It's all in your head...my own running cartoon.

During my run yesterday, I spent some time thinking.

Isn't that what you do when you run? I guess it wasn't like that in the beginning when I was running. It was more like a...

"huff, cough, clear throat, cough, stop, walk, cough, pant, and stop again"

but that changed after a little while. I eventually was able to at least make it to my goal of finishing...despite how beat up I felt.



...but at some point - it all changed in my head from "when does this end - I can't do this - running isn't my thing" to...

...who knew?

we constantly tell ourselves that we can't do it, that it won't happen, that we don't deserve it...but you can, it will, and you do.

Running, weight loss, fitness - much of it is in our heads on whether or not we can succeed. At some point, if you stick with it (and sticking with it is a key to success), you'll have a point in time where you'll think to youself...

"oh, i did it."

Success is around the corner - are you willing to work for it?

New Home. New Job. Challenge Control Center.

New Home.

As you know, we're moving. We signed a lease on a house on Monday and my wife took some pics of the place. I thought that I'd show you around a little. Actually, I'm just going to direct you to my wife's blog because she is a better showyouarounder . Check out the New Home here!

New Job.

We are moving because I have taken a job as youth minister at a church roughly about 2 1/2 - 3 hours away. It makes for a move, but we are excited about getting into the new position and for the future of it.

I'll only have about a 10 minute drive to work - that is not that bad. I live closer to work now, but I won't mind the extra bit!

Control Center.

Also, another thing that I have done is created a control center for my weight loss challenge. Past winners have branched off and started their own challenges and I thought it would be good to have a central location for all of them to come together. Please, go and be friends of the new site. We need love there too!


Seth Tyler's WLC Control Center!
As of right now, there are three total challenges. I am looking for others that want to start their own weight loss challenge in their own neighborhood. Are you interested in that? If so, email me at:

stylerwlc [at] gmail [dot] com

What is one thing that you will accomplish today!

Weigh In picture. A gain.

I'm keeping it short today. I gained at my weigh in. This is the first gain, excluding my vacation week, that I can remember in 38 weeks. I have either lost or maintained each of the other weeks. I'm okay with that though - it happens. It's time to change up how I do things. I thought I'd give you the weigh in picture.




also, I'm looking for a couple guest posts to take place during our move next week. Do I have any takers??!

5k Race Results. Bug Swallowing. Weigh In Picture.

5k Race results.

On this past Saturday, I took part in my 5th 5k of the year. My goal this year was to do three 5k's -- it just keeps growing. Saturday's 5k was suppose to be my best time, but I couldn't get that new PR. I travelled pretty slow, but there was nothing left in the tank. That's okay though.

I was pretty stoked at this 5k because two people that I believe I have influenced in the weight loss/get healthy/running areas participated as well. They finished 3 seconds apart (I think) somewhere in the 33 minute range! I'm proud of both of them.

It wasn't my PR, but it wasn't all bad news for me.

I placed in my age division again. I got 1st and came 20something out of about 90 runners. I finished with 26'52". That is my 2nd fastest actual 5k time. I am planning to find another 5k on October 2nd and then do a half marathon on October 30th in Warrensburg, MO. October 2nd will produce my PR in the 5k. My mind is set. :)

Swallowing of the bug.

As you can probably sense, I wasn't satisfied with my time at the 5k. On Sunday, I set out to set a new unofficial PR for my 5k time. I was at pace to do what I set out to do...until a bug flew into my mouth and lodged itself in the back of my throat. I started choking, gagging, and I needed to throw up, but just couldn't. After all of that (which took place at an intersection), I couldn't get my pace and breathing back. This happned 13 minutes into the run. Not happy!

It happens though :) On a bright note, I have been able to see noticeable changes this morning in my physique. I've been able to crawl on walls, fly, and can hear really well!

Weigh in.

Also, here is the second weigh-in picture from Seth Tyler's Weight Loss Challenge #4. It's a small loss, but it's a loss. I'm going to be changing my eating habits and workouts up to get some sort of confusion in my body. I think it needs it.


What has been your favorite part of your daily routine lately?

The Move. The 5k. The Possible. B4 and Afters.

Is it just me or is the Summer time the hardest time to blog? It seems that I just don't have the time to blog during the Summer. Either way - if you haven't seen any comments from me on your blog recently, just know that I do visit them.

The Move.

It's public news now so I can share with you too that I have accepted another position at a different church. Carol and I are pretty excited about this decision and its something that had been prayed about for a loong time. It's cool to see things come to fruition. This news means that we are moving...again. We don't really like the whole moving process at all. Some people enjoy it and like the thrill of the move -- we like the idea of the move, but the actual move = headache.

Headaches are no fun. Hopefully though we will have a very smooth move. We've started going through things and have a pile of 'keep', 'garage sale/giveaway', and 'trash'. I think Carol is getting better at throwing things away :).

So that is the big news!

The 5k.

