Good Morning Citizens of the DaVita Village,

There have been over 21,000 page view of the MTM (Match the Mayor) website, and over 9,000 views of the Mayor’s Journal.

That pressure, I mean support, has helped me get down to 190, now down 4 pounds.  Funny how one can feel the difference in your belt and pants tightness so soon.  I typically wait until I am at a certain weight for 2-3 days before counting it, as my weight fluctuates a lot day-to-day depending on dehydration etc.  It would feel good to get back to an 8 in that second slot.

Yesterday I had a strong 26 minutes on the bike, at a higher resistance than usual.  Then I did a full 20 minutes of rehab.  Not clear it is getting any better, but I am not close to giving up.

I am supposed to leave tonight for 3.5 days of mountain biking/camping.  We bike most of the day, then hit a campsite for reading time, quiet time, and dinner.  We sleep in tents, and many of the campsites are special.  This trip is on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, I have done it twice before.  Beautiful.  It is a supported trip, in that there are guides to help us avoid getting lost during the day, and a truck moves the tents and food along the trail.  Awesome exercise, very peaceful and contemplative evenings.  We also do “go-round” questions at lunch and before dinner, wherein I get to ask serious questions about our Mission, our Core Values, our Village, our strategy, our operations, our DaVita University.  I take extensive notes, and we get good ideas.  The Tour DaVita was invented around one of these campfires, for example.

Today is a big strategy day, multiple sessions.  Also some compliance meetings, and a lawsuit session.  Two executive feedback sessions round it out. then I hope I can fly away, since I already cancelled the last 2 days of this trip.

My hopes are that you are achieving your goals!  Together we can do amazing thing.  I am grateful for the support and “oversight” I am getting!  I also had zero diet cokes yesterday, this MTM stretch is my best diet coke stretch in years.

One for All, KT

Yo DaVIta!

Good morning on this fine Tuesday!  Over 5200 of us living healthier lives for this 6 weeks, and forever for some of us.  A Global Village, taking care of itself, in part by taking care of others.

Good news – weight down to 191, so now down 3 pounds.  I resisted the dessert temptation last night.

Good news – zero diet cokes yesterday.

I already reported on my exercise minutes, and I did not get a chance to do PT last night, my phone calls went until 10 pm.  I did take a break from 6:30 until 8:30 to attend a dinner with a group trying to help make Denver a successful metro area for the next 50 years.  There were 15 of us, some CEO’s, some academicians, some leading Colorado foundations, etc.

I have been on the phone and email since 6:45 this am, at home.  Time for a workout, then in to La Casa del Mundo!

Wishing for each of you a successful day with your MTM goals!

As Confucius said “Tis better to light a small candle, than curse the darkness”.

One for All, KT

Yo DaVita,

A quick one as I am running to start the day.

On Sunday I had to work pretty much all day.  I did hop out for a 65 minute bike ride, involving 2000 feet of vertical.  Very good, very efficient workout.  I also did 8 minutes of rehab and a one hour hike with Denise, so still racked up some good weekend numbers.

I had one diet coke, and ate too much including a couple cookies.  I will have to face the home scale tomorrow.

This morning, Monday, I got up and did a 43 minute bike ride.  Hope to do PT tonight after a civic dinner at Governor’s Mansion, but will be hard because I will have a couple conference calls after dinner as well.

I hope you are all well!  Let’s do it, together!

One for All, KT

Yo to the Proud Tribe of MTM VI !

Quick addendum to Saturday’s entry – Denise (my wife) and I also did a 1 hour 20 minute hike in the hills, several hundred feet of vertical.  So Village Vitality, please add that to my log.  It will help offset the big bowl of ice cream I had late last night.  I really should stop staying up past 10 pm – only bad things happen to MTM goals after that time. Either a dessert, or another glass of wine, or less sleep and therefore less will power and positive energy the next day.

Oh well, Life’s Rich Pageant!

KT

Good evening to the good people of DaVita,

I left Friday’s message about 11 pm on Friday night – but evidently my laptop was disconnected, and so it did not get delivered until I rebooted late Saturday afternoon.  Sorry!

Now it is 9:30 pm on Saturday night.  I hope you all had a great day!  Mine was glorious.

We are within 12 people of hitting 5,200.  HealthCare Partners participants climbed over 600!

On the international front, if you think about % of teammates participating…Malaysia leads with 44% (with 7 participants).  Poland added another participant to move up to 21, which also equals an impressive 25% of total teammates in that country.  That is cool.

Back to my day.  I got up at 8 and drove 40 minutes to join two biking buddies.  We then did 2 hours and 15 minutes of intense mountain biking on a beautiful day in Eagle, Colorado.  I could not keep up with the top 2 riders, but they were kind enough to stop and wait every now and then.   I took 2 falls and so have a bit of a sore hip and shoulder, but at least I was out there trying to advance my skills.  I did not do any PT because the therapist said that now that we are moving into greater resistance. He wants me to do stuff every other day, allowing for a day of recovery. I will mostly comply.

Zero diet cokes!

I will not know my updated weight until Tuesday am, as I am at our cabin in the mountains and we do not have a scale.

I only did one hour of DaVita work today!  Tomorrow will be different, but that is okay.

Please remember, we are in this together.  Match the Mayor, and life.  We can help each other.  In many cases, we are helping each other. That is what communities do.

Take Care …… KT

Yo DaVitans!

I think I forgot to mention that the executive recruit I had dinner with last night was a potential HCP executive.  He is a great guy, I hope we work it out with him. The potential of HCP is just amazing.

Less amazing is my progress with my shoulder physical therapy.  I have a daily log to track whether I do the prescribed exercises or not, so I am being reasonably diligent.  But I am not yet being relieved from the pain.  The good news is I have only been at it for about 3 weeks, and it could well be it only needs more time.

