Lance Armstrong out of retirement

The associated press is reporting that Lance Armstrong is going to race the Tour de France in 2009. He will be led once again by Johan Bruyneel the mastermind behind his seven tour wins with US Postal/Team Discovery.

Lance will be racing for Bruyneels new team, Astana, and receive no pay of any kind. He is also planning to race in the Tour de California, Tour de Georgia and Paris-Nice.

VeloNews is using currently using unnamed sources in their article and pointing fingers at Vanity Fair magazine. VF is not corroborating this report, though they look to be holding their cards close to the vest with a smile on their face. They are confirming that this months edition has an interview with Lance and thoughts are they may be slipping this information from the interview early in order to spur circulation.

In any regard, if Lance does come out of retirement to race TdF, it won't be for a nostalgic victory lap. He will setting himself up for the win and the enviable hatred of all of France.

Kidneys suck but blood is royal

Mo had his first organized team sports game on Saturday morning. He is playing flag football. The coach told Mistress and I afterward that he was pleasantly surprised at his hustle and ability to take direction. He is hoping to make him a running back if he does better. However for the next couple of games he will play defense as there is no 'plays' except, "Whoever has the ball, grab their flag."

The long and short of it for me is that between the game and several hours of work around the house afterward, a bathroom break surprised me with very dark colored urine and a sore lower back. From that point on I spent the remainder of the weekend on the couch pushing fluids. By Sunday night I was back in the yellow.

My dad got back Sunday morning from a consulting gig he had in Hawaii for the last month. My mom flew out for the last week. The brought lots of great shirts and chocolates and rubber tree sandals. Also some great information.

As I have written about before, my dad is Hawaiian. My mother is Dutch, which is why my brother and I are look like Haoles. In any regard, mom and dad were able to met with more relatives and he found out we are direct descendants to the royal family. When I asked how far removed, he laughed and said, "The closest family with less than seven letters in the name." For those unfamiliar with Hawaiian last names, many have between twelve and eighteen characters. I took it from the response we're pretty fricken far down the list, but I am apparantly royalty. Now I can cue up all those day dreams I had about someone showing up out of the blue to bestow upon me a lavish inheritance.

The kicker that makes me smile a lopsided grin is the affirmation I wrote on my bathroom mirror last week and read every morning. "Today is a new me."

I am a medical money pit

Went to the dentist Thursday. Wish that was all I could say about that. I think everybody dreads this visit, though I will say I have the coolest dentist, ever. Its the only reason I go back, because the pain factor sucks. That being said, I'd easily hang with my dentist anywhere from a BBQ to Vegas.

This was the first time I had to fill out a medical questionnaire post kidney and liver failure. A lot more boxes to check now. Makes me shiver. Turns out that I need to clear some drugs with my iNew docs before I have some procedures done. Oh yeah I have an impacted wisdom tooth and need two crowns. I'd like to say its cheap but I'd be lying. Just get in line with the way I am going.

The exciting news is that I have just one wisdom tooth in my mouth. The two teeth that have been cracked from accidents and fights are finally at the point they need to be crowned or filled or whatever. As long as it lasts forever and I don't feel a thing. I'm cool.

Look, I have no problem willing my body past the point of no return, wringing the proverbial and sometimes literal puke out of it. If I do something painful to my body, no problem, I will do what I have to for recovery. You want to stick a needle in my foot or hand or mouth and we better be discussing SEDATION THERAPY. I cringe when I get stuck for an IV. Which lately...pretty frigging often. Luckily, sedation therapy did come up, thus the additional drug information to discuss with the docs.

The world keeps spinning and I keep holding on. I'm gonna be dizzy when I get off, but the point is to stay on as long as you can. And laugh about it.

The Abundance Mentality

How apt is it, that a post about having an Abundance Mentality falls on my 1,500 post at Common Man Syndrome.

Yesterday I wrote about the Scarcity Mentality, a mental position people have where obstacles and time management are more consuming than the burning desire to accomplish a big huge goal. The Scarcity Mentality leads a person to believe that nothing more can be created from the one pie we get each day, or more appropriately no more hours in a day. The scarcity mentality is akin to a victim attitude where everything happens to you and you have no control.

The Abundance Mentality is the stark opposite. This position is a place where anything is possible. There is not one pie in a day that is constantly being nibbled by time, and problems but there is another pie when that one is gone, then another. There is always enough when you have a big enough desire and great enough will. Those that want something the most, always find a way to get it.

When you find your burning desire, found a goal worthy of your sacrifice and investment, it can fail in a moment if you don't realize that YOU can do anything if you put your mind, heart and feet into it. The Abundance mentality will allow you to prioritize your day and see through the seams. Make changes to your routine and create new habits that are in line with your burning desire, like say, going to bed one hour early instead of channel surfing so you can wake up one hour early to workout.

Thinking in abundance is thinking with a mind of openness. Obstacles at work and home are not wasted with useless intent rather with clear focus. An affirmation I use that is universal to work, home, during training or races is the following, "I attract what I radiate."

When you radiate fear or greed or exhibit any lack in life, (all scarcity) that is what you will get in return. However if you radiate enthusiasm, inspiration, success (all abundance) you will get that in return.

