Long overdue
Lives been a sorta hazy up down, strange rollercoaster of emotions and actions.. so the easy stuff.. actions
Last saturday, (6/24) I got up way too early, and ran a sprint triathalon. It's 500M swim, 10 mi mountain bike (mixed on/off road course), 3.1 mi run. It was fun! It's the first time I've ever done something this extreme, cold turkey The last sprint triathalon I ran was my Sr. year of TAMS. yup, 12 years ago. I started to train for it about 3 weeks ago, that lasted all of a week, all I really discovered was, I could still swim 800m in a pool comfortably, I could handle 3 miles on a track without getting a hernia or a shin splint, and although I would get saddle sore from the mountain bike (no cushioned) seat i have, without any padded shorts, it wouldn't kill me. Then I spent two weeks being a total nut, and then I woke up Saturday and went to the race. It took me 99 minutes to finish the event, something I'm comfortable with, since my only goal was to live thru it. I've never open water swam, and now I wonder why fish have eyes. It had to be the muddiest water in the world, even with goggles, the visibility was no more than 3 inches, and I swam the whole thing like a lazy frog. I seriously did breaststroke for the entire thing, ok, with occasional moments of floating on my back and wondering if I was going to drown. I think I tried to swim the first 150m, and realized if I were to go swim with the fishes, no one would notice! It was insane, especially since it had to be the world's muddiest lake, and there were even signs posted until Thursday that the lake wasn't safe to swim in do to bacterial blooms (no one I know has gotten ill though). Yup, great way to have my firrst ever open water swim, even if it was in a small lake. The bike was just pure fun, a 1/2 mi 6% incline uphill, about 2 miles into the ride, where the only motivator to keep going is, I have a 278 speed bike, and I'm on gear 1! holy snipes, and I'm not rolling downhill yet! It was nuts, but then again, getting off the bike and walking up the hill takes infinetly longer, so pedal on I did. so from the road, to single track course, complete with two small water hazards, which involved dismounting, and trudging thru the stream to collect truly sopping wet feet.. yea! finally off the single track and off the bike, never have I bneen so glad that my bike has spd pedals,a nd I had to change shoes, wet running shoes would have done me in at this point. The 3.1 miles run went faiirly quickly since it was a point A to B and back kind of run which involved seeing people on their way back already, and kept the event fun :) I did have enough energy left to sprint the last .1 miles (they gave us a sign at mile 3) and finish strong. It was awesome.. complete with some food, and there was beer and such too, but I didn't stay for it.
It's really not until I sit and think about it, that I realize having Scott there, really made a huge difference. Having my own personal friend there to cheer me on at the transition points made the going on part of each legg soo much better. The realizing that this person got their butt out of bed at 530 in the morning to show up at 7am and hang out with me til the race started and burn another 2 hours while i was racing, placing themselves at point I would be able to see him, really helped me make it thru each transition point. The knowing there was someone at the finish line who would be there to share the event with me really sinks in the wanting to share your victories with someone.
I did spend the rest of the day trying to hang out with friends, but pretty much was half awake for all of it, didn't realize how truly exhausting the constant activity was. Sunday led me to a pleasant morning, and my first trip to market in many weeks.
Sunday, I found out my granny had a heart attack and was in the hospital. That really just put a stop to my world. Its alarming how much being on the verge of losing peole you really love will affect you. I'm old, but I haven't had to deal with losing people very often, and well, i'm not really mentally prepared for the challenges it presents. That said, granny's doing better, she's in the hospital resting, and will get a pacemaker tomorrow, hopefully get sent home a few days after that.
Thinking about loss and preparing for losing my family one by one, is something I wil have to come to terms with in the next few spans of time. It does throw me, I'm okay with death in the metaphysical, but don't make it real.
The rest of the week has been busy, but not as noteworthy as the weekend. I will try to share more, but it's still ahrd to do..
I am lucky, to have , people I care so much about, and people who care about me. If I haven't let them know, it;s my failing, and that is something I will be working to remedy.
til the next time then, eh?
