The Big Announcement

For old friends that keep up with me through the blog. My wife and I are expecting our first child together in January.

I have no idea what to do with this blog

I'm barely running and not racing at all...We started a softball team and that has kept me busy since February. The surf this year has been near non-existent and oddly enough though still active all I've been doing is gaining weight since I quit running...wonder if there is a correlation :)

In addition to softball I've also taken up learning to make beer...don't worry I AM NOT DRINKING ALL OF IT. Its genuinely a hobby but I'm sure has not helped with the weight.

The price of gas has got me commuting on the bicycle more but even that has been hit or miss with the hectic schedule and now when I should be sleeping preparing to rest up for my first crack at getting back to early morning running I've been up working all night.....If anyone out there knows this blog still exists...I'll let you know how this goes.

Poor? Arthur Blank?

Its hard to feel bad for a guy with a couple billion dollars in Home Depot fortune but the Michael Vick fallout continues and Petrino is out. Mr. Blank seems like a such a kind man for a gozillionaire and it just seems like his football team is going out of its way to break his heart. Luckily for him he is an "avid runner" who logs 20 miles a week. For me the opportunity to get out and put in some miles and not think about anything but what I've been reading in my Bible and one foot in front of the other is real pleasure. I don't know if Mr. Blank is Christian but for me personally thats where its at. Peace.

Even the head coach of my beloved Dolphins who is 0-13 has not given up. And Huizenga does not seem near as dedicated to the phish as Blank is to the Falcons. Arthur how bout you make a bid for the Dolphins last I checked Home Depot was worth about $8 a share more than Blockbuster.

Clermont after a 2 year hiatus - for real this time

Ironman? Iron distance? I don't care what you call it on that cool October night in 2005 I did it in fourteen hours and twelve minutes. I have the pictures to prove it. 6 months after that race I went to participate in a Sommer Sports race the same day as the daylight saving time I was an hour late I got a speeding ticket and a half mile into an Oly-distance my chain broke. This by the way was also at the height of my divorce. That was in April of 2006 and my only DNF. Two years and 12,000 excuses later and I finally got a chance to go back out to Clermont to train for long distance triathlon. Went with my buddy Jose very slow pace just out riding the hills 4 hours and 60 miles later and my legs was butta. Have the pictures to prove that too.

Signed up for St. Anthony's AGAIN gotta get ready. Of course two days after I signed up I started noticing that that irritation in my hamstring and butt are still acting up. My amateur diagnosis is piriformis. Im hoping this doesn't end up same deal as the knee and hanging out for a while.

Runners High

Sweet for the first time in a loooooong time I actually experienced a couple of short but blissful runners highs tonight. Short 45 minute very slow paced run but for a good 5 minute span on two different portions I had that feeling like I can run forever. I know its minimal but I can feel it.....only problems going on right now is my right hamstring is really tight. I don't know what the deal is but I can feel it right up to my butt.

Only slightly more amusing while I was looking for an image to go along with this post I came across this Japanese rock group. Not really my style. Don't understand a word. Funny.

Not one triathlon this year...but there's always a silver lining

I got married. She has 2 kids. I have 1. We have 3. 9,5 and 4. Beast is the youngest.

I also got a new training partner.



I'm not going to say much in regards to the family other than life is good. Of course while building this relationship I've gained 20 pounds and life has been pushing me around ever since. By that I mean work...lots more work and the requisite family time. I've been running a couple of days a week. We have a yellow lab puppy named "Cooper". He's only 7 months old but I've got him running with me. Great running partner though I never take him over 5 miles. Not fast just slow and steady as I've not really been training for anything.

For Thanksgiving I did the Outback Distance Classic 6k (the distance part of that title is that there is also a half marathon). 6k in 27:32. That's a 7:33 pace for those who attend our public schools. Yes, I went to public school too :). Not bad for a 20 pounds overweight fatbody. So over the past few weeks I've been working on riding the bike and getting my endurance up. I've got my swimming to a mile in about 30 minutes and I've spent the better part of today (while smoking a turkey man is it good) setting up my 2008 Annual Training Plan (ATP).

I've attempted to find a race every month but because I'd like to do the Great Floridian (iron-distance) again I've had a hard time finding a couple half irons that fit the schedule. Potentials (pending availability of course) that I've put into the ATP as "B" races are the Gulf Coast Half on May 10th and then 2-3 Olys including St. Anthony's in April. Not a whole lot of halfs in Florida in the middle of summer. Something Mid August-Early September would be ideal. My new wife is encouraging me a great deal and I've been trying to warn her that all this can be very time consuming so we'll see how she feels mid-season. If its too much maybe I'll only do Florida Challenge (half) instead of GFT.

