Off-Track

Re-surfacing seems to be the flavor of the moment, 'round these parts. Many stretches of my favorite riding routes are torn up, being replaced with state favorite chip-seal, which is akin to riding over a cheese grater. On top of that (well, not literally, for I'm sure it'd be an improvement), the tracks at both schools are inaccessible, as both fields are being re-surfaced with artificial turf. Yea, that it'll conserve water; boo, in that it's eliminated my ability to run track on Thursday mornings. Instead, I've been running Liiiiiive Oak the past couple of weeks. This morning, I opted for the shorter route (out & back, as opposed to the full loop through Cibolo...which, incidentally, turns out to be just over half-a-mile longer but does keep me from having to cross 3009), and it was good.

The Polar kept me aware of where my ticker was ticking, so I was able to get close to gunning it for the whole 3.44 miles. Total time for the run was 24:35, which figured out to be a 7:08 mile. While not anything to really write home about, the only thing that really kept me from going longer was time -- I had to get my butt home, showered, and to work. Saturday's 5k is looking to be a pretty good workout for me, even if I have no hopes in winning it.

There's a new shop in town: Trisition Area. SA's first tri-specific shop (okay, there's Soler's, but that's in Helotes and is way too far for me to drive; Trisition is on the way to N---'s). I paid a visit to them and subsequently paid them some coin for some new racing shoes.

I've seen the Zoot running shoes making their rounds in Slowtwitch, the trade mags, and the like, but was curious to try a pair for myself. The sales folk said they weren't good for anything more than a half, but, as IMWI is over a year out, even if it turns out to be more than a pipe dream, I'll be due for new shoes before then, anyway. Besides, Trisition gave me the option of doing one run in them as a demo; Saturday's 5k should prove perfect.

This post is beginning to look mighty incoherent, so I think I'll take that as my cue to bugger off and go to bed. I've ~100 pages left in 1984, so I'll go work on that in order to drift off to sleep. I'll pop back in on Saturday for an update on how I faired in the 5k and the follow-up ride out to Sattler with D---. Hope you could make sense of what I wrote, but, in even if you couldn't, thanks for reading.

A List of Demands

It's coming up on 4:30 in the morning, and I have been awake for the past hour. With no hint of sleeping returning to me, I thought it best to rouse myself and get some grading done. Thus far, the backpack still sits in the living room, untouched since being put there nearly an hour ago. I am the picture of productivity.

Actually, it's not been that bad. I did get my checkbook reconciled and also did some reading up on reasons to not train with a heart rate monitor. There aren't any. Instead, I was just being a whiny boy when complaining about the additional (non-visible) gear necessary to go out & train. I guess wearing the HRM strap isn't too big of a deal...will need to monitor my bike mileage more closely, though. So, the question now becomes, what do I do with the two, week-old Specialized SpeedZone Sport wireless cycling computers? eBay or Craig's List, I suppose.

Last night's 2s ride was a tad more intense than I was expecting. There are some really fast guys showing up to the school, now; I am not one of them. One does claim to be a triathlete, but I'm honestly not sure (or caring, for that matter); I'm just left wondering if the Tuesday night ride really is the best use of my training time. Yes, it is tradition, but I'm not wanting to become the local pariah who can't cycle worth a flip. Then again, I think I've already become that: A Triathlete: Jack of all trades; master of none.

Those papers aren't going to grade themselves, so I suppose I'll get crackin' on them. In consideration of how full my calendar is for the rest of the week, this is likely the best chance I'll have for free grading time, so I should best use it. Stay tuned, faithful reader, to find out just how successful the grading was (no bets, please; my self-esteem is low enough, right now), what was transpired at the pre-construction meeting regarding the Parkway, and how my appointment at Apple to exchange my Shuffle was (Shuffle died on me during my run this past Sunday; grrr!). Thanks for reading.

Quality Time

Three days, and that was barely enough for this Memorial Day weekend. Granted, it was one day more than your garden variety weekend, but I'd also been spoiled by having school wrapped up and put to bed by this point; I've still another two weeks before I can sing my lullabies for this year. Poor, poor me.

