 inches long.

WOO HOO!!!

After taking about10 hours to get dilated, Allison only had to push for about an hour to get Isabella out at 1:05 am on Monday morning! Both Allison and baby are doing fine.



















I'M A DADDY NOW!!!

OWIE!!!

The contractions are getting closer and more intense. We're starting the epidural in a few minutes. It's currently 8:21 pm Sunday night and Payton Manning has just thrown his fifth interception!!! :-p
Stay tuned...

Here she comes!

So last night/this morning, Allison started having some contractions around 1 am. We're now in the L&D room @ Skyridge Medical Center and they've started a pitocin drip to help speed things along.














More to come later!

healing and dreaming

While the hand continues to heal and physical therapy helps me get it usable again, all I can do for the time being is ponder upcoming parenthood and dream of things like the videos below.

See more videos like this at Mountain Biking at YourMTB.com

See more videos like this at Mountain Biking at YourMTB.com

As much fun as biking is (especially since I'm in mtb heaven) I'm really looking forward to returning to running the trails. The scenery here is spectacular and it will soon transition from fall to winter running. FUN FUN FUN!!! :-)

on the mend?

So on Wednesday, I guess the surgery went ok. The Dr said that after going in there he decided he needed to use plates as well as screws to put the bones back together again. He also said that he feels good about re-attaching the ligament to my thumb. As much as I absolutely hate taking drugs, I'm pretty thankful for Vicodin right now. Lets see how well it heals in another month or so...

OUCH!!!

Wednesday morning I'm scheduled for surgery. The Dr. said he'll put in screws and possibly a plate to reconstruct the spiral breaks in the 3rd & 4th metacarpals and then he'll try to repair the torn ulnar collateral ligament. The whole procedure should take about 2 hours and recovery will be around 2 months. This means I'll have to learn how to change diapers with one hand! :-(

DOH!

I just needed a little lower PSI in my tires & they probably could've held onto the trail. As it is though, I'm now looking at having some pins possibly put in my left hand to put it back together. Friday afternoon I was just going for a short bike ride at the trails by my house and instead of keeping my fun meter in check, I was going a little too fast and went down hard enough to break my left hand. Oh well, at least I can still run! The hand should be healed in time to hold my little girl when she gets here unless she decides to come early.



















Injuries suck!!

living the dream

Last weekend, I had the opportunity to head out to Moab, UT to help out with the Adventures Xstream Adventure Race. While out there, I got to do some riding on Amasa Back/Cliffhanger trail and part of the Kokopelli Trail as well as meet some fantastic racers and race personnel from some Pro teams like Team Salomon/Crested Butte.
Salomon also had some of their wares on display at the finish line so I had the chance to check out some of their shoes which are NUMEROUS in variety and function.


















Several years back, I had a pair of Salomon's shoes, but they didn't wear very well. At first, they were very comfortable, but the soles came unglued and they weren't very light. It seems Salomon has learned their lesson and their shoes have come a LONG way since then. I was surprised at how comfortable the XA Pro 3D were. They were lighter than any other trail shoe I've tried on recently with the possible exception of the La Sportiva Raceblade or Fireblade, but the Salomon's also felt very stable. When the mileage starts getting higher on my Montrails and Vasques, I may have to give one of the pairs of Salomons a shot.

Enjoying the autumn

When we lived in FL, we used to take a long weekend trip up to the Smokey Mountains of TN or NC to see the fall colors. Compared to the FL weather, the cooler temps was a nice change. Now that we're out here in some REAL mountains, it's very cool that it's so convenient to go check out the colors and cooler temps at our leisure.














Last weekend, Allison and I went with Lee, Monique and Connor on a drive to nowhere in particular to see what we could see. It was fun to drive around in such a scenic place with no agenda. We stopped when we wanted to and had a picnic then later went for a hike.














Good times!

fall means college football!

While living in Florida, one of the things Allison and I really enjoyed was getting to drive up to Tallahassee to see FSU play football. We haven't had that opportunity in a while so when I heard that FSU was coming to Boulder to play CU, then I figured I'd have to find a way to get tickets to it. Luckily for me, Allison's cousin in Colorado Springs got tickets from his boss who wasn't able to use them and we got to go for free.














Florida State won the game, but it was an ugly one. Although I was surrounded by CU fans, everyone was nice an diddn't give me a hard time for wearing my FSU gear.














Good times! Go NOLES!

fun around the corner

Here's a few shots from the trails I've found close to home. These are the ones I run or ride to from my front door.




























































As Mr. Wakefield advised recently, I'm just trying to "soak it in" right now. Once the baby comes, I'm not sure how active I'll be able to be at first, but for now, I'm trying to enjoy it as much as I can. It'll be nice when some friends come visit so I can share this with them!

adjusting the training

Due to the complexities of the house buying/closing, the packing up, moving, unpacking, working, and getting used to a new city/state, etc, I've had to take off longer than I wanted to from running. In the last 4 weeks, I've only been able to run a couple of times. This week, I've been able to get in three runs and I've already discovered that I'm not quite fully adjusted to the altitude yet.
On a very cool note, I've discovered some trails within running/riding distance from home and they take me up to a rattlesnake infested high plain leading up and around a ridge line with a great view of Denver and the front range. Not overly technical, but it gives a good 7-13 mile workout with long gradual climbs and descents and lots of fresh air!


















