busting at the seems

have you ever been in front of someone whose button up shirt was so tight and the buttons so stressed that at any moment it could turn into a projectile headed strait for you? you try to keep yourself out of the line of fire knowing this could be bad. we joked a lot about this with my old crew at work about a certain "Head Honcho".

every year starting the last week of November till January 1 i give myself free game to whatever i want to eat. its all out there in such abundance for the Holidays why fight it? well this year i went a little too far. i noticed this when in Buffalo visiting my sisters family. i was constantly feeling full but i was on vacation so of course i had to eat at all the good places and ive never been one to save leftovers. after getting home i then had to face work. everybody and their dog brings treats to the fire station during this time. and we eat like kings going the extra mile to make the meals a big deal. After working 5 straight days Dec 23-27 (120 hours) i returned home. i knew i was putting on the lbs but i had a plan. the holidays would be over soon and then training for my first race in April would begin. i jumped on the scale out of curiosity and was SHOCKED!!!!!

In July of this year i was 27lbs lighter. im thinking to myself wtf? how did you let yourself do this?

as i type this im once again at work and my station pants are "busting at the seems". if it wasnt for the tactical belt i have on rated to 4500lb of force (can be used as a rescue harness) we might have a problem.

So thats me kind of venting on myself. good thing is i have no doubt i can be back to where i was in July by race time. bad thing is all the work i just put on myself by not being able to have a little more self control.

wah wah wah i know...

i feel like little Chanchito

Secret Santa Results

Tonight Kendl and I had flashbacks of high school ringing doorbells and running away. Only unlike high school this was for a good cause. Another successful Secret Santa in the books. Two families sponsored with a total of 9 kids. For those of you who dont know about our program, well there is no program. We dont go off a list where people sign up. We do it to families that one of us knows and it stays incognito.

Thanks to everyone who participated.

New Years Virtual Run

Taking an idea from a friend and fellow blogger Im going to hold my own "New Years Virtual run". What do yo need to do? Comment to this post that you are going to participate for starters. Then on Saturday January 1st get out and run. Doesn't matter how much or how little. After you run email me at hmbanbury@gmail.com with the distance run and your address and ill send you a prezzie. The idea in this being 1. to start the New Year off right. 2. to start a trend of virtual runs with my blogger buddies and others. Im going to continue with random virtual runs throughout the year, that is unless one of you want to head one up. Any takers?

This is how i feel right now, literally, the holidays have turned into Fat December for me. He he.

surprise explanation

On December 5th i surprised my sis showing up on her door step in Buffalo NY. I had a little help of course, thanks Cory. the video on the prior post speaks for itself i think. She had no idea i was coming. So 9 days in Buffalo and ill let the photos do all the talking. well most anyways.

Monument Niagara Falls

Yeah it was Cold

Niagara Falls , US side

Niagara, Canada side( Superman II side)

Bills Game

Wren being Wren

Zoltar machine,"I wish I were BIG"

Wren Bills Game

Zettis Pizza. Huge awesome pizza

Poutine in Toronto

St Lawrence Market Toronto

Downtown Toronto

Toronto Subway

Baldwin Steps, Toronto. Key Location of Scott Pilgrim vs The World.

Casa Loma Toronto. Another Scott Pilgrim site.

Casa Loma Stables, Toronto

Honest Eds, Toronto. Scott Pilgrim Site. Crazy ass store.

surprise!!!

TURKEY DAYS OVER NOW ITS TIME TO BURN OFF ALL THOSE CALORIES

im thankful for

1. THE GREATEST HAND TURKEY EVER (OBVIOUSLY)

2. MY JOB. I LOVE THAT I DONT DREAD GOING TO WORK.

3. MY FAM AND FRIENDS THAT MAKE LIFE INTERESTING.

4. DUMB PEOPLE WHO GIVE ME JOB SECURITY.

5. PEOPLE OF WALMART WEBSITE THAT MAKES ME LAUGH MY ASS OFF.

6. YOUTUBE FOR ENTERTAINING US AS THE STATION.

7. TOSH.O FOR THE SAME REASON.

8. OH THATS GOOD ENOUGH I THINK.

299th out of 1022...ill take that

heres a quick recap of my weekend in Boise. Friday morning i started the incredible boring drive from Logan to Boise. Seriously there is nothing to look at on that trip. Anyways i left a little early to do some shopping. Yeah i said shopping. Im horrible at buying myself clothes. In fact about a year ago my sister told me she wouldn't sew the rips in my old clothes any more after breaking 10 too many needles. What can i say? i dont care for shopping and i dont see the point in throwing away old jeans for one pocket tear or what ever. So anyways i bought some clothes. Only a new pair of pants and long sleeve shirt though. i was out of my league at the Van Heusen store. 30 years old and still have no idea how to match clothes. next stop over to the Kitchen Connection. It was sweet. i know its weird some single dude went into a kitchen store but heh!. If i want good food i have to cook it myself. I saw a juicer on a crazy sale(something ive wanted for a while and im drinking an awesome apple/kiwi drink as i type) so i got it and some other stuff.

ok back on track. i got my buddy Erics' house and we decided to take his little girl to see Despicable Me. have to say i laughed my but off...ITS SO FLUFFY...

