Reflection

Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come true.
Leon J. Suenes


Once again, been a while since I've written anything, becoming a habit... I got into a conversation at work today about my past; stupid things I've done and interesting parts of my story. It got me to thinking, I need to do more.

Isaac, the two year old, has croupe. So last night, I put him to bed and I lay down and read for a few minutes before I feel the complete exaustion overwhelming me. Cody, our dog, decided he wanted to sleep in our room at the foot of the bed, and not wanting to be the huge prick who kicks the poor, unloved dog out of the bedroom where he entertains his only sense of belonging and love (am I reading too much into this?), I decide to leave him in the room even though I am worried he'll make the noises he has made every other time I've tried this and wake me up. I'm a pretty light sleeper and I can't go back to sleep once I wake up, so disturbing my sleep is a pretty big no no. This is why when we had our baby Isaac, Audrey was much more frequent in getting up in the middle of the night to attend to him (change diapers). It's not my fault, it's just the way I was made.

Anyway, so I fall asleep and sure enough I wake up 1 hour later or less to Cody, the dog, barking in his sleep and breathing hard. He was either being chased by a big dog, chasing a squirrel, or having crazy dog love... I don't know, but whatever the case, it woke me up, so I got up and kicked him out of the room and laid back down.

Miraculously, I fell back asleep in about 30 minutes, and sure enough about 30 minutes to an hour after that Isaac gets up and comes in our room because he can't sleep due to the Croupe that makes it hard to breathe at night, calling for mommy.

Mommy, AKA Audrey, had to be up at 3 to go to work so I heroically leapt from the bed, barely having a chance to grab my cape, and whisked Isaac out of the room. Knowing the tricks of the trade, I cuddled him and offered a little bit of Thomas the Train to soothe his weary mind. It turned out that Thomas was a short fix.

I laid back in bed and about an hour and a half later (me still awake...actually praying and half conciously enjoying it), here comes Isaac again calling for Mommy. This time I kicked my feet and threw a small tantrum, so audrey gets up and puts on a movie for him and comes back. It's now 2am, Audrey has to be up at 3, and I was planning on getting up at 5 to work out on the trainer. Going to sleep is pretty much a joke at this point so we both got up and had some coffee. AT about 4am Isaac finally went to bed, Audrey was at work, and I went and rode the trainer in front of the Tv for an hour and a half....what a night!

Then, I had to go to work, so needless to say today was a bit of a struggle.

But regardless of that, back to where I was headed, I need to do more with myself. I've fallen into a pit of acceptance and have not been striving for a while now. The only way my life can really be fulfilled is if I am striving to accomplish what I can, be everything I can be and enjoy every moment.

I can be a great racer. This is one example. I know I can be great because with little training really and a very poor diet I do pretty well. To do really well, I need only to have some discipline (which, if I'm not mistaken, is what I allegedly picked up in military school, lowe these many years ago).

I need discipline in my diet. No coffee, no alcohol (or only occasionally), and less fat and sugar.

Discipline. Working out every day, following the training plan.

Discipline. That's what I need, that's what I want and that's exactly what I know I have. So now the hard part: I have to exercise it.

Isn't life a piece of work?

O Dark thirty...that most specialist time of the day

'Stress is a funny thing, it makes you feel ways you shouldn't and want to do unreasonable things because you are feeling cornered. We get stressed for all different reasons, but the results in our lives are almost always the same.

I was feeling stressed last night because I left for work at 815 in the morning and got home at 7 in the evening, and I came home to a letter from the county saying that the infiltration (which was installed per their instructions) is installed wrong and must be removed or they will fine me.

It's not that big a deal, I went to the county building today and I think it's worked out, but last night, just wanting to relax and feel better, I had some beer, and subsequently remembered why I don't like drinking beer.

Sure, it relaxes me for a little while, buuutt, then I have to deal with the aftermath of being dehydrated and unable to sleep.

Which brings me to 330 this morning, me, awake, lying in bed staring up at the ceiling unable to sleep. So I got up, and I had a big jug of water, and then a coffee while I looked at the news stories online (don't have tv), and then from 5 am to 7 am I rode my trainer in the garage and watched Seinfeld on DVD. And you know what? I loved it. I like being up super early, with time to do what I want to do without feeling like I am cheating time from somewhere else. I love the feeling of having accomplished a lot before other people are awake (well, if you consider working out for 2 hours accomplishing a lot). Either way, it's more than most have done. Annnnd, I love training with a heart rate monitor. It's terrific to look down and know exactly how much I'm exerting myself, the two hours was still difficult by the end of it, but I stayed at around 70% of my max HR the whole time, and know without a doubt that I am definately doing base training for the first time in my life (purposefully anyway... the truth is I have no idea what level I have trained at for the last couple years because I haven't used a HR monitor).

For the time being, I will know my heart rate and train in a particular zone with a purpose, but because I'm on a trainer for the bike portion during the winter, I'll really have no idea if I'm improving at all. But the truth is, if I stick with my plan and actually work out consistently six days a week, and do a real base training I have no need to worry about improving, I won't be able to help but improve since it will be the first time I've actually trained right. I mean, take a look at my year this year, I've done alright for my goals, almost met all of them and improved dramatically over the year before, all without any kind of structured training plan (well, I had a training plan I designed myself, but I didn't really stick to it at all and it didn't include proper base training or peaking for a race). All I really did was run bike and swim a little more than I have before (well a lot more in the case of swimming). But I did it all ass backwards, doing 1 mile speed running intervals on the track in February and March, giving myself shin splints so I had to stop running for a while. I was doing 60 mile race pace time trials on my bike in april and may, trying on every outing to beat my previous time (not exactly base training). And swimming? Well, I swam you know? And I'm proud of how much swimming I did. It wasn't perfect, but I got in a few 2 and 3 mile swims and even one 3 hour swim in a river prior to Ironman. I might not have started soon enough on putting in the distance in swimming, but I definately improved dramatically and made it through the Ironman swim in 1:27 (I even got second place in my age group out of 6 guys overall).

Anyway, needless to say, I'm excited for the coming year, and I'm excited to train right and hopefully become truly fit, which I don't think I've ever been. My ambient heart rate (sitting down) is still around 70, I'd like to see that around 60 or lower, and feel like I am truly improving my health and not just suffering repeatedly through strenuous training and racing days.

So here's to heart rate monitors, base training, waking up in the wee hours of the night to exercise, and becoming fit!

“Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them and you have their shoes.”
Jack Handey quotes

In sickness and in health

Been a while since I've written anything, so I figure I better get back on the horse before it gets away.

We're supposed to cherrish our loved one for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, etcetera...you know the drill. Well, it seems like with little kids, there is a lot more of the in sickness part than there used to be. Jack goes to school and gets sick, Isaac goes to daycare and out to nightclubs and gets sick (ok maybe just to daycare), and then they bring it all home to mom and dad. Plus, my best bud has three little ones who are always getting sick and transferring their sicknesses over to us. That's the case with our last bug we just got over. It was like a two week flu! We got sick right after completing the Tri-Cities Marathon, and are just getting better. That's right, Audrey completed her first full marathon! What a gal huh? She's also committed to do an Ironman with her best friend in three years. Awesome!

So needless to say, because of sickness, my base training has not yet begun for the 08 season. But it's very much on my mind. I've finally gotten back in the gym since being sick, today for the second time, and you know something? Lifting feels damn good. With all of the endurance sports I've gotten pretty far away from the weight room anymore and I forgot how strong you feel and the vitality it brings. So I'm totally committed to maintaining a weight lifting schedule amid my base training for swimming biking and running, I figure I could get in the gym three times a week no problem.

Speaking of base training I had a thought while I was at work yesterday (surrounded by bicycles), when it's particularly slow at work, why don't I just throw on some bike shorts, get on one of the bikes already hooked up to trainers and do a quick (one or two hours) workout? I mean, it's not like I couldn't help customers while I was spinning, after all it's base training, I can speak intelligently at 140 heart beats per minute. In fact, it would probably increase my level of customer service, being more energetic and feeling good, you know?
It's so easy to get bored at work when there are no customers. There's things to do, of course, but without the customers it's almost harder to get them done, harder to stay focused and energetic.

Well, it would be a great idea, but my work ethic won't allow it. One of the guys told me that last winter they would sit on the counter and play cards for hours when it was slow, and race tricycles around the perimiter of the store (better not happen this year).

On another note, the Bonney Lake house is allllmost done, just need the driveway installed per plan and hopefully I'll be set. On the darker side however, I still don't know if I'll be getting it sold, refinancing it or filing for Bankruptcy...SeLaVi! (I think that's french for Fuck It!)

I'm finally getting rid of my car and getting a cheaper one, Hooooraayyy! Boy did I ever get in over my head with a 40 some thousand dollar car! So now, as long as things go right, I'll be driving a 23 thousand dollar Hybrid Aura. Sounds good to me, 35 MPG!

Also, I've been drinking less, woohoo! The sickness really helped I'll admit, but none the less it is a success. My goal is to simply not drink every day. It's not good for my training. And I get to feeling wore out after a while.

Well, I do believe I'll leave you with a few quotes:

If it's sent by ship then it's a cargo, if it's sent by road then it's a shipment.
-- Dave Allen

The day after tomorrow is the third day of the rest of your life.
-- George Carlin

Half our life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through life trying to save.
-- Will Rogers

My experience has taught me that a man who has no vices has damned few virtues.
-- Abraham Lincoln (Abraham Lincoln is a genius)

All I've ever wanted was an honest week's pay for an honest day's work.
-- Steve Martin

Always and never are two words you should always remember never to use.
-- Wendell Johnson

You're not drunk if you can lie on the floor without holding on.
-- Dean Martin

Taking chances and burning yourself

Well,

It's funny, but, if you're a chance-taker, it seems that you pretty much live your whole life that way; you take chances when you're young, and you continue to take them as you get older, the only difference being the kind of risks you take.