Before the Leadville Marathon, I got a pair of Montrail Continental Divides and have loved them, but for one thing. A blister forms on my right heel whenever I don't run at least 3 times per week every week to keep the callous toughened up. Looks like I'll have to pick up the mileage or switch shoes again..... or both!

Meeting the locals...

Saturday, we went up to the Vail area to check out the local (somewhat) adventure race scene. There was an AR being put on by Adventure Xstream and I wanted to see how well organized it was and how they did things. For this venue, they had a sprint distance and a 12 hour distance race. For other locations, they do a 12 and a 24 hour race. It looks like a pretty well done operation and I think I'll volunteer for the next race in Moab at the end of September. This will give me time to continue to train and get my "mountain legs" under me so that hopefully, I'll be ready to race in this series next year.

SUnday, we went to see our friends Lee, Monique and Connor in Evergreen, CO and to attend the Chili Cook Off. There were 40+ types of Chili and we had a good time tasting most of them and voting on our favorites. On the way to Evergreen, we were held up by a group of Elk crossing the road. As you can see from the pics, there was one bull (with a huge rack) and several females with their young 'uns. Looks like that bull has been busy! They're so used to the people that you can walk close enough to touch them though I wouldn't try it.















Of course no weekend in the mountains would be complete without some form of trail activity. I talked Lee into riding with me over at Elk Meadow trail for a little while. This weekend, the temps dropped and the high on Sunday was around 58 in Evergreen. This part of the year is a transition from Summer to Winter with very fickle weather so you never know what to expect. Fun stuff!

moving right along

Things have been going pretty well lately. Since the last post (almost 2 months ago... SHEESH) I've had some pretty big changes.
The wife and I are now living in Highlands Ranch, CO and we're LOVING it! The weather had been awesome and the close proximity to the mountains is like living next to a candy store only much healthier! It's been about 2 weeks since I've been running, but I had the chance to get in a bike ride out at Alderfer/Three Sisters park in Evergreen. Going for a lung-busting run today!














My little girl is still on schedule to be born in November and the Dr says she's measuring big for how far along she is. Looks like at least an 8.5 pounder! My wife wants to start the anesthesia now! Updates on that here.
More updates with more pics SOON!

Leadville Marathon

Despite the injuries that I've been dealing with over the past 9-10 months, I decided to do the Leadville marathon again this year. Since I started running again 9 weeks ago, I figured I could get in reasonable shape to do it. Well, a few setbacks had reduced the mileage that I was able to do in preparation for Leadville. No matter. I planned on just doing it and didn't set any goals for time.; just to finish.















Several trail Nerds planned to do the marathon this year. Caleb, Sarah, Greg Burger, Shane and his brother Cody all planned on making the trek out to Leadville, CO from KC. Caleb and Sarah drove with Allison and I and everyone else went separately. Shane wasn't able to make it, but the rest of us met up in Leadville after various other excursions in the area to help us get acclimated to the altitude.















On July 4th, Allison and I were able to catch a Colorado Rockies baseball game and fireworks show. We did this last year with the Jones family and had so much fun we decided to do it again. the fireworks show after the game is probably the best one we've ever seen. One of my best friends Lee Barnes and his wife Monique and son Connor joined us for the festivities. Lee and Monique just moved to Evergreen from FL where we grew up together and it's going to be neat living close to each other again in Denver. Lee likes doing adventurous things so I'll have some company out on the trails.














The day before the marathon, Ed Payne, Greg Burger and I drove some of the route of the marathon and it made Greg a little nervous about the steepness of the grade we'd be running in that altitude as well as the rugged terrain. I was later told that Mosquito Pass had only been open for about 3 weeks since the snow had melted sufficiently.














During the run, I took it easy on the uphills and enjoyed letting gravity take over on the downhills. At about mile 10 or 11, I started having a really hard time staying motivated. Really hit a low spot and the funk was killing my desire to continue. I still had energy physically, but wasn't sure I wanted to continue. I pressed on up mosquito pass even though I didn't want to and about halfway DOWN the pass, I began to feel better. It took me 1 hour and 40 minutes to go the 3 miles UP the pass and 30 minutes to get DOWN it. Not a very consistent pace, but at least I was still moving forward. This run also reinforced that I DO NOT do well on coke and chocolate at aid stations. They always give me heart burn.














In retrospect, I think I probably could have done some longer runs at a slower pace, and I KNOW I should have done more weight training for the quads, but I'm just glad my knee held out for this one. Still, I wasn't really expecting to be a full 64 minutes slower than last year. On well... Now I have to get my mileage up in preparation for the Moab Alpine to Slickrock 50 miler in September.

