Got the Red Stallion back and I'm riding for Santa Fe!

It's called Evolution...

Have had a couple of interesting dialogues today about me going back to Santa Fe.

One began with me comparing the weather of the Texas Gulf Coast with Santa Fe....

An unfair and lopsided comparison.

The Texas Gulf Coast has its advantages. The main ones are a great job environment and relatively low cost of living.

Santa Fe in comparison has very few jobs of a technical nature. It is one of the poorest states of the 50. The cost of living is higher because of the cost of housing but furnished rentals are abundant and can be had at a lower price than Lake Jackson if you know how and where to look.

The bottom line is Texas has jobs. New Mexico doesn't. New Mexico has great weather and beautiful and varied terrain. Texas not so much. If you can work remotely, which I can for the near future, it's a natural thing to select Santa Fe over Lake Jackson.

The second dialogue was more philosophical in nature from an astute friend of mine always looking out for my best interest.

In a nutshell, the Oracle asked me "How is Santa Fe gonna fill the void in your life that has always been there?"

The short and not so sweet answer is that Santa Fe will not make me happy or fill the gaps in my life. But it will give me opportunities to do things that I haven't done before in a new and different environment. It will challenge me to adapt and evolve.

It's less about happiness and more about continuing to experience new things and meet new people.

For me, happiness is less about the status quo and more about the challenge of...

Discovery.

Oh Hail.... This is your sign Stupid!

What you're looking at is hail on the ground on my sister's porch in Angleton Tx on the night of 04/17/15.

This was something that was definitely not welcome.

Here's a video of that hailstorm as it was falling:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R08GkSD9osY

And right after:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfTunPy4glc

And the worst part of it was that my beautiful red baby... my 2014 Ford Mustang was out in it.

The car cover was no match for the larger than golf ball sized hail.

The car sustained over 150 hail dents on the hood, roof and trunk cover.... even high on one side.

The Stang is in the shop now with an expected return on April 29th.

I had told several of  my friends and family that I was considering coming back to the Gulf Coast to live but that I would be looking for some sign.... some data point.... to help me make the decision.

I got back to the Gulf Coast of Texas on the evening of 03/31/15.

It rained and stormed all but 2 days since then culminating in a hail storm that wreaked havoc on my sister and brother in law's vehicles, trailer,  house and yard and dropped a tree on my nephew's house a mile up the road and caused $6600 damage to my car.

I had forgotten how lousy and unpredictable the weather was on the Gulf Coast.....

But I was reminded of it in a most painful way.

As the old saying goes.... "Here's your sign Stupid!"

I've had my Sign and my wake-up call.

I may have to return to the Gulf Coast out of financial necessity but just as soon as I get my car back and stuff it full of everything it will carry and hang my mountain and road bike on a rack off the back, I'm pointed the nose of the Stang North by Northwest and I'm heading back to.....

Santa Fe.

CrossFit Eufaula meets CrossFit WMD

And here's the Happy Winners after the WOD.

We returned to my other sister's - Vicki's house - where I made a nice cast iron skillet grilled tuna fillet caught by my nephew, Evan, in the Gulf of Mexico.

And the next workout....

is 2 rounds of 6 exercises - 3 min each:

Shoulder the Stone where this 171 lb 52 year old put the 173# stone from ground to shoulder twice - once on the right shoulder.... once on the left.

Box Jumps

Wall Walk

Best Rope Climb

Wall Balls

Butterfly Pullups

Then we did the real workout.... can you believe this?

I did A.... 3 rounds for time

10 Power Cleans with 1353

15 Ring Dips

20 Kettlebell Swings with 53#

I tied for last place at 11:51 but was just happy to get through it.

See what I'm talking about by variety....

Deficit Deadlifts for Strength.

Toes 2 Bar for 10 descending rep rounds.

10 min AMRAP of ascending by 3 rep 

Wall Balls

Box Jumpovers

Hand release Push ups.

152 reps was pretty close to the top number of 158 for our workout group so I was happy.

Back to the Beginning... CrossFit WMD in Angleton Tx

Just over a year ago, March 22nd, I started doing CrossFit at CrossFitWMD.

While a lot has changed over the past year and I have worked out at 3 different CrossFit boxes, there is still a soft place in my heart and a hardened body that knows CrossFitWMD will always be home.

Nothing has changed except maybe the WOD's are even harder and more creative.

The warm-up is still harder than most people's workout....

And then there are 3 workouts in one....

Core Complex

Auxiliary Work

Specialty Work

And the Pursuit of Perfect Paleo continues.

With Chicken breast and Baked Sweet Potato over salad with strawberries.

I had to substitute Rows for Jumping Rope but the Beatdown remains the same.

My friend Steve, sent me this incredible picture.... good thing to see between WOD's.

That's my sister, Diana, a 62 year old CrossFit prodigy from Eufaula Alabama.

And there's my mentor, Will Black, tending the CrossFit board.

Let me tell you something..... if my 62 year old sister can do this, you can too!

In lieu of the Double Under practice, Diana and I rowed for 15 minutes.  Diana's taking a 30 second break here to towel the sweat off.

She did 1650 meters and I did 2050 meters.

Not bad for a 62 and a 52 year old.

You pick your battles and your battlefield.....

This is where I've decided to make my stand.

CrossFit.

5 sets of 5 front squats to a max of 195# 

then a 15 min AMRAP WOD

I did 50 Single Unders vs the 20 Double Unders 

and then 10 Power Cleans with 115#

for 7 rounds.