Hey 365-ers, happy Monday!  It is a beautiful one out here in Los Angeles, following an absolutely gorgeous weekend.  I know the Midwest got nailed with snow on Saturday; I sure don’t miss my days living in Wisconsin and having to get up at 5am to shovel.

My best buddy from college came for a visit this weekend, which proved to be a surprisingly great boon to my workout routine.  While our college days were filled with beer, whiskey, and other activities that shall go unmentioned, we’re old men now and can’t tolerate the reckless pastimes of our youth.  Instead we went out and made the most of the 85-degree weekend Los Angeles allotted us.

Our mutual admiration for each other has forged a healthy amount of competitiveness, which acted as a great motivator to push each other harder.  He’s competed in multiple marathons, triathlons, bike races, swim races, you name it and he’s done it.  Right now he is training for one of those Tough Guy challenges where you run and jump through fire pits, barbed wire, smoke bombs, freezing pools of water, electric shocks, and various other nonsense.  I personally think he’s crazy, but there is no denying he’s a tough hombre.

Today we had a nice run along the mighty Pacific Ocean, from the Santa Monica Pier up to Malibu and back.  I’m not entirely sure how many miles we clocked but we were sure tired out when we were done.  When we reached the pier we stripped down to our skivvies and jumped in the ocean.  It was cold but it sure felt great on our tired muscles.

I re-learned this weekend something I’d forgotten over the past few months; it’s always better to work out with someone else.  I find myself getting too lazy and too complacent when it’s just me out there running the same route everyday.  When you’ve got someone else to push you and keep you committed, there’s no room to get lazy or fall into to bad habits.  From now on I’m going to try to get in more workouts with friends.

So strap on those running shoes, toss on your WAO365 dri-fit, grab a buddy and get out there!

See ya next week everybody!  Have a great week!

It was an unusually cold and rainy February day here in Los Angeles, so the idea of climbing out of my warm bed and going for a run proved to be a quite daunting one.  The old Derek woulda pressed the snooze and squeezed in an extra hour of shuteye, but I knew that I had a mission and that I had to get down to business.  I tossed on my WAO365 dri-fit, laced up my sneakers, and hit the pavement.  I ran a nice 5.1 miles and felt infinitely better for it.  I’ve still got a lot of work ahead of me in getting conditioned for my marathon, but I’ve gotten much better at incorporating running into my daily routine.

I’d like to make a special acknowledgement of the seven Marines who died in that horrific helicopter collision last Wednesday.  What an absolute travesty; my deepest condolences to their friends and family.  WAO365 is doing great things and I’m proud to be a part of such a positive thing.

Hey everybody, my name’s Derek and I’ll be your new Monday Team Leader.  Happy Presidents’ Day!  Today seems like a particularly good day to take a moment and think about everything the women and men of the United States military have done for this country throughout history.  I’d like to thank Nick and everyone else with WAO365 for getting me involved in such a great cause.  I’m excited to get started!

Unlike the other team leaders, I’m pretty lazy when left up to my own devices.  I’m no professional athlete, nor am I much of a workout enthusiast- just a guy who has to keep active to avoid getting a tire around the waist.  Over the past couple months I found myself getting more and more lazy and less and less in shape, so I decided it time to do something about it.

About three weeks ago I signed up for a marathon and have begun some aggressive training.  I’ve done races before, but a few months of stagnation has left me very outta shape.  But, I’m getting back into it.  This morning I logged a five-mile run, fifty pull-ups, fifty sit ups, and fifty push ups. The race is the first week in June, so I’ve got my work cut out for me.  Follow me on Monday’s as I represent WAO365 and try and get back into shape.