Teddy Roosevelt Rough Riders Painting

I got some wild, wild life

Thats a Talking Heads reference by the way. First a quick history lesson. Teddy Roosevelt is one of my favorite US Presidents (Very close second to Ronald Reagan) and a quote of his came to mind during a little trek I took this weekend and I always thought this quote was "Walk softly and carry a big stick" so I did my typical Wiki research (I love the wiki) and as it turns out this was a West African proverb that he had heard and the actual quote was "SPEAK softly and carry a big stick, you will go far" and here is his first use. Got it? This brings me to....

Saturday - Some Florida Trail

I have it stuck in my mind that one day I would like to go up a mountain (Kilimanjaro 2008 maybe?) .... not rock climbing (I want to get out in it but I'm not crazy) so I've decided the best way to accomplish this task is to get out into the woods and start putting some miles in hiking. I know I know its Florida its flat but that's not the point. The point is if I'm going to do this I have to start somewhere and the first step is going to be experience. Roughly 10 miles from my house there is a trail head to the Florida Trail which begins at the "ruins" of an old sugar plantation at Bulow Plantation and runs south to Bulow Creek State Park and the Fairchild Oak. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 6-6.5 miles.

What a cool experience this was. Most of my friends are either too lazy for such an undertaking or just not interested in this sort of thing so I took off on my own. I bought a $9 hiking pole at Wal-Mart that had a little compass in the top. My backpack consisted of bug repellent, snake bite kit (I don't think I would know what to do with this if I had to actually use it), 3 bottles of water, 3 gatorades and a couple of Zone bars. I know that's a little overkill on the fluid and food but its Florida its hot and I'm not entirely sure how far I'm going so Id rather be over than under prepared. Four and a half hours, 12(?) miles, and some of the coolest woods I've ever seen later and I've officially completed my first little hike. The sad part is this is in my own back yard and while I've seen these trees many times from the road either on my bike or in a car cruising down Old Dixie Highway I've never been on the inside looking out.

At the start I was a little timid, being my first time out, the further you get in every little ruffle of leaves puts a little lump in your throat. However, as you grow accustomed to it the only startling ones tend to be when its an actual animal. Who knew one little armadillo could make so much ruckus? Didn't really see much "wildlife" that I haven't seen in my own back yard 4-5 deer an armadillo, small turtle, couple of small snakes, huge woodpeckers, humming birds, butterflies.

The most surprising part to me were the trees! Here I thought I would be out walking in sand and the open sun and for the most part. There are very few spots where you are in complete sun the majority of the hike is in shade and beautiful. I used this as a great time to spend alone with God and thinking about all the wonderful things he has created and created in me. "When I in awesome wonder consider all the worlds Thy hands have made". I didn't see a single person on the trail with the exception of a few folks in cars who had driven out to the Fairchild Oak. I had no problem with mosquitoes or bugs with the exception of I found a couple ticks when I returned home...which gave me the heebie jeebies.

I'll probably make another trek this weekend starting where I left off most likely and maybe just maybe get a little courage and swing an overnight out of it don't know about doing that on my own though we'll see.

Sunday - Flagler County Scenic Century

Every year they do a Century ride that takes place on most the routes I typically ride all rolled into one glorious day on a bicycle. That's glorious until the heat kicks in at around noon and the cramps are relentless. I haven't done much more than a handful of 50+ mile rides since the Great Floridian but figured if I can't keep up with the group I'm in I'll just take it easy and soft pedal home. HA! At mile 80 I cramped so hard on the inside of both thighs it shot me out of my seat. Got dropped by my group... obviously. I couldn't seem to shake them out so had to stop and shake and stretch every 5 miles or less and spent the last 20 on my own getting baked feeling exhausted and near delusional from the heat. This ride was going really smoothly before the cramps I was feeling strong all day I was surprised at myself but when them suckers hit "whew doggie" [Jed Clampett] turned out to be one of the most miserable times I've ever spent on a bike. Had plenty of water, endurolytes, and bananas (at SAG stations). Just the sudden jump in mileage most likely was the problem. Ended up doing the 100 miles in somewhere around 5 hours.

