Ever since I first created di’lishi, I knew I wanted an epic tag line. There were some different catch phrases I used when we first opened – but they were just that, catch phrases. I knew a tag line wasn’t something I could rush or force if it was going to be, indeed, epic. I felt that something as important as the prescribed “no more than 6 words” that would define my company for all of posterity was simply not something I should claim … but something I should grow into.

So, I was willing to wait.

Now, I’d like to say I did this in a completely patient manner – but that would not be necessarily true. I have a franchisee that came on board last year and he was very interested in helping me come up with something catchy – and so I would go through spurts of complete mental overdrive where I’d scribble things that would pop into my head, text back and forth with my franchisee and then lynch people walking by me in the office and rattle off the latest epiphany-laden list only to have whomever I grabbed look at me, sigh, and say, “You’re driving yourself crazy … and you’re driving us crazy, too.” So, inevitably I would sigh and put it all back on the shelf to wait until something else triggered me to start scribbling again. I believed that at the right time the right combination of words would come into focus and wake me during the night – or even better yet, burst into my thoughts while drying my hair. Everyone who knows me knows that my most brilliant thoughts usually involve drying my hair, which I attribute to all the blood rushing to my brain when my head flips over.

I recognized from the start that our tag line needed to center around what differentiates us in the market. I knew I wanted it to be a tag that had the ability to tumble in upon itself with multiple layers of meaning that would not apply to any other company as authentically as it would apply to ours. I didn’t want it to be cheesy or involve a silly play on words. I wanted it, rather, to brim over with valuable content and provide many different facets to feature in multiple mediums of advertising, as well as in relationship building opportunities with our customers.

Finally, I thought I had found it.

During a planning meeting one afternoon, one of my staffers was talking about some marketing research she had done and a comment she made really stuck with me. It was a bit of an “ah-ha” moment and I called the meeting to a halt to talk about what she had said and its possible use as a tag line. We all really liked it and decided we would tentatively declare it the front-runner. However, something continued to gnaw at me a little … like, I wasn’t completely satisfied with it. It lacked a little bit of glitter. I didn’t want it to have much … but just a pinch … because let’s face it; I think everything is better with a pinch of glitter.

Despite that little whisper of hesitance, the rest of me loved the tag - so we pressed on and prepared to launch it at our upcoming recurrent training day with all the owners and managers within the franchise. We made a lovely power-point presentation to build up to the announcement and I saved it for one of the last items of the day. As the big reveal drew nigh, I started to feel anxious. It was like there were two voices yelling in my head and one was yelling, “Tah-Dahhhh!” while the other was yelling, “Abort! Abort!” My staff was looking at me with confusion as I stood there – the conversation in my head obviously apparent by the look on my face – until suddenly I announced that I was moving on to the take-away points for the day and skipped right over the whole thing. My staff stood there looking at me like I had grown a second head and I made a little nod letting them know I was aware of said second head, but it was the one yelling, “Abort!” and so I listened.

Two weeks later while I was drying my hair …

I know, I know … crazy isn’t it? I’m telling you, my hair plus a turbo dryer always equals something worthwhile (except for the time it involved me losing my balance, hitting my head on our granite tub, taking a trip to the emergency room and nursing a concussion). What is so interesting though, is that it happened just like I believed it would. It happened when I was not thinking about it. For once, I wasn’t trying to formulate the perfect tag - I was just thinking about stuff. I was actually thinking about all of you, our customers. I was thinking about details of projects we were working on and how we could share them with you in an engaging way and in a way that continues to nurture the trust you’ve placed in our brand. And then my thoughts turned to questions. Why do I feel so passionate about what sets us apart from the other chains that have several years growth on us? What is supporting my confidence that the di’lishi model offers opportunity for growth long after the frozen yogurt craze has reached its peak? What am I giving all of you to ensure that you feel your time and money are well spent in our stores? At the end of the day, what DOES make us so different from everything else out there? And right there in the middle of my thoughts, questions, and mousse application (smile), a profound truth entered my mind and exploded like the last firework on the 4^th of July. All of the answers to my questions boiled down to this fundamental fact:

I built di’lishi to be so much MORE than just a frozen yogurt bar.

