Brick by Brick

Qualifier

2010-07-20T06:44:00.000-07:00

It took some time, effort and a 9-hour drive one way but I accomplished my goal of qualifying for the USAT Age Group Nationals to be held September 25th in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Whew!

Qualifying was my only triathlon goal this year and this was my last chance to do it. The race was the Evergreen Lake Tri in Hudson, Illinois, an Olympic distance race. This was the closest regional qualifying event left before Nationals...that's why I drove 9 hours to race (I should say 'we' drove because my good friend, Rusty, volunteered to come with me to keep me company and help drive....GREAT guy!).

Being the middle of July I expected race day to be hot, even in the middle of Illinois. It didn't disappoint. There were a few things I didn't expect, however. The water temperature was 82-degrees race morning which is very warm. I've never done a race with water temperatures that high. That meant no wetsuit. I also didn't expect there to be big rollers like there were on the bike. I expected Illinois to be flat and fast. The wind was blowing harder than I expected as well.

Overall times were slower than I've come to expect. The winner of my age group crossed the line in 2:25:and change. Usually the winner of the male 45 - 49 group finishes the distance sub-2:10. My time was 2:53:and change, good enough for 10th out of 30. I guess the heat and hills wreaked havoc on all.

I was more relieved than anything when I realized I qualified. I wanted to accomplish my goal.

Now I have one more race this season. One more good, hard block of training weeks to go in 2010. I will concentrate on my run, try to strengthen my swim and maintain my bike.

Ghost Rider

2010-06-25T14:28:00.000-07:00

I didn't know Marilyn Fulper. She had no idea that when she awoke early Sunday morning that it would be her last bike ride. It would be her last day on earth.

I don't know the person who hit Marilyn Fulper with her car, either. A hit Marilyn would not survive.

A bike painted white sits at the corner of Hwy 10 and River Mountain Road in Little Rock, the place the tragic accident occurred, as a memorial. It is indeed a tragedy. One accident tragically alters many lives forever.

It's a tragedy that occurs all too often across the country and world. Some one's not paying attention and an irreversible mistake happens. Something like this doesn't get more irreversible. It's an awful way to learn a lesson! And, really, what lesson is learned? Are you going to never drive distracted again? Probably not. Something, at some point, is going to distract you. You can certainly minimize what you let distract you. By all means, don't text or use the Internet with your phone and don't use alcohol while driving. I'm not certain, but I believe neither were involved in this particular accident.

Cars and bikes are going to always share the road. For those of you in the cars, please, please pay careful attention. It's difficult to overcome being struck by your car. If there's another lane, please use it and give the Cyclist plenty of room. It's OK to slow down a little too. Cyclists, wear your helmet, obey traffic laws and wear things that make you clearly visible.

We have to learn to share the roads to keep senseless tragedies, forever life-changing tragedies, like this one from happening.

TdF

2010-06-22T13:30:00.000-07:00

June is coming to a close. By all accounts that means July is looming.

That can mean one thing. Le Tour de France! Love me some TdF. Also, love me some Versus because they show it all day long. Over and Over so you can catch it at one time or another.

I'll have my eye of several teams and riders. For sure RadioShack will be front and center as well as Astana. Astana is not the same team it was a year ago. Of course they still have Alberto Contador, a.k.a. the defending champ! But gone is Lance. Gone is Levi. Gone also are a few other riders that helped support that team. Will they be as strong? Did they accumulate enough talented riders to help Contador repeat.

Is Lance strong enough to compete? Is he too old? Will Levi be satisfied with a support role or will he want his day in the sun? He was strong last year until a bike wreck broke a bone in his wrist forcing him out.

Will one of the Schleck brothers stand atop the podium this year. Will a dark horse steal the show?

The sprinters will sprint and the climbers will climb but who will stand alone in the general classification when it's all said and done. Twenty one racing days covering 2,236 miles.

The biggest bike race in the world is about to commence. Let'em roll!

Tri Lingo

2010-06-17T16:40:00.000-07:00

Joanna Zeiger is one of my favorite triathletes. She's competitive at every distance, she's had a long, consistent career being competitive at every distance, she's a very intelligent person holding a PhD and, having met her, she's very personable.

She's apparently also a linguist and creative.

I came across this list of words she created and thought I'd pass them along for all you tri-junkies. I'm sure you can relate. Enjoy.

Aquarash - The strange burn that appears on the neck after a wetsuit swim.

Bodyslam - The full body muscle soreness the day after a race.

Bottleshock - When you reach behind to grab a bottle from your back cage and it is gone. You realize it probably popped out 3 miles back. You hope an official didn't see it and assess you a 2:00 penalty (my addition!!)

Cycleroma - The smell of a room after an indoor bike workout. The smell is exponential to the number of people in the room.

Fungoo - The residue on your bike frame from gels and drinks (not to mention sweat, snot and nasty road grime!!! - again my addition)

Gasplorch - What to say to the race official (in lieu of the regular expletives) who pulled you over for littering when your bottle escaped after hitting that bump in the road.

ill Suiter - An individual who wears their wetsuit backwards or inside out.

Invisibuoy - The disappearance of the huge orange or yellow buoys on the swim if it is rough or if the sun is in your eyes.

Overage - Adding a few runs to your run or bike ride beyond what you had planned on your schedule.

Overstride - What happens when you are fading in a race and then drink a cup of cola.

Runnerstummy - GI distress that occurs during long runs, speed sessions or races that forces you to stop.

Spreader - An individual who takes up too much space in transition and encroaches on your area.

Tridew - The clammy, awful state that your gear is in when you have to pack it wet after a race.

Yo-Yoer - A person who passes and drops back and repasses and drops back and passes again during training or a race.

Can you make up more?

2010 MiM

2010-05-26T14:33:00.000-07:00

This very strange day started in a van down by the lake...literally.

So, how's that for a set up? It was a strange day and it did start in a van down by the lake. I actually slept in my van the night before the race and my van was situated down by the lake where the swim took place. The accommodations were, strangely enough, not that bad. I hid all the back seats in my nifty stow-and-go van, inflated a blow up mattress, let the car running for the A/C and locked the doors. It was quiet and I had plenty of room. I also had a power outlet to run my computer allowing me to watch a movie and check email. But who am I kidding? It was kind of weird.

I didn't plan to sleep in my van down by the lake when I signed up for this race back in December. By the way, the race was the Memphis in May Olympic distance triathlon I've done for the past several years. It's unofficially the start of my race season. As mentioned, I didn't plan to sleep in my van; it just worked out that way in the end. Normally our entire posse participates in this event but for one reason or another our posse started dropping like flies in the kitchen of a determined mother with a fly-swatter. No Trey or Heather or Shannon or Troy or Ernie or Gary or Bird or Dean. It ended up being just me.

Many racers and their families camp out at the race site every year. This year Trey and I decided we were going to join them. He was going to bring his tent and cots and we were going to camp out. Trey started hinting that he may not be able to go this year because work had become very demanding...I don't know, something about this tiny oil spill in the Gulf...please! (Seriously, I'm just kidding, it's really overwhelming). When he started hinting at that I booked a hotel close by. I thought it would be too much of a hassle to go the tent route plus I thought Bird may join us in the hotel. Trey ultimately flushed the race and Bird took his entire family to Memphis with him. As much as I like the Birdwells I determined it a bit awkward for all of us to stay in the same hotel room. Not to mention that they got their own room...at another hotel. As a side note, issues arose for Bird and, as mentioned above, he didn't do the race even though he was in Memphis. When it came down to it I didn't really want to spend that kind of money for a hotel room by myself. So I slept in a van down by the lake.

I just laid a lot of groundwork to set up the fact that the day started abnormally. At least in the spirit of consistency it stayed abnormal the entire day. Not necessarily a good thing!

After waking up in my van down by the lake (earlier than my alarm went off...of course!) I ate about half a Cliff Bar and downed some GU2O, popped open the van door and began gathering my gear to get ready to head down to transition. Normally during this time you chit-chat with your buddies. However, as mentioned above, none of my buddies were there. I know, poor me, right?

Setting up transition most of the participants were waiting to hear what the water temperature measured so we could know if the race was wetsuit legal. According to USAT rules the water has to be below 78-degrees in order to be able to wear wetsuits. Because of the unseasonably high temperatures for this time of year it was touch-and-go as to whether wetsuits were going to be the order of the day. Twenty minutes before race time it was announced....the water temperature was....wait for it...77-point-7 degrees! The announcement was met with mixed reactions. Most folks appreciate wearing wetsuits because they simply help you swim faster. It makes you more buoyant. However, the combination of wetsuits and high water temperature can cause you to overheat during the swim and elevate your heart rate.

Fast forwarding a little...transition is ready, wetsuit, swim cap and goggles are on. Down to the water I go for the time-trial start. I get the tap on my shoulder and off I go. I'm not a 100 meters into the swim and I can feel my timing chip loosening around my ankle. Well that's no good! No timing chip, no time! So I had to stop and try to adjust this thing. It sounds simple, but not necessarily easy. I apparently didn't do it right the first time because about 200 meters later I felt it loosen again. Adjust, swim and it loosens again. Starting to get hacked off. Fortunately the third time it happened I was near a kayak so I was able to brace myself and secure it properly for good. At 29:05 my swim time wasn't my best but it wasn't my worst either. I probably killed a minute-and-a-half trying to secure that dang chip> So all-in-all I could live with the swim.

As mentioned above the air temperature was abnormally high for this time of year. It was humid as well. I don't do as well in the heat especially when it's early in the season and I haven't had an opportunity to train in the heat. By the time I transitioned to the run it was 90-degrees. My heart rate was up and I was cooked. I could tell right away that me and the run were not going to be friends on this day. I was right.

6.2 miles and an hour-and-13 minutes later and my race was over...mercifully. I walked as much, if not more, than I ran. But, dang it, I finished. Everything inside of me told me to turn back and stop. End the day. Make it go away. But I couldn't do it. I heard a great quote one time with regards to the Ironman World Championships saying, "you can quit and they won't care, but you will always know!" So I trudged the distance pouring as much cold water over my head, down the front of my shirt and down my back as I could.

I recognized that I wasn't the only athlete struggling. I could tell one of the few racers I passed was struggling as well. I put my hand on his shoulder and we commiserated on the day as we walked together. I think it fave us both a lift

I did run the last few hundred yards and near the end a runner encouraged me to finish strong. Little did he know that I was just glad to finish, though I appreciated the support.

When it was all said and done I crossed the line in 2:55:02. It was my worst Olympic distance time by far. But the story doesn't there. I really struggled once the race was over. Very light headed. I thought I was going to hit the deck a couple of times but managed to stay upright....until I was smart enough to sit down.

I made i home, checked my time on-line and it read 2:57:02! I was penalized 2:00 for "equipment abandonment". During the race I apparently hit a significant bump and lost a water bottle our of one of my cages on the back of my seat. I didn't notice until the race was nearly over. The bright side of that part of the story is....if ever I was going to be penalized in a race this was the one to have it happen...because I did not care. Besides, what's a pound to an elephant at this point?

Overall it was a tough day. But as I look back on it, I consider it to be a very good, hard training day and I now it will make me better in the future, if not smarter about racing. It was a miserable day but I'm looking forward to doing it again!

Hello Again

2010-04-16T07:53:00.000-07:00

It's been nearly an eternity since I've posted (or two months, whichever is shorter). Much is happening and the time just slips away. Not uncommon I'm sure!

I've been hot and heavy training for my first triathlon of the season. The Memphis in May Olympic tri is in about 5 weeks. I'm really looking forward to it to see what I can do. As I've mentioned before I'm attempting to qualify for the USAT Age Group Nationals held in September. To qualify you have to be in the top 33% of your age group. In order to do that, based on past years results in my age group, I'll have to PR. It's do-able and it's really giving me something to shoot for.

I'm approaching this event like you would a class where there are no grades but you merely receive a 'pass/fail'. I will either qualify or I won't. There's no middle of the road. I've never approached a race like this before so it'll be a new experience. What makes it different for me is I'm going with an all-out effort. Right now, that's how I'm training. It's kind of scary. I've typically taken a somewhat conservative approach during a race, trying to leave a little in the tank throughout. I've never put the pedal to the medal, so to speak. I may totally bonk! Hope not.

One thing is certain, I will learn something either way.

I do know this,

my new tri top is going to make me super-fast! So I got that going for me, which is kinda nice!

Oh, and the other nice thing about my new super-fast tri top is that I got it for $15 (including shipping!). Heck of a deal. It's regularly $55.

Number 1

2010-02-13T11:57:00.000-08:00

Pretty excited and proud of my youngest. He went to Russellville for a Valentine's Day kids run today....and finished top spot on the podium! He won the race!

Winner, winner, chicken dinner...Great job Will.

I think we have a budding runner on our hands.

Will and Mom Pre-Race

Pre-Race stretching oh, so important

On your mark...

...go

First to the line

The winner's medal!

2010 = The Year of Smiling Minimally

2010-02-10T17:45:00.000-08:00

OK, this is me smiling normally...that was yesterday. Well, not really yesterday that was taken a couple of years ago, so, it was me, ya know, metaphorically yesterday.

This is more like me today....and not metaphorically today....but just today!

And this is what I'm going to feel like tomorrow when I put on my suit and go try to be a professional calling on doctors with what feels like what's in the above photo in my mouth...

...now I recognize that I'm not a cross-dresser nor do I have moobs, nevertheless the feeling, and the look will be similar, at least in my mind.

I did it. Pulled the trigger. Did the deed. Went out on a limb...and got braces for the first time in my life. It's an incredibly weird feeling. A feeling I'm not sure I'm friends with. But I guess we better learn to co-exist. At least for 12 months.

So lay 'em on me. These are the ones I know: Zipper lips, Brace Face, Metal Mouth, Tinsel Teeth, Train Tracks and Wire World.

I'm hoping at the end of those 12 months this will be my look....

...of course without the supple lips of a female....or the lipstick!

Now if I could just break out with a horrific case of acne and some raging hormones.....

'Tis the Season

2010-02-02T13:34:00.000-08:00

...Why the Tri season, of course!

OK, I'm just going to reveal it now...I'm a big fan of The Lion King...watched it over the holidays. That opening scene where the sun breaks over the horizon and they belt out the tune - "Nants ingonyama bagithi baba!" (it's true, those are the actual words spoken, I looked it up. kinda ruins it in a way because all this time I've enjoyed just throwing out these random sounds and not having a clue what they were.) anyway, that opening scene is awesome.

I say all that as a backdrop to be able to reference one line from the monkey Rafiki as he acknowledges that Simba is about to take charge - "It is time".

It is time to gear up for the 2010 tri season. It is time to begin to shed that comfortable layer of cushion that accumulated over the holidays. It is time to get back in the routine of a training schedule. I'm ready.

I have a specific focus for this year which is to increase my speed in all three disciplines. I want to become a faster, more efficient swimmer. I want to get faster on the bike and I want to be able to run a sub-:50 10k during an Olympic distance event.

My ultimate goal for this season is to again qualify for the USAT Age Group Nationals held in Tuscaloosa, Alabama the end of September. I qualified in 2009 but wasn't able to participate. That was fine because my 'A' race last year was Ironman Florida and that's where my focus was as well.

I'm not doing an Ironman distance race this year for the sole purpose of focusing on increasing my speed and participating in the Nationals.

To that end my first race of the season is a big one, Memphis in May Oly the 4th Sunday of the month. It's a special qualifier for the Nationals so I want to do well. It's not the only opportunity to qualify, but it's the first.

I have a 16-week program I use and week 1 is this week. I'm excited.....and motivated.

From Bowl Madness to Poll Madness...with March Madness Soon to Follow

2010-01-08T07:31:00.000-08:00

30-some-odd bowl games up....30-some-odd bowl games down. The college football season is complete with the Alabama Crimson Tide begin crowned national champions. A perfect 14 - 0 season. BTW, has Nick Saban smiled yet? Just wondering.

With completion of the season comes the final rankings. The polls. Those random rankings based on people's opinions....educated or otherwise. I wonder if some of those pollsters think, "Hey, they're the Chippewas....that's kind of cool....ok, number 23...there."

The polls are a funny thing....

I look up and down the poll and I see Central Michigan at 23 (speaking of the Chippewas). I think to myself, is C. Michigan better then Oklahoma. I also think to myself, if I asked pollsters face-to-face to pick one: Oklahoma or Central Michigan, I wonder how many with a straight face would pick Central Michigan.

Now C. Mich. had a good year. 12 - 2 by most standards is great, especially when you take into consideration the power schedule C. Mich. played. Seriously. Taking the field against perennial powers such as Alcorn St., Akron, Toledo, Ball St. and No. Illinois would bolster anyones ranking. That's a freakin' murderers row! I'm not sure how they survived! Now on the other hand, anyone who would schedule Texas, BYU, Nebraska, Miami & Texas Tech is just looking for an easy way out.

OK, I realize, when you're Oklahoma there's really not much difference between 23, 24, 25...or 26 and above for that matter. When you're Oklahoma and in those spots it represents you didn't have the kind of season to which you're accustomed. But having said that and taking into consideration the kind of adversity this team faced this year I would've liked to have seen them crack the top 25.....for their own morale purposes.

I realize the polls are incredibly imperfect...

...but this poll is saying that C. Mich. is the 23rd best team in the country....better than Oklahoma, OSU, Auburn, Georgia, Arkansas and so on and so forth. I'm pretty sure you put anyone of these teams in that schedule and...well, you get the idea...

So with the wrap on the college football season and poll madness it's on to March Madness....a sport that actually crowns it's champion on the court rather than in the polls!

2010

2010-01-04T09:21:00.000-08:00

So what's it going to be?

How are you going to say it?

Is it 2-thousand-10 or 20-10?

Think back more than a decade ago...did you ever say 1-thousand-9-hundred-95? Of course not! That takes entirely too long. You'd be weird. It was 19-95...for that matter it was 19-64, 19-75 and so on and so forth.

Not that I was alive and can recall but listening to people who make reference to the years more than 100 ago describe them as 'aught-8'...you know, "back in 'aught-8'"...it was 19-aught-8. It wasn't 1-thousand-9-hundred and 8. Heck it was even 19-08 before it was that long, drawn out version.

But for some reason most of us described the past decade as '2-thousand-1,2,3,4...and so on....not 20-01, 02, 03...etc, etc. I wonder why.

If for no other reason it's nice to be in another decade. It takes entirely too long to say '2-thousand-10' as opposed to '20-10'.

I'm happy about that....I wonder what I'll do with all that extra time?

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T05:57:00.000-08:00

He gave up his place with God and made himself nothing. He was born to be a man and became like a servant. ~Philippians 2:7

BACK IN THE SADDLE

2009-12-24T10:43:00.000-08:00

Hopped aboard the magic bus for the first time since IMFL '09 and rode the trainer for an hour. That's a period of 6-weeks and 5 days! That's a long time. The longest I've gone in...I don't know when. Why did I pick today? Not sure. Maybe it was because I was drinking coffee, browsed the movies on hulu and found Prefontaine. I got inspired. I also realized I needed to start building back my base.

I rode for an hour and my HR didn't get above 130. I watched the last hour of the movie on my trainer....I know. I eventually looked down at my HR monitor and I was at 106 so I stepped it up a little. Definitely wanted to stay aerobic but that was a little too aerobic. It felt good to go for my stationary ride.

