I Made It Home

After 45 hours of travel, I have finally made it back to my house in Cheyenne. It was great to take a shower with water pressure and not have to worry about time limits on how long I can run the water.

Morgan made a great dinner for me last night. We had manicotti, she doctored up the recipe and put some chicken in along with the usual cheeses, it was delicious! We sat around and talked, caught up, even though we talked almost daily while I was gone. She made a lot of changes to the house, bought some new furniture and redecorated a room, everything looks great.

I'm excited to get back into boxing, but I don't know if I'm going to jump right back into it. I had a message from my coach from a couple of weeks back asking if I was back yet. I'm going to give them a call and try to make it to practice once or twice this week, but I'm going to focus on trying to get settled in and probably workout on my own some. The Police Athletic League (PAL) Championships are next week, but with all the airplane food, I ballooned up to 192 so I would have to lose 14 pounds to compete at my normal weight class, and I just don't think I can do that and still be in condition to box. I'm a little bummed that I'm going to miss the first Olympic Qualifier of the year, but I will have to make sure I am in the best shape and focused for the other 4 that I will be competing in. I’ve been reading a few books on boxing and I recently read a book about Rocky Marciano. I had no idea how intense his training was. I’m going to try and take his approach to my bid for the Olympics. I think if I have the same determination going into each tournament and each bout I will be successful.

To everyone still in DJ, keep working hard, it’s a great mission and we are helping to make not only Africa, but the entire world a better place.

Heading Home

I've got to say I'm getting more and more excited as the time for me to return keeps getting closer. I can't wait to sleep in a bed where my feet don't hang off the edge or I don't hit my head on the headboard (metal railing at the top of the bed). I can't wait to cook for myself, not that the food is bad here, it's actually really good, but I just want to be able to cook for myself. I'm also looking forward to being able to work out in the gym back home. The gym here is great as far as deployed locations go, but it gets crowded very quickly and the machinery gets worn out because of the high traffic volume. This deployment has truly been a life changing experience and I'm grateful for the opportunity to travel and experience life in another area of the world, it has given me a great appreciation for everything I take forgranted back in the US.