If you're not a chance taker, you just don't get it. Unfortunately, that's pretty much the end of the story. I don't know if non-chance-taking-types can change their ways, but it seems to me that this is an innate characteristic of some, and not of others. In any case, I've always been this way, as if something unseen spurs me ever onward towards the unknown and untested. This is, in large part, why I got in trouble a lot growing up. I tend not to want to simply look at the rules and say 'OK, those are the rules, let's follow 'em'.

Well, needless to say, when you test boundaries you sometimes get burned. I believe this is one of those times. No worries of course! But financially speaking, things are very interesting right now. But I guess things are pretty interesting right now in just about every way, and that's really how I like it!

I forget sometimes that this is what I want. Do you ever do that? Lose focus on what you want your life to be like? I do that pretty frequently and have to remind myself that if my life were all in order and simple I would be bored. Afterall, that's why I pursue things which are outside of my current boundaries. Whether it's physical, financial, mental or spiritual, I pretty much am always looking to push the envelope. Maybe it's in my blood? I have heard that the Irish tend to have something like that in their blood (not just alcohol!!).

I hope this isn't all too vague for you, if it is, you probably aren't like me and just don't get it.

The tough part is, that when you play with fire, you get burned sometimes. And if you're someone who is naturally a little wreckless, well...

But! Who cares! The important things in life are your health, your happiness and your choices about how you treat others. So in regards to the important aspects of life, I'm sitting very pretty right now. And what more can you ask for?

Oh...that's right. There's that one thing: Ironman Hawaii babieeee. This Saturday morning, I will be up bright and early at 345 in the morning to begin watching the Ironman championships (perhaps next year I will be there? If not, the year after for sure.) It's going to be 8 to 9 hours of pure joy. How do the pros do it so quickly? You got me. But I'm damn sure going to try and figure it out over the next couple years!

Saianara (is that spelled right?) Don't let the details get you down! Life is too short, always remember that. When you start feeling overwhelmed, picture your life 100 years from now (that's right...when you're dead). Think about your funeral if you want...will they say, 'We always loved how he/she worried about money,'? Is that possible? I don't think so. Putting it all into perspective like that helps me. When you think about your life really being over, doesn't it just make all the useless shit in life just seem to shrink away and die?

Mike

The Brain-eating Amoeba and other tales

Holy crap! There is a brain eating amoeba that lives in lakes! The news story I read about it was extremely sad too. This dad held his 14 year old in his arms as he died from getting this brain-eating amoeba while swimming at the lake near their home. Holy crap! It goes up your nose and latches on to your medula oblongata or somthing else, and eats your brain! Now, I've never had my brain eaten before...wait, I take that back...Ok, so the closest I've come to experiencing this is when Tom Shane comes one the radio to tell me about diamonds and rubies...You have a friend in the...ahhhhh my brain is being eaten!!!

Did I get side tracked? Well, in any case, the only way to protect yourself it turns out is to wear a nose clip when swimming in these lakes or...by living in a frigidly cold, miserable climate where the water you jump into is never actually warm and inviting but only bitterly cold (Seattle area). Apparently the amoeba only lives in warmer waters(hmmmm...the amoeba is smarter than us?), but with global warming they say...look out, this fatal microbe could be infesting our northwestern waters by as early as, say, the year 2109 (warn your great grand children of their impending doom!). Things should be really warming up around here by then, my neigbor just bought yet another large suv, they have four!

Which reminds me. Isn't it freezing ass cold here right now? Hmmmm...strange. Something about the whole global-warming thing keeps sending me the mixed signals that the earth will be warming up on some kind of global scale. As in, this planet...getting warmer...right now. Is anyone seeing this? This summer was very mild, and it's freezing cold already. I think we should start cutting down some trees and burning them via fossil fuels. Whatever it takes, you know?

Lastly, work is hard and I want to move to France. I hear they only work 32 hour work weeks, take long lunches and have sex while on the job (ok...I didn't actually hear that last part..I may have just made it up). Why can't Americans get this figured out?

Some Quotes

Fran Leibowitz:
Remember that as a teenager you are in the last stage of your life when you will be happy to hear the phone is for you.


Mark Twain:
The perfection of wisdom, and the end of true philosophy is to proportion our wants to our possessions, our ambitions to our capacities, we will then be a happy and a virtuous people.

Martha Washington:
The greatest part of our happiness depends on our dispositions, not our circumstances.

Ramona L. Anderson:
People spend a lifetime searching for happiness; looking for peace. They chase idle dreams, addictions, religions, even other people, hoping to fill the emptiness that plagues them. The irony is the only place they ever needed to search was within.

PRO DEAL

I could hardly believe it when I heard it myself. Because I work at a bike place now, I have what are called 'pro deals' available to me. I can get this bike, which retails around 4500 for aroun 1400 bucks!! Woo hoooo! So, it is now my mission to come up with 1400 dollars. As soon as I do, the P3C is mine. What a beautiful thing. I haven't been this excited about getting something for a long while; remember when you were a kid and you were so excited because your parents told you that if you saved up you could buy that bike/dog/dollhouse/whatever? That's how I feel now.

P.S. It's my birthday today, 26 baby! I figured out yesterday that it's not realllly my birthday though, technically of course, I turned 25-29 last year, and I won't have another birthday until I turn 30-34. Isn't triathlon a beautiful thing?

MW

Manager

Well, don't take it too seriously, that's really about all the advice I can give myself or anyone else. What a funny job I have now. Everything is a mess and not only do I have to learn the business from scratch but I have to fix everything that is effed up. Annnd, I have to implement all of the systems that haven't even been looked at or kept up.

Aiyeiyi (not sure how to spell that one).

But, the good news is, my life is wonderful. I know I say this over and over, but I'm young, healthy, happy and well taken care of, so what the hell is there to complain about? Well, my most important 'task' right now is to maintain perspective and not allow idiotic work related events to effect my psyche. Know what i mean??

If not, good for you, you have a calm job.

The only truly tough part for me right now is keeping it all straight. There is so much new stuff happening and so much chaos at work that it is hard to even keep things straight and focused. I've never had a job that required me to be this extremely desicive and action-oriented, it's really pretty interesting. I have to stop typing now to creat a 'closing checklist' for the store,

Peace, love and rock and roll. Or whatever you believe in.

Live your life and have fun, it's over too quick.

M

OH my feet!

Turns out working 9 hours on your feet 2 days after doing Ironman is painful, who knew!?

I feel great though. Life is surely interesting. I was thinking today that it is all a test. Every day is identical in only one aspect: It is a test of your physical and mental strength; where are you at now? There is no pass or fail in the grand scheme of things, but, there is a pass or fail for how you perform compared to how you could/should perform at this stage of your life. What's your potential? How understanding/patient/organized/loving/couragious/decisive/etc... can you be in your life and how did you measure up to that today?

At work today there were a thousand things that were wrong and should have been done better, the test for me was accepting that situation, not experiencing any stress and working to improve the situation. It's not easy, all of our jobs are hard, but the point is I had the opportunity to succeed in a relative sense on a scale from 1 to 100. I probably got an 80. Still have a ways to go.

But the point is, everything is a test and it's fun. Don't view the 'test' as a pain in your ass but an opportunity to recognize the subtle good in life and work to improve yourself on all of the different levels.

Next thing: Life is truly short. My God, some lives are cut extremely short. And to stress out over almost anything in life is foolish. The only truly, TRULY, important aspects of life are your health, your family and their health, and your friends and their health. Yes there are many, countless aspects of our lives which we can, and often do, pretend are vastly important. But, the truth is all that counts is your health and happiness, the rest is bullshit. So take it for what you will and focus all your energy on what you choose, but don't forget that.

Allright, next important subject? The MDot Tattoo. Do I get it or not? My friend and I just completed an incredible journey, the Ironman, but...the MDot tattoo supposedly represents the 'Ironman Corporation' which sponsors certain races, and so getting that tattoo supposedly represents that you did a sponsored race. Problem is, there is no other tattoo that sufficiently represents the accomplishments in such a simple, non-extravagant symbol.

I don't pictures of a stick figure swimming biking and running on my calf, and even 140.6, which some people think makes sense doesn't really work for me (after all, we actually did a longer bike and run than we were supposed to because of course changes due to a forest fire), and having the word Ironman tattooed on my calf seems too obvious. There is something attractive, alluring, and mysterious about the MDot, but should I give a shit that somebody else might think I shouldn't have it because my race wasn't offically sponsored by that corporation? I just don't know. Me thinks not. I spoke with Rodey today and we agreed that the MDot is the way to go, to hell with what anyone thinks, it symbolized doing the distance, that anything is possible, and it only really makes sense to people who know what it is.

So I think yes, I'm getting the MDot.

Last thought: I believe there is a bet going on between the big honchos of the music lables to see who can get the most retarded, irritating song on the radio and have people approve of it. It's kind of a college-buddy kind of bet, you know, 'hah! check this one out, loser!: I got this retarded song on the air, and the idiots love it! Hardy har har!'

Mike

what blog?

OH my god! How embarasing! I completely spaced the fact that I have a blog... Was I supposed to be typing something about my life onto this website on some sort of regular basis? I had no idea.

Well, a hell of a lot has changed since I last wrote. I'm sure my loyal fans are writhing in agony from the acute pains of motivational fuel withdrawel. Or...maybe not. Either way, I'm back.

So...without further adeu: I am an Ironman. As of last night at 917pm I crossed the line of the Grand Columbian Iron distance triathlon. 2.4 mile of swimming, 118 mile of biking (that's right, the bike was extra long) and at least 26.2 miles of running...and you can bet your ass I'll be getting the tattoo.

I'll write more about the Ironman another night, but for now that's the news. My best buddy Chris Rodes also finished, and we are both very proud of the epic accomplishment.

I now manage Performance Bicycle. I began training four weeks ago in Sacramento, CA. From there I went to Hawaii for a week for our friends' wedding, and when I got back I took over my new store. And what a night mare. I mean seriously, the first week and a half of work there was as difficult as anyone can imagine. One day(s) I worked 31 hours straight, no sleep, no breaks, just trying to get the store up to speed. And this right before my first Ironman (not smart!).

But everything is working out, we just need to sell a couple of our houses and maybe get me a cheaper car and things will be awesome. I'm tired of stressing over money, that's not what life's about. You should never have more posessions/debt than you can easily cover with a reasonable income, that's my new belief. You can ruin a perfectly wonderful life by taking on too much debt and responsibility.

