Appreciation

At 36 years of age it has taken me awhile but I can honestly say that I have finally been able to appreciate some of the finer things in life. I think when I was younger I just took most of these things for granted as things that were just suppose to happen. The problem with this very narrow focus of thinking is that we never truly tell those people how much they are appreciated, we never sit back and appreciate how great our life is and sometimes we never change as individuals because we just assume that everything will stay the course and never change.

I have had lots of time to think the past 5 days as I was left behind as my family went away on vacation and it has left me time to ponder what I appreciate most in this life. I could go on forever as hundreds of things come to mind but there are three things that stand out in my mind as the most important things in my life.

Number one will always be my family. The first day they were away I can honestly say was great as I was able to get about 6 hours in of uninterrupted Ironman training. Then reality hit me the next morning I woke...I missed my ladies very much. The craziness of three girls along with always having my best friend next to me was missing and I felt empty. My wife is the most amazing person I have ever met and is the main reason that I always push on to be the best person I can be more cause I guess I always want to impress her. I see so much of her in my daughters which constantly puts a smile on my face. In the end I appreciate how much they love me and how no matter what happens day to day they are always there for me.

Number two is the sport of triathlon. The sport came into my life when I graduated college and has opened so many doors for me in life. I have been able to place large goals on my shoulders through triathlon and the confidence I have gained in the sport has lead me to a confidence that anything is possible as long as you have a solid plan of attack and never give up. There have been many races over the past 14 years where I reached a dark place in the race but the constant one foot in front of another has lead me out of that darkness and into a place of accomplishing any goal I want. The other thing that has come out of triathlon is the people I have met over the years. Triathlon attracts some of the most incredible people you will ever meet in your life and I want everyone of you to know how gratefull and appreciative I am to have you in my life.

Number three is my mother in law Susan. Many of you that know me know that I am a Chicago boy who eventually planted roots in Texas and thought I would never leave. We had everything from very successful jobs, incredible friends, beautiful house (without east coast prices) and life was perfect. Well not perfect enough as we didn't have extended family nearby and mostly grandparents to be exact. In the end we decided to move to Maryland to be near my wife's family and although it has been challenging at times I must say that it has been one of the best decisions we have ever made. My mother in law is one of the most unselfish, funny, intelligent and most incredible grandmas out there. She has made my daughters life's so rich and full of experiences that one day I hope they understand how great they have it.  She is always there for us no matter the time of day and the whole stigma of having bad in-laws missed me as I am very lucky to have such an amazing woman in my life. She has confirmed my decision that moving was the right decision and I want her to know how appreciative I am to have her around.

I ask everyone to just take a second today and let someone in your life know how appreciative you are of them and how they make your life that much better. I promise they will enjoy hearing the words and they may spread the word on to someone else which in turn will make the world a little better place to live.

On a side note I have turned my 10 days away from family into Epic Camp Jake which means I have nothing else to do but fit in a huge training week. I will fill you in with numbers once I am done with my own training camp but so far in 5 days I am at 18 hours of training and trying to balance improvement with recovery...exciting times!!!

Make It Count!!!!

Quitting

This a word that I have never used in my life as I have always contributed it to taking the easy way out. In my mind the easy way out never allows us to learn anything about ourselves or grow as individuals. Don't get me wrong though...with everything that I have accomplished in my life so far there have been plenty of moments when failure was the ultimate outcome and quitting would have been a lot easier then finishing the task.

Growing up my parents worked extremely hard and most of the time worked a second job or two so that my sisters and I could enjoy everything that our friends had. They could have quit many times and told my sisters and I to suck it up but in the end they didn't. They woke up every morning with the determination to work as hard as they could and not let anything set them back so that their family could live the good life.

It is hard for me to say this but this morning the word quit came out of my mouth for the first time in my 37 years of existence. Any one close to me knows that myself and my family have a lot going on currently with a new addition to the family, growing professional success, a constant desire to always make sure my daughters are striving to the next level, a growing coaching business and on top of that my passion to reach the island of kona at Ironman Lake Placid this summer. Well being a family man my training has taken a back seat since the baby was born and the constant toll of trying to get all the training in finally broke me.

