Wednesday, September 26, 2007

How the weekend went

So I'm back from Texas (well, three days ago anyway).

Hannah and I ran in a 5k hosted by the local running club, proceeds went to Habitat for Humanity.

Interesting occurrences:
-I think about 50 people ran. That might be the smallest event I've ever competed in. I did not come close to winning.

-Hannah came in third woman overall.

-The entry fee was $10 each. Hannah had mailed the check and entry forms in a week or so earlier, yet they didn't have us registered on race day. The organizer said it was probably because nobody bothered to check the mailbox in the past week. So they took us at our word and let us race. We'll see if that check ever clears.

-As I mentioned, total entry fees for us were $20. They gave out door prizes after the awards. Between us, we won two free dinners at a local Mexican restaurant, plus $10 off at another restaurant. So, somehow, we came out ahead in all this (especially if they never cash that check!).

So, the upshot is we plan to race in more tiny Texas races, as odds are we'll probably end up breaking even.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

San Angelos Number Two

I'm heading down to see Hannah again tonight (well, tomorrow. Tonight I fly to Dallas). Maybe this time I'll take a picture or two. Maybe.

We're both signed up for a local 5k. Then Hannah's going to wrestle a longhorn. She's preparing for when the rodeo comes through, in hopes they'll offer her a job. None of this corporate stuff anymore. I'm planning to apply to drive the rodeo clown car.

...wait, what? ...They have cars!

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Confirming what I know

This WAS likely going to be my greatest post ever, but, as luck would have it, when I pressed "save," Blogger actually interpreted that to mean "don't save... and in fact, delete what you saved the last time you pressed 'save'... no, wait, on second thought, make that delete everything but your first sentence."

So you only get my frustrated second attempt, which means shorter and less amusing.

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The Skylands Sprint went about as good as could be expected. Some observations:
-People don't know how to swim straight (or I don't, but I'm people, so my statement still counts).
-Northwestern NJ is really hilly. I think the bike course had 50,000 ft. of vertical gain... at once. Some people were walking their bikes up one of the hills. I did not, but I was in danger of falling over at one point.

This race confirmed what I've known for a while: I can't compete on athletic talent alone, since I don't have any talent. My only shot at being competitive is to be at the peak of my fitness.

A comparison: I was racked next to a guy who was also at Ironman Lake Placid. He too hadn't done anything since that race. Before the race, we joked that this might be an unpleasant day.

He came in second in our age group (just outside of first), and somewhere in top 25 overall. My best possible placing on the day was likely to be third in the AG. Ultimately, I was racing for fourth. I finished fifth and 101st overall.

So there you go.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Idiocy or just plain old stupidity?

On a whim, I signed up for the Skylands Sprint Triathlon last night. The race is this Sunday in Clinton, NJ (about 45 minutes away).

I was stuck between dropping into one of many (relatively) local 5ks or signing up for this tri. I was leaning to the 5k option, using the logic of, "there's something to be said for just showing up in shorts and a t-shirt and not having to lug all the extra crap."

Interestingly, Hannah had an opposing opinion: "You can do a 5k almost any time. There's not many triathons you can just sign up for a few days out." Coupled with the fact that this would be the first time I could sleep in my own bed before a multisport event, the tri won out.

Now, of course, I haven't really done anything since Lake Placid. The majority of my activity has been the 40 minute roundtrip walk to/from the train station every day. My bike still has my IMLP race number on it. My wetsuit is still rolled up in a ball in the garbage bag I threw it in for the drive home from the Adirondacks. My race water bottles are on the bike frame and still have the leftover drink mix from July 22 (oh, I kid... I washed them out this morning).

So, I'm not sure if I'm an idiot for signing up for this, or just mildly stupid. One thing I'm sure of is that I'll have fun. Hey, worst case, I'm confident I can walk the 5k.

Saturday, September 08, 2007

Where am I going?

I've been reading a lot about aging in general and aging athletes. I haven't necessarily sought the content out, it just seems to be everywhere today.

Maybe it's because of all these people getting old. I'm sure it ties into every financial services company aggressively going after the Baby Boomers.

In any event, I've been thinking about both my long-term athletic goals and my long-term health. I've pretty much decided on that athletic goal, but I'll keep that to myself for awhile (even more to myself than this blog anyway). I can say that my long-term health is tied into the goal, or, rather, the goal is tied into my long-term health (oooh... lame crypticosity).

A lot of people I know are hobbling around on worn down body parts (and some of these people aren't that old). I'm going to try to avoid that as best I can. I've got a few of my own niggling physical problems to deal with and I'll be addressing those immediately (I actually started a few weeks back).

Tomorrow I do my first Maximum Aerobic Pace (MAP) run test. The plan is start from zero and raise fitness over the next plentysix months. At some point I'll share where I'm going with all this.