Yes, I was and always will be committed to serving what I believe is the highest quality frozen yogurt available … but the real heart of di’lishi is built on the “more”. The “more” is not just what you see and taste at di’lishi; but rather, what you feel and believe about di’lishi. The “more” is rooted in not just what you get when you go through the line – but what you experience while you stay and what you take with you when you leave. It’s about what is good for you – but also what is good for your community around you. We want to provide you with choices you can feel good about and that you can feel good about sharing with others. In its simplest form, di’lishi is a self-serve frozen yogurt bar where you have the opportunity to create your very own custom cup of premium quality yummy. That is where it all starts. However, in its richest form, di’lishi is a spacious community destination where you can do homework, bring a date, host a party, celebrate a victory, mend a broken heart, reward a hard-earned achievement and most importantly … give money back into your community every single time you cast a vote on your way out the door.

So, as I stood there with my head still flipped over – lost in all of those thoughts and questions – I realized that the tag line I was looking for was right there in front of me all along. I could forget the prescribed, “no more than 6 words”, I read about when googling, “how to come up with a good tag line”, all those months ago. I realized that I could define the purpose of my company and confidently say it all in just 3 simple, yet powerful words. They’re everything I waited for, including the glitter.

“di’lishi: create something more”

This opportunity is what I want for each and every one of you, each and every time you come through our doors. May you always experience the “more”!

I love you, di’lishiNATION.
xoxo

Well, di’lishiNATION, we’re already almost halfway through the first month of the new year and I hope that your 2014 has started off in the most di’lishi of ways! We took a blogging break after our Ironman, Lance Rogerson, completed his series of guest-posts and now we’re ready to get back in the saddle and continue these wonderful online conversations that always lead to great feedback from you. As always, if you have comments or something on your mind, please write to me at [email protected]. Nothing means more to me than staying connected with the citizens of our fair nation and hearing what you’re thinking. After all, we wouldn’t be here without you … and we wouldn’t want to be.

As I look back over 2013, I think I would have to call it our “proactive” year. After opening the flagship bar in 2011 to an overwhelming response from our community, I went into total fro-yo survival mode. I honestly didn’t think it was possible to chop that many strawberries on so little sleep! LOL I’ve often said it was like opening the doors to a wall of water and that is the best way to describe it. It was seriously the most infectiously delicious time of my life. I will never be able to thank our community enough for their support. Then 2012 rolled around a few months later and I call that our “reactive” year. That is the year we became a franchise and started selling stores to the people who believed in what we were doing to the point they wanted to join the di’lishi family and open their own locations. We began all the processes to make that possible and truly, we spent the whole year working towards that goal, while of course, loving on our own flagship bar here at home and making it the best it could be.

That brought us to 2013, to which I’ve already told you, I have dubbed our “proactive” year. I say this because as 2012 came to a close I knew that I needed to turn my attention towards nurturing the company I had created in order to develop company sustainability. With my fearless staff beside me every step of the way, we spent 2013 working on fortifying and developing all of the essential bedrocks that will allow us to support our existing stores while expanding our brand with consistency and confidence. Like I’ve always said, my desire has not been to grow fast … but to grow strong. Getting out in front of that foundational work in a proactive way allowed us to be purposed in the trajectory of the company and late in the year, we felt we were ready to move forward with more growth.

