Team SP 5k for Oklahoma
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, In response to the tornado in Oklahoma I wanted to do something to help. It’s a strange feeling being on vacation while so many are suffering. Mommy and… Read More
Tag Archive: Faith
My favorite time of day
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate We’re having a blast on vacation. Each day is filled with hours on the beach, trips to the pool, sandcastles, boogie boarding, and holes dug to “all the… Read More
No ones keeping score
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, This morning I walked down to the beach alone. I sat in the sand, digging my toes in, feeling the coolness of it’s depth – before the heat… Read More
Rev3 Knoxville 70.3 race report
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, We had such a great time at Rev3 Knoxville last year we decided to go back again this year. I trained hard, through the ebbs and flows of a… Read More
Race week mantra: Chop wood, carry water
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, I wake up thinking about it. I try to put it out of my mind – focus on the tasks of the day, being present in the moment,… Read More
The Last Long Run
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, As I approach the end of my 20 week training cycle I’ve been reflecting on the journey. Here’s a post I wrote for Rev3′s blog called “The Last… Read More
Tales from the dinner table: Simple prayers
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, It’s been awhile since I’ve shared one of our dinner conversations with you. We put a lot of importance on family dinner time. Mommy has been teaching swimming… Read More
Handprints: how time passes
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, Yesterday I held you, tired from fighting frail after the struggle a crackling of machines. Warm from your mother’s womb Softness of God nestling against my chest and… Read More
Ahead of What?
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate I worked my way through it. The first big overdistance training weekend of my 20 week training cycle. I’ve done a few rides in excess of race distance… Read More
Clarity and Trust in the Texas hill country: Part II
PART II OF TRUST AND CLARITY IN THE TEXAS HILL COUNTRY. READ PART I HERE. Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, We drove straight to Salt Lick BBQ when we arrived. It didn’t disappoint.… Read More
Clarity and Trust in the Texas hill country: part 1
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, Carolyn Horton handed me a pistol. “It’s scatter shot,” she said. “So you don’t need to have good aim, just point and shoot.” She walked back up the… Read More
Life is just a tire swing: Easter photos and potlucks
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, We had a great weekend! The sort of weekend that you hope for during the other five days of the week….filled with fun, love, and photo opps. It… Read More
Peaceful Easy Feeling
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, Grandfather sent us this picture of you fishing beside the Pedernales River in Texas, Izzy. I stared at it for a long time. Different emotions overcame me as… Read More
Sunshine on a cloudy day
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, The breezes helped me relax as I lay motionless, eyes closed, drifting back in time: a beach in Hawaii, a beach in South Carolina, Mexico, Duval Street, Bourbon… Read More
Quiet beautiful pictures in our hearts and minds
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, Moments like this make life worth the struggles we sometimes face. The quiet beautiful pictures we slow down to capture in our hearts and minds (and sometimes on… Read More
Seek and you will find
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, We wandered through unfamiliar streets. Bordered by thick green, heat waves, and banana trees. All of it felt like it might close in on us at once. I… Read More
It feels so good feeling good again
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, I wrote to you a few days ago about some of the struggles I’ve been having with my health. At first the doctors called it an ulcer. When… Read More
Amy Grant and Lady Gaga
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, You kids couldn’t be more different. You’re each unique and special in your own way. You two girls have started playing together more lately as you’re getting older,… Read More
The Way I Take: One Twelve Media
Dear Izzy, Max ,and Kate, I heard a guy speak yesterday on the book of Job. As he made light of the Job’s trials I considered the path I’ve been following. My life… Read More
Loneliness and the journey
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, I started to feel it this weekend. That empty feeling I get. The loneliness that sets in as the miles build. I’ve written to you about how miles… Read More
It will come: Belief in the face of fear, doubt, and uncertainty
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, The deep ache set in somewhere around 30 miles. I ate another gel and began to slow. I’ve been on my bike diligently through the winter, but for… Read More
How Revolution Changes Everything
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, I’ve changed. Sometimes you’ll hear that people don’t change; It’s just the circumstances around them. I’m not sure I believe that. Perhaps a little backstory is necessary if… Read More
A Chat with your Papaw: Eddie Nikazy
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, This the 200th letter that I’ve written to you here. So I thought I would do something special. Your papaw, my dad, is a man of few words.… Read More
Lance Armstrong and Grace
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, They gathered together, as much as that’s possible, in our modern age of social media. Virtual torches and pitchforks lifted. Snarled expressions. A thirst for blood. When there’s… Read More
New Year’s Day 2013
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, Last year around this time I decided that I needed change in my life. A lot of it. I needed to listen to the stirring in my spirit… Read More
The year of “OF COURSE”
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, We had a great Christmas. We’re fortunate to live close to family, so we make the rounds every year: Christmas Eve lunch at Aunt Lisa’s in White Bluff… Read More
The meaning of Christmas
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, I love you, – Daddy
Raising Twins: what kind of cars do clowns drive?