And just [what] was the weekend? A whole lot of quality time with N--- , including a brick out at Boerne Lake again (I ever be able to swim out there without gale-force winds one way or the other?), followed by a few days of house & dog sitting for some friends of hers. The bad part was they live way out from city limits, which I typically would not consider bad, but for the price of gas...and the fact they'd been killing rattlesnakes by the gross the past few months.; fortunately, the weekend was snake-free. The good part about house-sitting is they had satellite, which meant TV. More to the point: TV at a time when N--- & I could just veg out in front of it. So, we did.

Saturday was, by far, the best day. Silver Stars played Seattle and whupped up on 'em summin' fierce. On the ice, it was Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals, where Detroit shut out Pittsburgh 4-0. Incredible hockey. Rewinding to the WNBA game, Nike was advertising their new Sparq line, which featured a pretty nifty soundtrack, as is typical of Nike. The soundtrack was so nifty, in fact, that I decided to download the whole album from its artist, Saul Williams. It should be finished by the time I complete this post.

Sunday meant more TV (movies, mostly), preceded by a 90-minute long run out on deserted FM roads -- that's the really good part about house-sitting in the middle of nowhere. Two sour notes on my run: 1) Got severely dehydrated and had to walk the last half mile back in; 2) My Shuffle died on me. Bummer of the deal is that Apple is closed today for the holiday, so I'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out what to do about this. Geez, can you imagine?

More warm fuzzies from the weekend to outweigh the bad: Chatted with D--- on the tele and by text, too. He & K--- are doing well; N--- & I hope to meet up with them for dinner or breakfast on our way to Lubbock at the end of June. N--- & I also started making tentative wedding plans, but much depends on the dates for UTSA's commencement ceremonies, as well as those for the LV marathon. I'll not say any more until m'lady & I have had a chance to chat and scheme some more.

For the final bit of quality time, I need to leave my computer. I've a kitty curled up in my lap who apparently missed me this past weekend. We're going to go do some serious cuddling in preparation for my penultimate week of school while listening to the new Saul Williams CD. I'll give the cat a scratch under the chin for you, if you like. Regardless, thanks for reading.

Whoah, That Rocked

This has been a busy week. Time gives the impression of creeping by, but the last few weeks of school are typically that way. All the same, my platter is full with cramming in the last bit of the scope & sequence to my courses and readying the kiddos for finals. Add to that tri training and there's not time for much else. Makes one wonder how I found time to get engaged.

You read that right: I am engaged.

On a sunset walk along a "beach" (quote marks used as it was along an inlet of Corpus Christi Bay, so not a beach, in the traditional sense), and on bended knee, I asked N--- to marry me, and she said yes. The wedding will not take place for some time, as common thought is for her to finish grad school. For the most part, don't hold your breath for an invite; we're hoping for a ridiculously small ceremony: Family and a few close friends, only. Keep your eyes peeled for a picture, though.

Elsewhere, I'm getting my position on the Felt tweaked. New aerobar position called for it, in a worse way than I possibly imagined. After installing the new saddle I scored for a song at Bike Heaven the other night, M--- did some adjusting to the saddle height and forwardness of it, raising me a little over 2cm and slamming me forward. He's even talking about a tad more height and maybe even a shorter stem by a centimeter or two. Those first few adjustments, though, made a world of difference: A little over half-a-mile per hour faster over last night's outing -- and with no pain in my IT band. I hope I can keep training going strong until the end of June, for I cannot wait for retribution at BSLT.

In addition to needing a shower, the cat is screaming for me, so I suppose I'll button this up. Thanks for reading.

Gear Up

For nearly $400, one would expect a bicycle computer to do its <expletive> job, right? Right. Such is not the case when it comes to Polar's S725X.

I bought this little gem over Spring Break month before last, as I tend to train much better with an HRM, plus I was hoping to clean up the looks of things on my rides. The S725X certainly did the cleaning up part, and also did well with HR data, BUT, when it comes to cycling feedback, there is a bit to be desired.

In a nut shell, either the speed sensors were not transmitting data 100% of the time or the S725X was not receiving data 100% of the time. Regardless, I'm not happy, and I lack the inclination to figure out what's wrong with it. A pair of Specialized Speedzone wireless computers should hit my doorstep tomorrow, so, after a quick spin tomorrow evening, I'll have a better idea of what my electronics setup will look like for the remainder of the season. Of course, should I opt for the non-Polarized route, I'll have to go back to manually entering data to track my workouts. Bleck.