That brings us to this new year - and I don’t have a name for 2014 yet, although, if I had to name it right now, I think I would call it the “goactive” year. (Actually, I think I just made up a new word.) I would call it this new word because after all the hard work of the past months I feel like we’re crouched and ready to pounce on this new year with all our might. I am SO excited I can hardly stand it! We know we have a solid foundation to work from and with the help of a new comrade we have working with us (more about him in coming posts), we are ready to GO and ready to GROW! I feel so much anticipation about the days ahead and I pray it will be a year of much success for our existing stores, much success for our future growth, and for everyone and everything in-between … I hope it’s just completely di’lishi. I am so thankful that you are a part of our story – and I value every step you take with us. Until next time, di’lishiNATION …

xoxo

Hey there! Here’s the fifteenth in our series of guest post from Lance Rogerson, who has partnered up with us for his Ironman training. Read on for this week’s update.
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Well di’lishiNATION, it finally happened – I earned the title of Ironman! It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I managed to accomplish every single goal that I set out to achieve. I wanted to finish with my biking before the winner crossed the finish line and I did that. I wanted to finish with a smile on my face and I did that. Lastly, I wanted to finish in under 15 hours. I finished in 14 hours and 32 minutes.

The weather turned out to be not quite as perfect as I had hoped for; we managed to have a cold snap for about 3 days around race weekend. I got up that morning, went to get body marking done and check on my bike in T1 around 5:30am. It was ridiculously cold. The thing that gave me hope was that I knew the water was still sitting right about 70 degrees. However, around 7:15am as we are all standing on the beach waiting for the race to start it was still pretty cold. The day before the race, the race director told us that the race start would be one of the most breathtaking we would ever see and he was not exaggerating at all. We were standing on the south end of Wrightsville Beach in between the sand dunes and we got to watch a beautiful sunrise before starting – it was inspiring. The swim went great, I managed to hit my stride the moment I got in the water and I didn’t stop until I got to the dock 2.4 miles later. The only draw back about the swimming was that low tide was at 6:51am, so starting the race at 7:30am did not allow for much of a push from the tide.

I was nice and warm in the water with my wetsuit on, but once I stepped out of the water that all changed. It got worse when the wetsuit strippers helped me out of my wetsuit. At that point I knew what I had to do and I wasn’t really able to think of much else because I was so cold. Running to the changing tent I couldn’t feel my legs or my feet, I’ve never been so cold in my entire life. It was madness in the tent trying to get changed. I tried to go as quickly as possible, because I knew I needed to get on the bike and get my blood pumping. Being so cold I was a little disoriented trying to find my bike. I managed to locate it and got on to head out on my long ride. I remember being able to pick out my wife in the crowd, it was nice to have something to make me smile and distract me from the cold for a few seconds. The first 20 miles of the ride were miserable. I had to keep saying out loud to myself, “Lance, you knew it would be cold and this would be the worst part, just keep pedaling.” So that’s what I did. Finally the temperature started to rise, I had my blood was pumping and I warmed up. However, I didn’t manage to get feeling back in my toes until the halfway point when I sat down for a minute and took my shoes off to get my feet in the sun.

The first 56 miles heading out were rough. We had a bad headwind. Everyone was struggling to maintain speed. At the halfway point, we got our special needs bags that had whatever we wanted to pack in them (I included some cookies, but was wishing for some froyo). We were all discussing how the rest of the ride – while not backtracking our course so far – should be better because we should have somewhat of a tailwind. Or so we thought. Somehow the wind managed to change directions every time we did. It was blowing in our faces the entire ride. During training I would average around a 17.8 mph pace. On race day I pushed out a 16.1 pace. I remember about at mile 111 I was crossing the bridge over the Cape Fear River and that incline seemed like a mountain. I was all but yelling at myself, “Lance, you’ve biked 111 miles, you WILL pedal the rest of the way, getting off and walking your bike up this hill is NOT and option.” I managed to finally make it back into town and was so encouraged to see my wife and friends there at the bike finish/run start cheering me on.