The reason for making the trip in the first place was that Eric and his wife Nicole had a new baby boy named Charlie. Now that i think of it I didnt even hold him. CRAP! Also i was running in a 1/2 Marathon Saturday morning that ran literally two blocks from their house.

Sat morning i got up early to get some good stretching in and a bit of yoga cause id been having a lot of shin problems lately. The race went awesome. Well as good as can be expected with minimal training. It had a ton of uphill 1100 feet elevation gain or something like that. But it went well. i finished in 1:55 minutes which im happy with.

After the race Eric and i went and watched BSU destroy Hawaii on the blue turf. We sat with the season ticket croud and i laughed constatnly at all teh old ladies yelling and heckling the other team. they eve knew what they were talking about. The lady on my left id been joking with the entire game got upset when Hawaii scored their only TD. I told her we had to give them a sympathy score. She looked at me like i was crazy and said " I liked you but now we have to FIGHT" i aploginzed quickly before she made me drop my nachos...hehe.

After that i needed a nap then we got some Indian food and introduced Eric to Scott Pilgrim vs The World.

Goblin Valley Race and Moab

This past weekend a few friends and i headed for Moab. We had been planning on doing this trail run in Goblin Valley for a while now and decided to stay in Moab and try to make a trip out of it. A friend let us stay at his home in Moab so even though its a ways from Goblin Valley it was nice not to have to get a hotel. The weather was really disappointing down there. Friday it was wet and cold so we didn't do much other than go see a water fall and get some dinner. then we streamed Tosh.O on the computer all night and laughed our buts off. Saturday we got up early to head to the race. Turned out only 3 of the 5 of us were going to do it. I was originally registered for the 15 miler but with ongoing aches and pains in my shins i decided to do teh 10k. It was a cool race. the rain from Friday made parts a little slick but over all i had fun and would do it again. Good thing i dropped from the 25k cause my legs killed the entire time. After that we did a fun slot canyon. Its by Little Wild Horse. Not nearly as pretty but with all the rain and some pretty tough scrambles it was way more fun and technical. we go tout of the canyon just in time for "THE NOTHING" to hit and headed back to Moab. We barbecued for dinner and started a movie. it was only 9 pm but i was out. Next morning we cleaned the place real good and took off for home. It was a fun quick weekend trip. even with the rain.

trying to squeeze into a hole in slot canyon

thank goodness someone left a rope

lots of pools. everyone had to get wet eventually but it was fun trying to avoid it.

misty road to Goblin Valley before race

Faux Falls. man made but still cool enough for a look see.

Just outside the house we stayed at. the clouds were cool all day.

LOGAN EAST AND BACK

For a while now Ive been planning a motorcycle trip to New York. I have a sister in Buffalo, brother in Hershey PA, family in Ohio and a old high school friend in NYC so now its time to venture east. 2500 miles east actually.

Heres the plan so far. June 1st ill leave Logan Utah through Mount Rushmore and The Badlands to Buffalo New York. While there seeing Niagra Falls, Palmyra NY and what ever else. Then off to NYC to see Kelli, lady Liberty, Ground Zero, Fire Museum, Fire Boat ride, run through Cental Park and whatever else i come up with. After NYC Im off to Hershey to visit Trey and his fam as well as Gettysburg, Hershey Chocolate Factory, Williamsburg, etc. Then South a bit to DC. Here i hope Nate Miller can meet me coming up from Augusta GA. Ill see everything i can in 2 days then head back west. On the way back home Ill stop in Dayton OH to visit my moms family and head back to Utah a little more south than the way out going through Boulder CO to gawk at all the uber athletes.

I hope to do this trip in 23 days. I dont leave for another 8 months but theres still so much to do to prepare. The route is set for the most part. I have a lot of logistics to still take care of as well as planning how to see the most sights.