Church Membership

I also attended a membership talk at my Church on Sunday afternoon....I'm still unsure of my thoughts on Church membership I'm just so curious about having to sign a dotted line to participate in God's work. I at least wanted to attend the talk or 'class' to see what it was all about before making any decisions. I've been praying fervently about this these past few weeks. I just don't know yet. Any thoughts?

So In summation: Teddy Roosevelt was a great president, 4 Hour-12 Mile Hike Saturday, 112 Mile-5+ Hour ride Sunday, still don't know what I believe in regards to Church membership. Good?

What a great weekend!

Yes Im sure its me and I tried numerous times to purchase through the web site but it doesn't work so don't give me no copyright nonsense.

HOLA! Long Time no See

Racing

Raced in Ponte Vedra called Beaches and Fine Arts Triathlon series this weekend and had a great time ... in fact a PR for sprint distance .25 mile Swim - 11.5 Bike - 3.1 Run in about 1:03. My run is still suffering because of my knees especially the ITB in the right. I've just learned to live with it .... Its like an old friend at this point. I'm thinking I should give it a name. The killer part about this race was the shirt. A sleeveless jersey with a custom design that I thought was pretty hot so score! I really like jerseys and if I had the dough I'd collect them but most are in the $70 range so you won't find me buying them therefore I've only got a couple.

This is another series that's within driving distance of the house so I'll definitely be going back for the rest of the series in June and July.

Foxe's Book of Martyrs - John Foxe - Wiki

I recently began reading this book and it is powerful. Powerful is not typically a word I use to describe a book but this one just stirs much emotion in me. It was first published in 1563 (of course what I'm reading was published in early 2001) it begins with Stephen and early Christian martyrs and is kind of a one by one historical account. You can read it online here. The copy I have has been slightly edited from the original to make it easier to read as the original was obviously old english. Its hard to read it without first getting a sick feeling in your stomach and then wanting to cry while at the same time rejoice for those whose faith was so strong that they were willing to die for what they believed. Of the more shocking that I've read so far are of Nero who used Christians to light his garden parties. Not for the faint of heart this book is going on my must read list.

Gardening

In my old apartment back in the day (all of 4 years ago) I had a great little rose garden. Roses were just my thing. When I got married we bought a house and then spent most the 4 years of our marriage paying off debt. The landscape budget was needless to say nil so my yard is in pretty bad shape. The split has been a pilgrimage of sorts sending me back to the dirt and I gotta say it has become a great distraction. Its given me something else to get my mind on and being that a garden is LIVING there really is no end of things to do. It creates a great peace of mind when I'm in it. Although I have had some problems with the deer. This reminds me of a Married with Children episode where the doctor tells Al he has too much stress he should start a garden so he does and it works and he loves it only to have a rabbit destroy his crops at which point he destroys the neighborhood trying to kill the rabbit without success. Like Elmer Fudd.

On my absence

Obviously I've not been around in a while this however was by design. I was feeling pretty hot headed for a while and I've since settled down. There are good days and bad days. You know, kind of like life in general! The longer it goes on the more good days that seem to get strung together until you finally get to a point where you cease to be a hermit and start having lunch with your friends again. Amongst other activities the rest of society tends to enjoy that seem so incredibly impossible towards the beginning of the nightmare. I'm doing better.

What's Coming

Because Maddie is going back and forth every 3 days it makes it really hard to nail down consistent training. In fact most my cardio these days is coming in the form of P90X. [Note: P90X is a little expensive but it kicks my butt. Worth every penny. Although I'm missing some of the results I could be achieving because I'm just such a slacker with my diet]. I really believe P90X has helped my various knee problems by correcting muscle imbalances and a consistent stretching routine. I digress. I'm kind of half entertaining the idea of doing the Great Floridian again this year with the goal of taking nearly 2 hours off of my time. Just gotta work on the routine and this time around I'll have a lot more time to train on the bike in Clermont.

PS

I recently took "The Beast" to the Jacksonville Zoo and posted some pictures in a Jacksonville Zoo Gallery. Funny, the other day I said something like 'come over here Bear' and she responded..."I'm not a Bear I'm a Beast". Doll baby.

...but happiness can be found on even the most dull day