I took my time in T2 to refuel by eating a snack before I headed out to do the marathon. Which oddly enough did seem even remotely daunting after all the miles I had just covered. I was really glad that I knew everyone was right outside the running start. I have to admit had they not been there I probably would have come out walking, which would have caused my legs to take longer to loosen up. I came out running and managed to keep up a pretty good pace. I approached the run realistically. Being my first Ironman I knew I would not run the entire thing. I decided that for as long as I could manage I would run for 30 minutes and walk for 5. I kept repeating that over and over. I pretty much managed to keep that pace until the 13 mile mark. I saw my wife and friends and that caused me to run some, but I was still struggling. I made the turn and headed back for one more loop. At that point I my energy level was dropping quickly. My legs felt fine but I knew I had to keep up my nutrition so I wouldn’t hit my wall. I remembered reading to skip out on caffeine the week before your race and hold off as long as you can so that its effects would be good and wouldn’t wear off too soon. Well I haven’t had caffeine in about 3 or 4 years so I knew the effect would be pretty good. I had saved an espresso gel for this moment. It was incredibly nasty tasting, but man that was the boost I needed.

I found my second wind and I was running well again. I had been thinking after being slowed down on the bike I wouldn’t make it in under 15 hours and I was ok with that. I knew I would finish so I was happy. However, around mile 18 I looked at my watch and after some calculations realized that if I kept pushing I could meet my goal. Between that realization and the caffeine I managed to turn it on and push out the last few miles. I remember walking during the last mile or so as I was saving up a little energy until I got to final straight away so I could finish strong. I got to the point where I had picked to run and suddenly it seemed a lot longer and darker than I remembered. I started running but couldn’t quite see the finish yet and I was quickly growing discouraged. About that time my wife was beside me running telling me I was almost done and to keep going – that was far better than any amount of caffeine. I finished strong and earned the title of Ironman.

The finish line of any long distance race is always cool, but the finish line of an Ironman is truly something to behold. As I was running in I had complete strangers high fiving and congratulating me. I was the only one finishing at that point and the entire crowd was cheering me on. It was one of the coolest things I’ve ever experienced. Two of my youth, who had volunteered at the race that day, were there at the finish line to put the medal around my neck. It was so great to see so many people there to support me. We took lots of pictures and I told stories of the last 14 hours, but I headed to the car before too long in fear my body would shut down on me. After some amazing late night French toast at a local breakfast place here in Wilmington called Jimbo’s, I went home and crashed. It was a day I’ll never forget.

I cannot say enough good things about the Beach2Battleship race. They had everything organized. The volunteers were amazing. The race simply could not happen without them. They cannot imagine how encouraging they were. It makes me proud to call Wilmington home, knowing what a great job our city does at putting on this world-class event. While, yes I have talked about my times, at the end of the day the times did not matter. It was finding inside myself the strength to finish. The love and support I felt from everyone out at the race cheering me on and everyone cheering me on through Facebook updates etc. Those are the things that made that day one of the most memorable of my life. To everyone who supported me - by coming out to the race, training me, training with me, running the race with me, texts, tweets, Facebook comments & likes, thoughts, and prayers - I cannot thank you enough. You cannot imagine what it meant to have that support. A huge thank you to di’lishi for sponsoring me in the race. It’s been awesome to connect with everyone and bring all of you along for my journey. During the running portion of the race I wore a specially designed di’lishi running shirt. I had people the whole time telling me they wanted some froyo or talking about how much they love di’lishi!

From the first day of training to the end of the race, I learned far more about myself that I expected to. I still remember finishing my first marathon, almost 4 years to the day before the Ironman, I felt like I could do anything in the world – like I could fly. That feeling increased exponentially finishing those 140.6 miles of the Ironman. During those 14 hours I battled a lot of inner demons. The ones telling me I wasn’t good enough to complete the race, that I should quit. The race was a lot of fun, but it was very tough – at some points more mentally than physically. I ended up amazing even myself, as I found out what I was made of – nothing feels impossible. I cannot wait to see where my journey takes me next – I am a finisher, but never finished…

Hey there! Here’s the fourteenth in our series of guest post from Lance Rogerson, who has partnered up with us for his Ironman training. Read on for this week’s update.
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Race day is almost here di’lishiNATION! The countdown has moved into the single digits - just a little over a week left. As of now the forecast is calling for a sunny day with a high of 65. I’m hoping that holds because it’ll make for a perfect race day.

