So you've come up with this insane idea to go on a multi-day hike into the "wild." I'll save my congratulations until after you return in one piece. Nonetheless, he's a few tips and tricks you help you navigate your new found state of homelessness. May the odds ever be in your favor!

1. Your sweat will kill you. And you thought bears were dangerous! The #1 danger in the wilderness is exposure. It'll pick you off before hunger or thirst or wood ticks even have a chance. So on scorching days, high-tail it towards shade. If the temps are hitting single digits, stay dry and out of the wind. Believe it or not, hypothermia can even set in at temps as high as the mid 50's. 

2. I'd rather be butt-naked with a gallon of water than butt-naked with a pack full of Red Lobster. Okay, I guess either way, I'd rather not be butt-naked, if I could help it. My point: water is blue gold. Humans can only survive about 3 days without water, versus over 3 weeks without food. So always carry extra water while on the trail and know where you can find more.

3. Okay, now on to the less life-threatening tidbits that will simply make your trek less painful, and consequently, more enjoyable. First, feet. Treat them like the only pair of feet you'll ever have. Wash them. Put dry socks on them. Pick the right shoes for them. Love them. Blisters will end you hiking days with one fell swoop. A twisted ankle due to poor footing will tally up one expensive helicopter bill to get your butt home. And for heaven's sake, your feet sweat too, which means if left unkept, they'll STANK. You'll be hiking solo if you don't keep your foot fungi in check. 

4. Hiking sticks are not just for old people with artificial knees. Get a pair. They reduce stress on your legs by up to 15-20%. Yeah, that's a big deal. So put your lazy arms to work. You'll put on more trail miles with less strain. Oh, and did I mention that they make excellent sword-fighting entertainment as well? On guard!

5. Pack light and tight. Hoarders are easy to pick out when hiking--they're the ones that look like mules carrying 80 lb packs. Learn to live lightly (literally and figuratively). Leave the crayola crayons and framed picture of your dog at home. Everything should have multiple uses (waterbottle pillows anyone?). And lastly, the more survival/wilderness skills you have, the less you have to carry. The wild has everything you need to survive (and thrive), if you know what to look for and how to use it. 

6. Down is harder than up. Yup, it's true. Your joints absorb more weight and more shock hiking downhill as a result of gravity. But hiking uphill, your muscles do most of the work, softening each blow to your knees, hips, and feet. My tip: keep a normal gate going down hill. Stay light on your feet. Use walking sticks. Rest often. And find some cold (really cold!) water at the end of your day to reduce the inflammation in your legs. Three cheers for creek baths!

7. Break your back on the right pack. Purchasing a hiking pack is not the time to be cheap. Fine, buy 1 ply instead of 2 ply toilet paper. But please, pretty please don't buy your hiking pack at anything less than a full-fledged adventure store. (Sorry, but Wal-Mart is NOT an adventure store. Check out REI or the like.) Buying a pack is like having your Harry Potter wand made exactly for you. So trade the unicorn hair for the perfectly placed pouches, and the willow wood for the perfect length and liter of pack. No two packs or people are alike. Find your backpack mate, and enjoy some nice long walks together.

8. Train yourself to sleep. You think I'm joking. I'm not. You will be sleeping on slopes, on rocks, in the cold, with bugs, without a mattress, in a claustrophobic cocoon of a tent. If you don't sleep, you'll be a piss-poor grumpy travel mate. Even worse, you'll be at risk of making poor decisions when they matter most. My remedy to hiking insomnia? I practice sleeping on my back, hands on my chest before the trip. While hiking, it's the most consistently comfortable position for sleeping. Find your sleeping mojo and stick with it. 

9. Mapquest is for dummies. If you don't know how to read a map with elevation charts, natural landmarks, and a compass, get the hell out of the woods ASAP. You ain't gonna last a day, even with marked trails. Okay, so that was a little extreme. But do get a map and pay attention while hiking. Always know where you're at. If not for your own sake, for the sake of those who will have to come find you when you're lost.

10. Attitude is everything. Whiners have no place in the wilderness. From a day hike to a multi-month trek, find joy in the inevitable challenges. Laugh at the downright bizarre. And allow yourself to be blown away by nature's grandeur. Do that, and the odds are you'll have the experience of lifetime.  