I also signed up for Memphis in May Olympic tri. It's in May. I know. This year's MiM is a qualifier for the USAT Age Group Nationals held at the end of September in Tuscaloosa. My goal is to qualify for that.

I love a goal!

Great Weekend

2009-12-22T13:56:00.000-08:00

Just got back from a really fun weekend of hunting and fellowship with my long-time friend Jeff. I've known the guy since 9th grade and roomed with him in college. We've been friends every since. Were in each others weddings. My oldest, Alex, went with me and he ended up getting a real treat. More in a smidge.

Jeff lives in the SW corner of Oklahoma, Altus. It's were I graduated from high school. Home of the bulldogs! I digress.

Jeff is a great lover of hunting...he's also very good at it. The picture below is just a few of the monsters he's taken.

The mounts hang in a cabin Jeff shares with one of his friends. The two built it together on his friends land.....and it's a lot of land, with a lot of deer roaming. And other forms of wildlife. It's beautiful country and excellent for hunting.

The cabin's about 1300 sq. ft. with one large living area, two bedrooms and two baths. Perfect. That's Jeff on the right and Alex next to him.

We got in Saturday afternoon, hunted that evening and all day Sunday before driving back Monday morning. It was three hunts total, a lot of good conversations and plenty of food. Too much, actually.

Anyway, the Sunday evening hunt was adventurous for Alex. Plenty of deer were in sight but ended up being a little too far to try and take. But lo and behold another predator came on the scene. It ended up about 100 yards away and will soon be on the wall.

A beautiful bobcat weighing about 25 pounds with a gorgeous coat. Alex was thrilled.

O Tannenbaum

2009-12-12T05:22:00.000-08:00

The tree went up last night, a little later in the year than normal. I spent a few days out of town (see post below) so the timing wasn't right. Certainly the tree can't go up without me around, right?

My job is to bring it in, make sure it's secure in the stand and put the lights on. I kind of went easy on the lights last year...didn't like it. So this year I had to make a run to the Christmas tree light store for more.

I plugged them in and they all worked...WHEW!

Once my job is complete I sit back and watch...my favorite part. I love to watch the ornaments get unwrapped and listen to the stories being told. There's a story for every one isn't there? Good stories. Stories that cause you to reminisce. It's a good thing.

O Tannenbaum!

NY, NY

2009-12-11T15:53:00.000-08:00

Spent a little time in NYC this week....pretty fun.

As meetings go it wasn't typical. Usually at these types of things it wouldn't matter if it was in Paris, New York, San Franciso or Bald Knob, Arkansas...one conference room looks like another which looks like another.

This one was a bit different. Only because I made it different. I came in early and stayed late. I wanted to see the city, at least a little.

It didn't start out great though. I was scammed by the cabbie to the tune of $$$. I learned post-scam to never accept a ride from someone who asks...they're not liscensed.

This guy wasn't liscensed...he was nice...just not liscensed. I took his picture and sent it via text to my wife in case I was abducted. I wasn't abducted. He actually took the most direct route to my destination (I know because I google mapped it). The only thing missing from me was the word "tourist" monogrammed on my back!

I got in around 2pm and the official order of business was a group dinner at 7pm. So I hit the streets. I had no idea where I was going, but I hit the streets.

Who passes up 'Five Guys' burgers and fries? I didn't.

I did pass up most of the stores...including D&G, Dolce and...something, I forget. I did take a picture and sent it to my wife. She was jealous.

I ventured north towards Times Square and Central Park via the subway. It's a pretty awesome sight when you first see the city at night after walking up to the street from the train...

...even the McDonald's sign has some brilliance to it!

I learned this in short order...you better be ready. If you're not you'll either get trampled, run over, honked at or verbally scolded in one way or another. I was definitely a rookie in the subway. I stood back and watched people buy their tickets from the machine for a few minutes so I knew what to do. The probably thought I was stalking or something.

I observed this as well....there's a lot of thin people in NYC because they walk everywhere...or take a cab...but they walk a lot. Notice I said thin, not necessarily healthy because while they're thin, they're all going to die of lung cancer. I couldn't believe the number of smokers. Tobacco Road would be proud.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS

2009-12-04T07:32:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxvEoaJc-OM&feature=player_embedded

LR Marathon, Part Deux

2009-12-01T18:42:00.000-08:00

The time has come! Training for the Little Rock Marathon has begun. I've built a training plan and I plan to stick with it....this time.

After my first Ironman (Wisconsin, 2007) I decided to run the Little Rock Marathon. I figured, why not. I had already done a lot of running in preparation for the Ironman so that, surely, gave me a jump start on training for just a little old marathon, right?

Well...a funny thing happened on the way to the finish line. Well, O.K. I'll say it, a lot of time elapsed on the way to the finish line, like 4:42:and change. My marathon at the Ironman was 4:57:and change. So the absence of swimming 2.4 miles and biking 112 only netted me 15 minutes.

The truth is I did not train properly for the LR Marathon in 2008. I disrespected the distance. I paid the price and got exactly what I deserved. I will not make that same mistake again.

I'll lay it out right now...my goal for the 2010 LR Marathon is a sub-4. That's already a stretch goal but, what if I could qualify for Boston? I'd have to run a 3:30! Now that's a stretch goal!

Ironman Florida 2009

2009-11-28T07:38:00.000-08:00

As I did two years ago when writing about IM Wisconsin I'm starting this race report with the end at the beginning. This time around I'm minus two kids and 18 minutes shy of two hours better than in 2007. It was a good day!

It was a good day for everyone in our 'All In' group. Everyone PR'd.

~PRE-RACE~

One of the nice things about the race this year was that we stayed at the host hotel. It was a beautiful thing and made race morning much less stressful. Everything was right there! The swim start was in our backyard, transition was on the side of the house as was the run start and the race finish was a block down the road! It spoiled me and I'm not sure If I'll be able to stay off-site again! We didn't have to worry about travel logistics, we got to sleep later (well, with whatever amount of actual sleep we got!), we got home-field advantage with the pre-race bathroom visit (incredibly important!), we didn't have to stand outside before the race and we stayed in our room until the last possible minute.

We took care of the essentials first thing. And no, none of these particular essentials had anything to do with bodily functions. We took our special needs bags to the appropriate places, got body marked (dang, look at the guns on 1560!), checked our transition bags one last time, made sure our bike tires had the appropriate air pressure and then headed back upstairs.

Joining us in our condo race morning was Colin and Kirsten. Colin (The good doctor - doing his residency in Rochester, NY) is a sports enthusiast, cyclist and Iowa Hawkeye fan ~ don't hold that against him. In the photo above he and I are discussing the fine art of looking calm pre-race when you really feel like hurling.

Kirsten was a first time Ironman participant. Dang, look at the guns on 2416! I should probably delete my photo! She is now an Ironman and caught the bug in a bad way already signing up for Ironman Louisville 2010.

It's incredibly difficult to eat race morning but it is essential. I woke up at 4:41 a.m. give or take 2 or 3 seconds. I set my alarm for 5. Anyway, after waking I immediately began hydrating with GU2O and ate a Cliff Bar. After getting back to the room from checking things out in transition I drank more GU2O. And, more importantly, I had my first cup of caffinated coffee in two weeks! It was nice.

Then it was time to start gearing up with the wetsuit. I wouldn't say I put my "game-face" on at that point, but I made sure I knew where it was. I'll show you what that game-face looked like a little bit further down in the post.

It's not that you can't put your wetsuit on by yourself it's just that if someone can help I let them. 10-minutes before an olympic distance race a couple of years ago I was tugging on the string that's attached to the zipper that helps you zip your wetsuit. It wouldn't budge. I pulled harder and still no luck. Then I pulled even harder and the zipper broke by pulling away from the teeth at the base of the zipper. I couldn't fix it before the race! I was panicked. I swam without my wetsuit that day. I did it, but the anxiety that event created taught me something......get help with your wetsuit! Even if it's by a total stranger, get help. They'll help you. I promise. They, too, probably want help. This day help didn't come from a total stranger but from my brother-in-law, Trey. He's multi-talented because he also provided some comic relief, as he frequently does, as is exhibited in the photo below....

...it took a lot of work to get his stomach out that far.

The time had come to head down to the water, me, Kirsten and Trey...

...and put my game-face on.

~The SWIM~

The start of the swim in an Ironman event is an incredible thing for both the participant and spectator. It looks and feels like a school of pirana going after this unfortunate critter that happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. For the spectator it's really amazing to watch. For the participant? Well, it kind of feels like being that unfortunate critter!

The gulf water felt a little rougher than 2 days earlier when we swam a practice lap. But I'm not sure if it was actually rougher or if all the elbows, fists and feet that were churning up the water made it seem that way.

My single thought standing on the beach before the gun sounded was....breath. I'm not talking about the anxiety ridden short, shallow breathes you might take in stressful situations. I'm talking about making sure that I don't hold my breath at the start of the swim. There are so many things going on at the start of the swim that you forget to breath. It sounds ridiculous, I know. The gun sounds, you're running to the water with 2500 other people, knocking into each other, some tripping in front of you as they lose their step making their way to water deep enough to swim. When you get to that deeper water and begin making your strokes you try to find one that doesn't involve hitting another person....or being hit by another person....or being kicked by another person. Ultimately you do get kicked, in the face, your goggles shift and begin leaking water. You think, "how dare you kick me!" before you realize they're thinking the same thing about someone else who kicked them. Everyone's just trying to survive and move forward. You have to tread water and re-adjust. Then get back to swimming. And breath. Because if you don't you'll have that feeling of always having to catch your breath. It's exhausting. It's exhausting because you're muscles aren't getting the oxygen they need. Your heart rate will soar. So, my single thought while standing on the beach before the gun sounded was....breath.

It was a 2-loop swim. You can see in the photo above it's a rectangular swim and if you look close enough you can see most of the age-groupers are at the top of the rectangle. At the end of the first loop you had to exit the water, cross the timing mat that's underneath the white arch at the bottom of the picture and head back out for loop number 2.

I swam my first loop in 37-minutes-and-change. I was pleased with that. Upon exiting the water after loop 1 and crossing the mat I heard my name shouted. I looked over and it was my wife Ashley and Colin. Ah, a little surge of adrenaline. I needed that. Thanks! Now, back out for loop 2.

I felt good. You had to travel a little farther starting the second loop to get to water deep enough to swim. My time wasn't as good on the second loop but I was incredibly pleased with my overall time. 1:18:23. That's 10-minutes off my swim time from Ironman Wisconsin.

~T1~

Controlled chaos continues once you exit the water. After being horizontal for a good bit of time it takes a minute for the blood in your body to redistribute appropriately. I always have a sense of accomplishment and relief upon exiting the water. The part I struggle with the most is complete.

Trudging up the sand to the Peeler's area I made eye contact with a volunteer and pointed at him. He pointed at me in return as if to signal, "you and me, right here, right now". No, we weren't bowing up for a fight...he was going to help me get my wetsuit off. The wetsuit peeling area is much like the pit area at a NASCAR race, there's a lot of activity and what would normally take you a lot longer to accomplish on your own is done in a fraction of the time. While approaching him I pulled my suit down to my waist. Then I laid down on my backside and he yanked, stripping my wetsuit off. It actually took him a couple of yanks, but it's not his fault. I have these protruding heels that act like hooks in situations like this making it difficult to accomplish the task. It's the same with socks or long johns or baseball pants, not to mention duck waders. It's the family heel. My daughter, Lilly Kate, and son, Will have the same heel. Hey, even with the heel I PR'd, so we got past it.

Running up the sand to T1 we passed under these showers to get as much sand off as possible as well as rinse off some of the salt water. I will say though that you don't really get all the sand off. I think I still had sand on me when I crossed the finish line, much later in the day!

T1 is great for a couple of reasons. You're out of the water and you know you're going to see your people. By that I mean your support people who are going to shout your name and give you encouragement. It may take you a little time to see them, but you can hear them from the instant they shout your name. And you can hear their shouts over all the other shouts being given to other athletes. I look forward to those shouts. I need those shouts (I know, I know, "you want me on that wall, you need me on that wall!" - indeed I do).

I grabbed my T1 bag and headed to the tent where you see a lot of bodies (and body parts, some unmentionable) but you don't really see any faces. It's all kind of a blur.

Out of the tent. On to the bike. Out on the road!

That's me in front (yeah, that's what it is....I'm leading the whole race, yeah).

~BIKE~

Once I get on my bike I feel like I can settle in a bit. I'm confident once I get on those two wheels. It's the strongest of the three disciplines for me. Although I will say that my run has improved and is catching up. This portion is about the bike, though.

I'm putting a picture of the bike route on here to give you an idea of what I'm describing. On race day the wind was from the east at about 10 - 15 mph. So, heading out we had a tail wind to start off. That was nice. It gave me a chance to keep my heart rate in check, gather my senses, find a good cadence and rythym and not have to work too hard.

I felt strong and my HR was in the mid to low 130's. Perfect.

My nutrition plan for the bike was much the same as it was for IM Wisconsin because it worked well then so why change it. I had 5 bottles on my bike filled with GU Brew (great stuff). A lot of people would consider that adding too much weight but I prefer to have what I know works well for me rather than taking hand-ups at the aid station of something I'm unsure about. I also had 6 GU gel packets, one Cliff Bar and 6 hours worth of Endurolytes in my bento box. My plan was to drink one bottle of GU Brew, take one GU gel and 2 Endurolyte capsules each hour and eat my Cliff Bar at the midway point. For the most part, mission accomplished.

After a nice stretch heading west we turned north into a cross wind. It wasn't bad though and was actually a nice transition to what we had to look forward to as we prepared to turn right again to head east and into the wind.

I clicked off the first 20-miles in 1 hour which would turn out to be a consistent theme throughout the bike. My cadence was good and where I wanted it to be hovering in the mid-90's. My average cadence on the day turned out to be 99.

Eventually we turned right on HWY 20 and headed into the wind. It was inevitable. You just had to take it like an Ironman. I mentioned above that my single thought standing on the beach before the swim start was to breath. I also had a single thought to focus on during the bike (I had one for the run, too but I'll get to that later)....take what the wind gives you. That was my focus. You're not going to beat the wind. It's pretty relentless. And tireless. You can't wear it down. But it can sure wear you down. My goal was to be able to maintain a low to mid-90's cadence without my heart rate shooting through the roof. That meant that into the wind I had to shift down to the small chain ring and a bigger cog in the back making it easier to peddle. While traveling with the wind I could hammer the big ring and a smaller cog creating more power and speed. The other key component for me heading into the wind was to stay in the aero position as much as possible creating less drag.

Another big component of riding into the wind for me, aside from the technical strategy, is mental strategy. I tried not to mentally complain about the wind. The wind can't help it. It's just doing its job. Mental complaining isn't going to make it easier. But, it will sure make it tougher and longer. For the most part I was able to accomplish that....but there were a few times - mailto:$#@%&^&*&^%#$@#. You get the idea. One thing is certain, all those monotonous, wind howling, beat-down, long rides we took on the roads heading east out of Little Rock sure paid off!

For the most part the roads were fabulous. There was one stretch where it was awful! Referencing the map above it was the out-and-back stretch after turning right off RD 2301. First off all the road was old, not smooth at all and it seemed every 50 or so feet there was a crack that stretched from one side of the road to the other....ca-thunk, ca-thunk, ca-thunk...every 50 feet. Every 50 feet! No joke. Add to that the fact it was heading east meaning a nice, stiff wind. I admit, that's when mailto:&^#$@*%&#@#%$ came into play. Not knowing exactly I think it was about 8 miles out and back. Making the out portion especially heinous was the fact that you had to watch people coming back on the other side of the road...with the wind! It was sure nice when I was one of those people.

Making up for that awful stretch was the long stretch of W HWY 388 past HWY 77. Without a doubt, it's THE best road I've every ridden my bike on. It was glorious! They just finished re-paving it two days before the race. Did I mention it was glorious. And there was a tail-wind. We were flying on two wheels clipping off the miles at an average rate of 25 - 27 per hour.

I felt strong both physically and mentally as I turned left back onto Front Beach Rd. and the homestretch of the bike. That portion was both encouraging and especially challenging at the same time. It was encouraging because it was near the end and there were signs of civilization with condos and stores and people. It was also challenging because you wanted to get off the bike, it was into the wind and you felt like it was over but you still had about 6 or so miles to go.

My bike split was 5:31:05 for an average of 20.3 mph. I was very pleased to cut an hour off my IM Wisconsin time of 6:31:54.

~T2~

Happy to be off the bike I handed it off to one of the many wonderful volunteers, trusting him to treat it gently, grabbed my T2 bag and headed back to the tent. I saw my friend Kevin in transition where he was preparing for a fantastic run.

In transition a volunteer stayed with me the entire time. He helped me unload my T2 bag and generally took care of me. Thanks! Unlike Wisconsin the only thing I changed in T2 this time was my shoes. I did put a lot of Glide on my feet to help prevent friction and therefore blisters. I grabbed my hat, my GU and headed out looking forward to more shout outs from my peeps, which I needed greatly.

~ THE RUN ~

After drinking in the shout-outs and feeling the adrenaline surge kick in it was off for the start of 26.2 miles. Looking back on it now I didn't have the same feeling in Florida that I did in Wisconsin. I remember in Wisconsin feeling that I was never more thrilled to be running a marathon because that meant that I was finally off that bike! I didn't feel that way on this day.

The biggest disappointment after starting the run was that we had to turn left out of transition. Why that was such a big deal to me at the time I'm not sure except that in my mind I had rehearsed coming out of transition and turning right. The entire marathon was right and here we had to turn left out of transition! Oh, the unfairness of it all! That distance wasn't even a tenth of a mile before we headed in the right direction...inotherwords, no big deal!

My marathon strategy was to run 10-minutes and walk one. Run 10, walk one, run 10, walk one.....and repeat. I trained that way based on some research I did stating that people PR'd utilizing that strategy no matter what their PR was. This strategy was suppossed to keep you fresh for the back half of the run and keep your heart-rate in check for the duration. My marathon goal was 4:30:00. My time in Wisconsin was 4:57:50.

Ironman Florida is probably the flatest run course on the Ironman circuit so there were no hills to deal with on this day making it easier to work into a nice stride rate and rythym. My pace to start was a little more than 9-min/mile, a pace that I wasn't going to be able to maintain, but I think I was running on adrenaline to start.

The course was a 2-loop out and back with the first couple of miles in town. From there the map led us though some neighborhoods then a loop through a state park before heading back in for the turn-around/finish. There were aid stations about every mile. These stations were stocked with all sorts of goodies: water, sports drink, gels, pretzels, orange slices, bananas, ice, cold/wet sponges (those were so nice to put in your hat, down your shirt or anywhere else you deemed fit.....it was warm, to me, for the first loop of the run), coke and, later in the day they were stocked with chicken broth. I know, it sounds weird to drink chicken broth during an event like this but it is so good for many reasons. First of all it tastes good. It also provides some quick sodium and it's warm. I took it at 4 or 5 aid stations on my second loop.

People lined the streets at various points of the run which is always great encouragement because they cheer for you whether they know you or not. There's also a section during the run where they place all these signs that family and friends created in the days leading up to the race. So for about a tenth of a mile, on both sides of the sidewalk there are these hundreds of signs sticking in the ground offering encouragement to the athletes. I couldn't believe it but I actually spotted the one my oldest, Alex, created for me!