I said to my wife this morning that "I QUIT and that i was backing out of Lake Placid this summer". Of course my wife's first reaction was excuse me as that is not typical talk used in the Oergel household. The mounting pressure of getting workouts in and the occasion zero days were starting to take there toll and the easiest reaction I had was to run for the hills.

After a while of selfish ranting I had to take a step back and realize that I am not allowed to "Quit" and I thought of three close friends who would literally smack me in the face for even thinking of it. My wife's cousin Jimmy, who recently passed away from brain cancer, would have loved even 10 seconds a day to exercise and enjoy life a little more. My best buddy in the world and brother from another mother Eduardo who was told by doctors that he would never race again due to a heart condition never gave up and pushed on for almost 2 years with the small hope that God would give him the gift of long distance torture just one more time....and sure enough he did and will also be racing Lake Placid this summer. Then there is another buddy of my Brian who just recently was released by his neurologist to race again after months of major neurological problems sustained from a motor vehicle accident in which he was lucky to walk away. There are millions of more storied out there that touch me all the time.

So after some selfishness this morning I have come to the conclusion that I will not QUIT. I will continue to course although maybe a shorted course due to family obligations but I will toe the start line in Lake Placid with the will to just give it my best that day.

Part of my job as a health care provider has been also helping people mentally acquire their goals and stay true to the course. I think its about time that I listened to myself.

New Beginnings

It has been a few weeks since I last posted something and I apologize to those who have asked for a post and I have not delivered. The past 2.5 weeks have been a blessing in itself as my wife and I welcomed into our family our third princess. She has been nothing but amazing and although I haven't slept well in awhile now I wouldn't change it for the world.

She is the main reason for the topic of this post this time around. New Beginnings are not something that come around to often in our life but when you step back and analyze how powerful your life is then you will realize that it can happen more than not.

I believe that each day we wake up and are able to take a deep breath is a New Beginning. Its a chance to put aside anything that may have happened negative in the past and build towards the positive. Its one of the few opportunities in this life to literally operate on a clean slate. What was done in the past is exactly that....in the past!!! Take the opportunity of being presented with a new day to make something out of your future. The change may be small but I promise you that the smallest changes lead to huge payouts down the line. For example....small dietary changes (i.e. eliminating excess sugar) can lead to improved health benefits in 5, 10, 15 years....doing one kind gesture to a stranger may open their eyes to a world that may be caving in on them....telling a loved one how much they mean to you in case you never get the opportunity again.

I am fresh off of seeing the blessing of life and all its wonders but I have already made promises to my family to always be there for them no matter what. It is not always easy and some sacrifices need to be made but at the end of the day its these small sacrifices that lead to a life of greatness.

One of my main goals for as long as I can remember has been to someday race the Hawaii Ironman. The passion I have for that race goes deep and not a day goes bye that I don't envision myself flying down the Queen K on my bike. Since having our third princess born though I have had to re-evaluate my goals this year towards trying to qualify for Hawaii at Ironman Lake Placid this summer. I have had a tremendous year of training up until May and would the race have been today I have no doubt that I may have been in the running. At the end of the day though being there for my family and making sure that I am a part of every developmental stage is more important to me than any race. My day will come when the sun glistens on me in Kona but today my focus is family.

On this memorial day I say thank you to all the troops that have fought for our country over the years. Without your dedication to our country many of use would not have the luxury of waking up everyday to an amazing new world and creating the New Beginnings that make it a life worth living.

Dig Deep!!!

Hard to believe that today is May 1st the year seems to be flying by in the blink of an eye. I hope that everyone has been maximizing their year knowing that everyone has the potential to be great. 

Being a sports specific chiropractor I have noticed a common theme with many of my runners, triathletes, cyclists and cross fitters recently....tired and losing some focus on their training. Most of this applies to the many patients I have competing in an Ironman this summer. They have been at training for awhile now and although most are enjoying the challenge many of them seem to be burning out. 

