Marathon...Are you kidding me??

About a month ago I started doing push-ups and sit-ups in an attempt to get in a little bit better shape. The guy looking back at me in the mirror was becoming less and less familiar. About 2 weeks ago I got an email from Joe Heywood who has been one of my best friends for about 12 years, mentioning that he was doing a marathon. In a moment of disgust with himself last year he made the decision to run one about 3 months before the race. This year he's started much earlier so he doesn't hear anything snap in his foot during the last few miles. He made a brief comment in his email that I should join him this year. Jennifer has been screening my emails apparently and tried to erase it. What she doesn't know is that all of my email from that account is forwarded to my work email so I got it anyway. :-)

Well, I'm going to do it. It's the Ogden Marathon and it takes place on May 17th, 2008. I've made two purchases that will help me in my training. The first item is a pair of running shoes. (They looked nice in the picture so I thought they'd do just fine.) The second item is an ice pack for my knees. I don't have any bad knee problems to begin with, but I want to avoid having to limit my training due to an injury. I noticed that Joe mentioned Vaseline in one of our email strings and I'm still nervous to ask him what that's all about.

I'm about 182 lbs right now and I'd like to get down to about 170 in about 8 weeks. This will put less strain on my joints while I'm running increasing amounts of miles over the next 20 weeks. I started running about 9 days ago. Due to my current fitness level I could only run about 1.5 miles. I've done that twice, ran/walked on the treadmill in the garage for 3 miles twice, and biked for 7 miles last Saturday.

I have a schedule that I found online from Hal Higdon who is a marathon expert. http://www.halhigdon.com/marathon/Mar00index.htm I'm doing the Novice I training program which is still ridiculous. The schedule is below although I will be tweaking it a bit to fit my schedule. Sunday's will be an off day for instance.

Week	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat	Sun
1	rest	3 m run	3 m run	3 m run	rest	6	cross
2	rest	3 m run	3 m run	3 m run	rest	7	cross
3	rest	3 m run	4 m run	3 m run	rest	5	cross
4	rest	3 m run	4 m run	3 m run	rest	9	cross
5	rest	3 m run	5 m run	3 m run	rest	10	cross
6	rest	3 m run	5 m run	3 m run	rest	7	cross
7	rest	3 m run	6 m run	3 m run	rest	12	cross
8	rest	3 m run	6 m run	3 m run	rest	13	cross
9	rest	3 m run	7 m run	4 m run	rest	10	cross
10	rest	3 m run	7 m run	4 m run	rest	15	cross
11	rest	4 m run	8 m run	4 m run	rest	16	cross
12	rest	4 m run	8 m run	5 m run	rest	12	cross
13	rest	4 m run	9 m run	5 m run	rest	18	cross
14	rest	5 m run	9 m run	5 m run	rest	14	cross
15	rest	5 m run	10 m run	5 m run	rest	20	cross
16	rest	5 m run	8 m run	4 m run	rest	12	cross
17	rest	4 m run	6 m run	3 m run	rest	8	cross
18	rest	3 m run	4 m run	2 m run	rest	rest	race

During my first two runs, I was coughing up all kinds of things. I must have been exploring previously unused portions of my lungs. We'll see if I can actually finish. Joe's goal last year was 4 hours and he got 4:03. My goal: I just want to cross the finish line with someone still behind me. That's motivating. :-)

Ho Ho Ho and stuff...

Well, it worked. I got a Garmin nuvi 650 and was able to find my way to work this morning. Thanks to all those who followed up with my wife and let her know of my Christmas wish. I now have a British man telling me when to turn. :)

We got our two oldest kids electric scooters and they are now the terrors of the neighborhood. On Christmas day we sat around watching movies and eating junk. After working 70 hours a week for 2 months, it was a well needed break.

Speaking of breaks we're headed back to Utah for a week over New-Year's day. We'll get to see a fair chunk of my family and about 15 of the cousins will be in the same place at the same time.

Happy Holidays!

Little Jimmy in Nebraska...

It's nearing Christmas and things are getting crazy around here. I wish people would pace themselves and buy gifts a bit earlier. It's a wild time of year when you're on the fulfillment end of things. I've been working on the floor to help out over the last few weeks. 1-2 hours a day is all, but it's good to feel that I'm doing my part. I've got wounds on my forearms from working in box SLAM. It's the area where we stuff the boxes with bubbles and run them through a taping machine. It's the final step before they're jammed onto a truck and sent to little Jimmy in Nebraska who's parents ordered him the Harry Potter box set.

We got about 1 inch of snow in Fernley today so our Scout hike of 2 miles was called off. People were calling at 7am because the weather looked "treacherous". We've also had problems with people not coming into work on time, or at all due to the weather. It's not like Provo Canyon in January by any stretch, but there are no snow plows to speak of so any type of snow removal is unreliable.

I want a navigation system for my car for Christmas. Nothing fancy, and Amazon's got one for about $150. That may seem like a random comment, but I'm hoping that someone out there will read this and let Jennifer know. I don't want to ask her or anyone else directly. It would still feel like a surprise this way. :) Her cell # is (801)-318-3462. She doesn't read my blog, so I have to rely on someone else to give her the info. This is like my "Letter to Santa" that is addressed to the North Pole. http://www.northpole.com/

Ebbsfleet United!

I am now the proud owner of an English professional football club. Well, me and 20,000 of my closest friends. I joined a group who decided to pool our money and buy a controlling share of a professional football club.

We get to vote on the lineups for games and whether the coach stays or goes. Since we have a controlling share, they are required to do what we say. It's the ultimate in fantasy sports, but it costs a bit more. This is what Jennifer allowed me to buy for my birthday last year, a stake in a professional football club! What a gal!!