The second one was one he created for his Uncle Trey...kind of an inside joke. They also made one for Kirsten. Seeing that sign gave me a big lift!

I changed shirts, hit the turnaround and headed back out for loop #2. The sun started going down and I was on the home stretch!

This sounds a little silly, but once the sun started going down it was dark! There's probably a little explanation needed. My comparison for something like this is Wisconsin. The run in Wisconsin was in the city of Madison. It went through the downtown area, the campus of the University of Wisconsin and right next to the state capitol building. There were street lights everywhere and it was well lit. Not so in Florida. Of course, there were street lights in the areas we ran through town. There weren't as many in the neighborhoods and there were none in the state park loop portion of the run. That place was dark, and lonely. It was completely dark during that portion of my run on the second loop. You were doing good to see 10-yards in front of you...It sounds strange, I know. To try to remedy that situation race organizers put these portable light banks on that part of the course. You've seen these things at road construction sites that are being worked on at night. They put off a lot of light but it was almost too much because you ran directly into the light and it was kind of blinding. I remember pointing my head down trying to cover up the light with the bill of my hat so I could see where I was running. I noticed a lot of people were doing the same thing.

Getting through that park the second time was a huge mental lift. I was on the homestretch, I was getting closer and closer to town, civilization and the finish line. I knew I was going to make it. And I also realized that I was going to blow away my goal of a sub-12:30:00 Ironman. As I began to calculate even further I realized that I was going to blow away my stretch goal of sub-12:18:00.

The last 6 miles I began to feel the muscles in my lower back and legs really begin to tighten up so during my 1 minute walk time I spent about 20 seconds or so stretching those areas. It made a big difference. So did the chicken broth and soda at the aid stations.

During the months and months of training for this event you envision the day coming down to the last mile. This time was now for me. You really don't feel your legs anymore partly because you've covered nearly 140.6 miles and partly because you're running on adrenaline. There's so much going on around you and in your mind that the hurt gets replaced with excitement. People line the streets, there's music blaring, you hear shouts of encouragement and you begin to realize that you're going to make it....you're going to be an Ironman, you're going to accomplish your goal!

I crossed the line in 11:36:24. I cut an hour and 40-minutes off my time from Wisconsin. I was very pleased and humbled. It was far better than anything I expected.

~AFTERWARD~

So many things made this an experience I'll never forget. Training with the 'All In' group and seeing everyone perform so well was fantastic! I was really proud of and for everyone. Trey, Kevin, Troy, Heather, Ernie, Dean, Jordan, Jeff, Kirsten. Describing how well everyone did is the subject of another post altogether. Thanks to you all for the months of training, the commraderie, the encouragement and the accountability!

A very special thanks to my wife, Ashley, and kids, Alex, Lilly Kate and Will. Our group was called 'All In' for a reason. Not only are the athletes all in emotionally, physically and mentally but so are family and friends. Without that support and understanding this is a much more difficult endeavor. I'll go so far as to say it couldn't be done. Thanks for putting up with me, for allowing me to train those many hours and for the time to recover after those long workouts. Thanks for encouraging me, for being there during those training months and at the race and for being excited with me. I love you guys!

RACE REPORT COMING

2009-11-10T08:32:00.001-08:00

A full Ironman Florida race report is coming soon!

RACE WEEK ~ THURSDAY/FRIDAY

2009-11-06T07:00:00.001-08:00

We definitely got to Florida safe and sound Wednesday evening. It did take a little longer than I anticipated but we were caravaning with 4, sometimes, 5 cars, 16 people, 2 under the age of 10 and one under the age of 5....so....you know how that goes. So considering all that, we made decent time.

Thursday was a full day. We did one loop of the swim course which is roughly 1.2 miles. It is pretty shallow for a good ways out. I was trying to acclimate myself to the ocean which is a completely different swim than in a 25 yard pool! I could not find the black line in the bottom of the ocean! I did find some jelly fish though but I didn't get stung. It got pretty choppy on the inward part which was good practice. I told myself multiple times to just stay relaxed and and execute nice, smooth strokes. All in all I felt good about the swim and good about the time.

After the swim we came upstairs, grabbed a shower, some food and some decaf (no caffine until race morning). Then I played around on the computer a bit before heading over to the race village to register and look around. The registration line was LOOOOOOOONNNNNNNGG. I didn't time how long it took to get through it but it must've been 27 hours! Sure felt like it. We hooked up with some friends and met new ones in line which helped pass the time.

I was also in the market for a couple of tubes and new tires for my bike. It'd been at least 2 years since I changed both and my old tires were looking worn and flat. Plus my front tire kept losing air mysteriously. I didn't want to chance it so I changed tubes and tires for both wheels. It looks great and I feel much better.

Later it was off t0 the athlete dinner. Got my fill of pasta, again with friends. The friends made it better.

I didn't sleep as long Friday morning as I did Thursday. So I got up and took out for a 20-minute run. Easy. Felt good. Then pancakes and coffee with a friend to talk over life and race strategy. Mostly race strategy.

So here I am Friday morning. We'll check in the bikes and get the bags together. Then chill out the rest of the day. Maybe play some gin with Alex.

But generally, chill!

RACE WEEK ~ WEDNESDAY

2009-11-04T02:57:00.000-08:00

Travel day.

We are hitting the road today. Destination, Panama City Beach, Florida. I'm a little surprised because the car's not as stuffed as I thought it was going to be. I even anticipated we were going to need the car-top carrier. I'm so glad we didn't have to though because it makes such an awful noise while driving....kinda of annoying.

I ran a nice 7 miles yesterday and felt good the entire route. I ran relaxed and at a good pace for me...8:25/mile.

I also got a sports massage. Wonderful. Kinda hurt too which, I guess, means it wonderful. He said my upper body was a little out of balance and told me some stretches to do to help correct it.

I shot a similar picture to the one above two years ago before Wisconsin. I'm always afraid something I desperately need will get left behind so I lay everything that I'm going to need on race day out on the table and check each item off my list to assure myself that it's packed. Everything is packed! After I go through this exercise I'm always amazed at how much stuff I actually use to swim, bike and run. I'm also reminded by this of how expensive this sport can get. You NEED so much stuff!

Gotta go. Wheels rolling in about an hour and I've got a few things to finish up.

RACE WEEK ~ TUESDAY

2009-11-03T04:28:00.000-08:00

T-minus 4 days.

When I look at the calendar it's just a hop-skip-and-a-jump away. But for some reason or another, right now, race day seems a long way off. I guess it's because I'm still at home and the race is in Panama City Beach, Florida. That all changes tomorrow. I will also be in Panama City Beach, Florida.

Today is today, though and there's much to do. The list I made yesterday was mostly completed. Oh, the yard looks great. The oil in the car is fresh and ready to do its job. The loose ends from work are no longer loose.

A new list was made this morning and it looks longer than the one from yesterday. No details today but rest assured that many endorphins will be released as I cross things off.

After the kiddos are off to school I'm going to hit the streets for about a 7 mile run. Gotta recharge my iPod now......OK, that's plugged in and is now recharging. Whew! Hey, I downloaded that new Creed song, "Rain" the other day. I kinda like it.

Today weather.com says Panama City Beach will be partly cloudy with a high of 72 on race day! Even better!

RACE WEEK ~ MONDAY

2009-11-02T06:43:00.000-08:00

It's Monday of race week and I'm in full taper mode. We rode 3 hours Saturday and it was about 45-degrees at the start. Well, I say we rode three hours but it was actually 2:51:and change. After riding out 1:30 we did a negative split on the way back. The ride felt good. And I felt good after it was over. We stretched the legs out with a 20-minute run. I won't say it was easy, however, because we did an 8-minute pace. That's fast for me.

Again, it's Monday of race week and there's so much to do before we leave on Wednesday. The list is extensive:

-get oil changed in car
-clean office
-buy new bike tire
-put said tires on bike
-clean bike
-get tri gear together (that could be broken down even further)
-tie up some loose ends for work
-tidy up the yard (and have strapping young sons do the same!)
-continue to train (taper) - oh, by the way, love the taper!!!

Having all that stuff to do is not necessarily a bad thing. It certainly keeps the mind occupied with things other than Saturday's 140.3.

I feel good. I feel ready. I'm not even as anxious as I was last week. Saturday's long ride had something to do with that because I felt good off the bike. Oh, and not to mention all the other endless hours on the bike, in the water and afoot on the road!

Weather.com today gives Saturday's forecast in Panama City Beach a '10'. It's supposed to be mostly sunny with a high of 75! Sweet!

CATCHING UP

2009-10-11T19:54:00.001-07:00

It's been a little while since I've laid down some thoughts in the blog. There's certainly a lot going on. Work, training, church, baseball, tennis & flag football are just a few of the things demanding some of my time. By the way the 9 & 10 year old Titans chalked one up in the win column today. Big win against the Bucs...34 - 14. Will the Thrill with a couple of big catches including a huge grab on 4th down giving us a first and a catch on the point-after. Nice!

-It's definitely getting down to it as far as Ironman Florida is concerned. November 7th is right around the corner. I'm trying to slow down so the corner doesn't get here too fast! Just a couple more weeks of hard training and 2 weeks of taper. Did a self supported half Saturday and felt really good. Well, I felt really good on the run. Ran at a 9:15 pace which is stellar for me. Swam the 1.2 miles in 37 minutes and I was pleased about that. Bike was a little slow at 3:07 but we were riding in a group. I'm going to hit it really hard the next 2 weeks and peak with momentum!

- Now for a few words about the Vikings. Got in the win column again today against the league's worst team...the Rams. The victory puts them at 5 - 0 on the season. The last time this team went to 5 - 0 they went on to go 6 - 0 and still failed to make the playoffs! They lost on a last second touchdown pass by the then hapless Arizona Cardinals. The year was 2003. So, 5 - 0 is good, but it's way to early for the undefeated Dolphins team of the '70s to start getting nervous.

-Chrissie Wellington is simply amazing. She broke a women's record and won her third consecutive Ironman World Championship Saturday in a time of 8:54:and change. She finished 23rd overall. INCREDIBLE!

-Craig Alexander won on the men's side for the second year in a row. Once again he was stellar on the run at 2:48:and change.

-The Major League Baseball playoffs are upon us and once again the Reds are NOT part of the festivities. I guess after 9 consecutive losing season I should really expect them to get on the right side of .500 before anticipating the playoffs!

-OK, it's 10:20 pm on a Sunday night and it's WAY past my bedtime! What am I still doing up?

Bizarro World

2009-08-19T09:40:00.001-07:00

You better get out your winter coats because I think hell is officially frozen! That girl that slapped you across the face is now your girlfriend. Your mean, old, fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Dockery, has all of a sudden shown her softer side and has taken a liking to you. The bully that just gave you the biggest wedgie you've ever had ( I mean it's so severe you can actually taste the cotton in your whitey-tighties) just gave you back your lunch and apologized! You just checked the mail and you received your first dividend check from that stock you've held for the past 20-years. Your teenager actually did his chores and mowed the grass.....without being told to do so!!! Wow, what is this world coming to?

Next your going to tell me that Brett Favre, the hated Brett Favre who ruled the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field of the hated rival Green Bay Packers, just signed to play for the beloved Minnesota Vikings! Yeah, right! And the miserable Herschel Walker trade never happened, right? OK, so the Walker trade did happen. That one still hurts.

But it's true. Brett Favre is wearing purple. Bizarro world. Helicopters flew overhead yesterday as his motorcade drove from the airport in Minneapolis to the the Vikings' practice facility. Grown men cried and sprinted across parking lots in suits and ties to get a look at the guy who will turn 40 during this NFL season, the guy who they're certain will take the Vikings to their first Superbowl since the late '70s.

Favre is certainly an upgrade from what was on the team's roster before yesterday. The biggest question is, at 40 years old is there enough duct tape and cortisone to keep his right arm attached to his body and on the field for a full 16 games and then, potentially, 3 or 4 more in the playoffs? Time will tell.

There is a bit of excitement in the air for this lifelong Vikings fan. The quarterback issue has finally been addressed for this team....if you call signing a 40 year old quarterback who just had surgery and admits he still has a tear in his right rotator cuff, addressing the issue.

Excuse me, I've got to go tell my teenager to cut the dang grass!

And So It Begins

2009-05-25T07:36:00.000-07:00

The journey begins tomorrow.

Ok. Let's be clear. The journey really began some time ago. I guess it was when I signed up November 3, 2008 for Ironman Florida 2009. Or was it 3 1/2 years ago when I rode a stationary bike at the gym for the first time with the idea that I'd like to, some day, try the sport of triathlon? Of course, no one knew my plan at the time but me. I didn't want that crazy idea seeing the light of day....at that point. Three plus years and 12 triathlons later, the journey begins tomorrow.

Or did it start January 25, 2009 when I started a 16-week training plan for the Memphis in May Olympic distance race. I do MiM every year as kind of a kick-off to the season. I followed a plan this year not just for the race itself but to get my body prepared for the 'A' race training. And that journey begins tomorrow.

Tomorrow starts week 1 of 24 of my Ironman Florida 2009 training plan. I feel prepared. I feel ready. I feel excited and anxious at the same time. I want to do well. I plan to train hard and consistently.

As I look around my office there are signs of an endurance lifestyle that serve as both reminders and motivation....

...from the two wheels that carry me 112 miles...

...to the shoes that are under me for 26.2....

...to the nutrition that helps sustain my body to go the distance...

...and the reminder that hangs above my office door.

That's my dog Maggie. She doesn't really fit the story but there she was while I was taking pictures. So there's that.

Anyway, the journey begins tomorrow. I'll wake up a little after 5 a.m. and head to the pool for the first of many workouts on my way to becoming an Ironman x 2. I know how far my body has to take me...140.6 miles. Now I want to find out how fast it can take me there!

Sleep? What Sleep?

2009-03-09T07:13:00.000-07:00

I'm lying in bed with the window open, the ceiling fan going round and round creating a nice breeze in the room. I love sleeping with the window open. My wife doesn't. Too much noise, she says. You do seem to hear every cricket chirp, car drive by and dog bark three blocks away. But, I still like it.

Anyway, I'm ready to doze off but I'm thinking about my swim workout at 5:30 the next morning: "long strokes", "elbows high", "swim in the tube", "got to improve my stroke", "feel the water", "I'm doing a ladder to 400 and back in my main set and a total of 2500"....okay, I'm not dozing off anymore. There's much work to be done. Too much work. Ironaman Florida is in November! 2.4 miles! Dang, why do I feel that knot in the pit of my stomach like it's pre-swim race morning? You know, everyone's standing around in their wetsuits, waiting, shifting from side-to-side. No one's saying a word but everyone has that "look" on their faces. It's a look of anxiety, fear and excitement all mixed together.

An Ironman race will do that to you. It takes on a life of its own. This one was birthed November 2, 2008, when I signed up for the 2009 race. It grows up fast, too fast. IM Florida 2009 is racing towards adolescence. After all, it is March. I'm in week 7 of my training plan for Memphis in May (an Olympic distance race in, of all places, Memphis. I know, strange). This is my training plan which will get me ready for "THE" training plan which will get me ready for "THE" race November 7, 2009. That training plan begins May 24th and by then IMFL '09 will be well into middle age! But, there's nothing wrong with that because so am I.

All that and I was just trying to doze off under the breeze and the sound of a dog barking in the distance. But there's no time for sleep even though my body craves it. IMFL '09 grows older by the day. There's much work to be done, a long way to go and a short time to get there.

Micsellaneous

2009-01-25T05:51:00.001-08:00

It's been weeks since my last post.

Since then we've zipped past the holidays, which are now in the rear view mirror, we've started a new year, inaugurated a new President of the United States and I've started my training for the 2009 season.

Speaking of the 2009 season, I'm planning a big one. It's still a little up in the air but I've signed up and paid for two races so far. I'd like to do 4 total but I'm a little undecided on the other two.

Let's start with the two I'm signed up for: Memphis in May on May 17th and Ironman Florida on November 7th. The other two I'm thinking about are the Ozark Valley tri in NW Arkansas towards the end of June and I need to get in a half before Florida. My most likely options are the Redman half in Oklahoma City or the Prairieman half in the Dallas area. Both races are in early September which is perfect timing.

IM Florida is obviously my "A" race. But I'm not selling MiM short because I'd like to do well there....say a sub-2:20 with a stretch goal of sub-2:15 (it's Olympic distance). So my plan right now is to peak twice, MiM & IM Florida.

My training plan has begun for Memphis. It started this past week. I really should be starting this week but I'll be in Orlando on business which makes it difficult to swim and bike. So I started a week early and plan to run each morning in the land of Disney.

Training totals for the first week of my 16-week Olympic distance training plan: 5,000 yards of swimming, 3 hrs 25 minutes of bike time and 2:05 of running. My peak training week for IM Florida is 11,175 yards of swimming, 10 hours on the bike and 4:05 of running.

I can't wait.

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-24T19:55:00.000-08:00

And Happy New Year!

It has been a year of tragedy, tears, laughter and joy. It has been a year filled with challenges and blessings.

I am very grateful to be blessed the way I am. I have a wonderful family and wonderful friends.

I am constantly humbled and in awe of what I have been entrusted with.

I am also humbled and in awe of the Rock of my salvation.

I hope blessings rain down on you and your family for the rest of this year and throughout 2009!

It's A Wrap!

2008-12-21T11:40:00.000-08:00

Ya know, through it all, memories were created and isn't that what you're trying to do on a vacation? Without question there will be memories from this ski trip. As a matter of fact, it might be one of the most memorable.

Friday was a big day filled with shopping, skiing and plenty of food. Will seems to be a natural with skis on...he made three runs on one of the junior slopes and didn't fall once! I wish I could say the same thing.

Lilly Kate finished strong as well. After being a little frustrated early she became very determined, and when LK's determined, look out! She really got the hang of the slow-plow and the turn and stop. She was thrilled and therefore, so was I!

Ashley made three runs as well, fell only once. I made 8 runs on the day, three in the morning and 5 Friday afternoon/evening. Yes, night skiing. I did my first blue, the Spring Dipper. It was all fun-and-games early as I stayed on my skis. But at the end it was long and steep to the bottom. I bit it twice! Very humbling, but fun. And pretty exhausting.

After the 8th and final run of the day it was off to the shower and then pizza.

In the end, despite the multiple trips to resort medical clinic, the oxygen level below that of the Marlboro Man, Will's multiple deposits in the white-bowl-of-truth and an I.V. to get him back up to par, it really was a fun trip. We spent time together (a lot of it in the car! - we drove all the way back Saturday), we laughed together and in the end created a lot of memories.

Now, call Hallmark!

Final Day Redemption

2008-12-19T12:41:00.000-08:00

This vacation was down big mid-way through the 4th quarter with little chance to come back. But after a quick touchdown we tried the onside kick....AND RECOVERED!

Last night Will was still a little out of it so he and I stayed home. But the rest of the clan went out to eat with the entire group. That was a big first down...and they go out of bounds to stop the clock without using one of our two times-out!

This morning, Alex went back to the doc to check his blood oxygen level. And as the shirt suggests, yes, he does have oxygen again.

He measured 96...out of the woods and a far cry from the 67 he measured Wednesday morning. The doc even said he could ski today if he wanted....he didn't want. He said he didn't want to feel bad again. I can't say that I blame him.

Will is much better today as well...

...looks like he just saw a ghost...but it appears to have been a funny one....

...a nice 18-yard reception down the middle of the field. A first down and we burn a time-out.