Family and Friends,

I just raced my best race ever.  IRONMAN St. George was a huge success! Though I hadn’t biked or ran longer than 30 minutes during the previous two months, by the grace of God, I managed to finish the entire 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and 26.2 mile run. After climbing 5 foot waves during the swim, I made a quick transition to the bike, expecting that my knee injuries would act up within the first 30 miles. I was wrong, wonderfully wrong. A tough headwind forced everyone to a crawling pace. I jumped on the back of a “bike train” and spun. Knee pain never came so I just kept putzing along. By mile 80, it occurred to me that I might actually finish! With a strong tail wind and long downhill, I averaged over 30 miles per hour during the final 12 miles, hitting 53 mph at top speed. Yeehaa! In T2, I took a few moments to take inventory of my body. By this point, I figured I was well out of contention for a Kona spot, but simply finishing would be God-honoring and an accomplishment in itself (given the day’s harsh conditions). At mile 4 of the run, my brother chased me down and said I came off the bike in 5th and moved up to 4th on the run. I thought he was joking! He wasn’t. But by this time, my left knee starting talking to me and the top athlete in my age-group had a substantial lead. After careful consideration, I decided it was time to pull the rip cord and call it a day, despite being in the mix for an age-group award. But again, there was a no need to let a great race go to waste. So after 6 and a half hours, I marched my way across the finish line. God is good! In many ways, this race was much more a gift more than an accomplishment. And no gift is given without many helping hands. My Aunt Linda and extended family offered their continuous medical expertise during these last two months. I received several complimentary PT treatments leading up to race day. And lastly, I had all of your prayers and support. Thank you!

But that’s not the final chapter of the story. As it so happens, there is one IRONMAN in the world still open for registration, and it just so happens to be in our neck of the woods—Louisville, Kentucky. It also just so happens to be the final World Championship qualifying race of the season! Needless to say, I’m signed up and pumped up! So on August 26th I’ll have the honor of racing one more IRONMAN (and with one of my best Tri friends, Jeff!). Please pray that I continue to move closer to full health that I may train to the best of my ability this summer.

We’ll see you at the end of August!  

Many blessings,
Full of Life,

Chris Owen

P.S. For pictures of the race, visit www.livingamdg.com, and click on the “Adventures tab.”  You’ll also see a bunch of photos from the Grand Canyon, which my mom, little brother, and I hiked for 4 days starting the day after the Ironman in St. George. No better way to loosen up the legs after an IM. What an adventure! 

Greetings everyone!

Summer is here (almost)! I feel sorry for our neighbors. Our lawn is the dandelion capital of Deforest. Here's a quick update, since IRONMAN St. George is just around the corner. . .

Triathlon. IRONMAN St. George in Utah is on the desert horizon (May 5). As some of you know, after reaching the best fitness levels in my life in early March (including two Top 5 10k race finishes), the past two months have been littered with incurable injuries. Sucky, I know. No less, I'm still planning on stepping to the start line next week to put my best foot forward (feel free to follow race splits live at http://ironmanlive.com/). All in all, though the injuries have been a bit disappointing, the season is still young and my quest to qualify for the World Championships very much alive. Let's hope there's just enough time to get healthy and finish the summer like a tidal wave!

Other news. Hosea's Heart (www.hoseasheart.org), the non-profit I'm helping a friend found to empower sexually abused girls in Swaziland (Africa) has progressed significantly in just the past few months. We've hosted a major fundraiser, spoken to groups in the Madison and La Crosse areas, prepared a team of Ambassadors for our first trip to Swaziland, and submitted our official application for tax-exempt status to the IRS. Wow, what a ride. . .and it's just beginning! More updates on this front in the near future.

More business. My entrepreneurial "side project", SecondTRI Sports, proved to be a resounding success this past winter. It was a great opportunity to transform my business book knowledge into real world experience. Additionally, the experience I've gained in co-founding Legacy College Funding, a subsidiary of my mom's current financial planning business, has been a constant source of personal and professional growth. I've identified areas of interest (strategic thinking, sales and marketing) and disinterest (administration and operations), while helping the business grow both its client base and revenues.

Family news (my favorite news!). Mom is gearing up to hike the Grand Canyon. Aaron's engaged to a wonderful young lady, Natalie. Lizzy just won an award for her work as an resident assistant at Marquette. Rosa is preparing for her trip to Swaziland. And Josiah helped his basketball team make it to the State semi-finals (a first in school history), while recently being elected as an officer in FFA. Of course, that's just the tip of the iceberg. Undoubtedly, the most important news is that we continue to grow in our love for one another daily. My family rocks! 

Well, I hope each of you are finding ways to live life to the fullest, finding joy in even the smallest things. As always, I'd love to hear from each of you when your schedules permit! 

From dandelions to deserts,

Many blessings and all smiles,

Chris
www.livingamdg.com

Marketing is persuasion. In “Selling the Invisible: A Field Guide to Modern Marketing,” Harry Beckwith bridges the gap between the outdated model of “push marketing” to the new and more effective model of relational marketing, or “pull marketing.” The short, anecdotal chapters, littered with memorable punch lines, make this a quick read that will significantly improve your understanding of effective marketing.  