In my mind Ironman training is similar to every other goal or dream you have in your life. You have to put in the effort both mentally as well as physically to succeed and accomplish your dream. There will be some days when you wake up and say why am I pushing myself this hard, why do I always smell like chlorine, why can't I just sleep in instead of being up before the birds and the list goes on and on. 

You  just have to DIG DEEP and push yourself to the next level then the reward in the end will be absolutely amazing. The day to day consistency that goes into long course triathlon racing can be tough at times but the reward of crossing that finish line at your race and either qualifying for a world championship or just hearing the announcer say "INSERT NAME HERE" you are an Ironman...is an amazing feeling and something that pushes me everyday. I also push myself a little deeper each day as I was given the gift to be able to do this sport. I love to wake up each day and push myself to the limit and see how I will respond physically and mentally. There is a matter of DIGGING DEEP that is another challenge which is the ability to allow yourself to rest/recover. We also have to be able to incorporate recovery strategies that allow you to be able to push yourself on those hard days. I would say this is probably more of a strategy of mental control knowing that backing off in training helps just as much. The reason most people come into my clinic is they didn't incorporate enough recovery into their schedule. 

This summer at Ironman Lake Placid I will have to dig deeper than I ever have in a race before knowing what my times need to be to qualify for Ironman Hawaii. The thing is the pain won't be anywhere close to what Jimmy had to go through in his bout with cancer and this will push me to dig deeper while not complaining of the pain. I will be racing with the idea of constantly pushing the envelope and not giving up due to a little pain but knowing that I am racing for something bigger than me.

So when things seem hard or you are feeling defeated I ask you to take a deep breath and give it that extra effort knowing that you have the ability to accomplish anything you put your mind to.

Make it count!!!!

Memories

I missed posting this past weekend due to family commitments and my continued urge to always be there for my wife and kids and develop as many memories as we can. I have been blessed over the past 36 years to have shaped some incredible memories that keep me searching for more. Looking back at these memories most of them have shaped the person I am today and have taught me the same values that I try to teach my little ladies everyday.

This past Friday my wife's cousin Jimmy unfortunately lost his battle with cancer. I was both sad and frustrated that this terrible disease took such a young person away from us. Sometimes events just don't seem fair and I wish that there was more that I could do to change the world. I just have to keep reminding myself that if I can accomplish the small things everyday and always smile that it will change someones life hopefully for the better and that's all I can ask for.

I have noticed one common theme after loosing a couple close people to cancer over the years and that's the memories we have of them. The great memories of the good times seem to out weigh the sad days that come at the end and I am grateful for this. I was with my grandmother years ago when cancer took her life and to this day I remember all the great memories and not the final few days. I remember her telling me all about the upcoming Chicago Bears season and what she felt about what management was doing...as a kid I thought how cool is my grandmother that she is a bigger Da Bears fan than I was. I saw pictures of Jimmy the final weeks of his life and the first thing that always came to my mind was how he always had a smile on his face and such a positive outlook and not what cancer had done to him in the end.

As my wife and I get closer to welcoming our third princess into the world in a few weeks my mind is full of joy looking back over the past 10 years my wife and I have been married. She was there for me when I decided to do my first Ironman, she helped support me while I went back to school and more than anything else she has helped me raise two amazing little girls. If the memories I have had the past 10 years are any indication of what the future brings than I have hit the lottery.

What I am trying to get at with this post is don't waste your time worrying about the little things but make time every single day of creating memories with those around you. They will enrich your life more than you can imagine and when your time comes to leave this world people will remember all the amazing moments you provided them with.

As always thanks to everyone who has helped out Jimmy's family. Please keep them in your prayers as they go through the grieving process. I know that I will not give up the fight and I will do my best to spread the word.

On a training note I have had a great couple weeks of training and I am feeling stronger every single day going into Lake Placid Ironman this summer. Last weeks totals:
Swim: 5000...anyone that knows me knows I dont swim much so this is my start towards the next 13 weeks
Bike: 230 miles
Run: 38 miles
This week looks to be bigger and then I am planning on a recovery week soon when my new little lady arrives....

Make It Count!!!!