There. I just had to whine some about how complicated I make my life, especially when it comes to relative non-essentials. The next post will be better, I promise, as I am just really, really tired right now. So, it's off to bed with me. Thanks for reading.

Weekend Update

Quick post to check in on my rabid fans to let them all know that I am alive and well and doing fine.

We're counting down to three weeks of school until the summer training season begins, although I have been in "race mode" for the past few weeks, already; watching my fuel intake more closely, sticking to a regular workout routine, and tweaking my gear. Thus far, I've swapped out my training shoes (Mizunos just aren't cutting it -- and haven't been the past, several months) and have begun questioning my purchase of a Polar S725X back in mid-March. The latter, essentially, was an impulse purchase, and, while I do enjoy the HR data and easy uploads of workouts, it's not exactly living up to my expectations. The reason I ditched the S625X (same thing, different face, included foot pod, as opposed to the bike mount [better deal IMO, but, again, it was an impulse item]) was to simplify my workouts, which, again, have grown more complex, as I now wind up resembling Locutus of Borg on my workouts. On top of that, my bike mileages don't add up to what they once did and average speed is much lower than what it once was; the thing's turning out to be a piece. Hello, eBay!? :-D

Sorry, this post wasn't intended to become a rant against Polar. In all, I am in a wonderful mood, given the weekend. N--- & I traveled to Corpus for the 33rd Beach to Bay Relay Marathon. This year, we were on the same team, which made the handing off of the baton that much easier, as N--- was much easier to spot than was M---. True, I had to run the beach leg (ugg, did that suck), which yielded me a 7:33/mi average (providing distances & such of this one dude's ForeRunner 305 were accurate) , but, I'm not in near the shape i was last year, either. Notes to self: 1) No more slacking on training, ever; 2) Stay out of the library, except for grabbing books and other media. More on B2B and other training shenanigans to come!

Wow, almost six. Time to ready myself for SNL and the week ahead. Minor laundry to be done, plus ironing of the shirts. Oh, the exciting life I lead. Still, thanks for reading.

The Past Month

Hola, amigos.

Yeah, it's been a whole month since I've rapped at ya, and what a month has it been. Here are the highlights:

• Training is trucking right along, thanks, in small part, to the Polar s725x, even if the wristband on it sucks.
• Picked up sponsorship from Nuun in the form of a 40% discount on the tabs. Seeing how I go through a boat-load of these in a month, the savings will be worth it.
• Been to SeaWorld; still no hammerheads.
• Scored a sweet summer job: 3-week contractor, serving as an assessor for a national educator certification company.
• Received my PDAS and am (again) a "proficient" educator
  
• Logged 39 miles in just under 12 hours at Relay for Life this past weekend.
• Signed up for Buffalo Springs at the end of June.

Things weren't so bad during the actual running of RfL, but I'm still having pain in my right leg. It could be that whole knot thing L--- mentioned during spring break, but, after working a tennis ball on my foot last night, I'm beginning to wonder if it could be a problem with my foot...my shoes, in particular. I've been training on Mizuno Wave Riders for the past four years without incident (holy crap, has it really been four years?!), recent events aside. So, I'm wondering if I do need something with higher arch support, ala Nike or Brooks -- both brands from which I have shied, given their higher arches. Heck, I dunno. Maybe I'll head up to Academy to check out their wares. Gets me closer to Chipotle, and they're having free burrito day for teachers. :D

Wow, I didn't realize just how late it's getting. I've still some papers to grade and want to do that before bedtime. Despite my previous comment, summer is fast-approaching, so I should be able to be a tad more diligent about posting (yeah, how many times have you read that sort of comment, here?). I'll certainly try to post some more about RfL, as that was, indeed, an awesome event. Until then, thanks for reading.

Spenco Olympic-distance Triathlon

Remember that fortune from a few days ago? It was right: I really need to work on improving my exercise routine. Still, considering I'd been sick for two weeks prior and had done no training of consequence, my showing at my first race of the season wasn't too shabby. Here's how it went:

Swim - 19:47
The Spenco "Olympic-distance" Triathlon was somewhat of a misnomer. Typically, Olympic-distance (henceforth referred to as "ITU," as the latter is much easier/quicker to type) have a 1500-meter swim, respectively followed by a 25-mile bike & 10k run. Spenco, however, had only a 1000-meter swim, making my swim time appear faster-than-normal for an ITU race, even with fumbling out of my wet suit in T1.