Relax, sit back and enjoy. This is your life, and you only get one.

Mike

Some Irish quotes - Enjoy!

"The Irish don't know what they want and are prepared to fight to the death to get it” - Sidney Littlewood

“Leprechauns, castles, good luck and laughter.Lullabies, dreams and love ever after. Poems and songs with pipes and drums. A thousand welcomes when anyone comes... That's the Irish for you!” (boy does that sum me up!)

“Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four essential food groups: alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat” - Alex Levin

“Ninety percent I'll spend on good times, women and Irish Whiskey. The other ten percent I'll probably waste.” (Hah! I love it!)

I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no "brief candle" for me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.
G.B. Shaw

"A wise man should have money in his head, but not in his heart."
Jonathan Swift

For your sweet sake, I will ignore
Every girl who takes my eye,
if it's possible, I implore
You do the same for me. (Oh God, I love it!)

It's a good thing to be able to take up your money in your hand and to think no more of it when it slips away from you than you would of a trout that would slip back into the stream.
Lady Augusta Gregory

Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.C.S. Lewis

Father O'Malley was going through the post one day. Drawing a single sheet of paper from an envelope, he found written on it just one word: "FOOL." The next Sunday at Mass, he announced, "I have known many people who have written letters and forgot to sign their names. But this week I received a letter from someone who signed his name and forgot to write a letter."

We can't win at home, we can't win away. As general manager, I just can't figure out where else to play.
Jock Brown - Celtic General Manager.

Mile 16

It's been a while since I've posted, been incredibly busy, and a lot has happened. Here's the short version:
Raced Vineman 70.3 and drank lots of wine (more later)
Raced...errr...completed Escape from Federal Way (though, interesting enough, I can't figure out what we ever escaped from - except in my case, perhaps I escaped having a good finish time) (more later)
Made good progress on Bonney Lake build...woo hoo
Been on several interviews for management positions...all good (more later)
Have 3 properties for rent...teeth are chattering
swam 1 and a half hours straight with Rodey


But it was today that I ran 20 miles, well almost 20. And it was at mile 16 that a profound realization struck (it happens more often than not with me).

It was at mile 16, with fatigue cutting up from my legs, through my stomach to grasp my heart and squeeze what little passion I had left for pushing myself out of it - it was at mile 16, with a thirst I've rarely felt wrenching my insides and leaving a chalky feel in my mouth - it was at mile 16, with a desire to stop and walk, or stop all together swelling up inside of me like a title wave, daring me to keep going and begging me to stop - it was at mile 16 that I realized - mile 16 is where the real training happens.

And so it was, that while fatigue was taking hold of, and breaking my spirit, and my very foundation was crumbling beneath me, that I reached just a little bit deeper and willed my legs to keep moving.

And that's really the point isn't it? In life, just as in racing, we are faced with incredible difficulty, overwhelming fatigue, an incredible desire to just stop pushing and walk a little; it's at mile 16 that we learn what we're made of. It's at mile 16, when we come face to face with our own limits, our own weakness, and the deepest, truest forms of our real emotions that we learn who we truly are at this moment, perhaps glimpse what we know we can be, and make the decision to accept one or pursue the other.

And that's just mile 16.


VINEMAN...BABEEEEEY!


Well, if there is anything to be said for my half-ironman race at the Vineman in Sonoma County, it would probably be this: There is a lot of delicious wine in Sonoma County.

Other highlights would probably include these:
Swimming in a relatively narrow river makes for an excellent time siting. No troubles there, my friend. Are you next to the bank, or at least looking at it and it's at the right angle? Well you're good to go then. It was a 42 minute swim for me, which is fine, not great, but I will get there.
The Pro athletes are...amazing. And what a cool experience to see them in person. Michellie Jones was there! Craig Alexander was there! Chris Lieto, Luke Bell, Samantha Mglone, I mean commmmeee on! It was very cool. They swim like a bunch of piranhas, just absolutely attacking the water, totally amazing.
You should have a spare tire or fix it junk for your tubular racing tires. That's right...that would be me that did not have any way to fix my tire. Which leads me to...
Racing 30 miles of a half ironman bike course on a flat tire sucks. I mean suuuuuuccckks. But, here is the cool part; my attitude was amazing, and my taper was superb, because I still completed the entire race in just 5:56, which is only about 50 minutes slower than a good time for me. I mean, I was really pushing on the bike, and I took a lot of risks, almost crashing many times when my flat front tire would slide out from under the bike...scary.
Running 13 miles in 93 degree plus heat, after biking on a flat tire, is very hard. It took me 2 hours. Not too good, and the run course you ask? Oh, just as miserably hilly as the bike course. Such a hard race!!!

Next up? The 'escape' from alcatraz olympic race... 6 days after killing myself in the Vineman...annnnnd...with no rest days between, because we drove home from the Vineman the same day (though it took over a day to get home), and then I began doing physical labor on the bonney lake house. So I was toasted, completely.

Here's the craziest part about this race, besides my being wasted and going very slowly; in the swim, only about 50 yards into it, I accidently hit some guys shoulder trying to pursue Rodey (by the way, it was a mass start through a 10 foot wide start chute, complete, utter chaos, people climbling all over each other, literally). So this guy, this lunatic, reaches over to me, grabs my wetsuit at the shoulder and rips it completely off. ANd I said, what the hell dude? And he says, get this, "you pulled on me first". Can you believe that? What a maniac!

If anyone reading this does triathlons, or is about to do your first, read this: If anyone punches, kicks, pulls, grabs, squeezes, climbs over, crawls under, or indian burns you - it is unintentional and not a reason to be upset, and especially, not a reason to conciously, physically retaliate against said person. If you do that, you are an idiot and should not be racing in a triathlon.
That being said, the race was well organized, very tough, even if I hadn't been completely worn out and pissed off about swimming my entire 1500 yards with my wetsuit completely unzipped. By the way, the swim took me about as long as my 1.2 mile half ironman swim the week before!


Well, I'm about spent with typing. Job wise? Well, I've had some incredible interviews, and I'm just waiting to hear back from some people to see what they are willing to offer me pay/benefits wise, and I have a couple of second interviews scheduled. The most exciting opportunity at this point is a second interview with a DM from Performance Bike. If that goes well, they will likely offer me the position managing the Tacoma location, and that would be very cool - I've wanted to manage a bike store for a while, it's the perfect fit for me, to be around cycling all of the time and be able to get other people excited about it when they come it. We'll see though, I'm only at the second interview with them

Have a great day/night/week or whatever, and stay positive, life is only as good as you make it and allow it to be. Remember, you're alive now and that won't always be the case, enjoy it while it lasts and don't sweat the petty stuff (or pet the sweaty stuff as my old friend micah would always say)!

Mike

Quote (s) of the day

Those who expect moments of change to be comfortable and free of conflict have not learned their history. ~Joan Wallach Scott

Change your thoughts and you change your world. - Norman Vincent Peale

In order to change we must be sick and tired of being sick and tired.
- Author unknown

The Grand Columbian Ironman...Baby

Yes, that's right, Ironman my friend...In just two short months.

Let me repeat that...two..short..months.

Chris and I have decided that we don't want to wait until June of next year to take on the mother of all races, we need the pain now.

My plan you ask? Well, yes, it's true that I can not, as of this moment, swim 2.4 miles. And yes, it's true that my marathon in May almost killed me and that was without swimming or biking. Yes, it's true, I haven't ridden 112 miles since I rode the STP last year.

So my plan? I'm going to train like mad for the next two months. Well, I guess I can't train this week, I'm sick after all (damnation!), and I guess next week really won't work since I have my big Vineman, Half-Ironman triathlon next weekend. And I guess that really puts a damper on the week after that, sooooooo... I'm going to train like hell for five weeks!

Well...I guess, really, if you think about it, I probably need a good two week taper or more before the race, so I'm feeling really good.

Oh no.

I have three weeks of training.

Oh my god.

Ok, so....plan? I'm going to do a 2 hour swim and a 112 mile ride followed by 10 miles of running once per week for the those three weeks, that should do it (who am I kidding?). If that doesn't do it, well, I suppose we'll find out on September 15th.

Who needs all those miles of training anyway? A real Ironman doesn't train, he just saddles up and faces down the demons. Or something like that.

In other news (seriously, news?...I'm not totally sure, but I'm relatively positive noone reads this, and even if someone did, are they really curious about news in my life...probably not), My ball and chain, my long time foe, the bonney lake house, which I have been 'building' for 2 years is almost complete. Haaaalllleeeluyah, Haleluyah, Hallllleeeluyaaaaaaa. Probably two more months and it will be totally finished.

I've spent many hours in the last week cleaning up debris from around the house, sweeping up the inside, and caulking the outside (I'll refrain from any caulk jokes at this time - this is a family show).

Though I have one final hurdle to overcome, that of the infiltration trench, once that is done, I'm home free. My credit and income are good enough to get a good loan, so I'm going to refinance it and rent it out, woohooo! We might, just maybe even make some money on it!

Next...I'm getting a job. I think a woman just screamed outside, or maybe it was on the tv, I don't think it was in my head, right??

Seriously though, it will be a relief to have a job again, even satisfying, which I never thought I would feel that way. Funny how things change. I may begin working for a large builder, Jerry Mayhan as a site manager, or I may get a management job at some sort of retail store, not sure yet.

WE shall see what God brings. It's in his hands. I have seriously turned it over, I can no more control that then I can the weather. I finally understand that. All I can do is put in the effort and let the chips fall where they may. But I won't get all spiritual or philosophical on you,

Mike

Quote of the Day

The fact is, that to do anything in the world worth doing, we must not stand back shivering and thinking of the cold and danger, but jump in and scramble through as well as we can.
Robert Cushing

Free haircuts vs 20 dollar haircuts

My wife cuts my hair. She has been for close to three years, and though she still takes a very long time to do it, seriously, sometimes it's almost maddening how slow parts of the process can be - carefully moving the clippers over a portion of my head several times without the clippers actually making any cutting noise - they turn out very well.

