"It's never too late to start your life over."

You know how it is, you're just minding your business, doing whatever it is you are doing and all the sudden, something catches your attention, be it a car, or a woman, or an airplane at 30,000 feet and BANG, you aren't doing what you were doing before, you are distracted by said shiny thing. Yea, welcome to my life.
"I'm not stupid, I'm easily distracted."

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Beer of the Month Club

So, I am sure I am not the first to say this, but this has got to be one of the coolest presents ever. No, really, it's the greatest. The beer of the month club. Here's the idea. Somebody goes out, drinks a bunch of beer, and then sends it out to a bunch of people to try. It's great! (and by the way that sounds like the coolest job ever!)

My sister and brother-in-law got that for me for Christmas. So what am I going to do about it? Well, I am going to write about it. Yep, I knew you didn't care, but I am still going to do it anyway. Suck it up. Oh, and enjoy, lord knows I will.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Ok, maybe I suck a bit less now

I raced LA Triathlon this weekend. I did well. Very well, in fact.

On my swim I was pretty pleased about my ability to actually get through the waves. Many did not, in fact there were a few people who saw the waves and decided not to even start the race, a concept I can't even fathom (hee hee, nautical humor!) but I am sure they couldn't comprehend why I would even go out there. The surf was nasty, and so much fun. Fortunately I realized this on my warm-up so I was prepared for the ferocity of the waves. They were easily 5-6 feet and breaking in three surf lines. Once you got through one, you had another right behind it to contend with, and because they were right on the beach you had to get all the way to the bottom to avoid getting tumbled.

Once out, there was still a pretty big swell and on the return leg of the swim you were nearly in one of the breaks so you had to be careful not to get too close to shore you you would get tossed.

I got out of the water, completely dizzy and struggled up the sand to transition. I found my bike, pretty much all alone. That was disheartening.

The ride was nice. Not nearly as flat as everyone told me it was, but that was ok. On the plus side, we had a head wind for two of the 3 legs back and forth from the Staples center. I listened to my coach and pinned it pretty much the whole way. At the end I felt good and just barely managed to keep the girl who passed me in the last 2 miles of the ride in site. Sweet!

The run, well that was a kick in the junk. At mile 1 and 4 there was a nice big hill. About 300 vertical feet. We got to run it twice. But, on the other hand, you have the downhill! Yea, no you don't. That sucker was so steep you really couldn't run down it, you had to just hold on and hope you didn't blow a knee.

I came across the finish line in 2:41:41. That was good enough for 31 of 149 in my age group. Top 20%. I can live with that. If you want to see the splits you can see them here. Then type in my bib number (736).

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Wow! I suck at this!

So I might be fighting a bit of burn-out. I raced this last weekend and I am really unhappy with the results. I did fine, 9th in my age group and 9.5 minutes faster than last year but I was hoping for so much more.

I am sure that there are people out there who will tell me that I wasn't prepared for the heat, or that my GI problems that caused me to throw up at mile 20 on the bike are partially to blame. The problem with that is that I don't buy. I wasn't ready. That's it, I simply wasn't ready.

I'm now torn between being upset by that and a single minded drive to prepare for next season NOW, and the realization that I might need to go play some other sports for a while and come back to this in a few months.

I have 2 more tri's this year. That will take me to 12, I think, races overall this season, certainly a lot but I am trying to catch up on race experience and the only way to do that is to... well, race.

I am also looking into the Cyclocross series and a winter mountain bike race series nearby. Both of those should help. Great for staying fit and a good break from what I am currently doing.

Anyhow, more later.

Monday, July 6, 2009

I ran into the ass of a bee today

Yea, you read that right. I was just cruising along, minding my own business when I ran into a bee. He was probably a happy bee, returning from a long day pollinating strawberries in Oxnard, California when I abruptly ended his life.

Well, I'm not sure I ended his life immediately, but I am sure I significantly shortened it. I don't think bees do first aid or have prosthetic stingers. I am pretty sure I ended his life because I distinctly had a stinger stuck in my leg.

I think what happened is that I actually ran into his stinger. I don't think he had time to actually hit me, it was probably an accident.

Either way by the time I stopped I had a welt with blood running from a small hole above it. Not only did I get stung, I also got poked by the same stinger.

Today it is a golf ball size bump on my left leg above the knee. I'm not letting it slow me down though. I can drink beer just fine with this thing all swollen up!

Monday, March 30, 2009

I might actually be Canadian now, eh.

I set off from Seattle early in the morning on the 27th of March in the year 2009. Ok, it wasn't all that early, I somehow managed to get people buying me drinks in the hotel bar the night before and well, it hurt to blink the next day.

So anyway, I set off from Seattle, driving the company truck filled with parts. I was going to import the vehicle into Canada. I had no idea what the process was. I had not idea what I was doing. In fact, I thought for sure I was going to get arrested so I secreted a paperclip into my hair, not because I thought I could use it to get the cuffs undone, but simply because I think that is what you do when you are about to get arrested.

I made it to the border in record time. The record wasn't a speed record, it was actually more of an amazement, but I couldn't say that in the last sentence, it doesn't make any sense.

So there I was...

It was ugly.

I won't bore you with the details but after several hours, a customs broker, several calls to the home office, and a large payment in small bills dropped behind the third bush on the right side of the building, I was permitted to enter Canada.

The welcome was actually sort of nice. I crossed the border to fanfare (in my head) and was immediately flagged down, pulled from the truck and forcefully kissed full on the mouth by the sweet smelling, flaxen haired border patrol.

Too bad it was a dude...