Splish Splash.. I almost had a crash...

My 2009 Chicago Triathlon is complete. Congrats to Tim and Brent (two newbies that had great races!). This was my third, possibly fourth Chicago Tri, and as with most things. Everything comes to an end, and this, in all likelihood, was almost my last.

I'll start by saying, I felt good. Felt rested. And was setup to have an enjoyable race. With the family battling a colds, and my work hours eating into sleep, just feeling good for the race was a huge feat. The weather started off quite nasty. Strong winds gusting out of the north. Air temps in the lows 60's without the wind. The water temp was 63. For those without wetsuits... Well, I salute you.

I tell people they should "Do Chicago" for the shear spectacle of it. And I stand by that. Unfortunately the spectacle got the best of me this time. You come to expect a certain amount of "slapping" or grabbing during the swim. That is just bound to happen with up to 150 people in a small space all trying to swim in a small channel. There are stories (I can personally attest to them) of people being "swam over". Literally, someone just ignores your body and swims over you. Not fun. Anyway, for the first 400meters or so I felt like i was just outright mugged. The clutching and grabbing was nasty. I was actually trying to forcible kick whoever was behind me to keep them off me. I never connected. Overall I felt pretty strong on the swim. But after the swim leg, my race was all but dashed. I discovered that my timing chip was ripped off during my "mugging". So I've go no official time. and I've got to pay $30 bucks for a lost chip to boot!

The bike was tough. Heading north in the gusty winds slowed even the best bikers. Southbound, that's another story. While the weaker riders were recovering from the tough northbound legs. I know I was able to reach speed over 30 mph on the downhills with the wind. My cycle computer was on the fritz so I couldn't often tell my speed. But I felt strong. Even heading North into the wind. I believe I still held a 20+ mph average. And I passed a TON of people. My 2nd southbound leg was where the remainder of my race just about went out the window. Some jerk on a $10,000+ bike with one of those $300 bike helmets that look like a turd in a wind tunnel forced me into evasive maneuvers. I then had to slam both brakes on to avoid colliding with a slower rider (I was going 30+ mph during the split second I looked). I started to fishtail and my bike was coming out from under me. My bike was now 90 degree the wrong direction skidding on the tires.. I unclipped my right foot just before I completely went down.. I sorta "surfed" on that foot. it was a heck of a noise with the bike shoe cleat skidding on the pavements as I tried to slow/brake myself and balance with that shoe as the rest of me got closer to wiping out. I remember thinking, Gosh this is gonna REALLY hurt, and is there a preferred what to wipe out on a bike to minimize broken bones, and boy I hope those people I passed are far enough bad to avoid hitting me while I'm down. God was watching over me, and somehow I got my balance enough to whip my bike 90 degree back.. and in a move from the Old west movies.. I sorta got back on at the same time.. some riders behind me exclaimed how they couldn't believe that I was able to recover. I responded with "Thanks for keeping an eye on me.. and not running me over..." I did my best to catch up to that jerk.. and believe me I was pumping the pedals like I never have before. Not sure what I would have done in my "bike rage" mode.. but I never did catch up. Probably a good thing, in hindsight. After that, the race was somewhat less exciting.

I had a really great run. No jello legs after a strong bike leg. I don't know what my pace was on the run since i didn't get timed. I'm sure that it was sub 8 minutes. But whether it approached a 7:30 pace I dunno. I was thrilled to see J, E1, E2, and my sister in Law on the run course. Thanks guys! you helped to turn what was a pretty miserable race that was worth forgetting, into something good in which I could just enjoy the moment.

In all, my unofficial time (from my watch) was 2 hours 39 minutes. That about 4+ minutes better than in 2006, and about 9 minutes slower than in 2007 (that was my hard core year where most of my PRs were set). In the end, I'm very pleased to have completed the race unharmed. I've got some interesting stories as well. I hold out a little hope that by me "yelling" out my bib number to the timekeepers (and they either nodded or responding with "i got it") that maybe I'll have some sort of time show up on the website, but nothing yet.

But at the end of the day, I can feel comfortable in saying I'm done with the "spectacle". There are other Olympic distance Tri's in the area. I'll consider them next year instead.

So how did you spend your Sunday?