I'm always happy with my hair when she's done, which is pretty amazing considering the track record of professional hairistas (really, what do you want, barber?), probably 3 out of 10 haircuts I get at a hairmasters or supercuts or whatever turn out well. It's pretty abismal.

So, a couple of days ago, my hair looking pretty shaggy, I ask my wife to schedule my personal stylist for a hair appointment. She was tired, too busy and I guess feeling a little overwhelmed and insisted I go to a barber. Reluctantly, I consented.....

'There you go, you're all done...are we good?' the allegedly trained stylist inquired.

'uhhhh, yep. Guess it looks fine' Was my usual response...How the hell should I know? Let me go home, shower and have a look at it, then I'll get back to you. So I paid my twenty dollars, and went home to shower.

It was not fine. How does someone call themself a professional and cut a head of hair like she cut mine, look at it, think it looks fine, and release me back into the wild, tagged for tracking by my rediculous bowl cut?

She should have her license revoked (do they have a licensing system? if not, they should form a hair-bar association of some kind for the exclusive purpose of disbanding stylists of this kind).

There should be some kind of organization which stations highly-trained analysts outside of hair cutting places to view the customers as they leave, and judge whether or not they are being given a disservice. It wouldn't be hard right? They would have to ignore whether or not someone was attractive, just focus on their hair cut, and ask a simple question, 'does your hair normally look good? Or are you a lunatic who prefers bowl cuts?'

Luckily, my wife was able to repair the damage and safely reintegrate me back into the population, but not immediately. I walked around for two days with my goofy hair, I even held an open house, talking with potential clients about buying and selling, all the while just wondering what they were thinking about my hair.

I suppose it wasn't quite as bad as my wife and I thought, otherwise I probalby would have noticed before I left the hair cutting place, but it was pretty bad. Needless to say, Audrey has agreed to never again force me to throw away 20 dollars on a bad hair cut, so all's well that something something...

....Oh sorry, I was looking in the mirror, damn I look good. OK, just kidding, but it really makes a big difference.


Ahhhhh, anyway, I got up Sunday morning at 430 am and went on a 70 mile ride followed by a 6 mile run. Very proud. Usually I just do my workouts later in the day because I'm able to, or I just don't do them. Working out in the early morning is brutal. I drank a cup of coffee, and then headed off, up highway 410 to Mt Rainier. I couldn't eat anything, I never can right after I have coffee for some reason, so it was a hungry day. I took three baker's breakfast cookies with me, which was a good thing.

What a tough ride! Starts out with 410 up to bonney lake which is pretty tough, but then it just keeps going up, especially after Buckley, up up and away to the mountain. For only 70 miles it took a very long time for the ride, I think it was four hours, but I'm definately doing that ride again in a week, great way to build strength, especially at the very end, climbing up Janelle Estates to my neighborhood, it's a beast of a hill and at the end of a ride it will all but kill you. I've named it three-hanky hill, after Bob Babbit's naming of a hill in Kona. It makes me want to cry every time.

The day before my tough ride I swam for an hour at the lake, and I'm planning on doing between 1 and 2 hours at the lake tomorrow, I REALLY want to do well in my half ironman in California in two and a half weeks.

This coming weekend, my family is going to Ocean Shores with The Rhodies (Chris' family) for the Ocean Shores triathlon, and my wife is going to run the half-marathon. The Olympic tri has a 1500 meter swim, 400 meters shorter than a half-ironman swim, and my plan is to go absolutely, no holding back, all out on the swim. If I blow up, I blow up, but I want 2 things: I want to know how long I can really hang, and I want to get a really strong training swim in before the half.

When I swim tomorrow, my plan is to go out as hard as I possibly can for the first lap around the lake, then dial it back/try to hang on for a couple more laps. Each lap normally takes 27 minutes, so I'll judge how I do going all out on if it's quicker than that - it better be!

I'll leave you with one final thought: The secret to obtaining lasting happiness in your life is this; maintain, under all circumstances, an absolute, unwavering confidence in yourself and in this life! Absolutely never, under any circumstances give in to the doubt and discouragement that will try at every turn to pull you down. If you can master just this one aspect of life, and I mean absolutely master it, your key to unending happiness will be yours.

It's a quote from my book, and it rings true for me on an almost daily basis. Doubt is a killer, a thief of beauty, happiness and success. Blocking doubt, being almost absurdly confident, is an amazingly difficult thing, but if you can do it, you can do anything.

Another Quote of the Day (I can't help myself)

"Two men look out the same prison bars; one sees mud and the other stars." Frederick Langbridge

Quote of the Day!

“To be a great champion you must believe you are the best. If you’re not, pretend you are.”
––Muhammad Ali

Ironman baby, Ironman

June 22nd, 2008, that's the date.

It's official, one year from now my buddy Chris and I will be competing in the Ironman Cour D' alene in northern Idaho. 2.4 miles of swimming, 112 miles of biking, 26.2 miles of running ....and a lifetime of bragging.

Well, that's what the ironman official video says anyway. I think it should go more like, 2.4 miles of swimming, 112 miles of biking, 26.2 miles of running ... and a hell of a lot of work to get there.

We talked on the phone after signing up and agreed that this was a huge undertaking. We both just competed in the Pacific Crest Half Ironman in Sunriver, Oregon this last weekend, and it left us pretty tired.

The idea of running out onto the beach after that 1.2 mile swim this weekend, and jumping back in for a second lap, is pretty freaky. The 1.2 was hard enough (and slow enough, but more about that later), 2.4 is just plain daunting. What's more, the 112 mile bike course has been changed for 2007 and on at CDA (Cour D' alene), and it looks really tough.

On top of all that... to run a marathon? I just don't know. I ran my first marathon in May, with no swimming or biking before it, and it just about killed me. Of course, I didn't train for the distance, but still, very difficult.

What's the hardest thing you've ever done? What's the furthest you've ever pushed your physical and mental limits? Have you challenged yourself to the absolute maximum in your life? Is now the time to start?

I have my answers, do you have yours?


So the Half Ironman:

Chris beat me again. Damn that Chris Rodes! He finished in 5 hours and 4 minutes and I was 5 minutes behind him (in time anyway, physically, we started in different waves so we were further apart).

That's pretty incredible, to swim 1.2 miles, bike 56, and run 13.1 over the course of 5 hours and end up within 5 minutes of each other, we're pretty closely matched.

The swim was sad, not terrible by any means, but not good. I had a swim time of 44 minutes, 4 slower than my goal, and about 10 slower than where I really want to be. I hung back a little at the start and just really never got in the mix, ended up swimming alone the whole time and even going a little off course at 2/3 way through. I came out of the water all but dead last time wise (370 out of 443), had a very quick transition and headed out on the easy bike course.

Oh, wait a minute, the bike course we thought was going to be easy turned out to be pretty tough. My time was 2:30, a pretty fair bike time for rolling hills, which put me 84th time wise for the bike and in 122nd place.

Now the run, that was the bad part. 1:50 it took me, far from my goal of 1:30 or better. Right away on the run I had terrible cramps in my sides. My legs actually felt pretty good. In fact, my legs felt pretty good the entire time, I just couldn't get any more out of them because of my stomach and how tired I was. I walked every aid station, drinking gatorade, pouring water on my head and even stretching at every station. I probably threw away a good 5 minutes, but I felt like I had to have a reason to get to the next aid station. In any case, my body just is not used to trying to run 13 miles quickly after biking for so long. I ended up finishing 97th out of 443, and 9th in my age group.

So for now on, I'm going to do one long brick workout every single week, at least 50 miles on the bike and 8 to 10 on the run. People have all these different training philosophys and techniques, but here's what I think it comes down to: You have to DO in training what you expect your body to DO in a race. If I only ever bike 56 miles and run 13 in a race, how the hell am I going to expect myself to place high up at the finish? I can't, that's just it. You have to teach your body to do it. It's the same with everything in life, like they say, 'the losers are our figuring out how to do what they want to do, while the winners are busy fumbling through it, making mistakes and eventually succeeding'.

I'm so keyed up right now to go workout, but unsure of whether or not it's a good idea. It's only Wednesday, and I just raced hard on Saturday, how soon is too soon? I don't know! No one does! It's all individual. I think I'll swim.

Lastly, I was freaked out about signing up for the full Ironman, but mainly because it costs 500 bucks. I'll get ready to race physically, but that 500 bucks is huge! Well, it just so happens I got an email last night and I'm got a small modeling gig for Thursday and the pay is 400, so there you go!

I also found out yesterday that the listing appt. I went on last week (and did not get hired for), I lost out to the Leske Group, one of the bigger players in the area, so though, yes, I was dissapointed to not help those people sell their home, I was happy that they said my presentation was just as good as the other guy's. I'd rather loose out to a professional than a nobody, you know? The only reason they went with him, they said, was because he had shown them houses a couple months back and they never purchased, so they felt obligated to use him if his presentation was as good as mine.

So darn and hooray!

Until next time,

Quote of the day!

Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.
Thomas Edison
1847—1931

2 a.m.

Well,

Bryan Regan (our favorite comedian in the world) talks about how the worst day a kid ever has is the day of the science fair project, the alarm goes off and his head pops off the pillow, 'oh no. I've done nothing. I've had 6 months to do something, and I've done nothing.' And then he says, 'so I get to school and I see all these other kids with their parents their, and they're backing projects in on flat-bed trucks, one kids made a volcano, he can't even tie his shoes, but he's made a volcano? Here I am with a cup of dirt.'

So, anyway, not quite that bad, but I kind of just had a science fair moment. It's right before 2a.m. and I woke up needing water because I drank beer last night (and I dehydrate rediculously easy), and I'm laying there in bed and it hits me; I have a half-ironman in four days. Oh my god.

It's not that I'm not prepared, and well prepared. It's more that I'm lying there thinking, 'I was drinking last night? And the night before? After racing a very, very hard olympic tri on Sunday (more about that in a minute), I'm drinking? And, I've been drinking a ton of coffee, a ton. What am I thinking? There's no way I'm going to be recovered well enough to race hard!