Bike - 1:04:20
Woohoo! Bike split rocked. I was a tad concerned, given the wind, sickness, and lack of training. However, it appeared many people also struggled with the wind (and gravel on Old Bastrop Road -- thanks for the warning, Mr. RD) and minor hills. Part of the route being the same as that of the Freiheit ride, though, gave me somewhat of a mental boost, as I love that area. The Rudy Project Syton also helped cut through the wind whilst keeping my noggin' cool. I would so love to try the lid at Buffalo Springs, but, alas, a lack of cash-ola will keep that from happening this year. But, I digress.

Mount & dismount of the bike went nicely, courtesy of the new Quattro SL pedals (see previous post), so that was, indeed, well-spent money. Granted, I'll not make it a habit to change so much gear so soon before a race (cranks, aerobar position, tires, pedals, helmet). Lighter wheels may be a different story. The Sciracco wheelset is nice, but, dang, they are HEAVY.

In total, I was passed by one person on the bike, and I promptly returned the favor to him at the first hill we encountered. I love my bike.

Run - 49:03
Not my fastest 10k, but certainly not my slowest, even in a race. I got dropped by three people, two of whom were wearing the new Zoot running shoe; gave me cause to ponder my choice in footwear but (temporarily) dismissed the notion as my training was woefully inadequate for making it as far as I did in the time that I did.

The run course was not a straight out & back, as they needed to add a dog-leg to make it the full 10k. Volunteers on-course made it trouble-free, and the aid stations were frequent enough to keep us hydrated on the Sunday that was not too sunny. Apart from the stronger gusts of wind, it would have been hard to have asked for better racing weather.

Total Time: 2:17:05. AG: 3/6. OA: 16/57.
I've yet to contact the RD, but I think my age group classification was messed up. USAT rules state that I should have been in the 35-39 AG, but, instead, am still listed in the 30-34. I'll not complain about a 3rd place AG finish, although it is rather a rather sad note about my lack of training as to whom I finished behind. I really need to get my ride & run back. Swimming...well, the times will come down, but I know I'll still suck.



Full results of the race are posted here: http://teamats.com/SPENCO_OLYMPIC_TRI.HTM

The Thank Yous
The usual suspects, of course, especially to N---; you truly are the greatest. Thanks also to the Bike Heaven crew for having the B2 race-ready in record time, as well as to D--- B---, a parent of one of my PAPE2 kids, for turning me on to the race. For the record, the water wasn't that cold.

All of that said, I will definitely work on improving my exercise routine. I think I'll take today a rest day before getting back into the swing of things. Besides, I still have a mountain of synopses on TTC to get through. Now that is endurance.

See you on the flip-side. Thanks for reading.

Crank It!

I'd been fighting the urge for a while, but, today, I decided to actually purchase new pedals for my TT bike. It's the perfectly logical thing to do the day before a race: Change something. However, this change was not entirely unfounded.

For several races, I'd been wanting to improve my bike mount/dismount, but the Time Impacts were not permitting me to do so. Being a single-sided pedal, and with the Sidi tri shoes having their slick, carbon base, it was difficult to hop on & off the bike without slipping. The Eggbeater pedals I'd installed on my commuter seemed to remedy this, but the eggbeater lacked the broadness of base I needed for truly putting the hammer down.

Enter the Crank Brothers Quattro SL.

After much research and drooling at the upper end of the spectrum, I decided to give the Quattro pedal a try. Given my limited budget, I opted for the SL model, as its weight was comparable to the Impacts I'd ridden with on my TT bike for so long. A series of phone calls found a pair on the other side of the world, but N--- was willing to take a ride with me, as long as I was willing to take a ride with her when we returned from the shop. Twist my arm a little harder, why don't you?

Twelve seconds short of eternity later (gad, I hate the North side), we were back on my side of town, picked up my "packet," which is to say, my race number and swim cap, for Spenco and were back at home. The Quattros were quick to set up on the bike, as were the cleats, so after ten or fifteen minutes, N--- & I were rolling. And were we rolling.

Since my re-entry into cycling eight or so years ago, I've tried a lot of pedals -- just ask the guys at Bicycle Heaven. Literally, every pedal system on the market. I settled on Time, although the Campagnolo Pro-Fit system ran a close second. Both of those now get bumped down a notch, as the Quattros are one rocking pedal system. Why? Well, there's...