I was talking to a buddy of mine yesterday, who is also doing the Ironman, and we were discussing that to complete this race, we have to become more mentally strong than physically ready. Which is right on track with where I wanted to take the blog this week. I wanted to talk about who/what inspires you. When your body is screaming for you to quit but you know you can’t. When you have to dig down deep and find what you are made of – what inspires you? Who is it in your life that inspires you to stay active and healthy?

During the past few months, as I have been training, I’ve learned a lot about myself and a lot about who inspires me. First and foremost my biggest inspirations are my wife and son. They believe in me, inspire me, and encourage me constantly. I want to be active and healthy so that I have a long healthy life with them. When I’m on one of those crazy long bike rides and all I want to do is quit, I think of them and keep going. I want them to be proud of me and I hope to inspire them not to quit and to keep going whenever things get tough. I know on race day when my legs are on fire, I will imagine seeing their smiling faces at the finish line and how good it will feel to give them a nice sweaty hug. There are no words to describe the courage and inspiration that my wife and son give me. My son is 16 months old. I know he will not remember my training or the race, but it will be so cool to be able to tell him stories about it when he is older. Hopefully I will inspire him to dream big and then achieve those dreams.

I also find great inspiration in my youth. I don’t think they realize it but they inspire me on a daily basis. From joining me for daily workouts after school to comments they make about the race that display their excitement for it or their faith in me to complete it. More often than not I think my youth believe in me more than I believe in myself – that is to say they seem to think I’m capable of far more than I think I am. And that pushes me further. I recall one long swim when I was tired and I just wanted to get out of the water - I did not want to complete the swim that day. I remember thinking of my youth and how I knew they believed that I was fully capable of doing that swim and so much more. Their faith in me has helped to push me far beyond the limits I would have set for myself. Many of them have said they will be out their cheering for me on race day. I know how encouraging that will be, especially during that run. They cannot imagine how important their presence will be to me that day and how thankful I will be to see their faces, knowing they believe in me.

Last, but certainly not least, I have many friends that have been such a huge encouragement every step of the way. They have told me how great I’m doing, listened to my stories, and have gotten excited for me as race day approaches. I have run races with them in the past (which means that in some way they have helped to train me) and I plan to run races with them in the future. It takes a good friend to let you freak out over how quickly the race is approaching and then helps you to laugh through the nervousness. And of course all of you, my friends in di’lishiNATION! I know all of your signatures on my biking jersey will be a huge encouragement on race day as I take all of you along with me for part of my journey.

Of course I cannot leave out the inspiration I get from knowing at the end of each training session, and definitely at the end of the race, I get some amazing di’lishi fro-yo! There have been days I have been in the middle of training and can almost taste the fro-yo. That will definitely help to push me towards the finish line!

To everyone out there who believes in me, encourages me, and inspires me – thank you! You cannot imagine what it means to have your support!

Hey there! Here’s the thirteenth in our series of guest post from Lance Rogerson, who has partnered up with us for his Ironman training. Read on for this week’s update.
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Hello again di’lishiNATION! I hope this blog finds all of you enjoying the nice cool temperatures we’ve been having. The time is quickly approaching for the Beach2Battleship.

This past Saturday I got in my longest and hardest workout yet. Along with a buddy of mine I put in 85 miles on the bike. One of the best parts about it was that every single one of those miles was on the actual course that we will bike on race day. We managed to average a 17.8mph pace, so it was a pretty good workout. While that ride was important for my endurance and my physical strength, I think that even more so it was important for me on a mental and emotional level. Mentally because I was able to see the actual course, feel how bumpy or smooth the different roads were. I was making mental notes the whole time in preparation for race day. It was good to be able to make myself tougher mentally in preparation for the race.