When I left PT I spent 30 minutes with an orthopedic surgeon, who spent 50% of the time talking about my left shoulder, and 50% about my left knee(I just had an MRI on this knee).  On the former, he said the obvious – keep up the rehab, we will see in a few weeks.  On the knee, he is going to tell the therapist to give me some new exercises.

I had one diet coke, as we drove up to the mountains.  I felt like I would fall asleep driving if I did not.

On the minutes front, I did a full 60 on the PT, plus when I got to the mountains I rode my bike for 44 minutes, blissfully outside on a country road, with  about 1700 feet of vertical

Please let me know if I can be useful to any of you.

And folks, please get out there and pursue your goals!  don’t beat yourself about what happened last year, or yesterday, focus on the future in a thoughtful balanced way.  Be honest with yourself, of course.  But we hope you want to help others join up as well.  We are comparing woods as we speak.

All the best!   kt

Dear Citizens!

Over 5,000 of us now!  Partnering for better health, for each of us.   No greater gift to ourselves, no greater gift to our families, no greater gift to our community.  A few fun facts:

1. Over 2.3 million exercise minutes recorded – even though many participants keep their numbers “secret”
2. 440 of you are averaging more exercise minutes than me – I am at something like 70 minutes a day average
3. Average # of hibiscus (hibisci? Hibiscironies?) = 8.   I am at 14.  And just left Rainbow Falls.
4. Poland leading international with 21
5. Singapore has jumped up to tie Malaysia for second place with 7
6. Among states with small numbers of teammates, Hawaii leads in % of teammates participating, with 10 out of 11
7. Top state in absolute numbers is California = 778
8. Out of states with lots of teammates, highest % participation is Colorado, with an amazing 32%
9. HealthCare Partners, our new siblings, coming in at a strong 557!
10. Among states with a medium numbers of teammates, New Mexico is scoring an incredible 48% participation

You guys saved me last night.  I was craving ice cream.  My brother and wife were eating cookies, right in front of me, imagine the cruelty.  But I pictured 5,000 of you sitting in the arena yelling “KT, DON’T DO IT”.  and I didn’t.

AND finally I can say my weight is down a bit.  2 pounds, to 192.  Wish me luck this weekend, I will go for the third, hope to do lots of exercise.  And avoid ice cream.

Zero diet cokes again yesterday!  Although the post-lunch letdown and craving is still there.

I did a strong 26 minutes on the bike, at one of my highest resistance levels ever.  Then a solid 14 minutes on PT stuff.  Today (Friday) I have to go into the PT himself for a session, so that will be 55 minutes of good stuff for my body.  Then we are heading up to the mountains for the weekend, I put the dinner back to 8 pm so I could try to get in a run or bike ride before eating.

Carpe Diem!   Let’s do it, together.  Partners in care, partners in our live’s journey.

All the best to you ….. yours in service, KT

Dear DaVitans,

Quick addendum on this beautiful Thursday morning since I did yesterday’s journal entry at about 5 pm.  Yesterday I finished my last meeting at 7:15 pm, then met an executive candidate for dinner.  We talked with great intensity until about 10:10 pm, I got home a bit before 11 pm.  Today will be nice, in that I do not have a business dinner or work late night, one of my brother’s is saving me from that, as he is here on a business trip and we will have a dinner.

Business dinners are interesting … They can be fun, they can be interesting … But they are still business and the hours do add up.  And the calories!

Hope you all have a good day, please feel my support for your endeavor!!

KT

Greetings to the Good People of DaVita,

Wednesday it is, and it felt awesome to get a full 7 hours of sleep last night.  Amazing what a difference that makes in terms of energy level, mood, and will-power.  At least so far…

As usual, I started the day in the gym. Which, by the way, is an empty bedroom with a Lifecycle and a few balancing balls and hand weights in it…and a chair.  Anyway, I did 24 minutes on the bike with a strong finish, then 12 minutes of rehab and stretching.  My normal breakfast of shredded wheat (unfrosted) with 1% milk and some honey nut cheerios to give the shredded wheat a little bit of flavor is what came next.

Off to change.  I keep little notebooks all over the house so I can write down ideas so I don’t forget them.  Including in my closet and next to my sink.  This morning was especially fertile, I wrote down about 7 ideas while cleaning up and dressing.  I ran down to the computer, dashed off the messages, and hopped in my car.

I did a conference call in the car, as usual.  Then I stopped by a primary care clinic to get my blood drawn to make sure I qualify for points in Village Vitality and my insurance renewal. The day was booked to the end with meetings, again, as usual.  I had another reference call, then a call with a Board member.  This was followed by a call with an outside attorney working on one of our cases.  Village Health was the topic of the next session, then a 45 minute scheduling session with Julie, my cherished assistant.  I am typically booked all day every day for about 8 weeks out.

Next came a call with the Lead Director of the DaVita Board, then a call with the executive who runs Fresenius North America about a public policy issue.  This was followed by an employment agreement call, then a contract strategy session.  A compliance session was my next treat, followed by a HealthCare Partners growth strategy session.  I have about 1300 unopened emails at this point, with another 500 or so opened but not fully processed.  I need another long plane flight soon!

No diet cokes today!  I almost relented, but Julie reminded me of MTM and refused to bring me one.  I agreed to green tea instead, so another zero day!  But only with the help of another person, which of course is just what Match the Mayor is all about.  I hope each of you got a good night’s sleep last night, and are savoring the achievement of your daily goal today.  We are strong when we are united.  And we are.  The global Village, pursuing better health.  Together.

One for All, KT