New puppy!

We recently added another dog to our family.  We have Barrett (boy)a 2 1/2 year old puggle, and now Miley (girl)a 2 1/2 month old puggle.  She is super cute, but also a lot of work.  We are all adjusting to our new family member.

Evergreen Triathlon (Olympic Distance)

Last Saturday I went to Normal Illinois with Ken to do the Evergreen Triathlon. I haven't been to motivated, so training consistently hasn't really been happening. I hope to have a "personal best" race...interesting expectation. I have only done one previous Olympic distance triathlon(a few years ago), and I made just about every mistake you could. I have learned a lot since then and hoped to put together a good race. As I pulled out of the driveway at 3:45am to go to Ken's to drive down together, it started raining. I hoped that it was raining at the race, or at least maybe by raining now it would all blow through by the time we arrived at the race site. Nice to go to the race with someone that has been there before, and to not have to drive alone. Once we arrived at the race location it wasn't raining, and was much cooler than it should have been. Once all set up in transition with wetsuit in hand, the rain started. The water was just barely wetsuit legal at 77.8 degrees F. I was happy to have the extra buoyancy! I nice 1500 meter swim of 27:12. Somewhere between taking off my wetsuit I lost my two gels in my tri top back pocket. Rainy and windy bike. Happy to not have too many turns under the conditions, completing the 25 miles in 1:15:05. On to the run more rainy fun! A 10K in 52:25 which was okay. I had hoped to do under 50 minutes, but did the nest I could. I think the lack of nutrition was key to the weak run. Still a personal best time of 2:37:54 earned me 7th place in my age group. Motivated to train better! Enjoyable day despite the conditions, and I look forward to returning next year to an even better result.  Ken raced hard to 4th in his age group!

Photos & Fun...

I am learning a lot and enjoying seeing the world around me in a whole new way.

The runs...

Recently I have had string of bad runs. I have been running after work, and they've all been pretty hot days. I can see how this would lead to some not so great runs, but most have been bad. I am looking forward to a change...maybe becoming a year old is what will break the string.

Season starts strong...

Seven Bridges Season Starter is a local 5k and 10 mile run. Early in the season with cool weather for the second year of this race. I improved over last year, and that makes me happy. I finished with a time of 1:13 for 10 miles, and a pace of 7:18. A 17 second per mile pace gain. So far so good...

New interest...

My new interest in photography, is becoming quite enjoyable. It has become a great creative flow of energy. I am learning new things all the time, and really enjoying myself. This photo was from my recent trip to Taos, New Mexico. It is the Rio Hondo River in the canyon that leads to Taos Ski Valley resort.

2008 a year ahead...

I have been having a hard time motivating... I now have an outline for the year's races. I hope to have a good solid year of Triathlon. Hopefully this will help my motivation. Hurry up spring!

Book: Surfer's Code by Shaun Tomson

Surfer's Code by Shaun Tomson
rules:
1) i will never turn my back on the ocean
2) i will paddle around the impact zone
3) i will take the drop with commitment
4) i will never fight a rip tide
5) i will paddle back out
6) i will watch out for other surfers
7) there will always be another wave
8) i will always ride into shore
9) i will pass along my stoke
10) i will catch a wave every day
11) all surfers are joined by one ocean
12) i will honor the sport of kings

Some of these rules can be carried over into the rest of the world outside of Surfing.

This will make you smile...

iFreakin' amazing!

iPhone, very impressive! Maybe it will "help" me blog more regularly....it does everything else! So far I am a huge fan. (only had it 3 days)

Cold is an understatement...

We are in a "cold snap" here in the Chicago area. Growing up in Southern California near the beach, I would have to call this a "cold thermonuclear warhead detonation." It is crazy... Today was 2 degrees F, and factor in the wind and it was -20 degrees F.
WOW...cold. No training outside for a few days.

2008 the year ahead!

I plan on working on my "race season" plan, what events etc. I hope to put something up soon.