• Low weight (yeah, the SLs are on the heftier side, but at a C-note for a pair, you cannot do any better at that price)
• Double-sided entry for easy entry -- exit is quick & painless, as well
  
• Broad platform
• Rock-solid locking -- and with decent float, too!
• 3-hole cleat system offers decent walking (or running, for racing scenarios)
• Cleats are cross-platform compatible, so I can use any shoe with either my commuter or TT bike. Nice!
  

In all, I don't think I've ever been more impressed with a pedal system. I'll contemplate a set of the titanium-spindled jobs for the C-dale (the Quattro Ti feature a red spring, as opposed to the SL's blue), providing the SLs hold up well enough in tomorrow's race. In the meantime, I need to eat. Tomorrow is going to be a busy, busy day. Thanks for reading.

How Fortunate

The Lunch Bunch actually wanted to go out for lunch today, so we did. Fortunately, "Chinese" won out over Tex-Mex, as I was hunkerin' for some vegetables, and the local "Chinese" fast-foodry has such. They also had fortune cookies. Here was mine:

"WORK ON IMPROVING YOUR EXERCISE ROUTINE."

Yup, that's it. Not too good of an omen for Sunday's Olympic race, especially since I've been sick the past two weeks and, subsequently, have done precisely no training, save the occasional commute to work. Sunday is going to hurt.

Thanks for reading.

Jack-ass 3: The County Convention

Let me begin by saying that it was not my car in the parking lot which sported the "W" sticker. I learned my lesson early in the first go-round, thank you very much.

For anyone who has ever wondered how one living in the good old U.S. of A. could become disillusioned with the idea of democracy and/or the election process, I invite them to look no further than their county party convention. However, "invite" might be the wrong word; "condemn," maybe. Or "suffer." Yes, suffer, for that is exactly what I did for a little under six hours yesterday morning and afternoon at the Guadalupe County Democratic Convention.


Way back on Texas Primary day, I made the somewhat foolish mistake of signing up to be an alternate to the convention. With but two days remaining until the convention, and no word from anyone about my required presence at the convention, I presumed I was "out of the woods" and made plans for Saturday, including a ride with SAW, as well as dinner and a hockey game with N---, S---, and K---. Come Thursday, though, I got a phone call. And an email. After a return phone call, where I was assured all would be wrapped up within four hours; I would be finished by 2 o'clock. It is with this assurance in mind that I set out Saturday morning to perform my civic duty. I should have known by the overflowing parking lot at the Lion's Hall down the road that this would not end well.

By 9:15, I was signed in as an alternate and seated in the hall, waiting for the show to get going. A cursory glance at the agenda revealed that my 2:00 PM time frame was off by an hour; if all went well, we'd be out around three o'clock. All was not going well, as semi-organized chaos ruled supreme in the lair of the Lion's. Microphone problems and other setup issues were resolved relatively quickly, and, at 10:03, the county chairperson began introductions and a series of hackneyed political rhetoric. Shortly after, the chair admitted he was stalling for time because roll call for delegates had not been remedied, so he introduced a few of the county candidates for local positions: one constable and one precinct chair. The former proved why an outline or some form of organization of thoughts for public speaking is a good thing by rambling on for better than ten minutes about his own history and a non-profit organization he's established in the county seat. All I really got out of why he would make a better constable was that he's established an NPO, is a veteran, and is younger than the current constable. Yes, younger. Well, shucks. No wonder there was such a dynamic turnout for the Democratic party this year: The presidential candidates on their side of the fence are younger than that of the Republican. Heck, I'm sure Clinton & Obama combined are younger than McCain. But, I digress.

The second candidate kept things mercifully short, acknowledging she did not have much to say, simply asking for votes; guess she was running unopposed. Surprise, surprise.