Perhaps even more important than the mental aspect was the emotional one. Throughout this entire training process I have had those doubtful thoughts lurking in the dark corners of my mind. Those thoughts that I would not be able to complete such an enormous task, the thoughts that I was not good enough, etc. However, for the most part I have been able to keep those doubts at bay. I was training and preparing - I knew I would be ready. Then I injured my knee. During that week of doing absolutely nothing for training to enable my knee to heal, those thoughts came out of the dark corners and started to take over. I began to really fear that after all the work I’d put in I would not be able to complete the race. Going into that ride on Saturday I knew it was make or break time. I knew that if I managed to successfully complete the ride then I would have a lot more confidence in my racing abilities. What I did not realize was just how much of a battle it would be with my inner demons. Many times on that 85 mile journey I battled against those demons of self doubt. I cannot begin to count the number of times I almost let myself stop and throw in the towel. It was during those moments that I began to discover what I’m made of – quitting is not an option.

I know that in the days leading up to the race and especially on race day, I will battle those inner demons again. The thoughts of self-doubt will definitely be there, but I know that I have it in me to push past those and make it to that finish line.

I challenge you today to take a look at your own battles. What inner demons do you face? How can you battle them and keep moving forward to keep yourself active and healthy? What motivates you? Who inspires you? The people who inspire me are the ones who unknowingly helped me get through that ride and will help me to finish the race. That’s a topic we’ll cover in next week’s blog.

Hey there! Here’s the twelfth in our series of guest post from Lance Rogerson, who has partnered up with us for his Ironman training. Read on for this week’s update.
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October is finally here di’lishiNATION! It is the month of the ironman! The weather here in Wilmington has been great. Sunny and a little bit cooler temperatures to make for perfect training conditions. Yet what have I been doing for the past week? Nursing a slightly injured knee. Which brings me to my topic for this week’s blog: knowing when to step back and take a little rest and realizing that it will not completely ruin the progress you’ve made.

I recently got my athlete event information book in the mail for the Ironman. Reading it has me pumped! It makes me want to get out and run. However, I know that right now I’ve got to take care of this knee so I’ll be ready for race day. It’s a very cruel form of torture for me to have to take it easy like this with the race approaching. Whatever it is that you are doing to get active, when you are forced to take a little time off it can be rough. You get thoughts in your head that all of your progress is going to go down the drain and you are simply done. However, it’s important to remember that rest can be a very good thing.

For a week I did nothing in the form of training to allow my knee some time to recoup. I got on the bike to do a short ride just to see how it would do and it felt fine. The next day I got in the pool. In my head I’m thinking, “Man this is going to be rough, I haven’t done anything in a week!” Then all of a sudden I noticed that I had swam almost a mile without stopping and felt like I had just gotten started. Taking a little time had not ruined me. I was going to be okay!

Maybe you need time off because you are injured, maybe its that life is pulling you in a million directions and you need to take a day or two to simply do nothing. Whatever the reason may be, don’t fear a day (or more time) off. It can be a very good thing. Listen to your body and know your limits. Don’t push yourself to the point that you are forced to take months off.

For those of you wondering about my knee, it’s getting better every day. It’s a strange injury. Biking doesn’t bother it, but if I’m standing and I try to pick it up to bend it, I can tell there is a little bit of bruising on the inside. It works about as well as I could ask for since I need some more time on the bike, but I’m feeling confident about where I am with running. So, I’m taking it easy and trying to use my knee as little as possible. I’m doing no running right now, but I’ll still be able to get in some good long bike rides. I’ve got 3 weeks until race day. I’m confident with some more rest I’ll be ready to conquer that 140.6 miles and get my di’lishi as a reward!

