10 days out.

wow. just ten days now. started this project about 500 days ago.


had our last hard week. it wasn't all that hard so on the weekend we bumped the bike ride up a bit to include some pretty hard hills. managed to handle them pretty well. the resa was a bit nervous about her knees so skipped some of it - which i thought was very smart.

also so the show Wicked, it was better than i thought it would be. the story was about what i thought, but the skill of the people in the show was so good that you forget to think of them as people, like in movies. ( at least for me ). we go to plays now and then and the less the skill level, like highschool, i hold my breath the whole time, hoping they dont have some really embarrassing moment. the local pros are a bit different, i think they wont have an embarrassing moment and so i just enjoy the show. but its people being other people that i see. i try to separate out what is really them and what is their effort in being something else. this show, they were the characters. at least most of them were. a few minor chars were just people being a made up something. but the main two witches and most of the next 5ish mains were absolutely wonderful. really fun to go to that show.

and i feel my emotions taking some swings over the last few days.

it is just a swim a bike and a run. and i am pretty unpatriotic as a person. i very rarely make more of something than i can laugh at later. i have been serious in my effort on many things, but also know that i am not a true believer. all along i knew it would be the journey and not the destination that was the true reason for the whole thing.

well, the journey is now over. it ended with the last run on sunday afternoon. a five and a half mile 98 degree scorching hot struggle that we managed very well. and we sat on the cement and i created a lake of sweat beneath me as we sipped some drinks. we have some half speed and half distance things planned for the next 10 days. tapering all the way in. and the next time my heart should be pounding like its off the chain will be on the beach before the start.

i have done zero triathlons and i am hooked.

i think sheila is too. and probably the resa - but she wont ever say before the end of any event if she is going to do one again. i think she likes to keep them events and not lifestyles. which is fine with me. if she was the other way we would never have done any of the amazing things we have over the last 12 years. although she did mention that it would be cool to have the p4s from cervelo.

hooked on the life style if not the actual race.

not sure who reads this. the only one i know that does is someone i have never met or talked to, Julie. i think my friend Dave has read two or three posts in the 20 months. also the canada poop fairies have read a few now and then when i pestered them with questions. also i believe a friend kim reads now and then. i guess i would have to be my own biggest reader, as i go back to stuff a year or more ago and just re-live some of my better or worse moments.

but thanks for spending some time here all of you!

i imagine things will be pretty different in 2 weeks. i will either have or not finished the event. and if i dont i will try again. but this will of course always be my first shot at it. and i am sure as i get older this will be one of the easier events i will do.



so, five hundred days and where am i?

i can swim! this alone would be worth going through the whole thing. i lost my fear of being under water. i think i will take up scuba again. i had some pretty disasterous attempts at that over the years. but i was, i think just too afraid to want to go in the water. now i really enjoy the swimming part and look forward to it.

i lost 30 pounds. not as much as i thought i would. i feel i just haven't gone all-in on the food part. ate a cookie today, a chocolate chip muffin yesterday. ah well, 30 pounds makes for a happier me... next year i lose another 10 and be in better shape.

learned a lot of stuff about hi-tech gear and clothes. :-)

learned that i cant go 2x harder on any one day, but i can recover 2x as fast as i could before.

ran my first ever marathon! big smiles for that.

ran 10 miles in 100 minutes.

saw more trails, birds and had more fun outside than in my entire lifetime.

the next post will be on next monday. on tuesday we load up the camper and head out to the race. the post after that will be from after the race, and i hope its a long and happy one. but! if it is not... well, that post will just have to wait a few more months.

the final phase of training is over and what a ( bike ) ride it was. again, thanks for the reading... :-)



SCORES!

mentally - 10. did everything i wanted to do to get ready. if i wipe out or anything happens when up there that keeps us from finishing, well, i came in to it as ready as i could have hoped.

physically - 10. not sure what to say. i could have been in much better shape. or much worse. but i am completely healthy.

workouts - 10. did them pretty easily on the book's hardest week. next year we skip from level 3 to level 6! i mean, common! lol.




whether you think you can or you think you cant... either way, you are probably right.