Two-and-a-half hours after arriving, it is determined that I am to be bumped up to a delegate. Why it took them two-and-a-half hours to determine this is beyond me, for none of the @#(%* delegates from my precinct bothered to show up; only alternates did. Because of this, three precincts wound up being combined in order to get some predetermined number of folks to vote for delegates. This took another hour, another thirty minutes to go outside and determine who would be delegate to the state convention, who would be alternate, and then develop & implement strategies to ensure the delegate guaranteed to vote for the candidate that our "side" wanted would win the precinct vote. Sounds a lot like cheating, and, in a way it was. I felt like such a whore for allowing myself to be used as such but I just wanted to get it over with. Ironic, that, the night before, N--- & I had watched Goya's Ghost, which used the backdrop of the latter days of the Spanish Inquisition (and subsequent days & effects of the French Revolution -- egads! will I ever be rid of that blasted subject?) to tell its story, part of which focused on what people will do to stop pain. And that was me: I just wanted the pain to stop and get on with it.

Precincts successfully divided over the candidate & delegate selection, we rejoined the rest of the delegates and began voting on resolutions to be put before the state convention. After a handful of resolutions (there were some twenty or thirty requiring voting), I excused myself and made for home. I'd had enough. Yeah, I'm pleased as punch to call America home, and the country has been good to me, but I just can't help but feel we, the citizens, have had the proverbial wool pulled over our collective eyes. Even at the local level, power rests in the hands of those who, literally, play the system and have the time to do so. Most are white men; even more are retired. And the masses remain mute for no better reason than to not want to rock the boat. Smile, nod, and pray that it'll all work out in the end.

Speaking of the end, this is the end of this one. Thanks for reading.//d

Is This Thing On?

After a week and a day, I am led to believe that the computer geniuses at AccuWeb have fixed my Blog problem, again. I say "again" because this wasn't the first time I encountered publishing errors, and, from the sound of it, I am not alone. A cursory perusal of the 'groups' section at Google gives one the impression there are some serious coding errors in Google's blogging software and its abilities to work with all servers. They don't seem too keen on fixing them, nor do they seem too willing to communicate directly with their end-users to. With practices like these, Google could very well be the next Microsoft.

Slam against the software giants complete, I am off to shower and then head to work. I've been a lot under the weather the past few days, and tomorrow's stint at the county Democratic convention may be just well-enough timed to give me some of the rest I require but am so hesitant to take. Oh, and I'm racing next Sunday, too. Check back the afternoon of the sixth to find out just how hysterical (or tragic) that will be. Thanks for reading.

To Race or Not to Race?

I told myself I would not race in 2008. I broke that vow today by signing up for the Longhorn 70.3 that takes place in October. Right now, instead of cleaning my wreck of a house, I am debating whether or not to register for an Olympic-distance race that will be held up at TSR in early April. Yeah, as in a few weeks. Yup, it's primed for one of those "Gee, imagine if I would've trained" reminisces that seem so popular on this site.

Rather than act irrationally, for the Longhorn did rely upon much thought and was possible only because of some significant savings on a major purchase (shh...it's a secret!), I will wait on deciding upon the Spenco Olympic. Same goes for BSLT 70.3 (N--- wants to go view the course, for it is her goal to race it after finishing graduate school), and any other race for that matter. It would likely work to my advantage to wait, as I emailed off to SportKilt tonight touting the glories of the Hiking Kilt and a casual request for sponsorship. In any event, I'm going to need to pick up my training in order to have even a good showing on the Parkway. Fortunately, I'm feeling frisky after this morning's session with Y Knot; L--- rocks as a PT.

The clock on the computer reads 10:19 PM, which means it's likely closer to 10:30. I really need to go get my butt in gear on house cleaning. N--- is coming over tomorrow, and it'd be a shame to have her truck cleaner than my house.

Stay tuned to find out how the racing goes (or doesn't). As always, thanks for reading.

Extreme DVD

My DVD player crapped out on me the other day, so I headed over to the local Sony outlet store and eyed a 400-disc changer for a hair over one C-note. My walkout price, including extended warranty was $149, a fraction of what I paid for my first DVD player. I get it home, get it loaded and am floored by the quality over my previous Denon player. Trouble is, the changer is friggin' huge. Plus, programming data for the ~150 DVDs that did not have pre-coded data looks to be a right pain in the rumpus. Do I really need a 400-disc changer? Do I really want to spend the rest of my spring break programming DVD data?

Hmm...as I type this, I think I have found my answer. It's back to Sony I go...

The Invisible Hill

Spring Break is finally here. Nine whole days without the pressures of school. The kids get to go to the coast (or wherever it is they actually do go) while the teachers get to...grade. This one gets to ride his bike, too.