I made three runs down Schoolmarm...fell only once. The third time down I deviated from the normal route and went down Dercum's Dash which is a little higher up the mountain and much steeper than the normal end to the 'Marm'. I tried the Dash a couple of days earlier and fell three times. This morning I didn't fall at all...

...another first down and we're in the redzone....there's under a minute to play and we have one time out...

...this afternoon I'm going to try my first blue...tick, tick, tick...the clock is winding down. Will this vacation come out a winner? Only time will tell...tick, tick, tick!

I have high hopes!

Wally World

2008-12-19T08:11:00.000-08:00

At least Keystone was OPEN...

...and there was snow on the ground.

But there are a lot of similarities between this vaca and every vaca Chevy Chase has ever been on.

It's probably not good when you have a standing reservation at the resort medical clinic and they welcome you as if you were Norm at Cheers.

What was thought to be a cold which developed into possible bronchitis was actually High Altitude Pulmonary Edema (HAPE) for Alex. As it turns out his blood oxygen level was lower than that of a smoker with emphysema. I told him to lay off the Camel non-filters. He's going back to the clinic for the third day in a row to get checked again. He's been on oxygen since Wednesday. He hasn't skied since Tuesday.

Will threw up 7 times Wednesday night into Thursday morning. He went to the same clinic and ultimately was put on an I.V. because he was dehydrated and spent the better part of 4 hours there trying to get him back up to speed. He had fever the rest of the day and stayed in bed.

Poor Will thought his mother and I were laughing at him while he was paying homage to the porcelain god...no doubt it was poor timing, but at that point it was uncontrollable.

Hey, at least I didn't brandish a gun running wildly throughout the resort or we didn't drag a dog on it's leash from the back of our van for hours along the highway and I certainly haven't unleashed a profanity laced tirade in front of our entire group of family and friends.

Now if the distant relatives pull up in a Winnebago....I'm out!

Ski School

2008-12-16T12:42:00.000-08:00

My last post was headlined "-4!!!", which pales in comparison to what the temperature was as we headed for ski school early Monday morning. Yeah, I know it's kind of blurry, but it does read -18! -18 degrees. I don't think I've ever been in -18 degree temperatures before...if I have, I don't remember it.

It sounds crazy but once we got outside it didn't really feel that cold. Our instructor had us moving alot so maybe that was it.

The kids had their own instructor. Alex, Ashley and I were in a group of 7. We learned the basics and took baby steps. The biggest obstacle was learning how to get on and off the ski lift! We all mastered it on the second go around. Both of our instructors were great, very patient and encouraging...two key ingredients to being a good instructor.

After class was over our instructor, Bert, was kind enough to take us on our first green run. It was a two-mile run and I gotta tell ya, a little intimidating. Hey, I don't mind saying it. We made it down and felt good.

Day one in the books.

-4!!!

2008-12-14T17:41:00.001-08:00

We've arrived in Keystone for our much anticipated ski adventure! The picture to the right is out the back door of our condo....a true winter wonderland.

It's beautiful...and also frigid. Right now as I sit here and type it's -4 degrees. I will say there's no wind here right now, so this -4 degrees is much warmer than what we drove through to get here.

We drove it in two days. First stop was Hays, Kansas, otherwise known as Siberia! As we drove into town I think the wind was blowing 127 miles-an-hour from the south. It was 64-degrees. The very next morning it was blowing 135 miles-an-hour from the north. It was 19-degrees. We drove for about 5-hours through the most desolate country I've been in in quite some time. The temperature actually dropped to -1. Traveling west towards Denver I felt like I had to steer the car on a perpetual right turn just to keep going straight....that's how hard the wind was blowing. Tumbleweed after tumbleweed rolled in front of us across the road. At one point I think I saw a small cow do the same. It got kind of hard to see as the snow fall accumulated and, of course, blew sideways. I thought the car was going go the way of the tumbleweed!

We actually made it to Denver and the clouds began to break revealing these tall sky scrapers and even taller mountains. Majestic! Traffic was slow but sure as we made it to Keystone. Well worth the trip....

...a trip made a lot more peaceful by the ole DVD players hanging on the seats! Thank you Fry family for letting us borrow them. How do you repay peace and serenity?

The condo is very nice and cozy, just ask Lilly Kate. The weather outside is frightful, but the fire is, indeed, so delightful. As is the wifi giving us the opportunity to check the all important fantasy football scores.

Tomorrow it's off to ski school. Is it possible to become olympic caliber in 4-hours? My other question is, where's the nearest hospital?

Fun CrossTraining

2008-12-04T05:45:00.000-08:00

First of all it was just time to get that cheating triathlete off the top of my blog....I was tired of looking at him and frankly, while still no less disturbing, the story has grown ice cold, not to mention as stale as a bag of Doritos that your 16-year-old left open and undiscovered in the game room on the "other" side of the couch!

Now to the topic at hand. For the first time in my life I'm going snow skiing. The same is true for everyone in my family with the exception of my wife. She's been several times.

We're all excited! And ready to go. The Town & Country Touring begins its tour a week from this Saturday as we roll towards Colorado. Keystone to be exact. Everything's ready to go. We have a place to stay (50ft. from the ski lift!), we have ski clothes (courtesy of family and friends. Thank you very much family and friends!), we have our lift tickets and we have our health insurance!

We've been planning this trip for quite some time and my wife has done a fantastic job of researching, investigating, negotiating, confirming, securing, internet surfing, reassuring, purchasing and exhausting every possible thought and/or need we might have...wow, I'm exhausted just at the thought of all she's already accomplished! Well done!

On to Keystone. We've been there before. In the summertime. It looks a lot different. I did some surfing of my own and found some cool pictures online of the Keystone area. It looks very snowy. We're definitely going to have to try the ice skating on the outside skating rink. No doubt a few might want to go on the horse-drawn sleigh ride. And of course.....skiing.

As I mentioned, I've never been skiing before. Everyone assures me that I'm going to love it. I anticipate loving it. Everyone says I'll get the hang of it in no-time. I anticipate getting the hang of it in no-time. Just to make sure, the entire family's getting educated with a half-day ski school. Let's get some guidance and practice on the user friendly gentle slopes.

Now to some random thoughts. I looked on-line at the ski report for the Keystone area and I see they have a 25 inch base with 4 inches of snow within the past 24 hours and 7 inches in the past 48. Wow, that's incredible! I have no idea what that means! Is that good? Is that mediocre? Should I be saying, "Wow, that's horrible!"? I don't know much about this kind of stuff, but I'm pretty sure I know two things at this point: 1) there's going to be snow on the ground that my family can ski over & 2) as long as they have these things in this bottom picture I'm pretty sure there's going to be snow on the ground that my family can ski over. That closes the book on random thought number one.

Random thought number two. As I mentioned above, thanks to various family and friends, we'll be fitted with some fantastic ski clothing. I used to play a lot of golf. I would play a couple times a week and play in a few tournaments a year. I remember scoping out the competition on the driving range before the tournaments would begin. Most of the guys would have the latest equipment, the nicest bags, clubs and they would always dress the part of a low-handicap golfer....and then tee-time would come ultimately confirming the old addage that most golfers look better than they play. The same holds true for triathletes as well. The same will hold true for me on the slopes in less than a week-and-a-half...boy am I going to look good! Skiing?...eh, not so much!

Price of Intergrity and Character

2008-11-03T15:37:00.000-08:00

I saw this picture on a triathlon website I frequent often and it confirmed a story I heard over the weekend while volunteering at Ironman Florida. You hear grandiose stories all the time and wonder if they're true. Like the one about the guy who supposedly forgot to put anything on under his wetsuit, much to the shock and horror of both he and the wetsuit peeler! Some of the stories are folklore and some, unfortunately, turn out to be true, like the one about this guy in the photo at the left.

You'll notice in his left hand are a pair of fins. Some will tell you they think wetsuits shouldn't be worn because they provide too much of an advantage. Wetsuits help prevent hypothermia. They also help with buoyancy by keeping the hips and lower body on top of the water helping prevent drag increasing swim speed and efficiency. Wetsuits are more of an advantage for more challenged swimmers, like me, but they are completely legal according to the rules depending on water temperature.

However, there is no question as to the legality of fins. They are illegal. As are webbed gloves. As are motorized bicycles. As are MP3 players. As is doing one loop on a two loop run. It's about integrity and character. Apparently absent from this guys make-up. He sold his integrity and character for a few minutes faster on his swim time. I wonder if it was worth it to him. It's akin to getting a couple dollars too much change at a quick stop....and keeping it. It's not the most egregious of acts, but very revealing at the same time.

The spirit of triathlon is that it's an individual sport. You're competing with yourself to do the best you can. You push yourself. You challenge yourself. At mile 96 on the bike your inner voice screams, "KEEP GOING" even though your body's telling you to stop. This guy cheated himself in the race within himself.

I don't condone but understand top professional athletes taking performance enhancing drugs in hopes of gaining that edge. It's certainly cheating but I understand the reasons. There's a lot on the line for them financially and sometimes it's the difference between making it or not. Again, I don't condone or approve...just understand. I don't understand this guys logic. I don't see a Kona qualifier or a professional triathlete here. I see a guy who entered an Ironman race in hopes of achieving an unbelievable feat....swimming 2.4 miles, riding a bike 112 miles and running a marathon....in one day...in hopes of being able to call himself an Ironman the rest of his life!

Justice would be served if this guy was disqualified. I don't know if he was or not. But then again, as I think about it, it doesn't really matter because for the rest of his life he'll know that he cheated. In this day and time of high priced everything the price of his integrity and character was dirt cheap. It was on sale. Bargain basement prices. A few minutes faster on his swim time. I wonder if it was worth it for him?

It could be worse

2008-10-24T09:11:00.000-07:00

Just in case you think you're having a bad day.........

STRANGE BREW

2008-10-20T17:17:00.001-07:00

Sports can sure make for strange fan-fellows! Being a proclaimed and well documented Sooner fan I have a keen eye on the recently released BCS standings. The first such standings of the 2008 season.

Of course, had the Sooners not lost to the hated Longhorns two weeks ago they would've, surely, been perched atop the list. Yeah, yeah, I know, they might not have been and don't call me Shirley...! But, the fact is they did lose to the burnt orange and they don't sit atop the standings.....OU is 4th. Not a bad place to be. Oklahoma is the highest rated one loss team. In order, the standings read: 1) Texas; 2) Alabama; 3) Penn State; 4) Oklahoma & 5) USC. Just for good measure (because they're a part of the equation as well) 6) is Oklahoma State.

Now, obviously, you don't have to be #1 to get into the championship game, you just have to be in the top-2. That's do-able for the Sooners. First of all they have to take care of their own bid-ness! Not necessarily a given considering they have Okie St. and Texas Tech left on the schedule, both in the top-10 of the BCS.

Secondly, it's going to require a couple of teams in front of the crimson and cream to lose. It's up to teams that I'm not particularly fond of to make that happen. I'm not a big fan of Okie State but I'm a one-day fan of theirs hoping they'll knock off Texas this weekend. With regards to Oklahoma State I will admit it's hard to have a distaste for them when that runs too deep....they just don't win enough! I do have a distaste for LSU and their arrogant coach Les Miles...but for one Saturday, here's hoping they knock off the Crimson Tide. It's one instance where Les is more! And finally, why is it that after losing two national championship games in humiliating fashion in consecutive seasons the Ohio State Buckeyes seem to continue to get a pass on being locked out of the BCS title game? For that reason the Bucks are on my "distaste" list (I'm certain they're concerned!). So this Saturday night I'm all scarlet and silver at the 'shoe against JoPa's Nitanny Lions.

Presto! It's all figured out. Sooners in the championship game against....I don't care (although it would be cool to face off against the Longhorns again). Now here's to hoping they don't embarrass themselves once they get there!

26.2

2008-10-18T07:40:00.001-07:00

Saturday mornings are great! There's no job responsibilities, don't have to take the kids to school and I get up early enough that's it's all quiet on the Western Front (or at least the downstairs portion of the house) before the kids get up and shatter the stillness.

I usually brew a pot of coffee, sit down in front of the laptop and browse...check my usual sites...and ponder.

The spinning wheel of pondering thoughts this morning stopped on the Little Rock Marathon. It's a well organized race. One that continues to grow in popularity and stature. It has the biggest finishers medal on the planet. Urban legend has it that smaller framed runners have toppled over after having the ribbon-clad medal anchored around their necks while crossing the finish line in exhaustion. Yet, more material for "Myth-Busters" should someone decide to send it in.

For me the LRM represents the Great Underestimate of '08! I ran the 2008 edition of the race in 4:42:51! It was a little embarrassing for me considering that I ran a 4:57:and change marathon after swimming 2.4 miles and biking 112 at Ironman Wisconsin in September of 2007. That's a difference of less than 15-minutes!

It is certainly my own fault! I can blame no one else. I didn't respect the distance as a stand alone challenge. I mean, really, 26.2 miles is nothing compared to 140.6, right? Of course, I certainly said all the right things and thought the right thoughts, but when it came to training....I didn't train the right way. And I paid the price walking a large part of the second half of the race on my way to a blistering 4:42+! I got what I deserved.

After the race I said I'd probably not run another marathon unless it was part of an Ironman. Well, I changed my mind. I'm running the LRM again this coming March. I want to see what I can do when I train the appropriate way. I've got a training plan and I'm already into it. My goal for 3.15.09 is to run a sub-4. My stretch goal is to knock 1-hour off my '08 time: 3:42:51! I wonder if it's do-able?

What's been your experience? Is it possible to knock an hour off your marathon time from one year to the next? If you read this blog and have an opinion I'd like to read it. If so, what made you successful? I need all the help I can get.

RED RIVER SHOOTOUT

2008-10-09T10:17:00.001-07:00

It's burnt orange and crimson and cream. It's the real start of the college football season in the Big XII. It's Oklahoma-Texas weekend at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. It's a big game this year like it is every year. Oklahoma's #1 and Texas is 5. The loser will be on the outside lookin' in...of the Big XII Championship...of the National Championship. For the winner it just means that they're not the loser....profound, I know. But for the winner it just means that they continue to move on in this bizarre world that is college football. The winner doesn't win anything except the game....which is a big thing. It's much worse for the loser than it is big for the winner.

Both teams are undefeated. Both teams have top rated quarterbacks. Both teams will face their toughest test of the year to date. Oklahoma has played a ranked team (TCU) this year so far and Texas has not. The focal point for each offense is the QB. OU has an array of targets to throw to. Texas is similar. The Longhorns' QB is a bit more of a dual threat than OU's although I'm sure Mack Brown doesn't want him to take off running too much lest one of OU's linebackers takes off his head...or causes his knee to buckle in an unnatural way.

OU's defense has been pretty tough so far despite numerous question marks coming into the season. Texas' defense has been stout as well. Both offenses have put an ungodly amount of points on the board.

The biggest match-up of the game, and the difference in the game, in my opinion, is between OU's passing game and Texas' secondary. If there is a weakness in the Longhorns' defense it's their backfield.

In full disclosure I am a Sooner fan. Have been since I knew what college football was all about. I've been to many OU football games. But, never this one at the Cotton Bowl. I'll be watching on the small screen.

In 9 games against Texas Bob Stoops is 6 - 3. I predict that come Saturday afternoon it'll be 7 - 3. Shock, I know.

Olympic pose

2008-10-07T08:06:00.001-07:00

The final race of my triathlon season was this past weekend in Dallas...The US Open Triathlon. Sounds pretty big and official. It actually was a pretty big race in the triathlon world. It was a championship event for pros and amateurs alike (guess which is which in the photo above?!!).

It's really a cool event from the standpoint that it's a who's-who in the pro ranks. First let me start by saying it was an Olympic distance event (1500m swim, 25 mile bike and a 6.2 mile run). As the distance name suggests it's the distance they use for the Olympics....and Olympians were there including Hunter Kemper pictured above with that amateur. Kemper didn't actually race in the event, his season was over, he was just there to support it. But Matt Reed (Olympian) was there as was Andy Potts, Greg Bennett (winner on the day and winner of the series), his wife Laura (Olympian), Sarah Haskins (Olympian), Becky Lavelle, Mirinda Carfrae and Joanna Zeiger to name a few. These are the top names in short course racing. Some will compete this weekend in Kona for the Ironman World Championship (Potts, Zeiger).

It's one of the reasons I like competing in triathlons. In no other sport can you perform with the best in the world, on the same day, on the same course, at the same time (well, ok, they were way in front of me, so technically it wasn't AT the same time but it was, well, very ....ish-like). It's fun to watch them perform and then be able to say, "I competed with them that day." It's also fun to watch them prepare for the race. They each have their own routine.

Also, these pros just look different than everybody else. There's no question when you see a pro, even if you don't know who they are, you know they're not your average amateur. They're very athletic looking, skinny with zero body fat.

These pros are also very approachable and friendly. Hunter Kemper (finished 7th in the Olympics) couldn't have been nicer. He asked my name, talked with me a little, signed an autograph (there's just something about a 44-year-old man asking for an autograph - I don't know, it's weird) and took a picture with me. Nice guy. As a thank you I gave him a Big Mac, some fries and a shake and told him to put some meat on his bones!

Seriously, though, being that thin is one of the sacrifices of being a triathlete at that level. You have to carry as little weight as possible yet maintain enough muscle mass to power you through an event. Being that skinny is also a by product of endurance training. These athletes take in a lot of calories everyday....they just burn a lot as well. You remember the story about Michael Phelps. He consumes between 8,000 - 10,000 calories a day! Yet he has the body that he does. Same with these triathletes.

Back to Kemper for a second and then I'm finished. During the course of the conversation the Olympics, obviously, came up and we (my brother-in-law, Trey, was with me, got his picture taken with him as well, and an autograph {it's equally weird for a 39-year-old to ask for an autograph}) asked him what his plans were for the rest of the season. He said his season was over and that he's having hernia surgery next week. Said it's been bothering him for a while. The guy was having hernia issues during the Olympics and still finished 7th...pretty impressive!

Good luck Hunter. Thanks for the conversation. You've got two new fans.

Remembering Jerry

2008-10-03T06:23:00.000-07:00

My friend, and everyone's friend, Jerry Anderson passed away at about 4:25 pm pacific time in Santa Barbara, California, after a short but hard-fought battle against a very aggressive form of cancer. His wife, Candy, was by his side the entire time. She is a true warrior and saint.

Jerry was a fantastic husband for Candy and father to Natalie and Joshua. He was also a great friend and an incredibly successful professional. He was very humble and unassuming yet at the same time he was very tenacious and diligent. Those traits served him well whether at home on the weekends relaxing, in the office taking care of business, playing college baseball back in the day at Arkansas State, racing in a triathlon or riding his bike 100-miles. He was a true competitor yet incredibly humble about his successes...and there were many.

Of all his successes, though, he would tell you that being married to Candy for 18 years and raising Natalie and Joshua was his greatest joy. They are a great family of which I'm blessed to know and enjoy a relationship with.

I am sad today. Very sad. It doesn't seem right for a young man, a vibrant man be taken so early in life with so much to do in the future. I will not be moved, however. My faith will not waiver. In fact it has grown stronger during this time. But, I am very sad.

I'm very thankful that Jerry didn't have to suffer through a long, drawn out illness. I believe the Lord knew that wasn't Jerry's style. He wouldn't have wanted to be the center of attention and he wouldn't have wanted people focusing on him. He would always prefer the focus be put on others. That's what he did in life.

