How big is big?

I've always been a big fan of Toad The Wet Sprocket.  There is a line in their song "Butterflies" that every time I hear it, I always get to thinking.  It goes:  "...weird when you get so close to something that BIG you can't see anything at all..."

Have you ever been a part of something bigger than you think it is at the time?  I can't think if I have, but about a week ago it happened to both of my kids.  I don't think they realized how special that situation or that moment really was.

My wife's sister and her husband treated us by taking the kids to dinner and overnight.  They went to a local restaurant in Cuyahoga Falls, OH.  It was a friends pub that was newly opening and there just so happen to be a special guest there.

Both my kids had the opportunity to meet an Olympic Gold Medalist.  Tim Mack the 2004 Olympic Gold Medalist in the Pole Vault just so happen to be there.  I'm sure it was planned some how but my kids had no idea.  That doesn't seem like much, especially to them at the time.  Meeting Tim Mack is one thing.  Getting your picture taken with him is something else.  Getting to put his gold medal around your neck and holding it for all to see...well now that is something entirely different.

I'm not going to lie, but that is such a cool moment that I was and kind of and still am a tad jealous.  An Olympic Gold Medal around your neck.  I had to ask questions!

What did you think? - "Cool!  He was really nice."
What was it like holding the medal? - "Cool! It was heavy"
Was it motivating (I'm asking an 8 and 5 year old to answer this)? - "Yes."  (their facial expressions told me that they had no idea what I meant by that.)
Did you get an autograph? - "A what?"

Big sigh.  Oh well.  What an awesome moment for these two.  One day they may look back on this and it may actually hit them what a rare moment this is for most people in the world.  Maybe one day.

Best of luck to Tim Mack and thank you greatly for taking your time to be a part of my kids lives.

God Bless,
Coach Bill

My reason for being

My baby girls birthday is tomorrow.  Both of my children mean more to me than anything that this world can provide. 

 

I always prayed that this precious little thing would turn into a free spirited, strong willed, athletic, smart and loving little girl. Ok, I lied a little...the 'strong willed' comment I am regretting. She is still more than I could ever imagine that I would be blessed with. And I wouldn’t change a thing.



 

Happy Birthday honey.  May God continue to bless you and guide you for many years to come.  Your mom and I love you dearly. 

My Story

I've wanted to share this for a long time, but was never really sure how to go about doing it.  Well, I'm just going to do it. 

My wife and I were baptized this past June together.  Other than being an awesome experience together it has brought us closer.  My daughter, pictured during Vacation Bible School, became such an inspiration to us both.

I hope you enjoy and God Bless you all.

My story is similar to many others.  I was raised in a loving house in which my parents and I attended church nearly every Sunday then off to Sunday school and youth group.  I remember always knowing about Jesus Christ and trusting him, but I wasn’t always convinced what His role would be in my life.  I wasn’t perfect but I was a good kid, I did the right things, I was nice to people and respected my elders with “Yes Sir” and “Yes Mama”.  I had it all figured out.

Enter college.  I had everything planned.  I was going to graduate with a degree by 21, check.  I would establish myself in my career before I ended up getting married, check.  Married by 25, check.  Have my first child before 30, check again.  Everything was going right.  I kept reaching for that next ring.  And after having my son, I knew in my head that next ring was financial security through making more money.  If I could financially get here we would be fine.  My wife could stay home, raise our kids, my life would continue to go on as I planned.  I wasn’t greedy with the amount…wasn’t praying to win the lotto; I knew the amount we needed to make it.  Over the next 4 years I would chase that ring.  I jumped at every single opportunity that was put in front of me to get there and to get out of another one.  This desire introduced me to people and situations that took me down a path of greed, anger, disappointment, a lack of confidence and major frustration.  I started questioning what I had done to deserve this.  I did everything right up to this point.  Why?  Why now?  For 4 years I voluntarily walk deeper into a dark tunnel and during this time I’d pray, but kept praying a prayer to Jesus letting him know “I’ve got this.  You’ve got more important things on your plate.  I’ll be fine, just watch over my family and keep them safe.  I’ll figure this out.”  The week before Thanksgiving 2007, it all crashed in on me.  As a contract advisor with a small company I was told that they were going in a different direction and didn’t need me anymore, income gone.  Driving home that same day with a lump in my throat I received a call from a recruiter on a possible job opportunity.  After the pleasantries he informs me that they were going another direction too.

