He did it...

Today was the big day, after Reid finished his swim, he would collect on our $1000 bet.

The bet was he couldn't do swim club training for 90 days without missing a workout. Technically, he won the bet two days ago, but I didn't tell him and figured a couple more days of training wouldn't hurt.

It's amazing what someone can do when they are motivated enough to do it. I have come to learn that I have a son that is motivated by money, which I think is a good thing, it should serve him well as he gets into the work force.

He's constantly weighing the "effort to the benefit" ratio and doesn't get caught up doing things for pride or ego. I wished I'd known how to do that when I started the workforce. After all these years, I'm not even sure I've learnt it now. I've always been one of those, "I'll make it work or I'll show you" kind of guys.

I've got to say I'm REALLY PROUD of Reid. He started off fat and very out of shape. He could hardly run 1 minute without stopping. What was helpful was he loves swimming. Right from day one, he had a 2 hour swim workout and didn't complain, as a matter of fact, I got it on video where he says, "I love it".

Fast forward 90 days and he's a different kid. He's only lost about 4 lbs but he looks much slimmer. He's gained weight and it wouldn't surprise me if he grown a little taller. I think he's now around 5' 7", 183 lbs and he's constantly standing on his tippy toes to show me how he's almost my height.

I'm also proud that Reid didn't waste his winnings on buying disposable stuff. He ended up buying a 32" TV, a high-end pair of surround sound earphones and a lazy boy chair. All stuff that he will have for years to come and will be a constant reminder of his accomplishment. They are trophies really.

We are also going to open a bank account for him and he's got $90 left that he's going to deposit. Truthfully, I think he's doing it just to be able to use a debit card when he buys stuff. He thinks it's cool to buy with a debit card.

I love the fact that the TV will last for years and when he does move out, he'll be able to take it with him as a constant reminder of the shape he got himself into. That is, if he moves out. The way Alice treats him, I tease both of them that I'm not sure if he will ever move out. She does EVERYTHING for King Reid.

I remember buying my own waterbed when I was 15 years old. My dad thought me buying that bed was a waste of my money at the time. When I was kicked out of the house, I proudly took my waterbed with me. It was cool knowing it was mine, I paid for it and it was coming with me.

When or if Reid slips in his training or health, I'm sure he'll still be watching that TV. I can envision the possibility of him watching TV, in his lazy boy, with him being fat and out of shape. He then fixates on the TV itself and remembers that he was in shape at one time and it helps motivate him to get back in shape.

What is so funny, is Reid is now calling Alice and I, his "room mates". He's now wanting a little fridge and microwave for his room and then he can live in his room like he's in a college dormitory. He say's it a way of him learning to be self-suffienct without yet moving out, so he'll be prepared when he does.

Changing subjects, on Saturday, Alice was googling the name of Reid's coach, she wanted to know his swim background. I use the world coach lightly, the guy has never directly coached Reid or any of the other kids and is not listed on the website as a coach.

Although, when he introduces himself, he introduces himself as Coach Russell. When I first met him, I was expecting him to introduce himself as "First Name / Last Name". Even his email correspondence is Coach Russell. So we just referred to him as coach Russell.

There is a reason I'm doing such a long, detailed explanation of his involvement. I don't want to get him in any trouble for something he didn't do. I just find what Alice found out an interesting story about an interesting guy.

First off, he's old school. When Reid wanted to join, he gave Reid the "come to Jesus talk" and told Reid to "think about it first and understand it is a big commitment".

He doesn't suffer fools lightly and is proud of the fact that the Dolphins swim club is the best in Ontario and top 5 in Canada. Which is pretty amazing for a club of only 80 swimmers. Parents we've spoken to, that had their kids in other clubs, said this one is by far the best and their kids have improved immensely. Two of the coach's kids are elite level swimmers and one is even an Olympian.

When you meet the coach, he's an intriguing guy. He's probably in his late 50's. He has gold lower teeth and has an old school tattoo on his forearm . Reid even says he has a big mushroom tattoo on his chest.

Since we moved to Burlington, Reid has had some interesting experiences with Sports. The first hockey team he joined at 10 years old, he had a parent jump over the boards, grab him by his jersey and start yelling and shaking him on the ice after the game. He parent felt Reid cheep shot-ed his kid. They ended up banning the guy from the rink and police got involved.

So now back to swimming. Alice was googling to find out Coach's credentials and came upon a huge list of articles about "Cecil Russell" and his past. Click here to a link to one of the Articles and you can google more if you like.

So now Reid has another sports story. He can say he joined a swim club that had a more than interesting person involved with it. With all that said, I can't stress how much I like this guy. He has 6 kids, his wife is the head coach of the club and you can see his passion for swimming.

One thing that makes sense now is, within the first month of Reid joining the club, I got a call from him asking me to remove a video from my You Tube channel. He was concerned that it looked like he was coaching in the background, which he wasn't, he was just walking on the deck. He also didn't want the secrets of the type of training they do to be leaked out. The video was only about 20 second long.

At first I thought this is one crazy and paranoid guy, but now it all makes sense.

With all that said, it's too bad Reid didn't want to continue with the club and I'd have no problem keeping him in the Dolphins. As a matter of fact, I'd recommend the club to anyone. Reid says he would have continued with the club if the workout times didn't interfere with his "friend time" and when he gets to high school, if there is a swim club, he'd definitely join.

It's too bad Reid didn't want to continue with the club and I'd have no problem keeping him in the Dolphins. As a matter of fact, I'd recommend the club to anyone. Reid says he would have continued with the club if the workout times didn't interfere with his "friend time" and when he gets to high school, if there is a swim club, he'd definitely join.

We are now on to the next bet. On August 8th he is going to do a triathlon (500 meter swim, 10 km bike ride and 4 km run). If he does it, I have to buy him a cell phone that he can use to text his friends. Truth be told, I don't mind buying him one for texting. Since entering school he's had a reading and writing learning disability and anything I can do to promote him learning how to spell and write correctly is all good by me.

Training wise, I did a bike ride. I didn't feel like it, but pushed myself out the door. I weighed myself today and was at 189 lbs. At least 5 lbs of it is water retention from two days straight of eating big bags of movie theatre popcorn.

I was also very proud of myself today, I ate perfectly and I mean perfect. It was the first day I can remember in a long time when it was fruit, vegetables and lean meat. It was NOT easy. I got a little help from Mr. Sleep. Just as I was craving junk food so bad, I was able to sleep the urge off.

Mod Bike- 1:22:23 / 44.24 km / 32.22 kph