Our Big Little Man

E1 started his new preschool this week. T has mentioned a few times that he seems a bit different this week. I had not noticed anything until last night. At school, they have been talking about how God is Love. Last night at dinner, E1 said "I love your heart". It was so sweet. That was just after he helped us all wash our hands before dinner including his little brother. I have been amazed by the work he is bringing home, a heart colored all in the lines and 2 blue birds colored amazingly well with his name printed above. I have never seen much more than scribbling in the past from him. Most nights at dinner, it would be like wrestling to get him to tell us anything about his day. Last night he chatted almost the entire time talking about lunch, playtime, activities and the other kids. He adores his new teacher and strikes up a conversation with her the second we walk in the room in the morning. I imagine we are in the honeymoon stage of the new school stuff, but right now, I am pretty blown away with what I am seeing.

ZZZzzz...

The Chicago Triathlon is just 5 short days away. I was asked "Are you ready?" I"m as ready as a person averaging less than 5 hours of sleep a night, who's swimming, biking, AND running training has slacked off as well. I'm feeling healthy, so we'll throw everything the Lords provides me at it. On a fun spectator note, it sounds like J, E1, E2 and Aunt K will be there to cheer on Team World Vision. COOL!

It just dawned on my, I never posted pictures from the Copperman Triathlon. I'll have to dig those out.

Peace

Zoom zoom

Delivery of the new "5" was earlier than expected. Rather than Monday, it arrived on late Friday, so I picked up the families new "Stormy Blue" on Saturday. The old Salsa Red 05 Prius served us very well. Who can forget the Ostrich and Bison drool from the family camping trip. Or E1 "washing" the car with a handful or rocks, or E1 "polishing" the hood of the car with a brass grill scraper. Ahh the memories!

The pickup was not without angst or anxiety as the dealership made the transaction dependent on me signing a "Contingency waiver". Basically stated if the government or the dealer screw up the cash-4-clunker that the car could go back to the dealer, the sale made void, or I could owe the $4500. There are some Internet posts that seem to indicate that such a practice is not allowed, however without regulation or enforcement, it seems that dealers are doing just about anything they want with this program. So its a bit of pins-n-needles wondering if something could go wrong. Though I'm sure everything will be fine.

Beyond the car, the family had a BUZZING day Sunday. I think J will be posted about that soon...

Peace

The end and the new beginning

Well, today is a big day for E1, after 4 years at his daycare, this will be his last day. He has a lot of good friends there and we have gotten to know so many wonderful families through it (very little turn over so he is with many of the kids since he was a baby!). After some orientation tonight and tomorrow, he will offically begin a new school (big boy school as he calls it). He brought some school bus cookies to share with his friends today and made little bags of goodies for all of them making sure they all have his phone number for any play dates...of course. So far, I don't think it has really hit him yet. I will be interesting to see how he does over the next few days once he is actually at the new school and the change starts to sink in. We knew the school we chose had a great reputation but have recieved a lot of very positive comments about the education and curriculum over the last few days, so that reinforces to me even more that we made a good decision to try this school out for the year.

On a funny note, E1 has been on a 'when I get bigger' kick lately. Something new for him and always funny. Yesterday, it was 'when I get bigger, I am going to have a motorcycle'. Oh great says mom! I think I at least convinced him that it is important to wear a helmet or else you end up like what.....E1 say a squished marshmallow (he is obsessed with the marshmallow man in Ghostbusters and rarely a day goes by that he isn't scared of him...probably should have waited awhile to show him that movie). What's E2 up to, you ask? He is presently obsessed with shoes and can never decide which pair to wear when he is not trying to wear mine, T's or E1's that are WAY too big. Beyond that he has started picking up "hotties" at the car dealers we are going to and trying to get them to go for a ride with him in one of the new convertable Miata's. Such a little guy to have so much 'tude! (photo credit to www.mazdausa.com)

Zoom Zoom.. splat.. Zoom..

Car buying stinks. Especially in a climate where legit buyers are at the mercy of scandalous Car dealers. Cash for clunkers has created (in my view) an artificial "sellers market". Dealers no longer have to wheel and deal or bargain. They just claim "this car is hot" or they've got waiting lists for car. Of course the waiting list is because there is no inventory. Sure sure. Supply and Demand. Most manufacturers cut production in early 2009. But that just created an artificial "lack of supply" increasing demand. But cash for clunkers and the American people are not really getting any deal. Not when the American people are paying more for the cars because of the lack of supply, and dealers inflating prices and withholding incentives. Bitter. Sure. Jaded. Probably. Feeling good about having a new car arriving on Monday. Should be, but feeling like you just got hosed is the more pronounced current feeling.