Hey there! Here’s the eleventh in our series of guest post from Lance Rogerson, who has partnered up with us for his Ironman training. Read on for this week’s update.
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Hello di’lishiNATION! It was great to get to meet and talk to so many of you two weeks ago at the Asheboro location. I had a great time hanging out talking about what will be involved in the race and hearing about people that you know that have done similar races. It was very encouraging to have all that support and made me even more excited about the upcoming race. Less than a month now!

I thought it was really cool that so many people got the chance to sign my biking jersey that I will wear in the race. I will be taking you along with me for that 112 mile ride. Now that is some community! I know there will be times during that ride that will get tough, it will be awesome having all that encouragement right there with me to help motivate me. I do have to say out of all the signatures I do have a favorite. I love a good sense of humor and some good sarcasm so this one wins hands down – I laugh every time I look at it!

Being connected has been one of my favorite parts about this entire ironman journey. It’s been great getting a chance to connect with all of you through these blogs and last weekend and also connecting with people right here in my own community as I try to inspire them to get active.

And, of course, one of my favorite parts of that Friday night was getting to eat some of that delicious fro-yo! Good luck with whatever you are doing to get out there and get active! I hope that you are also finding ways to get connected to both find inspiration in others and to inspire others yourself.

Hey there! Here’s the tenth in our series of guest post from Lance Rogerson, who has partnered up with us for his Ironman training. Read on for this week’s update.
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Hello di’lishiNATION! It didn’t take me long to figure out the topic of this week’s blog post. This past Friday when I met up with the group of fellow triathletes to swim Banks Channel, I noticed the water wasn’t exactly calm. Still, it was a nice day out, as the sun was getting ready to rise, so we jumped in for a swim. Even though the water was choppy I managed to have an amazing swim - even better than the previous week. I found my pace and plowed through the choppy water. Just a few weeks ago the rough water would have ruined my swim. As I was swimming I got to thinking that this was really good for my training because there was no telling what the conditions would be on race day and I needed to be prepared for anything. Which in turn got me thinking about how important it is to be able to adapt to changing circumstances.

I’m sure it would be a lot easier for everyone to be active if conditions were always ideal. It’d be great if every time we wanted to run it was warm and sunny with a nice breeze. Or if every time we went to the gym the machines/weights we wanted to use were open. And of course it would be great if we were always extremely motivated. Unfortunately, those conditions are not always the case. Therefore it is very important that we learn to adapt. Sometimes adapting means finding a different route to bike because there is road construction or maybe it means figuring out a different time to get in your workout because of unavoidable schedule changes. Regardless of what your routine or pattern or ideal conditions are, there is always going be something to throw a wrench in it. If you aren’t ready to adapt you’ll find it hard to stay in the habit of being active.

It can be frustrating at times to have your routine altered. When you get things the way you like them, you want them to stay that way. Try to remember that, like we’ve talked about before, changing things up will help keep it interesting. Also, when you are able to adapt to constantly changing circumstances, you will find that you become stronger both mentally and physically. Don’t forget, things changing and having to adapt doesn’t always have to be bad. After all, its always fun to adapt to the new flavors of fro-yo di’lishi has on tap!

Hey there! Here’s the ninth in our series of guest post from Lance Rogerson, who has partnered up with us for his Ironman training. Read on for this week’s update.
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Greetings di’lishiNATION! I’ll admit I was having trouble thinking of what direction to take the blog this week. In the middle of my swim this past Friday I knew exactly what I would be writing about. A very important lesson that we all need to learn (or be reminded of) is to pace ourselves. Regardless of whether you are training for/competing in a race or doing a regular workout routine – knowing how to pace yourself is a very important piece of information.