If you haven't seen Candy's blog I encourage you to visit the site. It's a true source of encouragement and strength (jerryanderson.blogspot.com). I will end with what she said Jerry would say, and rightfully so, by quoting 2 Timothy 4: 7-8 - "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day - and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing."

Jerry Anderson

2008-09-27T10:06:00.000-07:00

Jerry Anderson is a friend of mine. Our wives are best of friends, our daughters are best friends. We lived next door to each other for many years when we were having and raising kids. I look back on those days as some of the best!

Jerry is in a Santa Barbara hospital in the CCU fighting hard against cancer. A month ago his arm was hurting and he went in to have it checked out. He had a malignant tumor there, as well as in his leg. Now it's in his lungs. The doctors are baffled. The best oncologists in Los Angeles say they have NEVER seen a case like his before. That's astonishing. The weren't able to diagnose it for a few weeks. Then they came back and said it was a germ cell sarcoma, much like what Lance Armstrong had. They say that it's a cell Jerry was born with and it manifested itself this way at this time. They say that this type of cancer presents sometimes in avid cyclists. You certainly can describe Lance that way and Jerry has a love of cycling as well. He was supposed to do a century ride today.

There have been peaks and valleys the past 14 days since he's been in the hospital. I'm boldly praying that the Lord will heal Jerry's body and allow him to raise his children and love on his grandchildren. I'm also praying for his wife, Candy, that the Lord will give her strength and a discernment that is very clear as she makes many decisions during this time.

I've posted a link to the website where Candy is providing regular updates. It's on the right side of this page, just scroll down a little. If you're a praying person stop by the site. You can leave a comment to let his family know that you've prayed for them. I know they would appreciate the encouragement. The Lord is good and it's amazing how he's already worked in this situation.

US Open Triathlon

2008-09-24T12:41:00.001-07:00

It's less than two weeks until my last race of the season, the US Open Triathlon in Dallas. What a great name for a triathlon. In times past I've been an avid golfer and so now I can truly say that I've participated in a US Open.

This race is the culmination of the LifeTime Fitness triathlon series. There are 5 races in the series and the race in Dallas is the 5th and final for the season. Should be some good pros at the race. Last year Greg Bennett won all 5 races and got this huge bonus, $500,000.00 I think, for doing so.

I'm really looking forward to this event. I've been training hard and I'm going for a personal best at the olympic distance. Well, actually, I'm going for more than a personal best...I'm shooting for a sub-2:20. My best time to date was at Memphis in May in 2007 where I did 2:31.

Race day is October 5th.

Twist

2008-09-21T05:10:00.000-07:00

I've thrown a twist into the scores this week by adding one high school score...pretty amazing score though.

Scores

2008-09-14T05:35:00.000-07:00

OK, I said I'd do one obscure score a week and no big time colleges. Hey, it's my blog and my obscure score....thingy...

First of all, one could argue if Mississippi State is a big time school and that score was just too fun not to include. Secondly there were just too many good scores to recognize just one.

Maybe Defiance is going to be defiant after all by defying those who want them to win!

NEW FEATURE

2008-09-07T18:50:00.001-07:00

New feature on the right side of the page. In honor of college football I'm going to post the obscure score of the week. The scores are going to represent a lot of different things. I may pick a blow out of epic proportions or I may pick a couple of obscure colleges or very close battles in overtime or some pretty intense rivalries from small colleges. One thing I will not pick is colleges from big time programs (unless it involves the Sooners rippin' on another team or coming up with a big win...however, that wouldn't be obscure because that happens frequently!). Big time programs get enough publicity as it is.

So, come back each week for my obscure score of the week. Because it's a special week, the opening week of the new special, I have two scores for ya.

Trying to explain the unexplainable

2008-08-16T09:02:00.000-07:00

A good friend took her own life yesterday.....

It's very hard to make sense of an act that makes no sense at all. You search for the reasons, you try to explain things, maybe even rationalize. But none of it works. None of it solves anything. None of it helps you get past it.

The only thing I know to do is be in the presence of my friend, her husband, and his kids. I can tell him I love him. I can cry with him. I can sit silently with him. I can pray with him.

If you are in contact with this blog...please pray for the Campbells.

A BUFFALO PR

2008-07-19T07:11:00.000-07:00

It was my third race of the season, but my first that I didn't receive the nasty three letters...D-N-F. I actually got a time for this one and as it turns out it was a PR at the Half-Iron distance.

The race was the Buffalo Springs Lake 70.3. Trey, Bird and I made the drive to the West Texas town of Lubbock. I know, you're thinking "LUBBOCK!", where do you swim in Lubbock? It's actually a pretty area. The name of the race gives it away. It's a nice canyon area (by the way, the canyon makes for a pretty tough bike leg....more on that later) with a smaller lake called...yes...Buffalo Springs Lake.

The Lord blessed us all on this day with a reprieve from the blistering temperatures that usually exist in West Texas at the end of June. The high was in the lower 80's with significant cloud cover and a steady, light rain for most of the bike leg.

The swim was a PR at this distance as well at 41:17. I'd still like to cut time off this effort in the future for sure. The bike split was 3:07:53...for an average of 17.9. Seems a bit slow but the hills in and out of the canyon made for some tough climbs. I was happy with the split. My run was 2:15:03. Tack on the transition times for a total of 6:10:41.

My first half time was 6:29:33. Less than two years later I've cut 19 minutes off that time. My next goal is to do a sub-6.

COOL SUMMER

2008-07-19T06:34:00.001-07:00

It's been a pretty cool summer from a baseball standpoint for my oldest, Alex (and for me too for that matter). The photo above is of the Junior Deputy Major Division Champions for 2008. It was taken after the final game of the season in which we needed to win to secure the championship! As the smiles (and fingers) would indicate, we won the game and championship. A brief description of the last inning of the last game is in order because it's filled with the kind of drama expected from a championship caliber game:

The above photo is of the last pitch of the game and season. Obviously it was successful, but also stressful, says the coach in the corner of the dugout who couldn't watch.

It all came down to the bottom of the 7th. Reds up 5 - 2. The inning started innocently enough as the lead off batter rolled one down the line at first. Alex jumped off the hill, hustled over and threw him out for the first out. Alex walked the next batter. Then Mason McKay made a nice play at third on the next batter getting the force at second. Two outs one on. The drama wasn't over, however. After a walk and a fielder's choice play the bases were loaded with two outs.

Next to the plate was the Braves' best hitter. He'd tripled earlier in the game and hit a two run homer the night before. With bases loaded, two outs, and the Reds holding a 5 - 2 lead this game wasn't over! Alex quickly got him down 0 - 2 throwing two great pitches. The next pitch was in a great location trying to get him to chase it....ball one. By this time, I was in the very inside corner of the dugout by the water fountain. I couldn't see the batter.....I didn't want to....I was a nervous wreck! The next two pitches were good pitches and were fouled off....Alex was still way ahead at 1 - 2. At this point I'll say that while this was the Braves' best hitter and he'd done well at the plate as described above....Alex owned him on this night striking him out two of the three times he faced him leading up to this at bat....and he'd done it on good curve balls. Then on pitch 109...Russell Mays, who'd called an excellent game all night, with the championship on the line, called for the "uncle charlie" one more time. I saw Alex wind up, throw the pitch....I never got a visual confirmation of what happened at the plate....but it was obvious that the good curve got him again when I saw Alex slap his leg with his glove and pump his fist. I heard our stands erupt and saw our players begin to celebrate. It was a thing of beauty! Alex pitched a complete game for his best game of the year!

But the fun didn't stop with league baseball. Alex also played on his high school summer team and had fun with that as well. Being a freshman he played most of his game with the JV team but he probably had his most fun playing with the varsity guys. The highlight came in a varsity tournament at the local college. After a couple of games the starting 3rd baseman had to go out of town. Alex got the tap on the shoulder to take his spot. He did himself proud, played very well, caught the head coach's eye and earned a lot of respect from the rest of the varsity guys as someone who could deliver. In the semi-final game he went 2 - 3 with a double, single and three RBI, made some nice defensive plays and helped his team get to the championship game!

The championship game was the real treat. These guys got to experience playing a game at Dickey-Stephens park...the home of the AA Arkansas Travelers. It was the first non-professional game to ever be played at the park. They finished second in this tourney against some great teams from a 4 state area.

MUSINGS FROM THE WORLD OF SPORTS

2008-06-11T06:10:00.000-07:00

***Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 600th home run earlier this week putting him in an exclusive club of 6...In order: Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Sammy Sosa, Ken Griffey, Jr. Pretty impressive list of names. Griffey owned the '90s. From 1991 - 2000 he averaged 40 home runs and 113 RBIs....averaged! Those numbers include '91 when he hit just 22 and '95 when he played only 72 games due to injury and hit 17. It also includes the strike shortened season of '94 when he played only 111 games but still hit 40. It's too bad that since 2000 he's missed the equivalent of 2 1/2 seasons due to injury. There's no telling where he'd be on that list had he been able to play those games. Considering the fact that Hank called Griffey after he hit his 600th I'm sure he'd rather have "The Kid" ahead of him on that list then that other guy!

***The legendary Jim McKay passed away this past Saturday. From the Olympics to the British and U.S. Opens to the Wide World of Sports McKay's voice is synonymous with sports. He covered them all and did it well. The Olympics won't be the same without him.

***The Celtics are going for their first championship since 1986....that's a long dry spell for a franchise that defined the NBA and dynasties.

***There's the BCS bowl season in football and March Madness in basketball, but one of the most exciting seasons in all of college sports is upon us. The College World Series kicks off later this week in Omaha, Nebraska. Although I've never been to see it personally I've watched plenty of games on the tube and it's one of the most exciting, action-packed, enthusiastic events in sports. It seems like no lead is ever safe and the crowd is always into it.

PFFFFfffffssssssss.......and various other sounds

2008-06-02T05:40:00.000-07:00

ZA,ZA,ZAzzzippppppppp, Ka-thump/Ka-thump/Ka-thump/Ka-thump/etc., KLUNK-klunk-bumpalump (x2), sandwiched by a couple of PFFFFffffsssssssssss's!

If you've ever thought of triathlons being filled with a bunch of sounds........the above sounds are not ones you want to hear. Come to think of it, it's pretty hard to spell sounds....try it sometime!

OK. Some explanations are in order. Following the explanations no further descriptions of how my race at the Route 66 Olympic in El Reno, Oklahoma should be needed.

With 5 minutes to race start I'm pulling my wetsuit onto my shoulders and reaching back and grabbing the string attached to the zipper that helps zip it up.....I get a ZA,ZA,ZA as the zipper locks a few teeth together with some resistance....then all of a sudden....zzzzzziiiiipppppppppppppp. Well, now, that was way to easy and fast. Sure enough, the zipper broke! Three minutes to race start and I'm takin' off my wetsuit trying to fix the zipper! A couple of nice volunteers see me and come over to help but to no avail. We had to put the wetsuit "down" right there on the track for everyone to see. Now I'm the only one not in the water and the guy on the loud speaker says, "wait, here's one more swimmer". That would be me.

The name of the triathlon helps explain the Ka-thump/Ka-thump/Ka-thump. The race is the Route-66 as in the OLD, famous, Route 66 highway that stretches across America. Stories are told about it, songs have been written about it and now curse words have been heaped upon it. You see, this stretch of Route-66 is still the original road. Concrete road. With some not so skillfully patched portions of the road. Every 20 yards or so the sections of concrete are separated making a distinct Ka-thump sound as one passes over. So, for 16 of the 25 mile bike portion it's a constant Ka-thump, Ka-thump, Ka-thump and on and on and so forth and so forth. It's enough to drive you nuts all by itself. Except not only does all the Ka-thumping drive you crazy, it also can, and did, cost me dearly in more ways than one.

That brings me to the KLUNK-klunk-bumpalump. The first one was my water bottle bouncing out of my holder on the back of my seat and landing on OLD Route-66. I wasn't the only one losing a water bottle. That particular portion of OLD Route-66 was like a graveyard for water bottles that day. I'm not quite sure what was worse...all the Ka-thumping or avoiding all the water bottles on the road. Anyway, the second KLUNK-klunk-bumpalump was my salt capsule container bouncing to the concrete. It escaped from my bento box while trying to down a GU.

By now I'm sure you can guess what the PFFFFffffssssssss represents. Yep, in the famous words of Howard Cossell (with some variation) "Down goes the tube, Down goes the tube". I'm flying down this hill and at the bottom is one of those not-so-skillfully patch portions of OLD Route-66. It's asphalt with about a 3-inch lip. I hit it doing about 35 - 40 mph. PFFFFffffssssssss is the next sound I hear. My first flat in an actual race. The silver lining in this thing is that I get to practice changing a flat. I proceed to do so and in the meantime I watch everyone zip right by me. I'm not quite sure because sweat ran into the corners of my eyes but I thought I actually saw a three-toed sloth pass me at that point. Anyway, I got it fixed, got back on and headed on my way passing some of those same folks who passed me earlier (no sign of the sloth). I'm back up to speed with a good cadence Ka-thumping my way back to the transition when.....PFFFFffffssssssss.....AGAIN. I usually watch my language but it was at this moment that curse words were heaped upon OLD Route-66.

I'm sure I looked pretty goofy walking a bicycle along the side of the road with a goofy looking aero helmet on and wearing these awfully tight shorts and shirt to all the farmers and ranchers whizzing by me in their cowboy Cadillacs in Western Oklahoma.

Mercifully a race volunteer picked me up and took me back to the transition area ending my misery and my race.....Ka-thumping all the way!

WHY PEOPLE DO IT

2008-05-30T06:54:00.000-07:00

There are many cool things about Ironman. It tests yourself to the very core of your existence both mentally and physically. It's a lesson in persistence, endurance, toughness, failure and rising above it, humility, triumph, confidence, exhaustion and the list goes on.

Another intriguing aspect to Ironman is everyone has a story. Ironman finishers come in all shapes and sizes and from many different walks of life. Everyone has a reason for why they are an Ironman....and they all are inspiring in one way or another. Below is a link to one such inspiring story.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMCnjMbUOFg

Pre Route 66

2008-05-28T07:31:00.001-07:00

Gearing up for my second go-round with the Route-66 oly in El Reno, Oklahoma this weekend. The ankle is feeling much better (I bought stock in a generic ibuprofen company....shorting, of course). Swam 2500 this morning with an opening set of 1800 straight. I was planning a 3000 workout but had to get to the house and take the kids to school. I'm also doing a short brick this afternoon.

Did a nice 50-miler (actually it ended up being 47.5....rounding up, don't you know, always looks better) this past weekend with the guys & gal. It was my first trip around the Cato loop this year and that dad-gum hill is still there. Incidentally so are the three subsequent hills after the dad-gum hill. In all it was a good workout and a confidence boost.

More on the 66 next week.

MiM 2008

2008-05-19T14:52:00.000-07:00

Two out of three isn't bad, as they say, but it feels crappy. More on this shortly.

Memphis in May was my first triathlon of the season. It happened this past weekend, May 18th. It's a great race and usually someone famous is on hand for the event. last year it was Macca. He captured the victory and the $10,000.00 check. No high profile pros were in attendance this year but a celebrity was there non the less. Sister Madonna Buder was in the ranks and well recognized.

I've said many times that baseball was the first true love of my life, but ironically it did me in for this race. This past thursday night (before the race Sunday) I was coaching my 15-year-old son's baseball game. It's a nice field with dugouts that you step down to the main part of the dugout. In between innings I was stepping down into the dugout to get a drink of water from the fountain. What I didn't see was the baseball I was about to step on that would ultimately cost me the run portion of this race. As soon as I stepped on it my ankle rolled and I swear I could hear tendons pulling beyond the normal limits. I went down like a sack of 'tators and my ankle swelled up like a hot air balloon.

Actually it healed pretty well over the next two days thanks to a lot of ice, heat and ibuprofen. But not enough healing to allow me to run. I was able to tackle the swim and bike portions and went through both transitions but as soon as I crossed the timing mat to start the run I pealed off and ended my day.

I was the first DNF of my short triathlon "career" and it goes against everything I believe and know about finishing events like these.....I want to finish at all costs. But I thought better of it considering it's the first race of my season and not the last and not my "A" race.

About the race....a great race that's well supported. My swim was a little slower than last year at 29:ish (can't remember the seconds) and the bike was roughly the same averaging 21.7 MPH (22.1 last year). Both transitions were faster than last year.

The post-race food was awesome. There was a lot of pasta, burgers, dogs, cole slaw, fruit, chips and the peach turnover was fantastic.

If you've never done this race before I highly recommend it.

AERO HELMETS AND CUFF LINKS

2008-05-13T07:23:00.000-07:00

It's pretty difficult to compare aero helmets and cuff links. One protects your cranium while riding a bicycle, the other holds your shirt together at it's sleeve cuff. While wearing one you hope to break a sweat and get in a good workout. But while wearing the other you hope to avoid sweating at all costs. One is pretty good size and is very apparent when seen. The other is much smaller and doesn't stand out quite as much. Of course there are many more differences that I choose not to go into here because the point of this post is how they are similar.

Aero helmets and cuff links are very assuming, in my opinion, and both make a statement. An aero helmet does more than just protect your head in a crash. It's there to make you more aerodynamic, more streamlined, faster! Cuff links do more than just hold your cuff together. They're more sophisticated, they say something about you.

Both aero helmets and cuff links force you to step into an arena where casual is no longer an option. It's serious now and you're playing for keeps. For the helmet not only are you preserving your health you're saying I'm fast and I want to be faster. For the links not only are you keeping your cuff together but you're doing it with a certain pizazz.

O.K. Now comes the self realization. I have both an aero helmet and cuff links. I guess that makes me all that's above with certain caveats. As far as the helmet's concerned I'm really not that fast I just got an incredible deal on it and couldn't pass it up (more than half-off!). And the links? I got a good deal on some french cuff shirts. How are you going to hold them together without links?

Here's another difference between the two. With cuff links you can kind of pull it off. If you look good, who really knows the difference? But with the aero helmet if people are blowing by you like you're going backwards they're going to go, "yeah, right!"

"The Shiner"....Part II

2008-04-13T16:21:00.001-07:00

An update to the shiner...

It certainly got worse before it got better. He wanted to know how purple it was....being a big football fan I knew he would relate to this so I told him it was Minnesota Viking purple. Being a big Eagles fan I knew he would relate to this even more....I told him that soon it would be Philadelphia Eagle green.

Anyway, the little guy toughed it out and played in his ball game today. Got right back on the horse and rode like a champion today. He made a couple of good plays in the outfield and stroked a triple past the right fielder!

The black/purple/green eye is all but forgotten.

"THE SHINER"....

2008-04-13T02:04:00.000-07:00

Don't they say that in this life a little rain must fall? Well, a little variation in this case because on this day there wasn't a cloud in the sky. There was, however, one baseball!

Five minutes into practice, one miss with the glove, one connect with the eye and we have our first shiner.

The kid is tough though. A couple hours later after a session with an ice pack he was out shootin' hoops and talkin' about playing in his next ballgame.

Ah, yes, a right of passage! Welcome to shinerville.

TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALLGAME

2008-03-30T13:53:00.000-07:00

Without a doubt baseball was the first true love of my life. And as far back as I can remember opening day of the Major League Baseball season has always had a kind of it's-my-birthday feel to it. However, sadly, the older I get the less magical that day feels. That less than magical feel was attached with a reason this year because MLB in there infinite wisdom decided it would be a great idea to open the year with two games on the other side of the globe. Boston and Oakland played two official games that counted in the standings in Japan. Everyone on this side of the globe was sleeping when they played so very few saw the games....so they didn't count....but they really did. The crazy thing is that after they played those "official" games both teams came back to spring training for 3 or 4 more games that didn't count in the official standings. The Sox and A's will resume their 4 game series tomorrow.

Having said all that, I still love opening day and it still possesses a certain charm to it that not every day possesses. It's the start of a new season....a new beginning....my team is in the thick of the race to begin....I get to follow the box scores every day with my breakfast and coffee.

"Play Ball!"

IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD!!

2008-03-17T19:04:00.000-07:00

I'm just going to go ahead and get this out there....we live in crazy times! As if you needed me to tell you.

The money that's being thrown around in sports in general and college football coaching specifically is crazy, skewed, out of whack and every other off-kilter adjective you can think of. O.K., let it be said that the SEC is a veritable "who's who" of big name football coaches: Saban, Petrino, Miles, Tuberville, Crooms, Nutt (hold your comment) and that's just in the SEC west! And, yes, I realize that football basically funds the vast majority of most schools' athletic budgets. But come on! Saban was the benchmark of high watermark salaries at 3.75 MILLION A YEAR, and yes, I'm shouting! 3.75 MILLION!!

And then comes along the cocky Les Miles. He just got a raise over the weekend and now he makes 3.75 MILLION.....plus $1,000.00. That's right, plus.....$1,000.00. So, let's examine that: It wasn't good enough that he made 3.75 MILLION (still shouting), he had to assure that he'd arrogantly be the highest paid coach by demanding an additional $1,000.00. As if I needed a reason to dislike LSU.

You know, it's not that I begrudge anyone from making as much money as they can....it's what we do...it's our society. We pay for entertainment and college football is entertainment. And we pay for a winner and LSU has won. But, it's the attitude and arrogance that gets me. Whatever happened to being humble? It's like Miles is treating every other coach in the SEC like a dog, especially Saban, and rubbing their noses in the mess they each left on the new living room carpet.

Here's to LSU racking up some L's over the next several years forcing Miles to justify his outrageous salary and his even more outrageous ego.

CONFIDENCE & ENERGY

2008-03-12T07:49:00.000-07:00

I got my April Triathlete magazine in the mail yesterday...I always enjoy the day that's in the "box". I seem to always pick up a jewel of information here and there from each issue and it definitely stokes the motivational fire each month!

I always read it in stages....first there's the "once over", which is a solid glance at it from front to back. Then I'll go from back to front and look at all the classifieds at the back just to make sure there's nothing out there that I absolutely need but don't have. I also like looking at all the advertisements....pictures, really, of what could possibly make me stronger and faster! You really have to be careful with this though because you don't want your bike catching you looking at pictures of "other" bikes...and this month is especially hard and tempting because it's the annual buyers guide!

My next stop is the "Training" section. It's always nice to see what others do and what might possibly make me more efficient in the water, stronger on the bike or faster in my shoes and certainly something that's going to improve my endurance.

"At The Races" is always a must see as well just to see who the top triathletes are, what their times are and how unrealistic those times are for me to achieve. The usual suspects seem to always be in the top 5...they just, often, switch places.

From there I'll check out Scott Tinley's article that's always on the last page...He's the great philosopher for the sport.

Let me apologize here because it's taken me this long to get to the reason for the post. I don't always read his "Starting Lines" article near the front but last night I read the "The Sandbagger" by Mitch Thrower. The gist of the article is that triathletes will train wherever, whenever and however is possible and they'll overcome great obstacles to do so. So much so that often times it causes other people to raise an eyebrow....and not in a good way. More like in a "man, you're a freak" kind of way. Why are triathletes this way? Well, the answer is simple, yet complex. If you ask 20 different triathletes you might get 20 different answers. But, in the end it comes down to this, and I didn't realize it until I read the article, and I quote: "There is no way non-triathletes could understand the energy and confidence you gain from this sport".

That's it! It's simple, descriptive, complete. Each time you complete a training session, each time you break down a barrier, each time you complete a race, feed off the crowd, "Bonk" and get back out there the next day, succeed, set a PR, endure a tough day and in the process embrace a completely different lifestyle that's healthy and keeps you moving, you build confidence and create more energy.

WOW!!

2008-03-07T11:49:00.001-08:00

Wow! It's not everyday we get this in Central Arkansas....a winter wonderland.

finish...with a lower case 'f'

2008-03-07T08:33:00.000-08:00

I've been avoiding this post for a while now because I'm not pleased with my performance and, with hindsight in eagle-eye focus, my overall effort and/or preparation leading up to the Little Rock marathon.

I'm not ready to say that I disrespected the distance because I don't think I did....I just didn't have the fire in my gut needed to get the job done. I ran a 4:42 and change....my marathon time at Ironman Wisconsin was 4:57 and change.

I did finish and I'm please about that because at mile 14 I was ready to accept my first DNF. So, there's that.

There is a silver lining in this story....I got some base miles under my belt, which was a goal, as I begin to prepare for the upcoming tri season. I also learned something....again....there's usually a correlation between the outcome of something and the effort put in to achieveing it!

SRO FUNERALS

2008-03-05T11:32:00.000-08:00

OK, not the most joyous of subjects. But then again, maybe it should be. Funerals certainly can be joyous as you reflect on the impact that person made on your life and remember the stories you'll always cherish. Maybe you didn't know the deceased all that well but you're there to support a family member. Whatever the case may be, funerals are important for many reasons.

I went to the funeral of the father of an old friend today. I didn't know the deceased all that well and I haven't seen the friend in several years. I was there to support my old friend. And I know it meant something to him for me to be there when I was able to give him a big hug and tears rolled down his face. I know I would want as many people as possible to be there to support me.

All that leads me to the real point of this topic. It was standing room only at this funeral today. This man loved and was loved by many people and he had an impact on many directly or indirectly. You don't have a standing room only funeral without touching people's lives.....connecting with people.....investing in people.....and gaining the love and respect of people.

My prayer is that we can all have a SRO funeral because that will mean that we've had a postive impact on many people's lives!

So True, So True

2007-11-14T14:13:00.000-08:00

Ran into one of those book store/coffee shops one night while working out of town....I like books and coffee and certainly the two put together. I like to check out the bargain racks to see if there's a steal in there somewhere. I also like to check out the latest "Inside Triathlon" magazine to see if there's anything different in that publication from the "Triathlete" magazine to which I subscribe.

Anyway, I ran across this small coffee table book from the "Life is good" folks. Each page had a drawing and a "Life is good" snippit of philosophy on the opposing page. I read each one and enjoyed them all. One stuck out above the rest, however.

"The pursuit is the reward". In no circumstance is that more true for me than my journey to complete my Ironman. Looking back now I clearly see that my reward didn't occur for me when I crossed the finish line. My reward occured after I swam 4000 meters for the first time during my training, rode 95 miles on my bike for the first time, fearing the "Cado" loop ride because of "THE HILL" but feeling confident after grinding my way to the top, surpassing the 18-mile mark on the run, bonking on one workout but getting back out there and knocking the next one out of the yard! All those things were incredibly rewarding.

Tackling little fears along the way and building confidence after each one was the reward. Setting a goal, building a plan and seeing it through to completion was the reward. Understanding what it took to do something like that and then doing it was the reward.

I distinctly remember several times throughout the day on raceday feeling rewarded and a smile crossing my face: When I climbed out of Lake Minona after the swim, when a stranger ran along side me banging a drum trying to help me keep my cadence up as I battled the third of three tough hills, when I entered the spectator lined streets of the small town of Verona, when I saw my family for the first time on the run coming out of T2, when I started the second of two loops on the marathon, when my wife told me all the people who called her cell phone that day in support of me and when I knew I was going to finish. All those things were more rewarding than actually crossing the finish line 13-hours and 18-minutes after I started.

To me the reason the pursuit is the reward is because of what you learn, what you experience and how you grow as a person along the way. Isn't that true of most things in life? Sometimes it's difficult for us to stop and realize how we're being rewarded when we're smack-dab in the middle of it....but it's there....

...Plato schmato, who needs that when we have "Life is Good" philosophy!

LIGHTING A FIRE

2007-10-27T09:14:00.000-07:00

You ever get that...blah...feeling? I've been "off" for nearly 2-months since IMWI. I feel sluggish. I feel...blah. I needed something to get me going.

I signed up for the Little Rock marathon and created an 18-week training plan. Well, when I say "created" I mean I got a lot of help from Hal Hidgon's 18-week marathon training plan. I changed, or added, some cross-training work so I could get some work in in the pool and on my trainer as well as some weight work. The race is March 2. My 18-week program starts MONDAY!

I also plunked my money down for the Buffalo Springs half IM in Lubbock for late June. The main reason I signed up so early was to give me a goal, a carrot out there, if you will. Something to light a fire to get me back in the groove. The other reason is you save 30-bucks if you sign up before the year's end....

OU, Marathon and Such

2007-10-20T08:17:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've checked in. Really haven't done much of anything in the way of training up until this past week. I did an hour on my trainer the past three days. I've also created a training schedule for the LR marathon. It's 18-weeks long with swimming, biking and weights in the mix. I'm ready to get back into the training mode! I've missed it.

We made a guys trip to Oklahoma last weekend to spend time with my brother and his family. Alex, Will and I went to Heritage Hall's football game Friday night. Blair is a coach on the team. To date they're undefeated with a real shot at a state championship! They didn't play their best the night we were there but still pulled out a 21 - 7 victory over OCS.

The weekend trip also included 3 tickets to the OU-Missouri game courtesy of Blair and his wife, Cindy. What a treat! We had awesome seats and watched the Sooners get back into the national championship picture with a 41-31 home win!

WHAT NOW?

2007-09-26T19:26:00.001-07:00

It's been a couple of weeks since I've done anything in the way of exercise. Two Weeks! I feel like crud, too. I've been sick with a severe sinus infection and the antibiotics I'm taking are putting me on edge. My pharmacist sister-in-law says I'm that way because I'm going through endorphin withdrawal because I haven't done anything in more than two weeks. So, my body's craving endorphins....so, I'm addicted to exercise? My wife demands that I ride my bike on the trainer for an hour. Sounds like a good plan.

THE JOURNEY IS COMPLETE!

2007-09-12T10:52:00.000-07:00

Running down the finishing chute at an Ironman is akin to the front gates at Disney World to an 8-year-old who's jacked up on Mountain Dew and cotton candy! If the entire race was a finishing chute this thing would be a piece of cake. A piece of cake it is not, but it is, indeed, rewarding in so many ways.

O.K., now that I've started with the end let's rewind many, many, many, many hours and work forward from there.

Before I get into all that I have to give credit where credit is due. The incredible sunrise photo before the swim start was taken by the hot chick in the photo above, as were all the pics included in this posting. The cool thing is I get to kiss her, just because I can!

4 AM

I set three alarms race morning. My watch has three alarm settings and I used two. I set the first one for 4AM and the second for 4:10. I then set the alarm on my phone to 4:15. Not a one went off because I was up before all of them. Actually, my buddy and fellow Ironman, Kevin, put it best saying you just take short naps all night the night before the race. This was his second Ironman and he knows from experience....now, so do I.

Anyway, I woke at 3:50. I got up and headed for the bathroom where I had everything meticulously laid out. I showered and put my race clothes on underneath a pair of warm-up pants and a long sleeve t-shirt. It was probably in the low to mid-60's race morning. The Lord blessed us all with perfect weather all day!

As I was walking down the hall of the hotel towards the elevator to grab a bagel and meet the guys, I turned around and looked because I could've sworn I heard someone say "dead man walkin'"! Anyway, no one was there.

Not that I was the least bit hungry I nevertheless downed a bagel with peanut butter just to have something on the stomach. Trey, Kevin and I then headed to the car for the ride over to the Monona Terrace. I had to turn on the radio in the car otherwise it would've been one of the most silent rides in a car I've ever experienced....well, there was that one time I got in trouble as a teenager and had to ride home with my dad in the car....uh...I'll save that for another post!

PRERACE

I pulled into a space in a parking deck about a block away from the swim start. With a couple of race bags each in tow we all headed to a coffee shop near the finish line to meet up with Dyron and drop off our "special needs" bags (you can put anything you might need into those bags and pick them up on the bike and run). After grabbing some java (we would've taken it through an I.V. had they allowed it) we headed to the bikes to make some last minute adjustments, air the tires and just generally pet our bikes and tell them how much we loved them. That's where I lost track of the others and began flying solo from there....scary, very scary. I didn't see Dyron the rest of the day and didn't see Kevin or Trey again until some point during the bike.

After saying "hello" to the portajohn and lathering "Glide" over every part of my body where I didn't want friction to become an issue (you can imagine...um...6-1/2 hours on a bike!?) I squeezed into my wetsuit and made my way to the waters edge.

The Swim

The cannon goes off and then it looks like a bunch of piranha on a feeding frenzy. Some call it the human washing machine. Call it what you want, but it's like nothing I've ever experienced. I've done triathlons before. I've done two half Ironman distance races. But I've never done a mass start with 2200+ other competitors starting a swim at the same time. The crazy thing about it (well, one of the many crazy things about it) is there's chaos for nearly the entire 2.4 miles! Now, it does spread out somewhat but there were swimmers around me the entire journey. Just to give you an illustration of how chaotic this thing is I had two watches on at the start of the race. I had a watch I timed the entire race with on my right arm and I had my heart rate monitor on my left. When I got out of the water the watch on my right arm was the only survivor. The heart rate monitor on my left arm got kicked off by another swimmer and is, right this very second, at the bottom of Lake Monona!

I am, admittedly, a slow swimmer. It's O.K., I've already come to grips with that fact. Knowing that I set an extremely slow goal of finishing the swim in under 2-hours. Just so you'll know, that's extremely slow....and as I mentioned, I'm extremely slow. However, having said that, I knew when I set the goal that I was going to beat that easily. I really set that goal for overall time purposes in a kind of worst-case scenario situation. My swim time was 1:28:07. Hey, sub-1:30! I'll take it.

I entered the water and got as far to the right as I could. I was basically on the shore. I did that for two reasons; 1) I didn't want to tread water for very long before the start, and 2) I didn't want to be down the line of buoys where all the excellent swimmers were because, well, as I mentioned above, I'm slow. The more you're in the mix of the excellent swimmers, the more trampled you'll get.

My true goal for the swim was to be relaxed and get out of the water. I accomplished both because I was relaxed for the majority of the swim. I did get off course a couple of times which causes you to swim a little farther then you need to and it sends you into a bit of a panic, but I quickly corrected my direction and kept moving forward. Keep moving forward! Isn't that what Rocky Balboa says? It's not about how hard you get hit, it's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward!

One final note about the chaos in the water. I got elbowed so hard in the gut at one point that had I been standing on dry land I would've doubled over. KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

One lap down...

Two laps down...

... and out of the water! YES

TRANSITION #1

Immediately coming out of the water you begin stripping. First it's the goggles and swim cap. Then you reach back and pull the rip cord attached to the zipper on your wetsuit and yank it. After that you pull your wet suit over your shoulders and down to your waist and then you begin searching. You're searching for the the first available "wetsuit stripper". Some call them pullers. They are volunteers who will yank the wetsuit right off your body. It works like this. After you've pulled the suit to your waist you find the first available person, sit down on your rear with your feet in the air at a 45-degree angle and they grab the top half of your suit and yank until it comes all the way off. There's one Ironman myth that goes around at every Ironman race that at one race a puller yanked off a simmers' wetsuit revealing he was going commando underneath! Not a pretty site. I wasn't going commando.

Off with the wetsuit for me and then a run up a helix of the parking deck which led to the first transition area. It's kind of hard to know what you're feeling at that point. You're kind of tired yet you're adrenaline is kicking in at the same time. There's thousands of people there cheering, clapping and whistling. You see the faces but you don't lock in on any of them...one foot in front of the other. After laying for an hour-and-a-half it takes a little time for the blood in your body to redistribute to the parts of your legs that are calling for a little more oxygen.

To the top of the helix I go and then I hear it..."Scott!" It's Kasie. She's positioned herself right before the doors to the first transition area. I did lock in on her face if only for a second. I raised my fist in acknowledgment and definite appreciation for the encouragement...more on that later.

In through the double-doors of the Monona Terrace Convention Center and down the hall to first room where the transition bags were. We dropped them off there the day before. After grabbing the bag it's off to another room where you can change into your bike gear and then out the double-doors at the back end where more volunteers are waiting with surgical gloves on ready to rub you down with sunscreen.

The time for my first transition was 8:13. I didn't care how long it took. Well, I say that. I guess if I'd been in there for 20 minutes I would've been a little disturbed.

2 WHEELS AND 112 MILES...HERE I COME

Once out of the first transition area it's down the long, narrow parking deck to find your bike. The picture above represents half of that long, narrow parking deck where the bikes were kept. After grabbing the bike you have to run to the complete opposite end of the deck before you can get on your bike. That's where I saw another familiar face...my sister-in-law Bonnie...yes, more energy and another adrenaline surge.

As we ran up the helix after the swim, we rode down the helix at the opposite end of the deck on our bikes to start the 112 mile journey. That's when I received another adrenaline surge...my family was waiting, Ashley, Lilly Kate and Will ready to give it up for dear old dad. That's where Ashley snapped this shot....

The bike course worked like this: a 16-mile ride out to a crazy town called Verona (more on that place later....just FYI, it was awesome!), then two 40-mile loops before riding back to Madison on the same 16-mile stretch we rode out on. 112 miles total.

My Bento Box was packed, my water bottles were full, my strategy was in place and I was out of the water.....LET'S GO!

Much like my strategy in the water my plan for the bike was to stay relaxed and enjoy the journey. Along with 6 GU gel packs I had 2 Cliff bars, 20 Endurolyte capsules and 5 bottles full of GU2O. By the time I rode 112 miles everything was gone with the exception of 2 GUs and a couple of Endurolyte capsules. My hydration plan work to perfection because I felt the best coming off the bike over any race I've done in the past.

My original goal for the bike was 6-hours. I finished in 6:31:54 for an average of 17.1 miles per hour.

A word about the course. Wisconsin is considered to be a hilly course. Central Arkansas is a hilly place. I was ready for the hills of Wisconsin! There were three pretty tough hills in a row towards the end of each 40-mile loop around the town of Verona. The first time through the hills weren't that tough and actually made me feel good and confident as I powered up each one. What also gave me energy was the crowd lining both sides of the streets going up each hill.

It felt like we were riding in the Tour de France. Some people ran along side of you shouting encouragement, others banged on a drum to help you keep your cadence up and all cheered the bikers on. It was truly overwhelming! The streets were also lined with people in the actual town of Verona shouting encouragement as well. It was fun going through that area, even the second time through the hills which were even tougher at that point.

TRANSITION #2

I've never been so ready to run a marathon in my entire life. After 112 miles in the saddle there's not enough Glide in the world to not make you ready to stop wearing that bike seat! Pedaling up the helix I rode down 6-1/2 hours before wasn't as bad as I anticipated. One of the 3500+ incredible volunteers was waiting there ready to take my bike from me and put it back on it's rack.