So I decided no alcohol (obviously) for the next four days, and (gulp) no coffee until the day of the race. I'm going to drink protein and recovery drinks and do a light swim and a really light bike. In short, I'm going to do everything I possibly can to try and recover. Is four days enough time? I'm not sure, but it's better that I do what I can now then not.

So the olympic tri: It was Cascades Edge in Enumclaw, a 1.5K swim, 40K bike and 10K run (divide by 10 and multiply by 6 for miles).

I got up at about 6am and had coffee and breakfast, Audrey got the baby up and we left around 720 or so. The whole way up there, I was saying, gee it's interesting there are no other cars headed up there, maybe it's a really small race? Well, we finally get to about a mile from the race location and then we see it, the road is just lined with cars on both sides all the way up and past the entrance, with a bunch of people everywhere, so once again, we've managed to arrive late (all though, in our defense, some people were even later than us).

As we walked toward the beach we came upon a long line of people with their bikes and gear, curious, we thought. But, it seemed the prudent thing to get in line, so we did, and someone said it was the line for packet pick-up. I've never experienced a race morning like this one, and I hope I don't have to many more times. We stood in line for quite a long time, only to finally arrive at the tent and need my usat card which is in the car. So Audrey ran all the way back to the car and ran all the way back, and then they gave me my packet. So I get my bike number on and get into the transition area (the rack where I'm supposed to set up is COMPLETELY full), with, oh, five minutes till 9o'clock, when the race is supposed to start.

So I cram my bike in with all the others and try to get set up for transition, rushing like a mad man to set my things up, clean my goggles, get my timing chip on, don my wetsuit. And it's raining the whole time. So I set my things up with my towel covering them, best I could, and went scampering down to the water, in a hurry as usual.

I jumped into the water, which was very cold, and admired just how frightening the whole thing looked. It's 50 degrees, the buoys are way out on the lake, and the whole lake is obscured by rain, it looks really grey and hazy. Very scary beginning to a day. I swam about 100 yards to warm up and went back to the beach, staying in the water. At this point we were set to begin, when the guy with the microphone announced some important changes, which we really couldn't hear. Then he said which wave of people was going.

First, it was the male sprint race, then the female sprint, then the 'tri it' first timers, then finally, us. AT this point, we've been in the water for over a half an hour, freezing our asses off, one and all. Probably not ideal, I imagined my body burning all my fuel trying to stay warm as I shivered, half in the water on the beach. When the gun went off, I pretty much said, oh no, and a guy next to me says, ahh, it's good, have fun. Well, though he was right, it's partly about having fun, I really didn't have much of it at all.

The swim was tough, as every swim I do is. I decided to hang back just a little at the start to not get beat up as much. Then I got going and looked around for someone to follow, or draft off of. I found someone and the first half of the swim was terrific, I really did great and I was surpised with myself to be hanging with everyone. Then I lost my guy at a turn buoy and everything fell apart. The second half of the swim was much slower and I had no one to draft off of. Every time I would get behind somebody to draft it didn't work for one reason or another. One guy was doing a weird scissor kick and would speed up and slow down every time he did it, another guy couldn't swim straight, and then towards the end, I just plain old couldn't go anymore. My arms, specifically my biceps, cramped up about a quarter way into the swim, I imagine from the cold, and by the end I was toast.

It took 30 minutes, which really isn't bad for me, way, way better than last year, and I ran to transition where I found my things kicked around and getting wet. The bike, well not much to say. My chain fell off twice, it was freezing cold and rainy, and rolling hills the whole way. Really tough bike.

Now the run, this was the fun part. This is what they had been talking about having changed. I ran out on the run, waving at Audrey and Isaac, and was directed to a path. Oh no, I thought, not another trail run. But it turned out to be so much more, a 6 mile trail run on a trail with tough hills, jagged rocks and tree roots all over, and oh yeah, don't forget the mud. The whole trail was muddy with big puddles in spots. It was basically a hard core Xterra race, but without all the preparation and expectation. The run was just plain old brutal. I mean, I don't know how the guys who won were doing it, running like 530 miles on this completely rediculous course. Two of them passed me on their way to winning, just absolutely flying, I couldn't believe it. They ran straight through the huge puddles of water and mud, not around the edge like the rest of us. I clearly have a little ways to go before i can win a race.

I didn't do bad though, around 40th out of 120 men doing the olympic. Not amazing by any means, but not bad. With a time of 2:24, it puts me right on track to break 5 hours for my upcoming half-ironman, which has been my goal for now. This year, I would like to get to 4:45 for a half. Next year, I want to move that up to 4:15. And the cool thing is, I can do it! I've improved vastly over last year. My half-ironman last year was a beastly 7 hours and 30 minutes, oh my god, huh? My Ocean shores Olympic Tri last year was 2:44, with my swim being a whole 45 minutes. And, the Ocean Shores tri was a way easier course on a day with perfect conditions. So...I'm right on track, just have to keep working to improve, that's life right?

Just keep your head down into the wind and keep working to improve, doing your best to enjoy each day as it is.

Quote of the day!

If at first you don’t succeed, you’re running about average.
M.H. Alderson

20 dollar workouts

Cascadeds Edge, the Olympic Triathlon is this Sunday (the 17th)!...and that means, that..(gulp)..the Pacific Crest Half-Ironman is one week away. Excuse me for just a second...

Ok, so one week, that's fine, I'm ready. To prepare for the Olympic Tri this weekend I signed up for an open water swim clinic I attended on Wendesday (seriously, is Wednesday not the most rediculous thing to spell?),

So I paid 20 bucks to attend this clinic up in Enumclaw at Nolte State Park (where the tri is being held), and I showed up with probably 7 other people and a swim coach. The thing is, most of the people had little practice swimming in open water (like, none so far this year), and a couple people had never swam in a lake. So the coach talked for a few minutes, but all the tips were for total beginners, tips on how to get in the water and site and such.

I'm not sure exactly what I was looking for, but I didn't really get it. I guess I went in hopes of learning some tricks that allowed me to stay with the pack, or maybe discover what I was doing wrong.

We all walked down to the water, I swam a little to get used to the cold, and then joined the group at the start of the swim. They set up a buoy 400 yards away, on the other side of the lake and we were to swim to it and back, ready, go!

It was at this point that I figured it out: No, I didn't figure out the secret to open water swimming, I figured out, Hey! I should start holding swim clinics! I mean, I'm out here swimming anyway, why not hold a clinic? I'll get my workout, even get to swim with some people and make a little money... if I hadn't been swimming I would have rubbed my hands together like Homer Simpson's boss (Excellent Mr. Smithers, Excellent),

I started swimming out a little ways, kind of watching what other people were doing, and two people seem to be swimming much quicker than the others, so I went with them and drafted on their feet. By the turn-around, one of them slowed down and so I drafted the other one the whole way back, and I was a little nervous that she would be pissed off because I kept accidentally hitting her feet the whole time, but when we reached the shore she gave me a big high five and said I was terrific (the unexpected can be so nice sometimes). Turns out she thought I was a pretty good swimmer (which was news to me), and she, along with the coach, both seemed to be pretty good swimmers, so that was exciting.

All in all, it turned out to be a really good thing attending the clinic. I was able to focus on drafting, even stopping at one point and letting the two people on the way out get away from me and then working really hard to catch up. I was able to take it easy at points and watch what other people were doing and figure out what I wanted to do (which was really key, because in triathlons so far I haven't done this, I just go swimming along hoping not to get kicked anymore and hoping not to lose too much time). And finally it even gave me a little more confidence being told I was a pretty good swimmer, which, again was news to me.

So, here's to hoping this Sunday's race is a huge success. I'm going to race without a watch this time and just go as hard as I possibly can in each part of the race,

Have a great weekend, and if you weren't planning on it, go find something to do outside!

Quote of the day!

Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.
President Theodore Roosevelt
1858—1919

Quote of the day!

Self-image sets the boundaries of individual accomplishment.
Maxwell Maltz

Do you need a lift?

I went out to the lake this morning again, to swim a mile and run. I ended up running eight miles, but it was tough, especially the beginning, my legs feel very fatigued, so I think I'm going to take a day or two off from running.

In any case, as I was running a very funny memory came flooding back to me (Well, I guess it's funny now, in retrospect, but at the time it was just depressing). My first ever Half Ironman was last year on September 1st, the Umpqua Ultimate in Sutherlin, Oregon. And it was toughhhhh. Blazing hot and hilly, very hilly. I had a flat tire during the bike and didn't even notice (I thought it seemed awfully hard for a while) until 7 or 8 miles from the end at which point I decided to just ride it out (I don't know what I was thinking). On top of that, I ate nothing all day.

I thought there would be nutrition on the course, but nope. So I had my three Granola bars with me, one of which I dropped on the bike and sadly waved good-bye to saying 'I'll miss you sweet nectar of life, I'll miss you....'.

While I was on the run...ok, ok, while I was on the walk, I was at about mile 6 or 7 when an old woman slowed down on the road and said, 'do you need a lift young man?', to which I replied, 'errr, no thanks, I'm in a....race'. To which she said, 'oh, yes, I noticed other people running, but they were all moving much quicker than you, are you sure you're ok?', 'yes, yes, I'm fine, thank you'

And she drove off. Leaving in her wake a bitter, broken man. Seriously, what could be worse? Oh, that's right! Only one thing! At an olympic tri in July last year, Audrey, my wife, arrived a little late, after the swim start. I guess it took her a while to get parked and drag the kid over. So here I come out of the water, stumbling, tired from swimming for a very long time (yes, it was only a 1.5 K swim), and my wife says to me, 'Oh! Thank God! I thought something happened to you, everyone else is gone! I only saw your bike there and I got scared!'

'No, nothing happened, and thanks for that, I'm going to go hang myself now'.

Ouch, huh?

Well, I'm all better now. I'm looking forward to blazing my next half-ironman run, I'm looking for 1:30 or better.

Lastly, on a different note. I worked a little more on my Motivational Fuel book proposal today, revising it to send it out to more literary agents. I'm considering sending it directly to some publishers as well, not sure, but I'm going to get sending it out again tomorrow. So far, I sent it out to just 4 literary agents, and they all turned me down for various reasons. So I've changed some things and I'm going to try again, here's hoping!