GPS data from Caleb's Garmin forerunner 305

Attitude counts

Yesterday in Church the message was on what we value. Do we value what God wants or do we value what we want? One of the sections of the Bible referenced was from Luke 14:7-14.

"7When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: 8"When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. 9If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, 'Give this man your seat.' Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. 10But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, 'Friend, move up to a better place.' Then you will be honored in the presence of all your fellow guests. 11For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

12Then Jesus said to his host, "When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. 13But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

Whether you're a believer or not, these are definitely good principles to live by.
In the first section, (verses 7-11) Jesus instructs that we should all be as humble as possible. No matter what your accomplishments, there is always someone better than you or more worthy of honor. Bottom line, it is better to humble yourself and to have others exalt you, than to exalt yourself and be humbled by others.

In the second part, Jesus speaks toward our attitudes towards generosity. So many people dont' do anything unless there's a reward or some form of repayment for their actions. They have the "what's in it for me" attitude. Arguably there is no such thing as pure altruism from a philosophical standpoint, but when people do things for personal gain whether tangible or not, it really lessens (cheapens?) the deed.

As is usually the case, this speaks to me in a very personal way. There have been many times that I've found conversations with others centered on me. This bothers me when I think about it and it's something that I need to consciously work on regularly.

Try being a Good Samaritan quietly sometime or practice random acts of kindness that nobody else will ever find out about. In addition to being truly gratifying, these are the things that will make the world a better place. Not people hearing about how good you are.

People may believe what you say, but they'll always believe what you do!

Anxiety building

Injuries suck!
Last Sunday, I guess I pushed it too much on a run and the knee is now bothering me again. The same knee I've been struggling with since January and gave almost 5 full months to heal. Now I'm wondering if I'll even be able to do the Leadville Marathon coming up on July 7th. That also has me wondering if I'll be able to do the MAS 50 miler in Sept. Oh well, I guess I'll just take it one step at a time and do what I can do and see what happens. If the knee is still jacked up when we move in Aug, that will be NO FUN at all!
Lately, Wyco hasn't been very good to me. Two weeks ago, we were doing trail maintenance out there and I got a good batch of poison ivy which didn't show up till the next day while I was running it. It spread and went systemic. After battling it for the whole week and losing, I decided to get some steroids from my Dr and that knocked it out pretty quick. During my ithchy sessions, I decided not to run for fear of spreading it more.
This past Sunday was my most recent run in which my knee let me know it's still not 100% AGAIN while out at Wyco. If you do that place enough, it's a good course in Kansas to toughen you up or break you down.

Keeping busy

Weekend before last, I decided to do the Missouri State Mtn Bike Championships race at Mastin, MO near St Louis. Even though I was sadly out of bike racing shape it was still fun. I took 5th place in the endurance/marathon division. Riding for 3 hours on a trail that I didn't know was fun, but the hills got old pretty quickly! During the race, I think I may have strained my right calf a little but not seriously.













This past Saturday was the second race in the Rock Creek Trail series put on by Great Plains Running Company. There was a 5 and 10 mile distance to choose from and with this being my first race back since my injury, I wanted to see how I felt for the 10 miler. The training had been going well up to this point (with the exception of the calf strain) and I was anxious to push it a little. Well, I ended up not running a smart race because as usual, I went out too hard and blew up halfway through. Early on, there were a few hills that I pushed too hard on causing my heartrate to shoot up and that didn't allow me to hold a pace for very long. I started off doing a 7:25 pace and finished up at about a 9 min mile pace for a fairly hilly course. :-(













Later that Saturday after the race, Allison and I went to see the KC Symphony Orchestra play Brahms' Piano Concerto #2 and other pieces. I love going to the symphony for several reasons. The rich sound, the synchronicity of the bows with the string instruments, the antics of the conductor, and the complexity of sounds from the instruments. Sometimes I get fixated on the violins (my favorite) and when they hold out a note, it's interesting how another instrument will be carrying on in the piece and it's sound will rise up in the background just as the strings are fading off. For some reason, I just like that. It's also fun to see the intensity of some of the musicians in their styles of playing.











On another note, the bid we put in for the house in Denver got accepted and we'll be closing around the end of August. This means we'll be moving from KC to Denver around the first of Sept. New baby on the way, new house, new city, new scenery... big changes coming up! Life is good. What a ride!

Back at it

Training has been going well lately. Since the knee has been letting me put in some miles, I'm trying to get back to a respectable level in time for the Leadville Marathon. The longest run I've done in the past 5 months was a 13 miler last Thursday. Did another 9 on Monday and 9 more last night and feel pretty good. Feeling a little sore from lack of conditioning, but ice and Endurox are helping me through that. Been getting in some biking for cross training as well. Still got a lot of toughening up to do, but at least I'm on the right path. Hopefully, I can avoid the injuries.