Zoom Zoom. Deal fell through at the (new) Mazda dealer since they were not going to get the "Clunker" certification soon enough. We had a pretty good deal on hold there. Splat. That deal then went south. Went to plan B with another dealer. Had to pay a bit more. Got less on the trade in. Didn't get the throw-ins. That dealer withheld incentive. So for that, only half a Zoom.

That was our Tuesday!

Are you kidding me????

It is unbelievable that the folks at Costco would possibly fathom that this would be acceptable and it would actual take a customer finding the doll in the store to point it out to them. Two thumbs down Costco.

They grow up so fast dont they...

J and I are still new parents. But that doesn't mean that all the cliches are lost on us, or that we don't hear them. Today was my "Last Monday" with E1. The last "Day with Dad". Of course for the past year its been E1 and E2 with Dad on Mondays. Why is it the last day? 5 day, all day preschool starts next Monday. I tried my best to cram a lifetime of fun into today, but rain showers, then heat, and frankly two tired boys and a worn out (from the Children's museum) Dad sorta cut into that plan. In honesty, I'm sure the "day" was more for me than for E1. It unfair to compare (and I am not suggesting they are the same) but I can recall the first time I dropped Fezzik (the family dog) off at the kennel. He was still a pup. I still swear to this day he looked at me as if to say "Where are you going? Why am I in this strange place, and why are you walking away without me". It just breaks the heart strings. At least it does for this sentimental ..almost 40.. smuck. I don't want to think about next Monday right now. Hopefully by then I'll recognize the opportunity I spending my
Day with Dad" just with E2.

What did you do with your Monday..
Peace

Ka-Boom!

The Ka-Boom never came. After a full (quite exhausting) day of car shopping yesterday, the family finally got to the pool party/picnic about 6pm. Only 4 hours late. Mama and Papa needed to relax. Car dealer. Car (snake-oil) salesman. Numerous call to numerous dealers to find cars that just aren't there. E1 and E2 getting on the fritz. It was kinda rough. In the end, we think we've got a car, its at a new dealer, that just opened yesterday, but they aren't registered for cash-for-clunkers yet. So everything (the final sale) is on hold until that comes through. Hopefully in the next couple of days.

So what better way to relieve all that pent up stress and anxiety ? Beside a hot tub, a pool, and fun with friends. how about getting up a 5am to go run 18 miles. WHO'S WITH ME! Anyone? Bueller? Its was moderate when I started, but after sunup, the humidity came out. I must say though, this 18 miles went immensely better than the 14 last week. I did get a mild headache, but I'm trying something now. Pumping myself full of caffeine to keep the blood thinner. Maybe that's helping.. or maybe Its just getting me wired.. I dunno (ok that's a job, I drink enough coffee already that caffeine doesnt really get me wired anymore).

So what did you do with you sunday? Many exciting this to come in the next few days. Stay tuned.

Peace

Lets Rondo on the 5 you clunker!

After the recent trip to the UP, it seems that while we just got it tuned up, the family minivan is not deemed reliable enough for long distance trips. Its older, that grey goose. Sounds like the muffler is falling off. Hey here's a great idea. Let's "cash for clunker" it!

Sounds great, but where is the rest of the $$ coming for a new minivan. We'll trade in the Prius. GASP! I think I choked up and re swallowed the days lunch. The most fuel efficient car in the US, traded in? Then the quote came out. "You always said you dont care what you drive". Eee-gads! she's got me.

So we looked at "micro vans" as opposed to minivans. There really only two out there. The Mazda 5 and the Kia Rondo. We've checked out the Rondo. Not a bad car, at least not the one we drove. Underpowered, but it will probably get us to were we want to go. Biggest thing, is its got that 3rd row for when (rather than ..if..) #3 comes along. We're driving the Mazda5 on Saturday. We'll see how it goes. While the Prius is only 4 years old. Apparently its depreciated more (a lot more) than we thought. Despite being fully loaded (with navigation system) the trade in values and Carmax values are about $4k lower than we thought.

Stay tuned to our car saga...

Zoom Zoom

Things to do while its Hot..

When its Hot and Steamy, Humid and Miserable, Without AC and not much of a breeze. What do you do. What sounds like fun?

How about driving downtown for a 1.5mile swim. Thats refreshing. Except there was a slight breeze and while there were no whitecaps, there were some mild swells which made swimming an undulating experience.

