Pallas Athena

Spirit of Racine was this past Sunday. It was very exciting for me, because my time improved dramatically. Although it came as a real suprise to me, in reflection, the rides and runs have been long and fast. The swims are the swims, but they are getting done. This year was cool again, which worked well. Cold air/water is a performance enhancer to most folks, even if they don't like it. The swim was moved in like last year. The current moved to shore and towards the finish, which is ideal as it gets. Someone knocked me down at the start and I was actually ran over by someone. That rattled my cage a bit. Adjusted the goggles and coughed out inhaled water before getting a move on. There was a lot of aqua jogging since most areas you could touch the bottom. The problem being that most of them were moving slower than the swimmers. Hello, keep swimming! After turning the last yellow triangle buey, I started to walk into shore and get the goggles/cap off. Mike was filming on ...

Half-Fast, his wife, Mike and Dave last year rode the Sugar River, Badger and Jane Adams trails in one day with a shuttle between trail ends. I missed out, due to a very bad night out on call. I recall dialyzing a lithium overdose for 10 hours. It was someone who had done this before, and my attitude sucked to say the least. We had all been talking about it, and I really wanted to go. That was not to be. This year, we have been talking about doing the whole thing "minus the sissy shuttle". Mike thought a clover-leaf pattern route would be cool. I really liked the idea. So much that I decided Wednesday night I would spend Thursday doing it. Start time was supposed to be 7 am. I ate a huge breakfast with plenty of protein and fat. It was 7:50 when I finally got loaded and moving. There is nothing worse than a good bonk when you don't have anyone to call. So packing was important. There were a couple of mountain dews, pb&cheese sandwiches, gatorade and a bag ...

That was the predominant thought bouncing off the inside of my skull out putting in another 70 for this fall’s IM. As I hammered through town doing 26 mph + and caught a glimpse of myself in the store windows, I thought “geese, you look like a cyclist”. Next thought? What the heck is that? What is a “real cyclist”. Well, search that one and find a ton of ideas that quantify your cycling worth. Running is much easier to figure out. There are plenty of dorks out there that are ready to tell you if you cannot run 8 minute miles that you aren’t really running. Straight, to the point quantifiable bull right there in your face. Hell, even some misinformed folks at Pearl Izumi bought into this idea for their “run like an animal” campaign. Where are these wiseguys when I’m trying to figure out if I can cycle? Many of the tests I found online involve cycling in Europe (who cares), biking to work frozen (no distance set, which nullifies this as an important qualifier), ridden a recumb...

Plenty of time to think today. 16 miles on the treadmill, another long run. The difference between the romance of the IM and the reality. I was there running long enough to see many people come and go. I'm sure many other IM participants have countless stories of how lonely training can be. The worst is biking to work when I leave at 4:30 in the morning. Your just out there in the dark. Just you and your long, slow grind to your goal. There is always the obvious question of "IF" for the first round. I worked hard for that, 18 months of training, with that hounding question just out there in the back of all of my thoughts. But I wanted it. I got it, on a miserable cold raining day. And after finishing the first IM, it was a hell of a rush. Nothing like it. Nothing. Look, if you had one shot or one opportunity To seize everything you ever wanted in one moment Would you capture it or just let it slip? -Eminem If you are a first-timer and find yourself reading t...

Nubbs has applied to go to a summer camp for kids who have proven they have writing talent. It’s like completely crazy. Her teachers have been raving about her ability since about the fourth grade; and seem to always feel the talent must have come from somewhere. Mike and I look at each other and shake our heads. We really don’t even know anyone in our families that can write. Up until last year, it was simply always put out there at conference. “Your daughter is really a very good writer.” “She has an amazing ability to put her thoughts into words.” She has been writing at college level for a few years now. Maxing out those standardized tests seems to come easy for her. She is a freshman in high school. The problem has been that in our small district, there is no help for the gifted/talented in writing. Now, say your gift is in math-you’re set. This is what has had her looking for some help. She joined Mibba.com awhile back, and has been posting her attempt at a novel t...