I have another 5k. It's tomorrow morning. I'm going to try and beat my past 5k times. If you look at the Goals/Achievements page you'll see that my PR is 26'24" in the 5k in Clinton, MO. I'm hoping to be in the 25' range tomorrow. We'll see how that turns out tomorrow! I'm pretty excited about it. There is also a couple people from the weight loss challenge I host, Seth Tyler's Weight Loss Challenge, that are running it as well. I'm pretty stoked for us all to finish!

The habit.

I'm trying to start a new habit. Cooking. I don't do a lot of it, but have in the past. Carol doesn't like to cook, but likes to bake (her pumpkin muffins are delish!). One way I figured that I can make sure we eat healthy stuff on a very regular basis is to simply suck it up and cook. It's really easy to look at the kitchen and say, "Subway tonight!". I need to cook. I think I'll get the cooking thing down, but need to make sure I look at how long the recipe says I need to prepare. I went to cook something two nights ago and realized that I was suppose to marinate the chicken overnight!

Put that in bold letters cookbookmakers!

I don't have much else for you today, but an old comparison picture to close with...

I love looking at the comparison pictures because it shows me that I can accomplish what I never thought I could.

still questioning your capabilities?

Question no more.

Doubt Kills the Runner...

If you think about it - the one thing that kills the run, the runner, and the runner's time....is doubt. Metaphorically that is for all of you strictly literal people :)

Let's give this theory a little thought.

I grew up fairly athletic. I played each sport that was offered. There were times when I would get injured though. One time I was playing in a baseball game and the outfielder slid under me while I was catching the ball and tore all the ligaments in my ankle. I played Superman and acted like it was nothing and tried to get back in the game. The injury didn't stop my mindset of finishing what I had started.

Living in the MidWest, there tends to be several stormy days. Sometimes, those stormy days amount to several consecutive days of rain in a row. I remember though earlier this year when it was raining that I completed a PR to that date on the one mile run. The elements didn't stop my mindset of finishing what I had started.

I started running as a way to aid in weight loss. I was a heavy man that hadn't really run long distance before. You could have found me slogging (slow jogging - thanks Louis) around Clinton knowing that I'll hit my goal. Those goals were a lot less than what I have now, but my weight didn't stop my mindset of finishing what I had started.

but doubt...

doubt will stop me in my tracks everytime if I let it's ugly face show...

doubt is to a runner as kryptonite is to Superman -- it's detrimental.

I think I had doubted my running ability up until last night. I knew I could run, but could I run the longer distances. Could I do the Half Marathon? I questioned myself and my ability to do so, until last night.

I hit what I consider a milestone for my running. I ran 10 miles straight with no stopping. It was at a slow pace -- but for me to go that long, it'll be a slow pace :)
10 miles is a big number for me. I ran for nearly 2 hours. Up hills, down hills, 2 miles of gravel, and rickety bridges. It was a 11'13" pace that I am proud of.

No more doubt, just belief.

I am success.

What has been your Kryptonite?

Weight Loss Challenge #3 Winner Before and Afters!

The fourth installment into my Weight Loss Challenges has begun. There are 18 participants this time around and it is the largest and heaviest per person that we've had. I am really excited for this challenge for a couple different reasons. The first is because I am helping people get healthy. I'm excited for that. The second is because more people breeds competition. It's easy to tell who the winner would be if it only had 5 or 6 people taking part, but with 18...the competition will be pretty tight. I'm excited for this and the challengers are excited for it.

As I said though, the 4th challenge has started and it is time to do a post about the previous winner. I'm pretty familiar with this last winner as he is my brother. He had joined the 2nd challenge, but it didn't really sink in. Something clicked though and the 3rd challenge was his from the beginning. There were some people that stuck with him, but week after week he added to his lead. Matt lost a total of 20.4 lbs in the six weeks which put his percentage lost at a crazy 9.98%!

I think he was a little upset that he would not be able to participate in the next challenge, but he definitely rocked that one. Below is a before and after picture of him.

He will be directed to this page so be sure to give him some awesome love on here. He has worked hard and sometimes it just feels good to be appreciated for the hard work right?




Be sure to show your support.

WeightLoss Challenge starts 2day! Still taking Challengers

The Fourth Installment to Seth Tyler's Weight Loss CHallenge starts today! This is the heaviest challenge to date and is promising to be the most successful one as well! I am really excited about this challenge! We are still taking challengers for this challenge. There is a grand prize after six weeks and a weekly prize for the week's most percentage lost. This really is set up to be the best challenge yet. There are 12 challengers this time around so far....will you make 13? It is only $10 (which is used only for the prizes). There have been 2 female winners and one male winner! I will be doing a blog post shortly about the last winner with before and afters! He lost 20.4 lbs! Check out a previous winners blog salute here!

You still have time to enter the challenge and will need to do so by 10:00pm tonight!

Are you in a rut and want something real to come and keep you accountable?!

Here is that something real!

If you are still unsure if you want to enter -- go check out the challenge page for yourself and see just how encouraging and helpful that it can be! We'd love to have you --- be sure to check out the rules as well!