Somewhat of a Journal Entry

Well, I'm done with my marathon. My legs have been wobbly, but they're getting better. I'm really glad I did it. It really is up there for one of the hardest things I've ever done, especially cause my right knee just gave out and I had to run on it for so long. It was so painful to run or walk because of the pain in my knee was so sharp. Ben thinks it probably happened cause of worn out shoes. I've had these shoes since my junior year in high school, but they look fine, and they never gave me problems during training. It would be awesome to run in another marathon, but it just takes so much time and effort to train. Plus I'm not sure I could afford to train for another one, I mean I have eaten SO much food because of all the calories I run off. So doing a marathon takes a lot of time...a lot of effort...a lot of food, water, money...is really hard on the body...but the feeling of crossing the finish line is incredibl. I wish I could do a better job describing that feeling because it just brings this feeling of, "(deep breath) yes, I did it, it's done...accomplished." I think I'll run in a half-marathon in the spring.

Last Thursday our team at TD Ameritrade went to a bar/restaurant for an afternoon meeting with the head guy in our department. It was fun chilling with everyone and feeling like I was professionally hanging out with co-workers. Afterwards I made a ton of phone calls at our campaing phone back. We get a ton of dials every week and last week we got probably twice as many to do. So it was tough doing all of them, but we got them done. Friday the Governor came to Southwest Iowa, so I drove out to Shenandoah, a small town about an hour away, and helped out put that event on, and then back to Council Bluffs for another event with him at the library. It was really cool to be a part of the event and have him here. I'll probably write about this in another entry, but everyday I think his chances get better and better. I really think he'll get the Republican nomination and then beat Hillary. Friday evening Jamie decided to come with me to Sioux City, so we had to cancel plans to sleep at the Bishop's house in Sioux City because we would get there really late cause she had to cheer at the football game. So we left at 4 Saturday morning, went up to Sioux City, took a 45 minute nap, then we took the shuttle to the starting line. On the ride home both of us were really tired, but we made it back and I hung around all day, rested and watched college football. Man, I need to do an entry about this season cause it has been awesome! So many teams have been upset, all the conferences are messed up, it's just good college football. Sunday I spoke in a branch in our stake. Driving around SW Iowa has been really neat cause all the trees are different colors. I'm pretty sure Fall is my favorite season- the smell, the colors, the coolness in the air, etc. After church we had a ward blitz where a lot of were put into companionships and we visited people our age who aren't coming to our branch for whatever reason. There are a lot of people our age who fall through the cracks and didn't go to the singles' ward because it was so far away and didn't go to their family ward because they felt out of place. I really think it's important that this singles branch gets established and grows. I think others are starting to feel this way too. This past week a good friend decided to go on a mission. He told me that in the temple and it made me so happy and excited for him. He'll be a good missionary. A mission really is the greatest thing ever. I hope we can get a lot of the other guys in our branch to also go.

The other day I pulled out a CD I haven't listened to since high school. I really like the lyrics to my favorite song on the CD:

You're a hero in the making--your miracle's out there waiting,
when your heart says go-that's all you need to know,
when your heart says move-that's all you need to do,
when your heart says yes-don't wait and second guess,
when your heart says go-that's all you need to know

It's better to music.