I grabbed my Endurolyte bottle out of my Bento Box to carry with me on the run. I had more capsules in my transition bag to replace the ones I used on the bike. In through the double-doors I ran to T2 to grab my second transition bag that was filled with all of my running gear.

In a shorter race I would more than likely just run in the same clothes. I'd take my helmet off, slip on my shoes and hit the road. This was no ordinary race and it wasn't shorter. My plan was to completely change into some dry running clothes. I was happy I did.

More Glide, shoes on, full Endurolyte bottle, more GU packets and out the door for more sunscreen and to revisit the portajohn. 12:37 was my T2 time. A little longer than I'd like, but then again, as in T1, I really didn't care unless it got to be 20+ or something.

26.2

The above photo was taken as I was seeing my peeps for the first time on the run. It was joyful.

I felt better going into this run than any race I've done before. It's sounds crazy, I know. But, my legs felt fresh and I was not cramping anywhere! I was 2/3 through this thing and I think it was at this point that I realized that I was going to actually make it.

A little about my strategy going into the run. Realistically I thought I might run a 5-1/2 to 6 hour marathon. I allotted 6 hours when I was setting goals. Much like the bike I wanted to stay hydrated and nourished taking advantage of nearly every aid station along the way. Part of my strategy was to walk through every aid station. My other strategy was to run 4 miles and walk one at least through the first loop. I did just that and I think that helped me stay fresh.

One of the cool things about the run is there are more people there encouraging you and you get to see your buddies running as well. I crossed paths with both Trey and Kevin twice during my run.

The aid stations were well stocked: water, gatorade (which I don't mind saying It'll be awhile before I down any of that liquid again), Coke, chicken broth (and it was warm, too), cookies, pretzels, oranges, grapes and gels. These aid stations were like an oasis every mile. Kinda sounds weird to have Coke and chicken broth at an aid station! They are both heaven sent. The Coke gave a quick sugar, caffeine fix and the broth loaded you down with some sodium, plus it was warm which felt good.

While I didn't use my "special needs" bag on the bike, I did utilize it on the run. The temperature started dropping and I got a few chills so I slipped on my long sleeve shirt for the second loop plus munched down another Cliff bar for more energy.

At mile 16 I realized that I had 3-hours and 15 minutes to run 10 miles to achieve my goal of a sub-14 time! That gave me a little pep in my step I dropped my strategy of running 4 and walking one at that point because I felt good. I did keep the strategy of walking the aid stations. After running miles 16 to 22 I looked at my watch and it was 7:28PM. 32-minutes until 8:00 and only 4 miles to go! What were the chances of actually reaching my stretch goal of a sub-13 Ironman? I decided to push it a little and find out. I paced myself from mile 22 to 23 to see how long it took. 4-minutes passed, still not there. 8-minutes gone by and no mile 23 marker. Finally at 10:23 there was mile marker 23. That didn't add up to a sub-13 Ironman. It was kind of a relief though because it would've been tough to push it the rest of the way. Once I realized that the sub-13 wasn't going to happen I relaxed, took in the aid stations, walked a little and began to thoroughly enjoy the last 3 miles!

I crossed the finish line with Lilly Kate and Will by my side as my name was being called telling me I was an "Ironman" after 13-hours, 18-minutes and 39-seconds. Better than I ever expected. I was elated to find out I ran a sub-5 hour marathon crossing the line at 4:57:50!

POST RACE

After crossing the line they give you a finishers medal and t-shirt. They also give you what looks like a metal blanket to help keep you warm....it works.

From there it was off to the massage area to get a nice rubdown....It felt good.

MY PEEPS

This was truly an event and it was made possible by all the support we received by our people. Ashley, Lilly Kate, Will, Bonnie, Madeline, Wyatt, Kasie and Kate were simply AWESOME!

THE NEXT DAY

Ashley probably put it best. It really wasn't the next day but it's better described as one 48-hour period. It all ran together.

We got back to the hotel about 12:30A - 1A. Wound down a little and hit the sack for what turned out to be another night of short naps for me. I didn't sleep very well and got up about 6:30a went down and ate a little breakfast.

Kevin and Kasie were making their way back to Arkansas later in the day on Monday. We drove all the way back on Tuesday. But before they left on Monday we all went out to lunch and I had the biggest bacon-cheeseburger I could order....it was awesome!

FINAL THOUGHTS

I don't know if you've seen any of the Bourne movies, but I recently watched the third in the trilogy the "Bourne Ultimatum". Great flick, by the way. If you haven't seen it yet I apologize and you might want to look away...er...not read the last little bit.

In the last scene of the movie the main character, Jason Bourne, is jumping off a large building into the waters below as someone is shooting at him. You don't know if he was hit or not because the next picture is him just laying in the water motionless for what seems like an eternity.....and then he kicks his legs, moves his arms and begins swimming away leaving the door wide open for a 4th "Bourne" movie.

Will I do another "Ironman"? I'm not sure, yet, but my arms and legs are moving and I'm swimming away!

Wisconsin Stuff

2007-09-08T12:49:00.000-07:00

Well, we made it to Madison on Thursday...a long day of driving. It took us 12 & 1/2 hours stopping 5 times. Not bad actually. It rained a good part of the day so it completely trashed my bike which I spent a good amount of time cleaning the day before. Oh, well, so it goes.

The temperature has been excellent. High for the race Sunday is expected to be 75...nice...10% chance of rain. It sure beats the 95 degress of two years ago and the 56 and rain last year. I prayed that the Lord would bless us with a day like is expected....thank you Lord.

Above is a picture of Lake Minona...home of the 2.4 mile swim. We took to the water Friday morning for a short swim to get used to the water and our wetsuits. This water is nice and calm. Friday morning it was windy and the lake had white caps so it was a pretty tough swim....if it's like this Sunday it'll be great.

Friday night we went to the athlete's dinner and mandatory meeting. The food was pasta and more pasta, vegetables and baked potatos (the best part of the meal). They went over the rules and regulations and talked about all the athletes on hand. There are triathletes here who've done 50 Ironman races! There's an 18 year old here from Mexico and 78-year-old former Wisconsin Governor. Of the 2100+ triathletes registered for the race 1100+ are first time Ironman distance competitors....I'm one of them. Is that my stomach churning?

The goal for me leading up to the race is to try to relax as much as possible and stay off my feet. We swam Friday A.M., as I mentioned, and ran about 20 minutes Saturday morning. We also had to check in our bikes and take our transition bags to the transition areas. The transition areas are in the Minona Terrace and our bikes are on the 4th level of the parking garage in the Minona Terrace.

I hear this is one of the best Ironman races on the circuit because of the fan support. Much of the course is downtown and that's also where all the activity takes place. The Ironman Village is there, UW is right down the street, the state capitol is in the same area. There's people everywhere. It's exciting.

O.K. so after we checked in all our gear and had our fill of the Ironman Village on Saturday it was time to go back to the room and get down to business......watching my Sooners romp all over the Miami Hurricanes! 51 - 13. That made the afternoon very relaxing!

Will hung out with me, chillin' and watchin' the game. My buddy!

Tonight it's out to dinner about 6 - 6:30 and back to the room and pray for a good night's sleep. Sunday A.M.....the Ironman journey!

GEARING UP

2007-09-04T18:49:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure what's more taxing, the actual Ironman race or making sure you have all the gear you need, and gathering it up. There are 34 different items on the table that I'll use at some point during the race Sunday! The shoes count as one item as do all the packets of "GU" in the box by the same name (FYI - there are 20 GU packets in the box). GU, AKA, life-support. All the stuff actually looks a little more overwhelming than it is. All this stuff, with the exception of the bike, will fit in the nice transition bag standing up at the top of the picture. Now, I will say, it's one stuffed bag!

A word about the crew in the above photo. This Ironman journey of mine is so much more involved than just me. It's an incredible sacrifice by everyone involved in my life. None so more than my wife, Ashley, who has been incredibly supportive throughout. I appreciate it so much. Alex, Lilly Kate and Will have sacrificed as well. I wouldn't be at this point without the support and encouragement from my brother and parents, my friends, church family and co-workers. I will say this, every single word of encouragement is important no matter how insignificant an encourager might deem it. It means a lot! There's indeed a lesson in that for me and all. No matter what you're doing or going through an encouraging word carries a lot of weight no matter how small or seemingly insignificant!

We're leaving Thursday with wheels rolling at 6am. We're driving straight through and sleeping in Madison Thursday night.

1446

2007-08-31T11:21:00.000-07:00

IMWI07 (Ironman Wisconsin '07) is 10 days away! Exuse me while I throw up in my mouth a little....sorry. The taper has begun. It was certainly official when I plunked my money down a year ago for this adventure, but now it's officially official....we have bib numbers! Mine happens to be, as the title suggests, 1446 (I wonder if they did this based on projected exit from the water....). Anyway, for some reason there's an odd sense of peace about me right now and I like it. The temperature is cooling down here in Arkansas but more importantly the high in Madison on race day is projected to be 74-degrees! AWESOME! I'm going to try to update my site frequently along the way to document this journey. Pray for me and Trey and Kevin and Dyron.

Tri, Marriage & Jamaica

2007-07-02T07:48:00.000-07:00

This entry is a potpourri of topics...TRIs, Marriage and Jamaica to be exact. You probably guessed that the above photo isn't dealing with marriage or Jamaica so by process of elimination....my most recent triathlon. It was the Route 66 in El Reno, Oklahoma. This particular picture is me scrambling out of the water with wetsuit in hand transitioning to the bike. I felt terrible coming off the swim. O.K., not terrible physically, I felt fine there, but my time was about 4 minutes slower than my swim at the MiM tri. I felt like I never got into a rhythm and I know I didn't swim in a straight line. The lesson there is I need to sight more often and therefore swim a shorter distance which in turn will cut down on my time. The bike was not quite as fast as MiM either but this course was much different. There were more hills to deal with in El Reno. I felt good on the bike and passed many folks along the way. My run was better in El Reno than in Memphis. All-in-all my time as about 5 minutes slower than Memphis in May.

A big part of the fun was hookin' up with Luke and Abby. They live in Norman and came up for the race and we went out to eat lunch afterwards. It's always good to have friends cheering you on!

Now to the marriage portion of the post. My brother, Blair, got married in Oklahoma City the 24th of June. His bride, Cindy, is fantastic. The wedding was a big affair and it was nice being there. We played a round of golf at Oak Tree the morning of the wedding and had a great time. Alex started the round like a scratch golfer. He started out with a birdie on the first, then went bogey, par, birdie and was 1-under through 4. That was great fun to watch. It put a smile across his face and his cousin Bennett was amazed. Bennett played good as well.

Pretty sweet view, huh? That's looking out from the balcony at the Ritz-Carlton resort in Jamaica. No, it wasn't a vacation but a national sales meeting. Truth be told, you're looking at probably one of the nicest views on the entire island. Outside the gate there's ample evidence that it is indeed a third world country. We had a great time though. We went snorkeling out in those blue waters and had plenty of time after the meetings to lounge on the beach.

MiM in Rearview Mirror

2007-05-24T05:48:00.000-07:00

The first triathlon of the season is in the rear view mirror and it's time to analyze. I really do feel good about it all the way around. I'm happy with the effort, I'm happy with the time and I'm happy with the objectives of staying relaxed, hydrating well and finishing strong.

O.K., about the times. As a refresher from the previous post I wanted to complete the swim in sub-25, the bike in 1:15 and the run in sub-55. "Two out of three ain't bad", isn't that what they say? The swim was 27:50, bike - 1:05:10 and run - 53:42.

PRE-RACE

We (Trey, Bird and I) got to the venue in plenty of time. I think it was around 5:45 A.M. for a 7:50 start. We had to pick up our race packets, finish our coffee, get body marked, put on our sun screen, put more air pressure in our tires, take our bikes to the transition area and make sure all of our stuff was set up perfectly. It was also important to visit the porta-john, recheck the air pressure in our tires, double check to make sure everything was set up perfectly in our transition area, make sure our numbers were affixed to our bikes, helmets and race belts correctly, revisit the porta-john and recheck the air pressure in our tires. Visit the porta-john. Recheck the air pressure in our tires.

There was a professional category at this race and it was cool because Chris McCormack was there. McCormack finished 2nd at the Ironman World Championships in Kona this past year. He's a stud! The pros went off at 7:30 and they went off every 10 seconds. The amateurs started at 7:50 and went every 3 seconds starting with 101. My number was 1281 so by the time they got to me it was 8:53....that's a long time to wait around in a wetsuit....get's kind of hot. The cool part about it though, was that it allowed me to watch the pros finish the swim and transition to the bike. A true learning experience especially when their swim to bike transition is about 47 seconds....mine was 2:27. I need to trim some fat off of that in the future for sure.

SWIM

By the time 8:53 A.M. rolled around I was absolutely ready to take the plunge. Even though the water temperature was a cool 74 degrees it felt good after standing around in my wetsuit for more than an hour waiting to start. I do like the staggered start versus the mass start for the simple reason there's not as much chaos in the water. You're slapping water and not as many arms, legs, heads and elbows.

The swim course formed a triangle and they used just about every wet inch of the small lake to complete the course. Buoys were on the left initially to help us avoid a dock that stretched out into the lake. Past the dock all buoys were then on the right the rest of the way home.

The importance of proper sighting and swimming straight can't be minimized. Although never in the military I did too much Army swimming (left, right, left, right). It not only adds distance to your swim but naturally time as well.

After the first hectic 4 or 5 minutes I settled into a decent rhythm...that is until I looked up and realized I was off course, then I kick myself, frantically changed directions and picked up my pace until I was back on course. Then I got into a decent rhythm again. All in all I felt comfortable with the swim and exited the water in 27:50.

T1

As soon as I climbed to my feet in the water I began T1 by stripping my goggles and swim cap off and reaching for the rip cord at the back of my wet suit and unzipping it. Passing the timing device I grabbed a cup of water at the aid station and started jogging to my bike in the transition area while stripping the wetsuit over my shoulders and to my waist. Unfortunately there weren't any wetsuit strippers at this event so everyone was on his own. After grappling with my wetsuit trying to get it over the Philbrick heel I velcroed on my bike shoes, pushed on my shades, strapped on my helmet, squeezed down a GU, pulled my bike off the rack and headed for the transition exit. A 2:27 T1 needs to be cut down. In the future I'll take the GU and drink at the beginning of the bike and not during the transition.

BIKE

Once on the bike you can settle down after the transition and get into a good cadence. It took me about 3/4 minutes to make that adjustment and find a good pace. I felt really strong and confident once on the bike and began passing people. My cadence stayed in the 92 - 94 range for most of the bike. It was a flat course with a few gradual inclines and no major hills. All in all I was pleased with a 1:05:10 and 22.6 MPH average on the bike. That was 10 minutes faster than my goal going in. I think I can get better coming out of and into the transition area.

T2

Having unvelcroed my shoes while still clipped in near the end of the bike I pulled my feet out of the shoes as I came to a stop at the line going into the transition area. Being at the other end of the area it was a long run to my spot. Once there I put my back wheel into the slot sat down and reached for my socks...one of which was underneath my wetsuit and therefore was totally soaked. I slipped my shoes on, traded my helmet for a hat, sucked down another GU, chased it with some GU2O and strapped on my race belt with the number 1281 in front. Again, I need to improve on the 2:37 it took my during this transition and I think I can by simply taking in my GU and drink while exiting the transition area and carrying my race belt with me and putting it on while running.

RUN

While my running has improved I really wasn't sure what to expect. My legs really cramped up coming off the bike at the half in Houston last October. Fortunately that didn't happen this time...granted it wasn't as long a bike this time and it wasn't as hot. But I have been working on my running as well as doing at least one brick a week during training to get my legs used to running coming off the bike.

The run course had some pretty good rolling hills to it and was an out and back. Fortunately there was some shade intermittently. I took in liquids at every aid station which were situated at miles 1/5, 2/4 and mile 3. They had water and Gatorade at every station. I drank the Gatorade and poured the water over my head.

I caught up with a guy from Marion, Arkansas at the turn around and ran with him the rest of the way home. That always helps pass the time and it gives you incentive to keep going. One of my goals during this run was to not walk except through the aid stations. I was successful with that and didn't even walk through every station. I ran through the first two and walked through the last 4.

My goal for the 10K run was a sub-55. My time was 53:42 and I finished strong and felt like I could've gone further.......but glad I didn't have to! My next goal at this distance is to finish sub-50. I do have some work to do.

OVERALL

My overall time: 2:31:37. I was very happy with that time finishing 61 out of 126 in my age group and 374th out of approximately 900+ male racers.

FIRST TRI....THEN SUCCEED

2007-05-14T09:53:00.000-07:00

MiM is this Sunday. Birdman, Trey and myself are making the journey to Memphis Saturday night for our first tri of the season. It's an olympic distance event (my first tri of that distance) and it's a good first test. I'm looking forward to it, I'm excited and not as anxious as I was for the first tri of my life last June. I still have a few butterflys which I'm sure will mulitply as the week goes by....which is O.K. because a few butterflys are good and they help jump start the adrenaline.

No predictions but ideally I'd like to complete the swim in sub-25m, the bike in 1:15, and the run in sub-55m. Add in 3m or so for each transition and there you have it. My true goal is to be relaxed, stay focused, hydrate well and finish strong. Of course, updates to follow.

NOT A GOOD BLOGGER

2007-05-04T09:00:00.000-07:00

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Triscoop - Triathlon News & Reviews General Coffee Talk
Author
I'm Age Grouper of the Week!
bryancdMemberPosts: 454Location: Fountain Hills, ArizonaJoined: 29.06.06
Posted on 04-30-2007 18:38
..at IronmanTalk.com!Thanks to James, jdub. He nominated me and Bevin and John at Ironman Talk picked me! Their podcast, Ironman Talk, was one of the very first triathlon podcasts I started listening to back last year and I have taken away more useable information from thier show on Ironman racing than any other triathlon news source. For those who have never heard it, here's a link:http://www.ironmantalk.com/Podcast.html
Bryan-Be the person your dog thinks you are!

The above excerpt was taken from a triathlete website I frequent...TriScoop.com.

Now for the reason for the post. As you can tell from the huge gaps in time between posts I'm not the most diligent blogger. And it's taken me a while to figure out why. I can be oppinionated and I do have things to say occasionally. But the reason for my infrequent entries has to do with the basic premise of a blog.....which is the reason I included the above example. A blog is really a bunch of entries about me, myself and I. Come on, sing a few bars..."It's all about me". For the most part I try to divert attention away from me. It's uncomfortable to me for all eyes to be on me. I just realized I need to clarify something....the above excerpt is not about me....but while I'm on the above excerpt I'll go into detail about it. This dude Bryancd, "loves me some me". He's forever on this website talking about him. Now, from what he says and writes, he's a pretty solid triathlete. He's had good results in a very short period of time. He qualified for Kona this year as an age-grouper as a result of his finish at Ironman Arizona. But, really, let others talk about you rather you talkin' about yourself. That's when you know you've really arrived. But, to each his own, I guess.

I'm still going to jot down entries on this blog. I like the outlet it provides. And sometimes they're going to be about me and what's going on in my life. For example, right now, I'm trainin' my brains out for Ironman Wisconsin (please don't peak too soon!). But for the most part they're going to be observations, what's going on in the lives of the people in my life (which in a way is about me) and a few rants and raves.

