So far i'm averaging about 1 post per month, not too bad:) I get inspired to blog each time I attend a Madsen get together and this past weekend we had a great time at Mike & Emily's wedding in Axtell. It's always great to see everybody in person and everybody is talking about each others blogs, pretty fun stuff!

Anyhow I wanted to write tonight because we rounded up our pictures from the half marathon we ran about a month ago up in Logan and I wanted to post them as evidence that I actually ran the race! Running has become an interesting hobby for me lately, I've always been active in sports but I have always HATED running with a passion! Especially sprinting, I got made fun of all the time in high school cause of how slow I was:) But an interesting thing happened a couple months ago.


We were talking to my friend/mentor/boss Garrett and he challenged Sharlene (who has been a runner forever) to run the Salt Lake half marathon, which was further than she had ever run before. He then asked me the farthest I had ever run which was at the time about 3 miles (optimistic guess) Then he challenged me to run 8 miles that night! Holy Crap! Right away the first thing I said was of course "There's no way I can do that!" Well he encouraged me and told me to throw a towel over the treadmill so I couldn't see how far or how long I had been running and just to run forever! And it worked! I ran a little more than 8 miles that night and was just amazed. Right away the first thought I had was How many other things in my life do I think are "impossible" but really it's just my mind playing games?

After that night I have actually enjoyed running because each time I go, I experience the same feelings of overcoming the limiting beliefs and thoughts that so often sneak into my head. The next big challenge was a half marathon and as you can see from the pics below we did it! Sharlene was such a HUGE help, about mile 10 I started complaining like a banshee telling her that I couldn' t run anymore, I needed to walk, I was tired, blah blah, whine whine! Well she she didn't put up with my lame excuses and helped me keep going and finish the race!



I think this was at mile 7 or 8ish... Still having fun!

This was mile 10 or 11ish, I was pleading with Dana to hit me with her car to put me out of my misery:)

Finished! and survived too!

So what's next? We are going to do a couple more half's then go for a full later this year. The ones we are looking at next are the Salt Lake half in April or the Ogden half in May...

How bout you? Come run with us!!! Here are the links to the different races, one thing is for sure it is way fun to run with other people and it would be way fun to get a big group to run together at one of these races!

Salt Lake Half

Ogden Half

P.S. If your mind is saying "I Can't" I'm telling you "YOU CAN!!"



P.P.S. Thanks Dana for taking the awesome pictures!

INSPIRED!

Today I was shown this video clip. I rarely watch TV because of all the trash, but this quick clip is absolutely moving and inspiring in every sense of the word. My whole body was covered in goose bumps and i'll even admit, things got a little blurry.

It was not only the video but what was said after the video was played. Our good friend Garrett said this..."That desire we feel when we are inspired by others living in their purpose is a calling to each and every one of us to stand in our own purpose. Each and every one of us has something great to offer to society... and by us standing in our power we allow others to stand in their's... We must stand alone in order to stand as one!"

Click here to watch the movie!

This past weekend we took off and headed to Lake Powell! It was so much fun, I haven't been down there for 3 years and Sharlene has only been there once before so it was great to go down there and have as much fun as possible in two days. We were planning on going down Friday night and not coming back till Monday afternoon but due to the high school dance and some "fun" weather we ended up going down Saturday morning and coming back Sunday night. It was all good though we had a great time! We went with my dad, Taylor and Conner and we camped up forgotten canyon right by the old Anasazi ruins.

The first day was perfect, nice and sunny and hot with a little breeze, it was wonderful. Then that night a fun little storm rolled in and the wind blew and it rained all night on us, not a big deal if we would have been on a house boat but since we were camped on the beach it was a little more adventurous:) We realized the next day when hiking and exploring the ruins that we should have slept in the old rock houses instead of our weak sauce tents, we would have been warm and dry all night long! Oh well that's the kind of stuff that makes the trips memorable:)

I can't believe how sore I am from this trip, it seems like I used to be able to ski, wakeboard, tube, cliff jump, hike, and run around for a whole week and never feel any after effects. Now it's been 3 days since we've been home and my back is still killing me! Not to mention the sunburn, apparantly when your skin hasn't seen the sun in like 7 years and then you overdose in one day it's not the best combination. I would post a picture of my awesome bright red chest but I'm sure nobody wants to see that so I'll post this picture instead so you get the idea...

All in all it was a great trip, we had tons of fun and it was a great chance to spend time with the fam. We are excited to go again next summer, this time we will definately try the houseboat option and I am definately going to try and get some sun BEFORE we get there!

Here are some other pics of the fun stuff we did down there...
One of our favorite activities was climbing up a cliff and rolling huge rocks into the water, then when we were done...

We jumped in! This is Sharlene jumping off her first cliff!

This is my favorite pic from the trip, me and Taylor splashing in and Conner right behind us but he looks like he is walking on water:)

Evidence that I actually jumped off a cliff too:)

That's about all for now, I have officially posted my first of many posts. Enjoy!