The break started out nice enough. Friday night: Softball game, ride home (including seeing B--- -- haven't seen him in a coon's age!), quick trip to San Marcos to pick up a new DVD player. Saturday: 50-mile ride with SAW in the morning, followed by a lovely afternoon with N--- (she's feeling better now [thank you for your concern]), including a hike around Friederich Wildernessl Area. I am so looking forward to this trail running thing. Sunday: Rest & recovery day, including a workout at the gym, where my right leg reminded me it's still FUBAR'd and needs some attention. That'll come tomorrow & Wednesday.

Today found me out on my bike again, this time for a 68-mile round-trip jaunt out to the lake and back. The 'back' part was a real bear, too, as the wind was howling at gale-force velocity the entire trip. Going out wasn't so bad, as it was mostly to the rear (never a direct tailwind), but once I turned on to River Road in Sattler, the ride exploded in toughness. Yes, there was the aforementioned wind, but River Road is apparently undergoing some repairs and is extremely rough over about a two-mile stretch. Thank heavens I was on an aluminum bike to allow me to feel every bump, jump, and jaw-rattling piece of the road. True, I complain today, but I know I'll be grateful I did the ride a few months from now, when the rest of the roadies are only then riding into shape with their assorted challenges. Glad I can get (most of) mine out of the way now.

And, speaking of challenges, my right leg. It completely cramped up on me yesterday in the pool, making me thankful that I've a doctor's appointment scheduled for tomorrow morning, followed by an appointment with a PT on Wednesday (she called during my ride this morning -- thanks, L---!). Between the two of them, I'm hoping this thing can get taken care of, pronto. I'm tired of not firing at anything resembling 80%, let alone anything higher.

Which now leads me to question if I should completely dis racing this season, as planned. Yes, it's expensive as all get-out, but there is one I'd kind of like to do: Longhorn IM 70.3. I'd also like to do Buffalo Springs again, but I know that's just out of the budget, what with race fees, travel, and lodging. The former, however, is not until October, so I've some time to mull it over. Incidentally, I didn't race the Blue Norther'. R--- did and had a decent showing, too, finishing 29th OA & 4th in AG. Good show.

Now that I have overcome that is the unending, invisible hill that is the howling wind, I need to overcome the second one: the general lack of will to work on my school stuff. The snoozing cat in my lap is of little use in the department, so methinks I'll put some tea on for a start...see where it goes from there.

Enjoy your week, be it at work or on break. Thanks for reading.

Holla if Ya Hear Me!

Quick post to brag about the morning.

Rode the commuter to breakfast with the boys, which was a great spin workout on a horribly humid morning. Got home, slipped into the Mizunos and took off for a 3.53 out & back on Live Oak. Time: 25:50. Pace: 7:19. Thank you, Tupac.

Now I just need to see about getting my transition times down in readying myself for work. Check back Sunday to see if I decided to do the Blue Norther' Du and how that went, if I did. Thanks for reading.

T-2 Days & Counting

Spring break is almost here. I can hear it. I can smell it. I can say that most every day has been planned, with work taking up a good chunk of it. Yeah, teachers get lots of time off every year.

I'd intended to check in sooner, after that horrible post this past Monday, but I didn't make it back in due to technical duties. Dude, R--- got a Dell...and I got it back up & running. A corrupt registry file, a quick reinstall of Windows, and a near eternity spent trying to hunt down drivers & shiznit for the the accursed laptop. Lucky for me, the original owner was able to be located and he still had the driver CD. Yes, life is good.

For me, anyway. N---'s been under the weather, so I got to play Nurse D tonight, picking up medicines & OJ so thick with pulp, one needed a spoon to get it out of the container. Sure hope that does the trick. Buying Benedryl & fruit juice is about the extent of my medical training.

Time to recharge my own batteries for a bit. Will post again once I'm back at max capacity. Thanks for reading.

Movie Night

I thought I had seen some of the worst films around, considering my past with RHPS. Tonight, however, it was proven to me that there is always something worse than the worst movie you've ever seen. Tonight, it was the 1963 "classic" The Raven.

Starring Vincent Price, Boris Karloff, and some other biggie of 1960s horror movie fame, this film was intended to be based upon the poem of the same name by Edgar Allan Poe. Apart from the title and a few stanzas, the film had precisely squat to do with the poem. The only bright side is that by suffering through it tonight, I have saved myself from the fateful mistake of waiting until class on Wednesday to watch it...three <expletive> times.