If anyone has any ideas for me please share.

what i did to the recruits today

today i had the new recruits for PT again. i decided to take them to my favorite running spot here in Logan"The River Trail". So i had them wear their turnout coats and SCBA packs and also tie a bowline around their waste and a clove hitch (two basic firefighter knots) around the rope of the guy in front of them. They were organized into 3 company's of 3 and thats how they had to stay. we went 1.5 miles up the trail the n took off the packs. they then did a few hill repeats, then 1.5 back down the trail with packs and tied together again. It was fun for me(i was in a t shirt he he). we did get a few cat calls from girls climbing across the street as well.

thats right tie yourself to each other

running as a company

repeat climbs up the switchbacks. i was nice and let em take off the packs.

Been a while

so ive been lazy lately and unmotivated to blog. so heres a quick update. Im still living in my sis's house in Logan till it sells. I love all the space and having a garage for the car and moto but living in a shell of what was her house is still weird. its too quiet too. usually when i came to visit the kids never gave me a moments peace. i also am working as a fire instructor here and i love it. i get to plan some of the PT some days and i love coming up with crazy exercises and obstacle courses for them to do. helping teach the skills is great as well cause i learn so much by teaching.

im getting back on track with my fitness after losing everything i worked so hard for this spring and summer. Injury, vacation and pure lack of desire had me feeling pretty crappy but im rebounding so thats good. Oct 23rd in doing a 25k trail run in Goblin Valley so im looking forward to that. its starting to cool off after very warm fall here in utah and so in the not too distant future ill be able to break out the xc skis and snowshoes.

other than that ive been experimenting with my baking trying new things like baking bread with spelt instead of wheat. its going ok. a lot of ingredients have gone strait to the garbage but well figure it out.

the recruits 3 new best friends(one i resurrected from the Thunder Dome days)

a few attempts into spelt bread. tasted ok not great. a lot more dense than normal bread.

Colombia part 2

A few more pic from the nature preserve

9 1/2 years later

Aug 19th i returned to Colombia where i served my mission after being home 9 1/2 years. Right when i got off the plane i knew my spanish was all but gone. I could speak for the most part but not hearing it for so much time i didnt understand a lot and they had to speak slowly to me. So this trip was not at all about being a tourist. It was about getting in touch with the people i taught and knew during my time as a missionary. And thats exactly what i did. I was so stoked to have found so many people i had lost contact with. It was a great trip and by the end my spanish was a lot better but still frustrating that i could speak it so well and lost so much.

nature preserve

Bishop Barona who i lived underneath while on the mish

First family i taught and baptized

Gotta visit the Fire Station

Chief and everyone came out and wanted to give me their two cents

This should be in a museum but its a reserve

Idaho Moto Trip

My buddy Eric and i started taking motorcycle trips this year the first one being a trip to Oregon. This time we planned a few days going through Central Idaho going both on and off road. We got off to a very late start since i had to work the night before and had a busy night so i took a nap before heading to Boise. So the first day we road from Boise to Mcall and ate dinner and stayed in a friends cabin that was great, especially since it rained pretty hard that night. We had an awesome breakfast which took forever as well and made us behind schedule again but it was good.

We then headed off for Grangeville via dirt roads and it was the most challenging riding ive ever done. More than one time i thought id dump the bike but didnt luckily. It was great to see the back country on a moto. We arrived to Grangeville had dinner and as luck would have it Eric had a friend with a cabin there as well. It was locked but we were able to camp out in a garage behind the cabin where the mice and other critters crawling around all night kept me anxious and dreaming of mountain lions and stupid stuff. kind of funny now.

We set out towards Kooskia and the riding once again was amazing. Since we were so far behind we stayed on paved road to make up some mileage. We took HWY 12 over LOLO pass and at eh beginning the was a sign that said...S TURNS...nest 99 miles...you kidding me? It was great riding, just incredible with the Lochsa River on our right. We pushed all the way through to Stanley Idaho and camped near Stanley Lake. We ate at a restaurant on the Salmon River and it was great. 30 minutes after going to bed it began to rain. This time camping in tents the rain was very much unwelcome. We woke up to everything wet but clearing up. As we went to take off Erics bike battery was dead and we were unable to keep it running after jumping the battery.

So day 4 ended up being a day stranded in Stanley a Eric raced around on my bike looking for a new battery. We set off at 7am originally and after having had Erics wife bring a battery from Boise we got out of there around 430pm. I called work and took an extra day off of vacation cause of our delay and so glad i did. We got back to Boise pretty exhausted and stayed the night with Eric. Then the next morning cruised to Logan. Next time im trailering the bike to Boise no matter how much more expensive it is. That ride is awful.

Burgdorf Idaho, a ghost town and hot spring

in between Stanley and Boise somewhere.

The KTMs mishap. Dead battery.

camping near Stanley Lake

When we were kids we couldnt pronounce my sisters name(Lauree) so we called her LoLo. Kind of funny.