They are currently in 8th place out of 24 teams in the English Conference Standings and at 9 wins, 6 losses and 5 draws, they are doing pretty well. You can visit MY club's homepage at http://ebbsfleetunited.co.uk/eufc/. Enjoy!

Peak at Amazon

Jennifer has been a single parent for the last couple of weeks and will continue in that role until Christmas Eve. I am currently working between 60-70 hours/week so I don't get to see the kids awake very much. My parents will be coming to visit this weekend for a few days. I have the lucky fortune of baptizing my daughter Katie who will turn 8 on Saturday December, 1.

I'm looking forward to Christmas as much as the kids are with the prospect of being home more regularly. My friend in Iraq will get to come home for a 2 week stint over Christmas and then back for another six months to go along with the year he has already spent there. He has 4 kids as well. That should be a very happy time for them.

BYU MBA's and Soldiers in Iraq

I may spin back into BYU MBA information from time to time. It was a great experience and I loved my time there. After spending two years with the same bunch of people, going through academic struggles, births, marriages, and hours of foosball, you tend to create deeper relationships. I currently have a friend, Dana Tucker http://danatucker.blogspot.com/, who had to leave the program early because he was called into active duty with the Army. He is a Major and is currently running one of the Iraqi police training facilities. Several of my other friends took jobs with Microsoft in Seattle in their HR Leadership Development Program called TRAX. I am in a similar program for Amazon.com, also based in Seattle.

My program includes three, 10 month rotations. My first is in Fernley, Nevada where I work as an HR generalist in one of their largest fulfillment centers. At this time of the year and for the rest of the year, I won't be spending much time at my desk. We have about 900 full-time Amazon employees, however we are in the process of bringing on between 1400 and 1600 temporary associates in order to handle the increased volume we get between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I'm already feeling the effects of the increased workload. My wife and I have four children and I feel like Amazon moving toward Christmas is like my wife moving towards delivery. The building is getting more painful by the day with more arms and legs in an increasingly cramped space.

I'm the new Scoutmaster in Fernley. I am an Eagle Scout but ironically enough I hate camping. As such, I'm not surprised that this is the second time I've been punished with this calling. That being said, the boys I have are surprisingly fun. My 12 year old son Christian is among them and this will give me a good opportunity to jump start his scouting journey. I feel like my mother earned about 18 of the twenty something merit badges I was awarded, so now it is my turn to earn them as they are being awarded to my son. :-)

Career Change

I guess I should give a bit more to the story. I originally went to Brigham Young University and graduated in Pre-Med in 1999 intending to become a Physical Therapist. I was accepted to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and earned my Masters in Physical Therapy in 2001.

After graduating I started work in Heppner, Oregon as the Director of a small clinic while helping the Heppner High School football team (the Mustangs) as both the trainer and a bit as the kicking coach. I worked as a PT for 3.5 years focusing mainly on sports rehab. In my first year of PT school however, I already knew that I would be getting my MBA. I began searching on BYU's MBA home-site since both my brother and my uncle had graduated from the Marriott school previously. That home page that I spent so much time on, devouring information and hoping for acceptance has now included a bit of me. In an attempt to promote the program by showing profiles of specific students, BYU chose me as their poster-boy. http://marriottschool.byu.edu/mba/ (I'm not getting any royalties)

In July of 2004 I took the GMAT as my initial step towards school and did well enough to get in. A 640 is not the greatest score a person could get, but it's certainly not the worst, and with my level of prep (next to none) I was satisfied. I also got into one of the best schools in the country, so says the Wall Street Journal. Their 2007 rankings place BYU as the #1 regional school in the country. The WSJ separates the 18 so-called "national" schools that typically draw applicants from across the country and have class sizes from 500 to over 1000 per year. Regional schools include the other three hundred and some odd schools at Universities across the country who typically have class sizes from 50 up to a few hundred.

BYU's class size is relatively small but is increasing. Class sizes have typically been in the 120's over the last few decades but with new construction thanks to a grant from the Marriott family, BYU is increasing it's class size. I was in the class of 2007 which included 118 students. The class of 2008 has just under 140 and the class of 2009 is just under 160. It is my understanding that BYU intends to increase their class size over the next 3 years up to 250 full-time students per class. In speaking with Jim Stice, BYU's MBA Director of academics, their biggest concern in expanding the class size so rapidly is the dilution of talent that typically comes with it.

Typically GMAT scores have averaged around 650ish over the last 5 years. The class of 2007's average was 660. The first year of expansion with the class of 2008 saw GMAT scores dip to an average of 648. This was a bit of a concern for the administration, but they forged ahead with their expansion plans. The class of 2009 that was just admitted averaged 661 and was a huge encouragement. The WSJ rankings over the past few years have had an effect on the quality of students who view BYU as a solid option. BYU has gone from 6th to 5th to 3rd, and finally to 1st over the past 4 years. The WSJ has just recently begun ranking B-schools and BYU has come out looking very good in these recruiter driven rankings.

In my next post, I anticipate relaying my Internship experiences. I was lucky enough to have two internships that I would have had no chance at getting had I not been at BYU.

Fernley Nevada

Goodbye Provo, Hello Fernley!!

We moved to Fernley on August 3rd. Since I graduated on my Birthday on April 26th, and my first day wasn't with Amazon wasn't until August 13th, I decided to get another internship. I went to work for the RBL Group which is a Human Resources consulting firm. It was nice to get paid some money while the family enjoyed the beautiful view from our place on the hill.

The kids spent the summer running through the sprinklers and jumping on the trampoline. Christian finally turned 12 in June so Jennifer and I were able to go on a few unfettered dates.