Let me talk about myself for a moment, I know I have but one body. I know that I have damaged my body in so many different ways, it sits today with a barely tenuous grip on normal existence. To many doctors have said and continue to council, that my life of exercise and exertion is over. I can live a long life if I simply embrace the life of the Common Man. That to me is a life of scarcity. I live in a life of abundance. I will continue to have a positive outlook and determine success based on my efforts, not someone else's opinion.

I may be crippled in my endurance pursuits. I may never race again. But I am determined to do the best with what I've got and if the extent of my endurance future is only a 5k or God willing a Sprint or Olympic triathlon then I will give it my all with the same intensity and determination I had at longer distances.

I radiate what I attract according to the thoughts, feelings and mental pictures I constantly entertain and radiate. I choose to accept health, happiness and success. I now chose lavish abundance for myself and for all mankind. This is a rich friendly universe and I dare to except its riches, its hospitality and enjoy them now.

The abundance mentality is nothing more than taking your normal inclination of, "I don't have time", "I don't have the energy", "I can't do it," and making them a positive declaration of your intent to accomplish your burning desire. Thinking with abundance brings love, enthusiasm, hard work and commitment together in one tight well oiled machine.

The Scarcity Mentality

One of the primary obstacles in reaching a goal is not the physical obstacles of work or relationships, how much you weigh or how out of shape you feel. Nor is the spatial constraint of time management a daunting challenge. For when you have a burning desire you have all the time in the world and you have all the energy you need.

To touch back on obstacles, it often comes down to the mental preparation you are doing that determines their size and scope and if, if, they are able to be overcome. When it comes right down to it, the people that accomplish their burning desires are not better than you in all aspects, but more determined than you in what's important to them. This is where the scarcity mentality is located.

The scarcity mentality is the belief that there is not enough of something, like courage or determination or time, to accomplish a goal. I am here to tell you that a belief is not a truth. A belief is something you have been told over and over again by someone important to you. That doesn't make it right.

You can be told enough times that you will never amount to much and believe it. Told that you will never walk again. Told you can't possibly finish a marathon or triathlon. Told that you are not smart enough to think for yourself. That is the scarcity mentality being put on you. There are too many to print that we put on ourselves.

The truth is you can do anything if you believe in it enough and act on it. Somebody told their entire life they will amount to nothing has finished ironman. People with physical and mental obstacles have completed marathons. I personally learned how to walk again, then run, then finish marathons, then an ironman. Now I am starting over again from something maybe worse.

I haven't believed for a moment that I wouldn't be on a race course again, at some time in my future. Maybe a dozen doctors, all experts, have told me as such. The scarcity mentality is meant to control. Its made to create fear and limit potential. The human body and especially the mind have vastly more potential than anything we can imagine.

The scarcity mentality is what has kept you, yes you, where you are at today. You can find the time. You can have the will power. Do you have the desire to do something?

Do it.

A new frontier

For the last year Mistress and I have been trying to get Mighty Mo to learn how to pedal a bike. He never took to trikes or big wheels. When we presented him with opportunity's to ride bigger bikes with training wheels at toy stores he always complained that it was too hard and showed disinterest after a few moments. He would always remark how cool the bikes his size looked, just never wanted to take the next big step.

Over the weekend I had to go to a bike shop to get some work done on a cleat. The screws need to be torqued out. Mo took an interest in the bikes and actually pedaled around the store on one of the built girl frames. When we went to Walmart next, I told him he could look at the bikes and sure enough he found a bike he liked to look at. Then he liked to ride it. Then he liked daddy to buy it.

I'm a sucker for my son. As we walked out of the store, he proudly pushed his new 'speedbike' with a ear to ear grin. He got quite the remarks about how cool it looked and how proud he looked.

Mo for his part took to riding his training wheeled new bike like a duck to water. Every day he rides down to the park to do laps around the playground equipment. Each lap is about 200 yards. I jog beside him giving pointers and grabbing him if he gets to wobbly or off kilter. He has a perfect pace for my HR so I get in about 30 minutes of running each night and don't feel like a dweeb for my pace. At least my body's not dying at that pace. We take breaks and kung fu fight in the sand. Play Star Wars on the equipment. Then when we run out of water we head back home.

Pay your dues, on your time

I think one of the trickiest moves from 'having a desire to do something extraordinary' to accomplishing that goal is the jump from 'What You Are' to 'What You Want To Be'.

Anyone can relate to wanting to lose weight but not able to give up the vices that created the thought process to begin with. Its hard to feel like you're making any effort when you can't put down the fast food, can't stop the late night mindless snacking. Furthermore, who hasn't made the pledge to wake up early on Monday and when the watch alarm went off, rolled over for more sleep.

Its easier to make this conversion when you have a coach or mentor who closes the gap between reality and your burning desire. If you have a coach, chances are you make a financial investment to them and that sacrifice is a tremendous impetuous to spur action. You don't want to waste your money.

It can still be done without investment into a coach if there is an investment in education and a peer network of accountability. When you tell everyone you know what your burning desire is, it creates an internal mechanism that hardens resolve. When people ask you how your doing with your goal, you are more likely to stick to the steps when no one is looking.