Quote of the Day

It is never too late to be what you might have been.
George Eliot

PERSEVERENCE!

Yes! Perseverence my friend. That's what it's all about. (That and the ability to enjoy the present, accepting what you don't have and appreciating what you do have). But Perseverence, that's the ticket, because it's hand-in-hand with patience, a virtue (I heard that once..), which we seem to be utterly lacking in these days.

I'm guilty too, so don't think I'm pointing any fingers here; it's just so dang hard to keep yourself focused on what you are trying to achieve, and believing that anything is possible, when you don't see the results instantaneously. I think that's probably a lot of people's problem.

I was listening to competitor radio today (you can subscribe to their podcasted shows on itunes), and I was listening to an interview with Chris Mccormick, the guy that placed 2nd at Kona (Ironman world championships) this last year. And he talked at length about how he and his best friend had dreamed that someday they would be racing in Kona and winning. They had a list they made together of all the different races they wanted to win, and Chris says 'it's amazing, but back then, we were down at the post everyday, bugging them, is it here yet? Is the new issue of Triathlete magazine here yet? ...And now I'm in the magazine. How amazing! Too often these days people are saying 'ahh that kids a dreamer, he needs to forget about those silly things (whatever those things may be). But I say, buggers (he's from Australia), you follow your dreams, I'm living proof that you can live out your wildest dreams if you just want them bad enough."

It went something like that anyway, but the point is this, as you probably already figured, Anything is possible! We have to stop allowing ourselves to become discouraged and overwhelmed with self-doubt. Just work hard and believe in yourself, and it will happen mate! (oh, sorry about that, but I just love the way australians talk...I think I should move there).

It can happen. Whatever it is your striving for (or thinking about striving for), just go for it and believe. Believe that you are as good as anyone else...believe that opportunity is a bi-product of effort...believe that with enough focus any height is achievable, for God sakes believe!

It's at this point that, if you were standing in the room with me I would slap my palm on your forhead and say 'you're healed!'.

But, since that's not an option, I'll just continue to peck away at the keyboard.

I recently heard (don't know where) that you write the book you need. I thought about Motivational Fuel when I heard that and thought, 'well that pegged me'. Every time I pick up my book I get drawn in, I'm a real sucker for being reminded how to think right. I lose perspective on an almost continual basis.

And patience? Forget about it, I'm like a starved chimpanzee staring through the bars at a flock of bananas (that's right...flock, I don't have a clue what you call a bunch of bananas...or is it a bunch?). In any case, I really need to work on honing my patience. For when you're doing the right things, it's just a matter of time. And I know that.

I'll close with my race recap from the Issaquah Sprint Triathlon on Saturday.

I was up a 1 a.m., pretty typical for me before a race, even a small one, I can't sleep from all the excitement in me. Audrey and Isaac came up to Issaquah with me (Jack was with his dad), and we got there in plenty of time. Well, I should say, we got real close to there in plenty of time. Then, with an hour before the gun, we got stopped in traffic a half mile from the beach where it was staged. And we stayed there.

Finally, I unloaded my things and followed the other athletes on foot to the staging area and got set up. But by this time I was in a big hurry. I barely got situated and Chris (workout buddy) was saying we needed to get down there. So we went down to the water and got in to warm up (or cool down, however you want to look at it).

The water was nice and after swimming about 50 yards I was ready, they funneled us over to the starting area (where I was awaiting some sort of talk which was not to come). I had my goggles off and was rinsing them, with my nose plug in my other hand, when a guy said 'swimmers ready' bahhhhhhhh (horn). It was like the span of 2 seconds, and so I hurriedly threw my goggles on and my nosepiece and rushed after all the other athletes in the 'elite wave', most of which were probably elite enough to expect the gun to go off when I did not.

The swim was terrible. Terrible. TERRIBLE. Not to mention the elbows, knees and feet hitting me in the head and everywhere else, I couldn't keep up. At first I was fine, I found some guys feet and starte swimming behind him, but after the first turn buoy he somehow sped up (and I didn't). I ended up getting out of the water like 2 and a half minutes behind the big group (a 2 1/2 minutes I was never to see again that race).

ON the bike, ohhh look out. Man, my new race wheels are amazing. I averaged around 24 mph for the 15 miles, and had a great time. It was really funny in fact, my buddy Chris got out of the water only about 20 seconds ahead of me (a testament to our stellar training plan I suppose), and when I passed him on the bike going 26.5 mph, I said 'hey Chris' and thought to myself, 'I won't see him again'. Well, that wasn't so much the case. We ended up passing each other about 8 times, each time giving the other person a hard time, like 'hey buddy, have you seen my friend Chris?'

It was pretty funny, we ended up getting off the bike seconds apart and heading out on the run together. But that was about it, the heading off part, because I watched him slowly dissapear in front of me as I hobbled across the horrible bumpy grass trail they had us running on, thanks Issaquah Tri planners! I can't run on anything but hard surface, pavement or whatever, so my pace was like 7;10 per mile, pretty miserable considering what I can run.

So...for the second time in a row Chris has beaten me. But no more! I have an Olympic Tri in Enumclaw on the 17th (which Chris isn't signed up for), and then Our first Half Ironman of the year one week later. That's where I want to take the race to him, we'll see.

All in all, it was a great time, and a lot of motivation to go swimming (which I've done, along with running, every day since).

That's all for now I suppose, take care and Persevere, your dreams are but the whispers of a future that is all too achievable if you will only believe in yourself and have faith.

Mowing the lawn, swimming, and losing focus

Life is so funny. I think I say that too much, but it always occurs to me as though it's a fresh idea.

Just think... you can go through your entire day unhappy. You can be unhappy for so many reasons, that sometimes, you just leap from one reason to the next like stones across a stream, but when you're doing that, leaping from stone to stone, do you ever stop and think about the big picture, about perspective?

If there was ever a cliche that needed repeating, it's that life is too short. Life is too short to spend your moments dwelling in pity, self retribution, guilt, depression, frustration and doubt. And yet, we seem to find the time. Heh, I guess that's life, it sure is funny.

I managed to work today, swim 40 minutes in the lake, do the dishes, mow the lawn (and fertilize), and much more, and yet, throughout the day, I carried a little bit of anguish within, and I'm not even sure why.

Just a few minutes ago, it hit me; 'You're wasting your time' I said to myself. 'You're wasting your life and everything you've been given, don't you realize that there are people too old to swim, too sick to work, too obese to mow the lawn? Don't you realize you have an abundance of gifts that a mass of people would give anything for? Don't you realize...' but, it's funny, sometimes we just don't realize.

So I stopped my self-pity and aimless discouragement and decided to enjoy this moment. After all, this moment is everything, and if you waste it, well, it's gone, isn't it?

Tomorrow will be different for me; I'm going to work a little, go on a long ride, spend time with the family and appreciate my life. Someone once said, 'all my riches for a few more minutes...' How true those words are, and how seldom appreciated.

So you are struggling with aspects of your life? Relax and revel in your good fortune, life has been good to you, you're still here. Go outside, look up, drink in the sky and thank God that you are who, and where, you are today. Life is good, if for no other reason than it must be.

Enjoy tomorrow and stay focused on maintaining your perspective,

Marathon photos and quote of the day

Baseball is 90 percent mental. The other half is physical.
Yogi Berra

What blog?

Oh, that's right...I have a blog...

Seriously though, I haven't put a post up since my marathon race-review, but that's because I just woke up...

Ok, maybe not, but I swear, I've never had such a rough recovery in my life (I suppose the beer and coffee doesn't help...)...as I take a swig of Boonville Amber...

In any case, I have been very busy. Real estate has been rediculous lately, lots of work, which is great and at the same time bad, you know?

I love my job! It's so wonderful to be able to connect with people, help them, earn a living, AND have the time to work out like a lunatic.

My buddy Chris Rhodes (Rhodey) and I did the Start Global Cooling Triathlon this last Saturday...He took first place and I took second, but I have the excuse of having my first marathon soreness in my legs! I'm taking him down in two weeks at the Issaquah Tri,

We both went up to 5 mile lake today and swam around it, took about 30 minutes, and we're both totally sore in the shoulders from it. I want to get out there every other day from here on out (now that it's above 40 degrees) :)

I just talked to Rhodey and we're going to do a big 65 mile ride tomorrow morning, start in Puyallup, head through Orting up to Enumclaw, then through Black Diamond, Covington, Auburn and Sumner, back home. Sweet! It's going to take another year or so, but I seriously believe Rhodey and I can be on the podium at big triathlons, we can be that good, we just need to train more. He's a total natural, he ran the Tacoma Half Marathon a week or so ago and placed 5th! Only missed 4th by 1 second! And that was his first half marathon race! The guy is a total natural, it's up to me to keep up with him, but that's why I purchased my new perfect weapon...

Race wheels my friend, race wheels. NO joke, I'm finally a big boy, with my very own set of actual race wheels, and I am going to blow the top off of other guys with them, it's like going from a mountain bike to a road bike,

I have to wait for a new hub and cassette to come in (the end of the week), but next week I'm going to rock them all night long (ok, all day long). For some reason that reminds me of Happy Gilmore,

"I wanna touch you all over...and over and again....bah bah bah, till the night closes in! Till the night closes in!"

Ok, that's a good place to stop, I've scared some people,

Mike

My First Marathon

Ok, so from the top...

I went up to Vancouver on Saturday morning with Audrey and 2 friends to run the Vancouver half-marathon. The drive was great and when we arrived we checked into the hotel (more about that little gem later) and went straight to the packet pick-up.

At the packet pick up I really wasn't feeling very excited about our run the next morning, after all, I've run 13 miles plenty of times. I can run 13 miles in 1:30, and recently I ran it in 1:37 on a very hilly course by my house, I do it to train for Half-Ironman Triathlons, of which I am signed up for 3 this summer, with a couple more on the planner. So, 13 miles was not really that nerve-racking.

Then I looked over and saw a sign across the room that said 'upgrade to full marathon'.

