• My 2 year plan in pursuit of an Ironman finish

    After finishing an epic year of running with my first 100 mile finish, I decided to take some time off from serious structured training. I still exercised regularly and with some structure but based it more on what I felt doing that day rather than following a strict training planning. During this time, I thought about what my next challenge should be. My M.O. for years has been to continually challenging myself in order to stay motivated and so I always have a new goal to pursue. After checking another milestone off the list with the Savage 100 mile run in October, I needed my next challenge. The Ironman distance…

  • What I love and hate about the Whole 30 diet

    As Lindsay mentioned in her previous post, in late 2017, I wanted to attempt the Whole 30 diet.  I listened to the audio book during long runs over that summer and was intrigued enough to try.  However, the attempt ended as a Whole 19.  There are a variety of reasons for this (starting a Whole 30 with two kids 3 and under is probably not the best idea…) but I did learn a few things that I love and hate about the diet that I want to share. Love: The rules are VERY specific Many people want to eat healthy, but what does that really mean?  Well, Whole 30 presents…

  • Ryan’s 100 mile update: the epic year of running concludes

    Hopefully you’ve enjoyed following my journey throughout the process of preparing for my first 100 mile run, the Savage 100. Throughout the year, I’ve been providing regular updates of my progress. If you want to reread or read for the first time any of the previous updates, all of the links are below. Why run 100 miles? The training and racing plan Napa Valley Marathon & goal setting The importance of building a strong base of fitness The real training begins Running a lot while avoiding injury Two crazy prep “races” – Part 1 Two crazy prep “races” – Part 2 Twin Cities Marathon & Final Race Prep With that,…

  • Ryan’s 100 Mile Update: Twin Cities Marathon & Final Race Prep

    As mentioned in a previous blog post I am running the Savage 100 mile race in October. As I prepare to take on this challenge, I will be providing monthly updates on my progress. This is as much to hold me accountable to my training as it is for anything else, but I’m hoping others find this interesting and maybe inspirational as well. For this update (the last before race day), I’m going to recap my experience at the Twin Cities marathon on October 6th and then talk a little about prepping for the 100 mile race on October 19th. Here it goes! The surprising results of the Twin Cities…

  • The three aspects of having a healthy and balanced life

    The main goal of this blog is to help you pursue a healthy and balanced life.  We hope to achieve this by explaining how we are working to pursue this goal in all aspects of life.  I’ve been thinking lately how to boil this down to a simple strategy to pursue.  Overall, we do this by trying to maximize three areas of life: family & friends, health & wellness, and financial freedom. So for this post I’m going to explain how I think of each of these areas and work to maximize them.  I will also provide some specific examples of how we work toward this along with some examples…

  • Ryan’s 100 mile update: Two “crazy” prep races – Part 2

    As mentioned in a previous blog post I am running the Savage 100 mile race in October. As I prepare to take on this challenge, I will be providing monthly updates on my progress. This is as much to hold me accountable to my training as it is for anything else, but I’m hoping others find this interesting and maybe inspirational as well. In my post last week, I talked about my completion of the Border Route trail run/hike. This was a run my friend and I invented for an interesting challenge. Part 2 is all about the Pike’s Peak Marathon which was a completely different challenge. Pike’s Peak marathon…

  • Ryan’s 100 mile update: Two crazy prep “races” – Part 1

    As mentioned in a previous blog post I am running the Savage 100 mile race in October. As I prepare to take on this challenge, I will be providing monthly updates on my progress. This is as much to hold me accountable to my training as it is for anything else, but I’m hoping others find this interesting and maybe inspirational as well. A lot has happened since my previous update, including the completion of two fairly insane runs in preparation for the 100 mile run. So for this update, I want to provide a summary of these runs, split into two parts. Hopefully you find them as interesting as…

  • Ryan’s 100 mile update: Running a lot while avoiding injury

    As mentioned in a previous blog post I am running the Savage 100 mile race in October. As I prepare to take on this challenge, I will be providing monthly updates on my progress. This is as much to hold me accountable to my training as it is for anything else, but I’m hoping others find this interesting and maybe inspirational as well. For this update, I want to provide a quick update on how my training is progressing over the past month or so (spoiler alert: I’m putting in a TON of miles) and how I’m attempting to avoid injuries while putting in all of this training.  But first,…

  • Ryan’s 100 Mile Update: The real training begins

    As mentioned in a previous blog post I am running the Savage 100 mile race in October. As I prepare to take on this challenge, I will be providing monthly updates on my progress. This is as much to hold me accountable to my training as it is for anything else, but I’m hoping others find this interesting and maybe inspirational as well. For this update, I want to provide a brief recap of the Fargo marathon that I ran on May 18th. And I also want to provide some thoughts on how I’m planning to train specifically for the 100 mile run, which goes beyond just putting in a…

  • 10 Quick Tips for living a Healthy Financial Life

    There are many benefits to living a healthy financial life. It is clear from some studies that many Americans are teetering on the brink of financial collapse. But improving your financial health doesn’t have to be complicated. And sticking too a budget doesn’t always mean you have to cut costs to the extreme. It is more about having a conscious plan and sticking to it. But how can you get started? Here are 10 quick tips that we use to live a healthier financial life: Spend less than you earn. This may seem obvious but is something that does not happen for many people.  In order to do the remaining…