Now for something random...I still can't believe the Minnesota Vikings drafted Adrian Peterson! I've grown accustomed to things like that not happening to a Viking fan. I'm a lifelong Sooner fan and a lifelong Viking fan. For my favorite player on the Sooners to be drafted by my favorite team in the NFL....well now, that's just like rollin' a yahtzee on the first roll. What? Now the Celtics are going to get the first pick in the NBA draft?

AND SO IT BEGINS

2007-03-19T06:45:00.000-07:00

25 weeks from 3/18/07 will be 9/9/07....Ironman Wisconsin. "And so it begins" means training begins in earnest today. Don't get me wrong, training started a long time ago. The line of when it actually started is a little arbitrary. I've been swimming, biking and running all winter. In everything I've ever read about competing in an Ironman distance race is that you have to train before you can train. So, up until now I've been training to be able to train. Most of my efforts thus far have been base training. I've been building a bigger engine....not necessarily creating more power in that engine yet, but creating more capacity.

What starts today, as opposed to last week, is my 24-week Ironman distance training plan. I know I said there's 25 weeks until the big day. I'm building in some space in case I get sick or need a day or two here or there when I won't be able to train. More than likely I didn't build in enough days.

Am I ready? For the race? Heck no! Am I ready to starting training for the race? I am. I've been planning for this and thinking about and preparing for it for quite some time. I have a dedicated training plan, a log, a new bike (still need a few minor bells and whistles for the bike), I feel very healthy and I'm eager. As Irony would have it, with all this eagerness my training plan has Monday as a rest day.

My first week of training includes 5750 meters in the pool, 4:35 on the bike and 2:35 pounding the pavement......I'll do more than that in one day on 9/9/07!

HELLO WORLD

2007-03-17T17:55:00.000-07:00

There are many things I love about this time of year. I've found that as I get older I do love the change of seasons. Yes, I even like the end of Daylight Savings Time. It took a long time for that one to take effect though. Springtime is my favorite which leads into summer. Among the things I love about this time of year are: Daylight Savings time, warmer temperatures, baseball, golf, green grass, wearing shorts, cooking food on the grill, colors everywhere. The world wakes up in the spring. Unlike humans, when the world wakes up it looks beautiful. It doesn't worry about bad hair or breath or crust in the corner of the eyes.

One of my very favorite things is the bloom of the Bradford Pear as seen in the picture above. I think the white blooms are just beautiful. You do have to enjoy them in a hurry though because the blooms don't hang around long. In about a week the white is gone replaced with the leaves of green. Hello world.

NEW RIDE

2007-03-10T06:46:00.000-08:00

Christmas comes again this Tuesday! Well, OK, truthfully, Christmas doesn't come again this Tuesday but the next best thing does....the FedEx man. He'll bring with him my new Roo. I've upgraded to a dedicated Tri bike, the Quintana Roo Tequilo. I'm certain this is going to make me Normann Stadler-fast. Stadler won the 2006 Ironman world championships with a record setting bike split of 4:18:something. He rode 112-miles in 4-hours 18-minutes and change! Ridiculous! You've probably been stuck behind someone in their car driving in the fast lane who's head you couldn't see over the back of the seat driving at a pace slower than 4:18:something for 112-miles. Drives you crazy doesn't it? Why don't they just get over? I'm sure Normann Stadler wondered the same thing during his Sunday ride in Kona. Now I'm sure I'll be thinking the same thing on my new QR! Seriously, I'm kidding...........seriously!

I do wonder about all this equipment stuff, though. Does an upgrade really make you faster, better, more efficient? I used to be an avid golfer. I played with blades my entire life. Still do when I get a chance to play. There's nothing like the feeling of a well hit shot struck with a blade. You know instantly that it's going to be good. My question is was it the club or the swing? You know that comment "it's not rocket science"? That can be thrown out with yesterday's coffee grinds because when it comes to sports and the equipment we use to play them it has become rocket science. Look at the technology used to build the better driver these days. It's truly amazing filled with a lot of rocket-science terminology promising to deliver a driving average of 350 yards (give or take 100 or so....usually take, right?). I've never had the latest, greatest technology on the market when it came to golf clubs. Heck, I was reluctant to give up on the wooden driver and probably wouldn't have except the day I won a long driving contest using my wooden driver and the prize was a Big Bertha. Side note: I've always questioned that. Why would the prize for winning a long driving contest be a new driver....wouldn't they assume you were happy with the driver you had and maybe give you a golf bag, putter, 10 dozen golf balls or something other than a driver? Oh well, I'm kind of glad they did because it was getting embarrassing being the last surviving golfer using a wooden driver. It was akin to being the last known member wearing a "Members Only" jacket! The point is this, you still have to have the swing that will place the club head in just the right spot when it makes contact with the ball that will put the ball on the desired trajectory. All the technology in the world will not move your muscles to make that happen.

Back to the technological, geometrical upgrade with my new bike. Is it going to make me stronger, faster, more efficient? Time will tell. It is a dedicated tri bike rather than my current road bike fixed with aero bars. So there is different geometry at work providing a more aerodynamic position on the bike. It does have the latest, greatest technology........this is beginning to sound familiar. That technology still isn't going to make my muscles move any differently to make me stronger, faster, more efficient. Oh, what do I care, the FedEx man is coming Tuesday!

CLIP TIP

2007-03-02T11:53:00.000-08:00

Short and sweet today.

If the person who cuts your hair doesn't charge extra to trim your eyebrows and he asks you if you want yours trimmed, you might want to go ahead and take him up on the offer because he certainly didn't ask you to get more money out of you....wink, wink.

THREE SIMPLE LETTERS

2007-02-27T07:48:00.000-08:00

We've always been a nation that likes to use acronyms. After all we want everything fast and right now from our food that we drive through to get to the messages we send to the oatmeal we microwave, we want it instantly. Please, we don't have time to say all the words we want to say so we shorten them with acronyms. From the sports world there's NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, NASCAR etc. And growing up in a military family where acronyms fly around like moths to a light bulb, TDY (temporary duty), BOQ (bachelor's officers quarters), HQ & NCO are a few that come to mind quickly.

Now, in this world of instant and text messaging the acronyms are endless: BTW, LOL, OMG, TMI (WTMI - when there's just Way too much information, because, you see, there's too much information and then there's a completely different, higher level of information that's just, well, WAY...).

In the world of triathlon there's an acronym that gives you this sick feeling in the pit of your stomach: D-N-F! DID....NOT....FINISH. My journey into the world of triathlon is really in it's infancy and I've been fortunate enough to have not experienced a DNF. I know many have for various reasons. My Brother-in-law, Trey, who is an Ironman triathlete, gave me a book entitled "Becoming an Ironman". It's a collection of stories from triathletes experiencing their first Ironman distance race (I'll be attempting my first in September in Wisconsin). After reading the forward I went directly to the chapter simply titled "DNF". Some DNFed because they were disqualified, some had bad chicken the night before and their stomachs weren't right the next day and some just did not finish in the allotted time. That, to me, is the most difficult to deal with.

Some explanation is in order. You have 17 hours to complete an Ironman race. If you finish in 17:01 you really did not finish at all but rather received a DNF! That is hard to swallow! After a year or more of planning, preparing, gutting out the miles on the road biking and running and enduring the laps in the pool at 5:30am, sacrificing the good foods you like to eat for yogurt and protein bars, going to bed at 9:30pm so you can get up @ 5a, forking over the cash for the entry fee (north of 4 Ben Franklins, BTW), all the gear required, the different kinds of food, the hotel, travel money, etc., etc., etc., only to endure the entire, grueling day and you don't finish in 17 hours.....DNF!

I know those who do it bring it on themselves. I fully acknowledge that fact. It's masochistic. But it's also why we do it because when you receive an actual time after you finish and not an acronym, it's incredibly rewarding.

SHOES AND SUCH

2007-02-22T14:58:00.000-08:00

Three things I want to say about the above picture...the third one is the shortest and simplest so I'll get it out of the way first. Under Armor is the new Nike.

O.K., now to the real reason for the post. The shoes above belong to my oldest, Alex. He's 14. These shoes are almost the same size. Please!? When I was 14 I think I wore a size 9. When I got married at 24 I wore a 9.5. Now that I'm pretty darn close to 20 years older than that and gravity has done it's job I wear about a 10.5 or 11 depending on the shoe! Is Alex going to be this gigantic monster in 3 to 4 years? Well, we do know this...yesterday Alex got his arm x-rayed because he fell on it playing basketball with some of his buds and it's been hurting for several days. The good news, there was no fracture according to the film. What we learned from the film was that the growth spaces in his wrist and elbow have pretty much closed. What that means is that he's pretty much done growing, at least in his right arm. The doc did say that his spine will probably continue to grow over the next couple of years. That was certainly good news to Alex because right now he's about 5'8". It's pretty tough to get to 6'1" - 6'2" if you've stopped growing at 5'8". Now there wasn't an x-ray of his foot...we can only hope the growth spaces have closed there as well! Size 16 anyone? Does anyone have the website for the shoe of the month club?

Now, for the second main reason for the post. If you'll notice these are brand-spankin' new, shiny, red, unscuffed, lightenin' fast, fresh-out-of-the-box, haven't-made-an-error-yet, baseball shoes! Baseball season is here. Pitchers and catchers reported a week ago. Positions players are rolling into camp (except for Manny Ramirez, because, you know, it's just "Manny being Manny"). The JD Babe Ruth Reds have had 2 practices.....BASEBALL SEASON IS HERE!

Until Next Time, NFL

2007-02-12T05:40:00.000-08:00

Well, the NFL season is officially over with the playing of the annual Pro Bowl...yes, the Pro Bowl was played this past weekend. Did you miss it. I did except for the fact that my oldest, Alex, was flipping through the channels and came upon it and said, "oh, did you know the Pro Bowl was on?" We both agreed that we remembered it was on but neither of us cared. I don't think the players cared either...except maybe Drew Brees who dislocated his elbow, which is why the Pro Bowl may soon be a thing of the past.

Anyway, this post is about the end of the NFL season. Will you survive until the next kick-off in September. That depends because anymore you don't have to survive...there's always Mel Kiper, Jr. analyzing the deep snapper for Hofstra who might go late in round 7. Then there's the free agent season, mini-camps, the start of training camp and then pre-season games televised nationally in prime-time when we actually get to see that deep snapper for Hofstra perform after the first series...so exciting!

So the question I pose today (and will answer) is to what does the NFL credit for the explosion of this game in this country? Many things, but a lot of credit should go to those who play fantasy football. I'm one of them by they way. Come on, why else would you care, and watch by the way, the Buccaneers playing the Cardinals unless you had Larry Fitzgerald. Or, why else would you watch the Vikings playing the Bills unless you had Chester Taylor. O.K., not really a good example because I would watch the Vikings play anyone...I've been yoked with this team for years (see post below). And now McBrick is yoked with the Eagles (see post below), poor guy! So, many people will have to survive until next season (no alternative, really) but most are waiting with great anticipation because they can't wait to manage their fantasy football team because most are sure they're going to win it all next season and grab the glory (not to mention the cash!). They just hope they don't get the first or last pick in their draft.

THE CEMENTING OF A FAN?

2007-01-15T06:23:00.000-08:00

I remember becoming a Vikings' fan....that miserable, Chicago-Cub-like-never-win-a-championship existence. It was during the early days of the frantic Fran Tarkenton, Chuck Foreman, Purple People Eater reign. Four Superbowls, four Superbowl loses, all in the '70's and not a Superbowl since. However, I was hooked to this team and forever more shall remain that way. Even though this franchise causes stomach problems the Purple Pill is not a part of my daily regiment.

Now, for the little guy in the picture it started innocently enough with a trip to the movie theatre...."Invincible" was the show of choice that day. If you're not familiar with the movie it's the story of Vince Papale, a 30-year old bartendar in Philadelphia during the days when Dick Vermeil became coach. Papale answered the call the day Vermeil conducted open tryouts and he made the team. Great movie...and enough to hook a 7-year-old into picking the Eagles as his favorite team. He became Vince Papale later in the day after taking a green marker and writing Philadelphia Eagles on the front of a white t-shirt and Papale on the back....he wore it with pride several days in a row. His mother pried it from his clutches, put a little soap and water to it and gave it back for more wearing. For him it was appropriate attire no matter the occasion, sleeping, football in the yard, wrestling, school, church, a trip to the dentist, you name it. A higher authority nixed the wearing of the shirt to school and church. Even though he still likes to wear the self-made jersey he got upgraded to the McNabb jersey in the picture. We call him McBrick. He calls himself an Eagle fan. Is it the same cementing of a fan I experienced back in the day? Only time will tell. We watched the Eagles journey through the playoffs this season ending with the loss at the hands of the Saints. A great game and a great disappointment to McBrick. After watching the clock tic-down on the end of the season for his Eagles he shuffled upstairs with his head down and his tail tucked between his legs and crawled into bed still wearing his Eagles jersey and said, "will the Eagles play again next year?", and I said, "yeah, it'll be a brand new season", to which his reply was "I don't think I can wait that long." I think the hook has been set....deep.

SIMPLE PLEASURES

2007-01-11T10:44:00.000-08:00

What do they say about life? It's the simple pleasures that mean the most. Now, another question. Does anything look peculiar, strange, off about this picture of my garage? For most of you the answer is probably "no". Other than maybe the fact that one of my cars is missing. Was it stolen? Now that would be both strange and off. But, no, it wasn't stolen. What's peculiar, strange and off about this picture for me is that there's actually a space to put another car in my garage. We've lived in this house for more than 5-years and it wasn't until last week that I realized that, yes, it actually is a two-car garage! Further more, two cars actually fit in this two-car garage. You see, my interpretation of the description of this house when we bought it was that it had a one-car garage with extra storage space. So, true to my interpretation of the description that's how I used it. My wife's car was parked in the garage and the other half was used as storage. Or more accurately it's where we put stuff when we didn't know where else to put it. It wasn't uncommon to see the door to the garage open and shortly there after see a random object hurled over the roof of the van (which occupies the empty space seen in the picture) into the abyss that was previously known as the "storage" space. There it would sit....and sit....and sit. The Leaning Tower of Pisa or a house of cards had nothing on the balancing act I performed on some of the boxes and such we "stored" in our "storage" space. It was a true engineering marvel. I wouldn't, however, allow small children near our "storage" space for fear of bodily harm. Or because I didn't want to be sued. Bones heal but money is just gone.

O.k., I admit it, I was just unorganized. There, I said it. I feel better, don't you? I finally came to that realization and wanted to do something about it after the calendar turned to 2007. It wasn't a resolution either. So, I put on my fire retardant suit, increased my life insurance policy, kissed my wife and kids, threw a Milk Bone to the dog and went out into the cold, dark room that I was forevermore determined to call my two-car garage. Unfortunately after sifting through all the rubble I didn't find any long lost Rembrandt or 10,000 original shares of Wal-Mart stock that was worth millions. But what I did find was that when cleared, there was enough space in that room for another car! VICTORY!

After sweeping up the last bit of trash (and the amount of trash could be measured in metric-tons) I was ready to steer the gold Highlander into its' new home. Now, we have an outside dog named Maggie. She's lived outside her entire life. She likes it outside. She does come into the house on occasion and you can tell right away that she knows it's a foreign place. When she comes inside she gets low to the ground and walks fast and she's soon at the back door again ready to get back to more familiar territory. My gold Highlander had the same reaction. It did take the car a few nights to get adjusted to it's new surroundings. I actually had to mop up a wet spot the next morning...but it's learning.

You can't see it very well, but there's a new shelf in the garage as well....more organizational activity. And there's more shelving to come. Man, I feel like Tim the Tool-man Taylor. I did sustain an elbow injury due to patting myself on the back too much. But, it is the simple pleasures that make a difference, right?

RESOLUTIONS

2007-01-02T07:23:00.000-08:00

So it's the new year and that's generally the time you give yourself goals for the upcoming year. My first goal is to start the healing process after watching my Sooners lose to Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl with a 2-point conversion in overtime! By the way that's after a 45-yard hook-and-ladder play for a game-tying touchdown with less than 30-seconds to go in regulation! I can't look at the newspaper or anything Sooner related on the Internet for the next couple of days. This healing process should be over soon and then I can get back to my regularly scheduled new year's resolutions...I hope.

I'm definitely ahead of the power curve this year in terms of my resolution because I made it for '07 when I plunked down my cash back in early September of '06 for IM Wisconsin. If I let myself think about it it's truly crazy on many levels. First of all, it's insane for me to logically think about swimming 2.4 miles, riding a bike for 112 miles and then being relieved that you only have the 26.2 mile run left. On top of that is the fact that I paid handsomely for the privilege. So, needless to say 9-9-07 is my resolution...Ironman Wisconsin. This resolution should be to just finish...but I want to do better than "just finish" which, to me, is defined as crossing the line within the 17-hour time limit. My goal is to finish in less than 13-hours. Crazy? Probably, but hey, aim high!

1-1-07

2007-01-01T10:05:00.000-08:00

1-1-07...The big event is 9-9-07. It's on!

Andrew Brady

2006-12-06T11:25:00.000-08:00

This post is in honor of Andrew Brady who passed away this past Sunday at the young age of 33. His funeral was today. Andrew was a dedicated basketball coach and teacher at Central Arkansas Christian school, son, brother, uncle and friend to many. He was diagnosed with leukemia on November 21, 2006. 33 is too young to go. It's difficult to make sense of it all.

Ironstar

2006-12-02T06:37:00.000-08:00

September 16 to December 2nd? What gives? First of all I'm one of those Newbie bloggers...still trying to figure out how to post pictures. Seriously, what good's a blog if you don't have pictures? No one wants to get on a blog and read "WAR & PEACE" without the human element of pictures do they? So that being said this is my random picture. The young, good-looking guy is my 14 year-old, Alex. This picture is from my first half-ironman near Houston, Texas...the Ironstar Triathlon it was called. It was a half with a twist because the bike leg was 59-miles rather than 56. I don't know why other than maybe they just couldn't measure out 56 and 59 worked perfectly. Anyway, this wasn't an officially sanctioned Ironman 70.3 and the 59 mile bike leg probably had a lot to do with that. Officially sanctioned Ironman 70.3 races have a 56-mile bike leg. OK, enough of that. About the race. The above picture was taken during the calm before the storm. Well, OK, all outward appearences suggest it was calm...inside, it was anything but calm. I was pretty much a nervous wreck. But, I will say, I was very excited at the same time. It was definately an adventure. Long story short, it was a successful day. I had a goal to finish in less than 6:30 hours and my final time was 6:29:33. Really it was poor planning because had I known I would've taken an extra 13 seconds in each transition area! It was fun completing my first half with my brother-in-law, Trey, and our friend, Kevin. They are both veterans of an Ironman...they completed IM Florida in 2005...and they have the tats to prove it! They are both my ironman idols!

Ironman Wisconsin 2007

2006-09-16T08:14:00.000-07:00

OK, the line in the sand has been drawn, the money has been paid and my name is officially on the "participants" list for Ironman Wisconsin 2007. No backing out now, but that's OK because I don't want to. I'm excited about it and looking forward to the challenge...the year-long challange. I'm not doing alone either. I've got three Ironman veterans doing it with me in Trey Chandler, Kevin Birdwell and Dyron Hamlin...I just want to keep up! As the symbol says "09-09-07"

My Familia

2006-09-16T07:38:00.000-07:00

Family is a great thing! This is mine and I'm indeed blessed.