"Upgrade to a full marathon?" I thought..."That sounds fun". I immediately got nervous and began sweating and it was at that point that I knew I needed to do it.

I mean, if it's not about seriously challenging yourself and pushing your body to limits you haven't previously considered...then what is it really about? There is a pure, honest joy that comes from self-inflicted pain through endurance sports that I believe is impossible to find anywhere else in the world.

I look at it like this: At some point in your life you will be unable to pursue physical prowess, this is inevitable, BUT, while you can, I believe you are obligated to. There is only one thing you have truly been given in this life, there is just this one thing that God has granted you full and complete access to, with the potential for unlimited growth and fulfillment at absolutely no cost or obligation to anyone else; this is your body. Whatever shape your body is in now, whatever gifts your body has been endowed with, you are the same as the rest of us: You can begin where you are and go where you can get to. Period. Though these beginning and ending points may be different for all people, the structure of the thing, the potential for growth and fulfillment is the same across the board.

Don't squander your only real posession.

That being said, I signed up for the full marathon. The farthest I have ever run is 17 miles last November, since then 13 is the highest I have gone. So I was nervous.

We went to dinner and then back to the hotel. You couldn't possible ask for a worse hotel to stay in the night before a punishing physical test. The bed was small, but that was fine. The real issue was the location, right above the street, and the fact that it sounded like we were sleeping on the sidewalk.

I mean it was LOUD. All freakin night, sirens, cars with loud exausts, people screaming, arguing and talking. NO SLEEP. NONE. WHATSOEVER. Not good.

At 3 a.m., I looked over at my wife who was also awake and asked if I could turn the tv on, but as the other two people we were rooming with were asleep (though I still can't figure out how..), we decided against the tv.

It was the night that would not end. I longed for 5am...for the sound of the alarm clock to put me out of my misery. I no longer cared about the sleep, I just wanted to get up and do the run.

Finally, 36 hours later, the alarm clock sounded and we all got up and had oatmeal and coffee.

After seeing my wife and our two friends off on the half marathon I went and used the restroom and got in line for the start of the marathon.

I want to stop here and mention something: My legs were hurt going into this. I know that pretty much makes me insane for doing it, but there it is. My wife wrapped my right leg with tape to try and help my shin not hurt as much, but for some reason, I think it's all the swimming I've been doing, my ankles and shins have just been really messed up.

So anyway, my plan was to qualify for the Boston Marathon (not that I'm even sure I want to go to Boston..but there it is...if there is a carrot, i must chase it). To do that, I needed to run 7 min/mile for the first 16, and 8 per mile for the last 10, which is entirely possible for me to do...very realistic. But, right off the bat, I couldn't do my 7/mile pace. I went 7:15, then 7:19, 7:26, 7:15, 7:04, 7:08, 7:11, 7:11, and then finally...7:01.

So my pace was screwed from the beginning. I just couldn't make my legs go, my shins hurt. Then, around mile 16 or so, my left hamstring started wanting to lock up on me, so I kept having to focus on relaxing it and slowing just a touch.

At mile 21 or so, I went to hell. My legs rully realized I had fooled them. This was no 13 mile run. For some reason, they continued to move, though the pain was unlike anything I have ever pushed myself through. I can honestly say, I uncovered a new level of myself around mile 22 and every mile after that magnified my discovery. You can never truly know yourself and appreciate your life fully until you have experienced something like this; I firmly believe that.

Yes... I know that's a large blanket statment, but I think that there are different levels of understanding and joy, and I think I discovered a new one on Sunday. For all I know, this is why people end up running 100 mile races and doing Ironman triathlons, perhaps there are higher levels of joy which accompany the higher levels of pain. It's a mysterious relationship.

I know this for sure: If I had allowed myself to walk or slow dramatically it would not have been the same. I ran between 8 and 9 min/mile for my last 4 or 5, and while that's not my usual pace, it was the hardest I could push myself, and I am grateful to my heart and mind for being able to do it. (sounds strange to write...but it makes sense, right?)

I finished in 3:25:04, 15 minutes off the Boston qualifying time, not that I really cared. As I crossed the line I couldn't breathe and I teared up. I don't think it was from joy, and it wasn't necessarily directly from pain. I think it was due to the knowledge of the pain I had endured and not stopped. Something inside felt very different than any other feeling I have ever experienced...

If I can put a finger on it, this would be it:

The awareness of courage and perseverence.

Push yourself to levels you never believed possible, you will be amazed at the results.

Hallelujah!!!!!

Someone filled me in on the secret of 'line breaks', so, if this info. was correct, then this post should have...

Line breaks!!

How amazing!!

For quite some time now I've been frustrated with the lack of line break conversion on my blog. I type in a very specific, vocal way, and yet, when it's published it all runs together like soup.

Not anymore! Wooohoo!

My next post, in about 3 hours, will tell the story of my Vancouver Marathon. That's right, marathon, as in 26.2 miles. When I arrived in Vancouver to the 'packet pickup' I got a crazy idea and converted my registrations to a full marathon (which I have not trained for), and I will tell you the story shortly...

By the way, when is someone, anyone going to comment on my blog!?

Quote of The Day

Man does not simply exist, but always decides what his existence will be, what he will become in the next moment.
Viktor Frankel

Kinetic man and the Duldrums

Most people might not know why my blogger/tri name is Kinetic Man. I chose it because Kinetic means 'born of motion'. Fitting for us Type A personalities who are pursuing a high level of physical fitness, career success, and a host of other interests, for instance, writing articles and books, scuba diving, family, acting/modeling auditions (I say auditions, because that's really all it is for the most part, auditioning, actually getting the jobs is pretty few and far between).

In any case, The Kintetic Man has been in the Duldrums for about 5 days. He quit coffee...again. I have a love/hate relationship with coffee; it fuels my motivation and mental dedication to success in a big way, yet it dehydrates me and hurts my ability to recover from hard workouts. So every once in a while I quit. Usually, it's for a much longer period than 5 days, and it's always hard. This time, it's been unbelievable. I found myself sitting in my office chair a few hours ago, just staring off into space, completely... utterly... unbelievably... unmotivated to do absolutely anything. So I cranked up the Magnifica (the expensive espresso machine my wife purchased at Starbucks - she is a Starbucks Godess, having managed there for 6 years - she got a pretty healthy discount as well). One shot of coffee later I was out the door on a 21 mile bike ride; I averaged 20 mph (or so, it's hard to say with all the slowing down for stop lights), not bad. Kinetic Man is reborn! To the world I say, bring it on mother#%J*&)@! Man, coffee is great! One more shot later and I'm off to the cold, cold, did I mention cold?, lake for a swim with my work out buddy Chris. This weekend is the Vancouver Half Marathon with my wife and two friends, I'm shooting for a time of 1:25 (come on shin splints...hold it together...don't you quit on my now!). If I can hit 1:25 I'll be pretty pleased. I'll update you on Sunday or Monday, until then... Bring the espresso machines online, I want maximum power, (in the voice of Captain Jean Luke Picard) On my mark... Fire One!

Peace,

quote of the day

The words “I AM …” are potent words; be careful what you hitch them to. The thing you’re claiming has a way of reaching back and claiming you. -A.L. Kitselman


I love that one

what day is it?

Well,

I got a little busy this last week and forgot to keep up with my blog here.

Working out: I ran 7 miles on Saturday (the 28th) and wanted to push myself. I've decided that the next two months is all about speed for me; pushing the lactate threshold and developing more muscular endurance. My first serious race is on June 22nd, the Pacific Crest half iron-man, so until then, I'm going to do everything I can to maximize my speed. I ran the 7 mile at 6:30 pace for most of them (except the first two were a bit slower, the first mile is all incline from my house). I felt great, and the speed is good, but then Monday I went with a good friend of mine, Chris Rhodes, up to 5 mile lake in Federal Way. We were going to do a small triathlon. It started with an 800 yard swim in the lake (brrrr...), with rests after each 200, then we drove over to the south hill YMCA to practice the SGC Tri course (coming up in 2 weeks). The bike course went great, it's about 9 miles and we absolutely destroyed it, but then we jumped onto the run and my legs completely gave up. Shin splints. And very, very painful ones. So we ran/walked it (just a little walking), which was dissapointing.

I have my half-marathon in Vancouver this weekend, so the rest of the week I'm taking it easy as far as running (meaning I'm not doing it). My plan is to shoot for 1:25 for the half marathon, but with these shin spints flaring up, I'm a little worried. I"m going to have to just rest and hope they are ready.

That's all for the exercise stuff; work wise, I'm still trying to hone in on exactly what I'm doing :) Obviously, I'm doing real estate, but as far as finding new clients, well, that's the hard part. I'm treating it just like I treat everything else in life, keep believing things will happen, and do everything I can think of to make sure it does. I do open houses all weekend, every weekend (except for race days), and that's going well, but I am struggling a little bit with putting together a 'database' to 'market' to. I don't like 'marketing'. I want to simply have relationships with people, and when they need help with real estate, they call. The problem with that is: People don't really need 'constant' help with real estate, so it's a struggle.

Anyway, that's all for now, I'm headed off to an 'interview' for being a new construction site agent (another idea for trying to earn some dough),

Quote of the Day

Man’s rise or fall, success or failure, happiness or unhappiness depends on his attitude … a man’s attitude will create the situation he imagines.

James Lane Allen

Indoor Tri Results

Indoor Tri Results

TriFreak Indoor Championships on April 22nd Race Report

Ok, so I admit it: I was a little nervous. It seems rediculous to be nervous for such a short triathlon, especially since it's indoors. But I was nervous anyway. I guess just because it was the first triathlon of the year for me.

So I woke up at about 4 AM, and kind of just laid there for a while. At 5:30 I eventually dragged myself out of bed and downstairs to the espresso machine. Two shots of espresso and one hour of reading Triathlete magazine later, I was ready to go!
But first: Take care of the 1 and 1/2 year old. Got him changed, dressed, fed (ok, ok, so I gave him a banana and a sippy cup of milk on the way to grandmas, that still counts in my book).