How about running 14 miles in blistering humidity, despite being overcast. The kinda heat and humidity where you can great drenched just walking, much less trying to get in a 14 miles training run.

Perhaps you'd rather enjoy a nice exercise induced migraine that lasted about 15 hours from early stupidity (like swimming and running downtown, without much breakfast, and evidently not enough hydration).

I know. I'm sure its a favorite "Hot and Humid" activity of you all. Going to Home Depot to by 5/8 inch drywall (that's the really heavy stuff) so you can spend the entire day in your hot garage hanging and taping drywall. Of course not before having removed everything from the garage, including de-installing the existing hanging cabinets, only to have your drywall hanging FUN interrupted by an unexpected (at least to me) rain storm, such that all the "garage stuff" started to get soaked.

To be fair, I'm not really complaining. You take the good and the bad. The drywall needed to be done. And hopefully tomorrow I can wash my hands of it once I get the paneling and the cabinet rehung. The poor training runs have left me thinking that all the late "work" nights are having a significant impact on my ability to run longer distances. And plus, that was that kinda soul that shared some of her freezer pops with my friend Dave and I as we were on about mile 13 of the run. Freezer pop while hot on humid. Dang! that was the best freezer pop in the world...

So how did you spend you wicked hot and humid days...

Lifebook No 2 - Complete!

Well, E2 has been home for just over a year and I finally completed his lifebook (story of his adoption). For E1's lifebook, I used headshots of all the family and adoption agency people and the Sizik cutting system to make basically bobble head people. I wrote the story out then hand stamped the words. Though I love E1's book and am very happy with the results, the stamping was time consuming and there was no way to make sure all the words fit on one page, so there are several sentences that continue on the following page which is annoying when you are reading it. I am including a page from E1's book with this post so you can get an idea what it looks like. I have really enjoyed reading it to him and I think he really likes seeing the pictures of his Madre, grandparents, himself and mom and dad.

E2's book was a tougher nut to crack, while I knew that I wanted to type the words, I have never scrapbooked electronically before. I started months before with a title page that described him as a grown man traveling back to the town in which he was born and speaks to the sights and sounds of the town. After that page, I was pretty much lost. My friends suggested a book call the "The House that Jack Built", that I might be able to use that as a base and twist it into the adoption story. I wrote the whole thing out....this is the town that E2 was born in the Country of Ethiopia, this is the lady that took care of E2 in the town where he was born, in the Country of Ethiopia....etc. When I was finished, I totally hated it. A few months past and I found myself in the bowels of the "Change I Can't Control" (see post below), somewhere in my wallering in self pity, loathing, spiteful, negative attitude, I started to write E2's adoption story. Combined with my drive to do something meaningful and my melancholy, I just couldn't stop writing. Now normally, I am in bed by 9:15, but I found that I just couldn't stop and pushed the clock each night beyond 11:00. It is finished, through all the chaos of the last few months, I am REALLY really, happy with the result and hope that E2 will treasure it as he grows up. I haven't figured out how to post a picture of one of the pages as it was created in word and I can't convert it to a jpeg, but here is the basic setup. There is a full size pictures on the left side of each facing page with words laid over the picture that read "My mom and dad tell me I am XXXXXXXX", (i.e. blessed, prayed for, loved...etc), the facing page on the right describes in more detail his adoption story and why he is blessed, prayed for, loved, etc. with additional photos to help tell the story. I can't wait to read it to him.

Much Needed Get Away

Well the Great Grey Goose flew its way 1200 miles to the great white north and back for its second camping trip. This time, it landed safely back home without a major break down in the middle of the north woods cell-phone vacuum more commonly known as the "I can't hear you now" area. E1, not to be outdone by his puking, diarrhea brother from the previous weekend's camping disaster, peed all over dad in their sleeping bag, lamented about bear attacks and proved that there are nude beaches in the UP, well, at least in his mind!

Even with the sketchy weather, it was still an amazing and relaxing weekend. Pa Pa did great in his race and E1 made some great new friends. The boys had fun on the playground with grandma and grandpa and enjoyed taking in the local sites. We even had a Chivice style Mahi-Mahi with coconut-pineapple rice and dill green beans, cooked over an open fire, on Sunday night in honor of my brother and his fiancee who are getting married in Hawaii this week.

Still working on talking Pa Pa into a road trip next year for a different triathalon in the area that wouldn't conflict with the culture camp we like to go to, otherwise it might be another 2 years before we head that way again which seems like FOREVER!