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, A few nights ago I took you two little ones to Pet Smart with me to get Coco the dogs nails trimmed. Seemingly simple trips always turn into… Read More
Watching the embers float away
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, I spent Saturday night in the backwoods of Kentucky, sitting close to a bonfire, staring into the heat of it. I sat close. Close enough that I pulled… Read More
How my little girl plans to make sad people happy: Part 2
PART 1 Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, I wrote to you a few weeks ago about your sticker club, Izzy. You’ve continued collecting stickers and putting them in notebooks. I find them all… Read More
What Rocky Balboa taught me about self-worth
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, The original Academy Award winning Rocky came out in 1976. I was 2 years old. The film and it’s sequels have been a part of my life as… Read More
The miles: how I covered 112 for preemies
* Part 2 of: 112 miles for Preemies Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, I shuffled into our driveway, stepping from the road’s pavement to the crumbling aggregate rock. It’s separating, becoming gravel in… Read More
Room in the Inn
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, I met Anthony last night. He writes poems in his notebook and recites them with passion for the words. He can feel the weight and the blessing of… Read More
He waited up
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, I went to a visitation last night for a friend whose dad passed away. He had been sick for a long time. We stood in the funeral home,… Read More
Three Little Birds
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, You played in the leaves at Nana and Papaw’s house on Sunday. Took turns on the rope swing in the backyard. Watched several deer sneak into the yard,… Read More
112 miles for preemies
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, 500,000 babies are born early every year in the United States. In 2008 you were two of them, Max and Kate. You were 10 weeks early. That experience… Read More
Simple things: the philosophy of Max
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, I’ve written to you before about how we take turns at the dinner table praying. Each of you get a few seconds to say your own prayer. It’s… Read More
Weekend Ride: Endless possibilities and a wave of black birds
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, I had a rare opportunity Saturday morning. The opportunity to do whatever I wanted, with no time limits. Mommy coached a swim meet most of the day and… Read More
Watching your child compete
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, It was your first real gymnastics meet, Izzy. You had been nervous for a week leading up to the meet. “What if I don’t do well on the… Read More
8 Ways to Relax
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, This morning I studied the trees. It’s fall and the colors are changing. Brilliant shades of orange, yellow, red, and purple. Several minutes passed as I stared and… Read More
Happy 4th birthday Max and Kate
Dear Max and Kate, Yesterday on my trail run I noticed the contrast between the blue of the sky and the changing fall colors of the trees. I considered how to describe the… Read More
Alone in the woods, listening
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, I spent the early hours of last Sunday morning in the woods. Alone. I love trail running and by August I’m usually looking forward to the end of… Read More
A walk with my son
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, Here’s something I wrote after taking Max and our dog for a walk on Sunday: ************** We went for a walk me and you and the dog. You… Read More
How my little girl plans to make sad people happy
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, You’ve been collecting stickers, Izzy. All kinds. Big and small. Elaborate fuzzy glow in the dark stickers and simple stars. You spend hours putting them in books. Yesterday… Read More
Hospitals and milkshakes
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, You’ve been sick since Thursday, Kate. Your fever has peaked at 104.6. Mommy and I sit and watch you rest on the couch. And at night we sit… Read More
Why I didn’t race: Part 2
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, CONTINUED FROM PART I Learning to be still played a big role in why I didn’t go. After 20 weeks of training I stayed home, and missed the… Read More
Why I didn’t race after 20 weeks of training: Part 1
Dear Izzy, Max, and Kate, They’re racing at Rev3 South Carolina this morning. I was supposed to be there making my 5th attempt at a sub-5:30 half ironman. But I’m not there. I… Read More
Just part of it
Dear Max, I was awake. I rested there on my side, watching you sleeping fitfully. Shallow breathes. And each drawing gaps between your ribs. Retracting. We’ve been down this road before. The fear… Read More