After years of ‘having it under control’, I had no idea what just happened.  All I know is that it was completely unraveling and fast.  It took a couple days to finally sink in.  A couple months before all of this we started attending Wadsworth Community Church (now known as Freshwater) and the pastor (knows as Scott Brooks) was spending a lot of time on 1^st Samuel.  I could relate to the sermon and questioned myself if the Lord was speaking to me, but like Saul, I was hearing what I wanted to.  One afternoon, in early December Ryann was at work and my son at the sitters so I could be on the phone, reaching out to contacts and old acquaintances looking for job opportunities.  I was getting nowhere but I had people ‘praying for me.’  At this point going into Thanksgiving and Christmas, I was losing all hope for a quick response.  I was beaten down and lost.  I became so overwhelmed with emotion, recognizing my sins by putting my faith in earthly things.  I finally fell to my knees in my family room.  I remember sitting there looking skyward, tears welling up in my eyes and praying, “Jesus…I’m done.  I can’t do it anymore without you.  I need you and I need you right now.”   My walk with Jesus Christ was one where I wanted to be in front.  I wanted to lead.  I wanted to hear what I wanted to hear.  Right then at that moment it felt like He grab me by the wrist, like a Father figure before their child walks into the street, and a sense of relief that He could lead rather than walk from behind came over me. 

One week later I had 2 job offers, one south of Syracuse New York and another one near Cleveland.  The one in Syracuse, NY was enticing and they offered me more money to go there than any other offer over the past 4 years.  The money made it very attractive.  For many reasons this wasn’t going to work and I took the lesser paying local job.  I was done chasing that money ring.  Something told me I needed to stay here.  I was blessed with this job, albeit the challenges it presented at the time.  He had answered prayer and He had provided.  About a month into this new job I found out that my family would be blessed with a new addition. 

Even with my renewed faith hard times continued and I wanted to take control again.  You would think I would have learned my lesson and after 4+ long years in a very dark place, I did and I kept coming back to moment in my family room.  I will be patient and I will let him move me when he’s ready.  Another 4 years passed, and I was no longer driving from Wadsworth to Rocky River.  An opportunity was presented to me in Fairlawn.  He moved me again, and allowed me to do more for Him.  I’ve gotten involved with some great people here at Freshwater.  Ryann and I got involved with a Small Group, I became a co-coordinator for Financial Peace University and started a Men’s Fit Club here for guys who wanted to be a part of a group of believers and lose weight too.

More than 6 years have passed since that moment and I have been patient as to why I had to go through what I did to get here.  Last year our small group spent time studying the book of James.  After all this time of why and when, we read James 4: 13-15, “Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.”  Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow.  What is your life?  You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.  Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” 

I had it all figured out and I was so wrong.  Jesus Christ has been so patient with me and shown me so much over the past several years, but even more over the past 24 months.  It’s amazing what He will show you when your heart and eyes are open to Him.  I know there is so much more.  I want God to turn my ‘mist’ into a wave of his will and his desire.

Passions

My biggest passions involve my faith and my family.  One, however, is also golf.  I’ve been playing the game for…dare I say, decades now.  I played through high school and college.  I enjoyed every bit of it and would love to pass this passion on to my kids. 

Over the past several years I’ve taken my kids golfing with me.  I’ve started on the green and worked our way back to the tee box.  My son is now strong enough to do just that.  Several weeks ago I took him to a local golf course and I was rather impressed with the outcome.  He had, we had a great time together, but it wasn’t until I looked at this pictures that I saw his form and was impressed.  He is a great student, gets frustrate (but who doesn’t in the game of golf), and could be pretty good.

 

Last week I took him to the Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club.  This was his first experience at a Pro Golf Event.  I had gone for years and worked their during high school and college, so I had been there…done that.  A lot has changed over the years and it was a lot of fun and a great fan experience.

There was a ‘fan experience’ demo set up by Bridgestone that let you drive, putt and chip.  So we did it.  I think he could have stayed there all day.  Confession…I could have too.  The putting event incorporated a 20 foot put over a mound with a heavy break to the right once the ball gets to the hole.  So I put my dad hat on and…

Me: “Alex, line yourself up.  Take your time and do your best.”

Alex: “Ok Dad.”

Result = 1 putt…1 ace

Ace = 2 free Bridgestone golf balls.

 

I could have sat there with 100 golf balls and not made the putt.  With 2 golf balls he had a 50% success rate and nearly made both.  There had to be about 20 people watching, 'And the crowd went wild!!!!!"  It was impossible to get the smile off his face.  I just don’t think he thought about the difficulty of the putt and just…putted the ball.  I’m going to do that from now on.  He might not remember that day as we walked the grounds, watched some golf, observed the dew on the blades of grass and shared a Pepsi, but I will.  It was a blessing to be able to do this with him and I pray that I’m around for many more small moments like this.

Coach Bill

One wild and crazy summer

My recent post mentioned that the past month did get away from me.  Well between a vacation, garage sale, summer activities…yeah something’s just got away from me.