The boomerang begins. 

Last weekend I had the tri-fecta of encouragement: one of my best friends visited Friday night, I attended church with another close friend and his family on Saturday, and on Sunday I enjoyed the company of two of my mom’s close friends at their apostolic church for a healing service.

Their energy, enthusiasm, positivity, and pure encouragement was like warm air rising. An updraft for my spirit.

To you three, and to all of you, thank you.

You keep my eyes to the skies.

Food for Thought: Who breathes life into your day? Who can you count on for an "updraft" in your life? Better yet, to whom can you be a source of energy and encouragement? 

"Come now!. . .Were everything clear, all would seem to you vain. Your boredom would populate a shadowless universe with an impassive life made up of unleavened souls. But a measure of disquiet is a divine gift. The hope which, in your eyes, shines on a dark threshold does not have its basis in an overly certain world."

Marcel Proust, By Way of Saint-Beuve

"If we knew we were on the right road, having to leave it would mean endless despair. But we are on a road that only leads to a second one and then to a third one and so forth. And the real highway will not be sighted for a long, long time, perhaps never. so we drift in doubt. But also in an unbelievable beautiful diversity. Thus the accomplishment of hopes remains an always unexpected miracle. But in compensation, the miracle remains forever possible." 

Franz Kafka, Diaries

Hope.

Too often this word gets worn out and watered down—in everything from “hu-rah” team huddles to sappy self-help books. Sometimes hope is simply taken for granted altogether. Of the latter, I am the worst offender.

For example, hope is one of Hosea’s Heart core values. Intellectually, it makes sense to me. These sexually abused girls need a future to look forward to. But not until this last week did “hope” make sense to me spiritually and emotionally. Not until I had lost it did I realize how much it meant.

Last week Wednesday I rode my bike for the first time in a month. A measly 30 minutes home from work. And my knees felt as gnarly as ever, like poison. Up to that point, I had naïve optimism that maybe, by some miracle, I could still compete at St. George. After that ride. . .I finally just let go. Holding on hurt too much.

I was tired. Tired of hoping. Hoping that my injuries would subside and I could resume training. Tired of hoping that I could race with the best, knowing that my fitness was taking a nosedive and I was powerless to hit the eject button.

Now don’t get me wrong. This wasn’t some depressive tailspin. This wasn’t cancer. And for heaven’s sake, this was and never will be equivalent to the devastating situation of sexually abused girls in Swaziland. That’s not my point.

My point is that for just a few moments, a few days, I finally felt it: hopelessness. The feeling that there’s no finish line. That the future keeps getting further away. That change is no longer an option. The feeling of being completely helpless, powerless. The feeling of being absolutely at the mercy of . . .everything.

Ultimately, I hope those few days prove to be an inflection point. That is, a point at which momentum changes direction and life boomerangs back. 

I hope.

Food for thought:  Often, inflection points can only be pinpointed in retrospect. What have been your “inflection points” in life? When have you felt the tides turn, and what caused them? In what areas of your life do you need a resurgence of hope, an inflection point, right now? 

What does Living AMDG mean?

AMDG is the abbreviation of the Latin phrase, “ad majorem Dei gloriam,” which is translated “For the Greater Glory of God.”

In a nutshell, living for the greater glory of God means living a life of unsurpassed meaning. It means everyone and everything has a purpose, that we're all intertwined, and that if you look at life a little closer, beneath the chaos, there lies something beautifully whole.

Living AMDG means finding joy in the simple things, while always striving for being something more. It means always seeking opportunities to learn, to grow, to explore life, to live in wonder and to add value to the world in ways that only you know how.

Living AMDG means being passionate—about everything. It means seeing God at work everywhere through everyone.  Nothing goes without notice. Don’t blink! Every second of life is a miracle.

Living AMDG means embodying thankfulness, and living every day like it’s your last but planning like it’s your first. It means living with an attitude of gratitude and realizing that abundance is the gift entrusted to givers.

Living AMDG means there’s more to life than you or me, that our lives are offerings to God, and that every moment of every day is an opportunity for worship.

What does Living AMDG mean?

It means joy, peace, love, abundance, inspiration, and hope.

It means truly living life to the fullest.

It means living for the greater glory of God.

Hey Friends,

Hosea's Heart (www.hoseasheart.org), the non-profit serving sexually abused girls in Swaziland that I'm helping a friend start, recently submitted its official application for tax-exempt status with the IRS. Pray we pass with flying colors! We'll hear back in about 6 weeks. Til then. . .

For the girls,

Chris