my cowboy hat (repost)

If you had asked me throughout much of my life if I would own a cowboy hat my answer would have been clear, definitive and negative. I am person who likes to think a lot and often about things that don’t really matter. I am in many ways cut out for my past profession – working at a university. People who hold Ph.D.s and work at universities are not always the most in touch and they often spend a lot of time working on things that are a bit removed from the day to day world. I was one of those people for a number of years. I still have such tendencies, for example, I devote much of my free time to thinking about abstract aspects of triathlon performance. Getting back to the point of this blog, my cowboy hat, I was drawn to one this past spring when visiting my family in New Mexico. As an over thinker, I contemplated the idea of the hat for several days before I finally took myself to the western wear store. There I tried on a variety of the hat types settling on a lovely black one. I’ve been a happy cowboy hat owner since then. I guess since I used the word "lovely" to describe my hat, I may be banned from the club yet.

My cowboy hat is more than just a hat to me. It not only represents my past, I grew up in the West, the hat represents a part of me that started this spring and summer. I gave up my ties to university employment and moved into a new role as the owner of a small business. My triathlon coaching business requires a whole different approach to the world than does working for a public institution such as a university. I am thrilled to be in that new role and I see my cowboy hat as a great connection to that switch. Whenever I get to viewing the world too abstractly, my cowboy hat reminds me of the importance of simplicity and things being straight forward. Most of the time, it is good to keep things simple.

As Lyle Lovett once said, “you can have my girl, but don’t touch my hat.”

My kind of 10/2

Today will always be an important day for me. Last year on this day (June 21, 2006), I had a beneign tumor removed from my right salivary gland. I've called this blog as I have in reference to Lance Armstrong's cancer diagnosis. But my story is quite different. My surgery lasted almost 4 hours as the doctors had to carefully peel the salivary gland out from a bunch of nerves that are centered there. Turns out that nervous center of all one's facial muscles wrap around this gland so to preserve my ability to move my facial muscles, all the nerves have to be individually separated. This process takes some time and that was the main reason the surgery took so long. Anyway, this surgery was a turning point in my life as it was a genuine cancer scare without any real long term complications. In essence, I got really lucky. I'm making today the day that I thank my friends and family for all they do for me and take stock of where I'm at. It's been an interesting and exciting year for sure. It's great to be alive!

new blog

Hello
This is my new blog, welcome. I am a triathlon, cycling and multisport coach and athlete living in Minnesota. I'll be posting some thoughts here for me and anyone else interested.