All of this is of course "Lord Willing" and provided I'm able to stay injury free etc. You know how it is.

PS If you've found me and you're wondering what happened to the old web site well I was paying for the domain etc because I used to like to do free lance work. When I let the hosting expire my blog settings went with it so essentially all I had to do was come into blogger and turn off the FTP must not have been that important.

PS PS Im going to be 30 in 3 days.....Lord Willing.

Luke 1:47 "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,..."

Tomato Hornworm

Found this guy eating my tomato plants this morning....

Summer Breeze

All right so my first crack at the whole love-post-divorce thing didn't work out as well as I would have liked. Not that she wasn't a great girl I just wasn't sure what I was looking for or that what I was in was what was right for me. So I let go, again, and it hurt and I've just kind of thrown myself back into the things I love. Reading scripture, The Beast, gardening, running, surfing and amazingly work.

Oddly enough I've found great new satisfaction in my work over the past 6 months or so. For the longest time I had been considering just getting out of the design/computer related field mostly because I was more and more finding the work frustrating and not overly fulfilling. Turns out I was going about the whole thing the wrong way the key is "Work as unto the lord".

Running

While I'm still running roughly 20+- miles a week I've elected to take a brake from the races mostly for financial reasons. I'm back on a single income and spending anywhere from $1-200 a month on races just aint in the cards right now.

The Beast

Baby girl did her first year of pre-school this year at a local Christian school and I am amazed at the results. She's able to sound out words are write. My pride and joy.

Gardening

I have a serious deer problem and as the lack of fundage problem listed above might indicate I can't really afford to put a fence in right now to keep them out. Temporarily I've taken to spraying my non-edible plants with a product calleed Plantskyyd (pigs blood). This stuff reeks when first applied but seems to do a pretty good job so long as I don't try to stretch the application dates. I wait one week longer than I should and the roses are decimated. I hate those deer.

Finally getting my feet off the ground

I've been trying to take a trip somewhere, ANYWHERE, for what seems like forever and it just never seems to work out. Well I found me some cheap round trip tickets ($174) from Ft. Lauderdale to San Jose, Costa Rica and August and I bought them. Going alone unfortunately (or fortunately!) figure I'll spend a week doing whatever I want. Of course I think it will amount to being a beach bum and surfing all week. I'm excited though about maybe checking out a volcano and some rain forests. I am the worst planner on earth though so I've kind of enlisted my poor sister to help me get some semblance of an itinerary.

Wish me luck.

I don't think I've ever hated being a Miami Dolphin fan more than today

How could you pass on Brady Quinn....I went from absolutely ecstatic yelling "Christmas in April" to I can't believe this idiot cameron is playing cute with the draft much like Houston and the mario williams pick over reggie bush. They let go of Wes Welker a proven professional for an injured WR who when he is finally healthy WONT HAVE A QUARTERBACK TO THROW TO HIM.

Winter Beach Run Jacksonville Beach

Much as the triathlon bug has me by the toe I just can not afford to sign up for my pool membership right now so I've been sticking to running and cycling. My first and thus far only "A" race planned for this year is the Gate River Run in Jacksonville on March 10th. So, for the most part I've been using a Hal Higdon intermediate 15k training schedule and riding the bike as cross training. I haven't really decided on any triathlons yet but it most likely won't begin until April 21 in St. Augustine.

Really the most important part of my training at this point in the year is getting my weight down. I've so far last 3 of the 17 I'm trying to be rid of before the 10th. I can really feel the extra weight in my running its depressing but I've been getting faster little by little and the weight is gradually coming off.

This Sunday I participated in the 5 mile Winter Beach Run in Jacksonville. I've had some sort of respiratory illness or virus for over a week so running has been uncomfortable...I know below the neck I should be resting but I already shelled out the money and I don't plan on doing all that many races this year so I'm doing it. I figured I was just going to take it easy and finish sometime around 45 minutes to an hour. Found someone doing the 10 miler at a pace I thought I could hold and kept up with him the whole way ..... couldn't have done 10 at this pace ...yet.... but I sucked it up and went under 40 at 39:17. That's a 7:51 mile. Better than my 8:15 pace on a 5K last weekend. I would love to be in the 7:30 range for the 15k but we'll see. Least I've got a target pace.