When I finally arrived at the YMCA around 8am, the first 'heat' was already warming up in the water. I took my time getting my things set up; it was my first indoor tri, and it was very interesting the way it was set up. There was a large, barriered 'transition area', where you actually set your bike up on a trainer (pretty sophisticated one at that- the trainers allowed everyone's weight to be input into each individual computer, and then the trainer adjusted the resistance so that each persons resistance was 'the same'). Next to your bike, you set your towel, running shoes, etc.

Once I was all set up, I took a couple of minutes to time the swimmers in the first heat. Oh man, a couple of them were going so fast! I swim about a 1:45 for 100 yards, and some of them were swimming almost a 1 minute for 100 yards!

When it was time for the second heat, I made my way out to the pool and started warming up. I guess I waited a little too long, because by the time I finished 50 yards, the race director, Bo, was aleady in the middle of a sentence with the rest of my heat paying rapt attention. Then he said, "so keep one hand on the wall, I'll say ready set go and blow the horn. Ok, let's do it".

And we were off.

I looked at my watch after the first 100 and I was at 1:30. I figured I'd better slow down a little (in retrospect a mistake), because I didn't want to 'blow up' (probably not going to happen on a 550 yard swim) and end up losing time.

I was second out of the water at 10:10, so my heat wasn't incredibly fast in the water, and I ran out to my bike and jumped on. I was averaging about 22 MPH, and I felt great. Honestly, I should have pushed harder, but I kept thinking, "I don't want to blow up on the run, I better hold back". To my great surprise, I was the first one getting off of the bikes, and as the spectators clapped, I ran upstairs to the indoor track for my 3.1 miles. The stairs, by the way, were not a terriffic thing to encounter directly off of the bike.

My running was beautiful! I seriously think the run is going to develop into a serious strength for me. The track is 1/6th of a mile, so 6 laps complete a mile. I started a new lap on my watch and as I came around my watch said 1 minute. I thought, "not bad, a 6 minute mile. I better slow down some so I don't blow up".
!Oh! That kills me now.

Anyway, so I slowed just a touch to between 1:03 and 1:05 per lap, and was just flying by everyone, it was truly a beautiful thing.

I finished the run in 19:10, and after waiting around for a bit, found out I had taken 3rd overall and 1st in my age group. I was thrilled....but...the 1st and 2nd over all guys were less than a minute ahead of me in time. Sooo.....I was a little miffed at myself for holding back. I easily could have taken another minute out of them in any of the 3 disciplines, but I just kept holding back.

Oh well! That's what this season is supposed to be about for me anyway: learning what pace I can maintain for each distance. There is another sprint tri at the YMCA in May, so I'll be there for that one, and I'll go a little faster.

It's an outdoor bike and run, and the run is only 2 miles, so I'm pretty sure I'm going to absolutely desimate the run, I'm going to shoot for 10 minutes and see what happens.

Until next time...

Struggle

Well...

Today was a bit of a struggle. I ran 10 miles this morning with my wife, at first my shins were hurting really bad, but as the run went on my legs got to feeling better. That wasn't the struggle.

The struggle is this; Even when we get what we want, we sometimes can't even recognize it and block out the rest of our thoughts long enough to enjoy it!

Here I am with the exact situation I have been praying for, and every day I seem to screw up my enjoyment of it with doubt and fear. It's incredible! So I put my one year old in his pajamas and headed for the YMCA at 630 tonight to swim. No more excuses! I have the time to pursue what I love, now I just need to recognize that, set aside the stresses of other areas of my life and do what I know I want to do.

I think God is probably laughing at me down here, saying, "I'm giving you exactly what you've been asking for, and still you worry and complain!" If I were God, I'd be laughing at me, I know that much. It's like the joke/story about the guy who is drowning, and every time someone comes along to save him he says, 'no thanks, God will save me'. And then he dies and says, "Hey, why didn't you save me God?" and God says, "I sent you a boat and a log and..." etc.

Except he's saying, "I gave you the time, and you had the money..."

Life is surely funny. In any case, I did run 10 miles and swim 1200 meters today, so I'm happy with the outcome, just not with my attitude during parts of the journey. After all, if you can't enjoy this moment, what have you got?

Quote of the Day

Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become. Your vision is the promise of what you shall at last unveil.

-John Ruskin

Quote of The Day

Every day I am going to post a 'quote of the day.' If you have a favorite, feel free to email me with it, otherwise enjoy some of my favorite quotes!
Here's today's:

They’ve got us surrounded again, the poor bastards.

–General Creighton W. Abrams

Birthday Suit

Ok, so I'm not really in my birthday suit here. I do have shorts on. It's Motivational Fuel, the blog, that's naked. It looks funny, all blank.

But... I guess that's ok. It is brand new to the world after all.

Going back to this picture though, I can't help but long for warmer days. I also can't help but think of how naked you really do feel when you race a triathlon.

I signed up for my first triathlon of the year today (well, I'm signed up for many, but this will be the first one I compete in). It's the YMCA Indoor Triathlon Championships, taking place this Sunday, April 22nd at the YMCA in Puyallup by my house.

It's a short Tri, only 550 yard swim, 15 mile bike and a 3 mile run, but none the less, it's a little nerve racking. It's not the distance that causes any swelling of fear really, it's more the realization of a swiftly approaching confontation with other people through competition that causes the swell. I know after my first 2 or 3 triathlons of the year the fear will subside somewhat, but the first couple are always tough.

But that's enough about Tri for now (believe me there will me much more). For now, I want to leave you with an exerpt from my book. It's a story about giving, receiving, and finding strength and joy in this life. Let me know what you think!

The Secret Gift

Snoqualmie Pass

Last winter I made a trip over to eastern Washington for a cycling training camp with the race team I had recently joined. Weather reports had reported numerous times how difficult the conditions were going to be going over ‘the pass,’ but I had already committed to the team that I would show up and I didn’t want to go back on my word. What should have been a three or four hour drive there turned into a seven hour, white-knuckled trek. At one point, nearing the top of Snoqualmie Pass the roads turned into a pure sheet of ice, with more snow falling all around and cars beginning to slide off the road left and right. My car chose to go to the right, and I decided it was time to learn how to put my chains on. I had purchased my first set of chains only months before in anticipation of a difficult winter, but had not needed them until now.

Standing in the cold, snow falling all around me, I stared in bewilderment at the chains I was so happy I had purchased. In a temporary lapse of testosterone I retrieved the instructions from the case and tried to decipher what exactly it was that I was supposed to do with my new chains. After several very cold and wet minutes I figured it out, more or less, and went to work getting the chains fastened to the tires. My hands were numb when I finished, but the chains were on and I was on the road again, feeling pretty resourceful. I can almost hear other men laughing at my pride in putting chains on as I write this. In my own defense I am fairly handy with cars, I had simply never witnessed chains being put on before, and I am always very proud of myself when I do something new. In any case, I made it safely to Kennewick, Washington and enjoyed two very difficult days of cycling.

At the end of the camp on Sunday, I filled up the gas tank, purchased some snacks, and headed back to the west side of the state. I knew from my wife’s weather reports that Snoqualmie Pass was going to be extremely ugly again, maybe even worse than the conditions on my first trip over. This time I resolved to put my chains on at the first site of snow on the road, to avoid as much of the white-knuckled terror as possible.

I didn’t think it was possible, but the roads were far worse than on my previous trip. I put my chains on early and buckled down for a long, long drive over the pass. This time the drive took nine hours, three times as long as it should. The entire way up the mountain traffic crawled, with four-wheel drive cars and trucks sliding off the road and getting stuck and two-wheel drive vehicles stopped to put chains on at every turn.

It was at this point that I noticed something that all at once made my heart sink and swell. On the side of the road, a small hatch-back ford was stopped and two ladies, one quite young and the other older, were bent down in a complete blizzard, apparently attempting to put chains on their car. The younger woman was fighting with one set of chains, tugging back and forth, her hair soaking wet and matted down, the older woman, also looking quite defeated by the cold and wet, was looking up and around in an obvious plea for some kind of assistance.

I could hardly believe that no one was stopping. As I came nearer and nearer to the scene, an overwhelming sense of both compassion and anger filled me. The older woman was obviously looking at every car with a pleading look that someone would stop and offer help. At the time, I could not understand why no cars were stopped to help these two people so obviously in need of assistance. I put my right blinker on and ended up having to stop in the far left lane for anyone to notice that I wanted to get over. At that point, the car was so enveloped in snow, that the blinkers were not even visible to signal my intentions. Eventually, I made it over to the shoulder and put my hazards on in vain.

When I approached the two women I noticed that the younger woman, still struggling with the same tire, was in fairly rough condition. She was soaking wet, head to toe, and her hands were bright red. She had obviously been at work on this for a while. I asked what the status was, and they explained to me rather frantically that the gentleman who sold them the chains had told them to put them on the back tires, and that their friends had put them on the back tires but the car still slid all over the road, and that they did not watch the chains get put on so they did not understand how it worked, and were scared they would be stuck on the mountain overnight. Just like that, all very frantic.

As it turned out, the chains were a mystery to me as well. They were nothing like the chains that I had purchased; these ones had a thick rubber band piece which the metal part was apparently supposed to hook on to. They definitely did not belong on the back of the car; it was obviously a front-wheel drive vehicle. Their friends had told them in passing that the way to install the chains was over the top of the tires, without moving the car, but that didn’t make any sense to me. So once again, in a moment of weakness, I asked to see the directions. By this time, the directions were just about falling apart after being exposed to the snow for so long and being passed back and forth. After some thorough examination, I decided that putting the chains in front of the tires and moving the car forward was the correct way to install the chains, despite what their friends had told them. We laid the chains out, the mother put the car in neutral and the daughter and I pushed it forward onto the chains. Once we had done this, it was only a matter of time before we figured it out. Success! We were all crying and hugging… No, I’m just kidding, but we were thrilled, and I wished them luck and said good bye as they thanked me repeatedly.

I was soaking wet and cold, but I felt incredible. It was at this point that I really established my theory. I had loosely held this theory in practice for some time, but after my experience on Snoqualmie Pass I had formed something concrete in my mind that provided me with an incredible secret weapon for living a fuller life: The Secret Gift.