So…in summary here are a couple of pictures from our summer:

Did I mention that Alex took 1^st in the fun run and Korrine was the 2^nd of the girls to finish?  NO?  Yes?  I’ll mention it again.  Some more pics from our Family 5K/Fun Run.

Family vacation up to Michigan and the kids went with Mom and Grandma to Kitty Hawk, NC.

 

Make sure if you have a garage sale around your house, do not tell the kids what you want to get rid of.  My little girls plea:  “No, that bathing suit still fits and I always am on the elliptical.  See, its OK if I wear a helmet.”  I am going to have my hands full when she gets older.  But I will hang on to this photo for the rest of my life.

 

Just think, it’s only the 1^st of August too.

Coach Bill

Almost there!

Just not quite yet.

Its been a while.  Between family vacation, family events, continued training and life things did get away from me for a while.  I will post a few more blog posts over the next week or so since the training will soon be more steady and the time will be more consistent.  It’s my own fault for not keeping up with this.

Earlier in the year I set some pretty big goals for myself and I’ve been working hard to get to them.  Just not quite there yet.

Preping for The Half III

Trust me, this doesn’t mean that I’m going to give up on these goals.  I just realize I’m going to have to work even harder.  AND…looking at the calendar the year isn’t over yet. 

Several friends & I ran in the Susan G Komen race for the cure on the 27^th.  First of all, its an amazing event for a great cause.  That makes this so enjoyable.  The amount of people impacted by this type of event nationwide, knowing what several participants have either gone through it themselves or known somebody that has gone through it makes you want to work harder. 

 

 

This is what agony looks like with 150 yards to go.

It was humid and warm.  I pushed hard and set a new PR for my 5K time.  I finished the 3.1 miles in 21:29.1 at a 6:56/mile pace.  Ran my fastest mile yet (that includes training) at 6:07.  By the last ¾ of the last mile I was spent.  Gassed.  Legs felt heavy.  But there was pink everywhere and people cheering you on.  It hit me as I neared the finish line.  God forbid if I ever have to go through something with my wife, son, daughter, mother…etc anybody close to me, their trials and journey will be so much harder than what I'm doing right now.  Whatever pain, fatigue or frustration I’m experiencing now during this run doesn’t even come close to what others have experienced.  Their hardships and heartaches of losing someone to Breast Cancer.  Watching some of the survivors and family members taking part for lost loved ones is truly an inspiration.  May God Bless these people and I pray for their healing and growth.

In the end, Susan G Komen is the median in which the word gets out.  But it’s the survivors, the police officers throughout the run, the volunteers and the families that make the event worth it.  We run.  We have the easy part. 

 

If it wasn’t for these guys waiting for me at the finish, it would be even harder.

 

Plus, when I get a hug and a congrats from this beautiful woman, what guy wouldn’t want to finish.  Yes, I married up...several rungs too.

 

Coach Bill

A family affair!

Over the weekend my family and I ran in a 5K and kids fun run for a great cause.  The people were fantastic, the race was fun and the weather was sooo much better than the last one.  We made it a family affair that morning.  So proud of the kids.  They got up early to make sure we made it there on time.  To their credit, me walking into their rooms shouting "ITS RACE DAY!" didn't help motivate them much.  But we still made it with time to spare.

Then the fun began.  We told the kids that they were going to participate in the 'Fun Run'.  Alex kept looking at me and as more and more kids showed up and said, "Dad.  I don't think I'm going to win."  That's when the Dad hat went on.

I said, "Alex, if you try your best, give it your all, put it all out there and somebody faster than you wins, that's fine.  And you should be ok with that.  You do your best and the results will speak for themselves."  On occasion he'll go to the track with me and run.  He does pretty good.  Long story short, that little guy lead the 1/4 mile fun run and won it.  My little girl...she left it all out there too and was the second girl to finish.  I told her if she had better, by better I mean 'faster', shoes...she could have won too.  So proud of both of them.

Then it was our turn.  This is the second time my wife and I have run in a race together.  She didn't even bother to ask me to run with her this time.  God love her for that.  I started speed training about a month ago and I set a goal for myself of a sub 20 min 5K before the end of the summer.  We both had personal bests that morning.  I'm so proud of my wife.  She's been working so hard lately and even though she hasn't been running as much she did great.

I beat my best 5K time of 22:21 last July.  I'm nearing my goal!  I ran it in 21:34 and beat my first internal goal of breaking the 7 min/mile target.  I did it.  Its June and I've got the rest of summer to shave 95 seconds off my time.  If I could only shave strokes off my golf game that easy...life would be great.  It's going to be tough, but I've set the tone.  Back to the track and back on the road.  Our first family outting was a successful outting.  Truly a blessing.

Keep working hard & God Bless.

Coach Bill