Teamwork

This weeks events have hit me hard emotionally on a few angles (Boston from the aspect that I have been racing for 15 years with many family and friends cheering me on from the sidelines and Texas from the angle that its my second home and some of the most amazing people I have ever met) and I want to first say that my heart and prayers go out to everyone that has been affected by these tragic events.

With so many thoughts running through my head this week I couldn't nail down a particular topic until this morning when the word TEAMWORK came to mind.

It is hard for many of us to be successful in life without a solid foundation and support team behind us. If you were to peel back the onion of successful organizations/individuals I believe that you would see one common theme...teamwork.

Many people ask me how I am able to squeeze everything I have on my plate into a 24 hour period (two soon to be three kids, busy chiropractic practice, coaching, training for Ironman and giving my wife all the attention she deserves)...well my answer is simply I couldn't do it without the support of my family and the teamwork that my Oergel princesses provide. Anyone that has ever trained for an Ironman Triathlon with a family knows that the teamwork and family support is crucial to the success of the race and the enjoyment that comes with the journey of training.

In the past three days with the unfortunate events that have taken place we have seen amazing feats of teamwork. When the tragedy happened in Boston instead of people running away they joined each other in an effort of teamwork to help those injured. The first responders came together and with that they were able to save the lives of many people due to teamwork. I would like to say I was amazed that so many runners went straight to the hospitals to donate blood for those in need but I am not. The community of endurance sports is an amazing community and it is one of the reasons I love the sport. Its a community of individuals who typically put themselves second in order to make sure those around them are taken care of first.

The last thing I see lots of teamwork in is the people that deal with cancer. Whether its the immediate family, friends circling the wagon, the doctors or the hospice team...the one common theme is being there for the individual and making sure they know how much support that person has.

Thanks to everyone that continues to support Jimmy and his family. Please take a second and read the caring bridge site ( link at top of page) that his wife has set up. She has been an amazing person through this and is the leader of their team.

I am not going to talk much about my training this time but will say that things are going as planned and I will continue to push on with a smile as I am doing this for those who's life's were cut short from recent events or from diseases like cancer.

Make It Count!!!!

Inspiration

"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take" Wayne Gretzky

There are many things in my 37 years that have inspired me to be better or try harder but this past week I had the privilege of being part of one little girls journey of never giving up.

My oldest daughter Avery has never ceased to amaze me at her drive and ability to always be optimistic. She attacks almost every situation with the will to give it 110% commitment and nothing less. She never complains but instead tries to motivate those around her to also give there best.

This past week she was the lead (Ms. Cruella Deville) in the schools play 101 Dalmations and then 24 hours later had her first step competition. Not once in the week did she say she couldn't do it but woke up each morning with a smile saying today is going to be a great day.

There was a moment of weakness the morning of the play as I was driving her to school but she once again told me that she was ready for everything she was just worried about missing a line or two (she had so many and a solo song!!!) and letting everyone down. I told her that was a common worry and that we can never be perfect in our daily tasks. Everyone no matter their position or chapter in life always hits a moment on weakness or failure. Its how we respond to those moments that determines our greatness. We have two options of either giving up and getting frustrated or we can learn from our mistakes and be better the next time around. I know most of this to a 7 year old would seem like a foreign language but not my little princess.  She proceeded to say you make great sense dad and I will grow from this experience.

She continues to inspire me to try harder and never give up as her own determination and ability to believe in herself inspires me to be a better person. What gives me the right to give up and lack the confidence when my little lady can be so strong.

Those that fight cancer also typically develop a belief of never giving up and wanting to spread the word that life is to fragile not to give your best. Jimmy is fighting the fight right now and not giving up even though giving up would be the easiest way out.

It will always be easier to give up when things get tough but I promise you that if you just give a little extra effort you will be blessed with incredible experiences and you will be amazed at what type of person is deep inside you.

As always thanks for the donations to Jimmy's fund and for following his progress as he is in our thoughts and prayers everyday. For everyone else who is dealing with cancer we want them to know they are in our prayers as well.

This past week training wise has been smooth also with the following stats:
Bike: 190 miles
Run: 41 miles
Strength: 1 hour
Swim: swim training starts tomorrow....pays to have been a competitive swimmer growing up!!!

Make It Count!!!!