Last saturday, (6/24) I got up way too early, and ran a sprint triathalon. It's 500M swim, 10 mi mountain bike (mixed on/off road course), 3.1 mi run. It was fun! It's the first time I've ever done something this extreme, cold turkey The last sprint triathalon I ran was my Sr. year of TAMS. yup, 12 years ago. I started to train for it about 3 weeks ago, that lasted all of a week, all I really discovered was, I could still swim 800m in a pool comfortably, I could handle 3 miles on a track without getting a hernia or a shin splint, and although I would get saddle sore from the mountain bike (no cushioned) seat i have, without any padded shorts, it wouldn't kill me. Then I spent two weeks being a total nut, and then I woke up Saturday and went to the race. It took me 99 minutes to finish the event, something I'm comfortable with, since my only goal was to live thru it. I've never open water swam, and now I wonder why fish have eyes. It had to be the muddiest water in the world, even with goggles, the visibility was no more than 3 inches, and I swam the whole thing like a lazy frog. I seriously did breaststroke for the entire thing, ok, with occasional moments of floating on my back and wondering if I was going to drown. I think I tried to swim the first 150m, and realized if I were to go swim with the fishes, no one would notice! It was insane, especially since it had to be the world's muddiest lake, and there were even signs posted until Thursday that the lake wasn't safe to swim in do to bacterial blooms (no one I know has gotten ill though). Yup, great way to have my firrst ever open water swim, even if it was in a small lake. The bike was just pure fun, a 1/2 mi 6% incline uphill, about 2 miles into the ride, where the only motivator to keep going is, I have a 278 speed bike, and I'm on gear 1! holy snipes, and I'm not rolling downhill yet! It was nuts, but then again, getting off the bike and walking up the hill takes infinetly longer, so pedal on I did. so from the road, to single track course, complete with two small water hazards, which involved dismounting, and trudging thru the stream to collect truly sopping wet feet.. yea! finally off the single track and off the bike, never have I bneen so glad that my bike has spd pedals,a nd I had to change shoes, wet running shoes would have done me in at this point. The 3.1 miles run went faiirly quickly since it was a point A to B and back kind of run which involved seeing people on their way back already, and kept the event fun :) I did have enough energy left to sprint the last .1 miles (they gave us a sign at mile 3) and finish strong. It was awesome.. complete with some food, and there was beer and such too, but I didn't stay for it.
It's really not until I sit and think about it, that I realize having Scott there, really made a huge difference. Having my own personal friend there to cheer me on at the transition points made the going on part of each legg soo much better. The realizing that this person got their butt out of bed at 530 in the morning to show up at 7am and hang out with me til the race started and burn another 2 hours while i was racing, placing themselves at point I would be able to see him, really helped me make it thru each transition point. The knowing there was someone at the finish line who would be there to share the event with me really sinks in the wanting to share your victories with someone.
I did spend the rest of the day trying to hang out with friends, but pretty much was half awake for all of it, didn't realize how truly exhausting the constant activity was. Sunday led me to a pleasant morning, and my first trip to market in many weeks.
Sunday, I found out my granny had a heart attack and was in the hospital. That really just put a stop to my world. Its alarming how much being on the verge of losing peole you really love will affect you. I'm old, but I haven't had to deal with losing people very often, and well, i'm not really mentally prepared for the challenges it presents. That said, granny's doing better, she's in the hospital resting, and will get a pacemaker tomorrow, hopefully get sent home a few days after that.
Thinking about loss and preparing for losing my family one by one, is something I wil have to come to terms with in the next few spans of time. It does throw me, I'm okay with death in the metaphysical, but don't make it real.
The rest of the week has been busy, but not as noteworthy as the weekend. I will try to share more, but it's still ahrd to do..
I am lucky, to have , people I care so much about, and people who care about me. If I haven't let them know, it;s my failing, and that is something I will be working to remedy.
til the next time then, eh?