At the beginning of my swim on Friday it wasn’t pretty. We started at the south end of Wrightsville Beach planning to swim to the first bridge – a 1.7 mile swim. My goggles kept fogging up as we started, so I fell behind the group as I was stopping to fix them. Of course I wanted to catch up with everyone else, but I kept finding myself out of breath and I just couldn’t manage to get going. I thought to myself, “this is going to be my worst swim I’ve ever had and that bridge is a long ways away.” I kept struggling. Then I finally decided not to worry about what everyone else was doing and do my swim, not theirs. I settled into a nice pace and I hit my stride. I must admit I was surprising myself at how well I was doing. I just kept going and going. About a mile in I knew I had found my perfect pace. I was swimming well and was not running out of breath and therefore needing to do some rest strokes. It happened when I quit worrying about what everyone else was doing and just did my own swim.

It is the same concept for any workout routine, pacing it being of the utmost importance. I want to be sure to point out here that by pacing yourself I do not mean setting an easy pace that doesn’t challenge you. I mean finding that sweet spot that allows you to challenge and push yourself, but also keeps you from going so hard that you have to stop before you have gotten in the proper workout. Let’s look at weight lifting. Lets say you are on the bench press. You aren’t going to do your absolute max every time – you wouldn’t be able to get a good workout. You pace yourself by doing less weight; in the end, the pacing increases your max.

Pacing yourself is also important on race day. It’s easy at a big race to want to go off the starting line at full throttle. This will most likely result in you burning yourself out. For example, if you are doing a ½ marathon and you can do a pace of a 9:30 mile, you don’t start out at that pace. You want to start a little slower than your pace, let yourself get nice and warmed up, hit your stride and you’ll make up that time. I always see people taking off from the start of a race and then a mile or so in they are doubled over sucking air.

Whenever you are training or working out, keep in mind that you don’t have to go for Olympic gold every single day. Pace yourself and you’ll find much greater gains in much less time.

Hey there! Here’s the eighth in our series of guest post from Lance Rogerson, who has partnered up with us for his Ironman training. Read on for this week’s update.
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Happy September di’lishiNATION! I hope that this month finds you doing well and brings you some milder days to motivate you to get out there even more to get active. We’ve talked a lot about being active, so I thought it would be appropriate to cover another very major component of a healthy lifestyle, nutrition.

Let me say up front, I’m no nutrition expert – not by a long shot. However, I do understand the importance of eating healthy and how it helps to fuel your body for everything you want to do. You cannot keep being active if you aren’t fueling your body properly. I had a good reminder of that this past Saturday. I went out for a long ride with a buddy of mine. We managed 68 miles at a 17.5mph pace. Which is better than where I hoped to be at this point. However, towards the end of the ride I was struggling. I had rushed out the door early Saturday morning and didn’t make sure to have the proper things with me that would help me keep my nutrition on track. My legs could have gone further that day but the rest of my body was saying no. I knew I had to get home and refuel. First thing I grabbed when I walked in the door was some di’lishi Greek fro-yo. And man was it ever refreshing after that ride!

The same goes for something like weight lifting. Nutrition is vital. When you are lifting weights you are essentially tearing down your muscles. You need protein to help rebuild them, so you continue to get stronger. You can get protein from lots of different sources: protein shakes, meat, peanuts, Greek fro-yo, etc. A ½ cup of di’lishi’s amazing Greek fro-yo has 7 grams of protein and is only 90 calories. It’s the perfect post workout snack! Eating lots of lean protein like turkey or fish and getting good carbs from eating lots of vegetables will do wonders for your workout routine – whatever it may be.

I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that whether or not you are currently in some type of workout routine, nutrition is important. You don’t have to be an expert to find the good stuff. Use what you’ve been taught your whole life-lots of fruits, vegetables and whole grains, and try to shy away from the overly processed foods. And don’t forget to treat yourself every once in a while. My favorite fro-yo treat is di’lishi’s chocolate chip cookie flavor. And at only 120 calories per ½ cup it’s a treat I can feel good about!

Until next time di’lishiNATION, keep fueling your bodies with lots of good stuff and get out there and encourage others to get active!