Mentally hard....

I had a really hard time after the Chicago marathon. I trained harder than any other marathon, and was really hoping for a PR. It has been difficult not realizing my goal. In this crazy endurance "lifestyle" there will be bad days, and down right "bonks/blow-ups." I will try to not let it deter me. I have been taking it easy this time of the year with the approaching holidays, and winter weather. I am excited to do a couple of half's this coming summer, and get back into the swing of things. I want to see how the new bike does!

Great KONA video by Mark Allen Online.com

Great to be able to see some of the action.

Halloween

Halloween has come and gone, the year is moving rapidly towards its' end. I was happy to be home and enjoy the good weather, and happy time with my family!

Macca wins in KONA!

Chris McCormack wins the Ironman World Championship! I am very excited to see my favorite kick ass triathlete win the big one. He has won practically everything else, and now this... Also exciting to see that the current 70.3 World Champ for men and women both scored 2nd places respectively! Craig Alexander & Samantha McGlone

My Weekend Part 2.

Last nights Cubs game was sad. Today things will go my way...or so I hoped. I was running the Chicago Marathon for the 5th time, and put in the most training. Today will be my PR. Normally you are freezing at the start, but this year it was warm. I trained all summer in the heat, this would just be another day. My Garmin 350 was keeping my on pace. At mile 9 I was starting to work pretty hard. I think it was mile 11 where I "blew up." Then it was survival mode, running as much as I could and walk breaks. I became one with my bad day pretty quick, let's face it when doing endurance sports you will have bad days. Now I went on to finish the best I could and try to make the best of it. At mile 22 the aid station said the race was cancelled, but the info was skectchy at best. Soon we heard the police over their loud speakers announcing the race is cancelled and we were told to walk to the finish. Crazy heat and humidity made for a hard day. Although that is all relative...many people went to the hospital! One man died, and was later found to have not been caused by the heat. I was upright and "finished", but I did feel bad for the next day or two. Part 2 of my weekend equally sucked. It was a bad time for me, our family was sad.

My Weekend Part 1.

We were very excited to see the CUBS make it to the post-season! Not too happy that the Arizona Diamondbacks won both games in Phoenix. The CUBBIES come back to "the friendly confines" of Wrigley field, and home (best fans ever) crowd. It was rediculous to get tickets, but we lucked out and found some...at face value no less. We had a great dinner with friends and we walked to the ballpark, the atmosphere was great. Excitement was thckened the air...it was crazy! I was taking it as easy as possible because of "My Weekend Part 2." The cerimonial first pitch is throwen out by "Mr. Cubs" Ernie Banks, how fitting! The team is annouced and the crowd is loving it! The first pitch and the Diamondbacks hit a home run...the ballpark went VERY quiet. Things didn't go our way. Any opportunity was not siezed, and any questionable call didn't go our way. The CUBS were "flat" nobody seemed to be fired up. It was a sad night...by the end of the game they were swept, and the season was done just like that. My Weekend Part 1 sucked!

Cubs post-season starts tonight!

The Cubs head to Pheonix to take down the Diamond Backs. Go CUBBIES!

WORLD Champion...pretty cool title.

The 2007 Road World Championships just took place September 26 to 30, in Stuttgart, Germany. Six highly prized rainbow jerseys were contested over two disciplines (time trial and road race) and three categories (elite men and women and espoir men). The 2007 road race champion is the same as the 2006 road race champion Italy's Paolo Bettini(pictured here.) Back to back world champs! I am excited, I think Paolo does a great job bringing the honor and repect the rainbow jersey deserves.

The 2007 Time Trial World Champion is the same as 2006 also! Switzerland's Fabian Cancellara does it again, and beating second place by a surprising 52 seconds! I was sad to see Dave Zabriskie did not improve on last years third place, but instead he fell to 12th place.

Always exciting to see who will sport the rainbow kit for the following year!