After The Raven, I popped in a 25-minute short of Poe's "The Tell Tale Heart" and felt melancholic enough to not need RHPS to cleanse my memory of The Raven. I ended the video orgy with Sir Ian McKellen's adaptation of Richard III, which was perfectly timed to Richard's great fall and the buttoning of the last button on my last shirt. How nice.

Lame post tonight, but I just wanted to share with you my miserable experience of The Raven. May you never have to suffer through anything so horrible. Ever. Actually, I guess it's too late for suffering through horrors to the eyes if you've made it this far, but, still, thanks for reading.

Miles and Miles of Texas

This past weekend was the inaugural Texas Independence Relay, a 207-mile relay off-the-charts ultra marathon. It tested every aspect of every athlete participating in it. Apparently, my mantra from the 2007 racing season continues: "Gee, imagined if I would have trained."

TIR was broken into forty legs, not including a prologue and epilogue. The pro & epilogues would be run by the team as a whole, while each of the forty legs would be run by individual members of the team. The team fortunate enough to have someone of my intensity, especially with regards to training (refer to aforementioned mantra to discover just how serious I am about training), was composed of eight employees of N---'s workplace (including N---), a trio of teenage cross country runners, and mois. Our team name was "San Antonio Soles," and, while not my personal preference for a team name, it apparently didn't hurt us, nor did my running each of my legs in a skirt.

Get Ready
The lead-up to TIR was typical of my racing the past year or so: Train at the absolute minimum due to either work or weather. To a certain degree, I think it was even below the minimum, as I seem to still be somewhat recovering from my post-White Rock injury (yeah, that one; it's been, what, nearly three months?). Funny thing about the whole knee bit is that running the 27.49 miles this past weekend seemed to have helped it. Weird, I know.

Somewhat of a training schedule was attempted, though, mostly focused around multiple 10ks on the Parkway. Unfortunately, the weather 'round these parts has been wackier than usual, so most of those planned 10ks were sidelined. Other than the final leg of the relay, it didn't seem to affect me much; my times were decent, considering how out of shape I was (and still am; where the @#%* is spring?), how far I had to run, and my absolute lack of adequate nutrition over the weekend. But I get ahead of myself.

Come race morning, N--- & I headed to the Institute to meet up with the rest of the team. I kind of didn't like that I had to drive the 30+ miles THE OTHER WAY before going to Gonzales, but the company made it worthwhile. The plan was to meet at 4:45, so N--- & I were there, ready to roll by 4:30. We didn't get under way until well after 5:00, making it look like we weren't going to make it to our registration time of 6:30...but, we did. With a superb striking of a gong (don't ask; I didn't) by N---, the Soles were on course, covering the 1.13 mile prologue in just over ten minutes. From there, it was into the van and off to Shiner to wait for our van to become active. Killing time in a doughnut shop, I graded some papers and took a little jog around the block to loosen up my legs; it was supposed to be eight hours before my first leg. Yeah, supposed to be.

Remember those cross country runners I mentioned? Thanks to their speedy leg work, as well as the concerted efforts of everyone else on the team, we were running nearly 90 minutes ahead of schedule. By the time S--- was spotted heading towards the red tent, I was stretched, hydrated, and ready to run, SportKilt and all. As S--- slapped the band on my wrist to start my leg, I glanced at the time: 2:42. This was going to be an awesome race.



Leg #1: Stage 11: Flatonia to Schulenberg
The 6.36 miles were completed in 50:06, averaging 7:52. While disappointed at not having hit closer to a 7:30 mile, I had to keep in mind several things: 1) It was hot; 2) I was unfamiliar with the terrain; 3) I'd been up without sleep since 3:30 in the morning; 4) I was hungry; 5) I still had three more legs to run before this was all said & done.

J--- ran after I did, so after his leg, we decided to head into Columbus for dinner. Most of the van went to Whataburger for burgers, but there was a Denny's next door, and a real, sit-down style meal was just too tempting. For the record, it would be nearly 1:00 the next afternoon, which made my French Toast Slam all the tastier, even in retrospect.

Leg #2: Stage 21: Eagle Lake - Chesterville
Darkness spread its cloak over the TIR in grand fashion. Stars sequined the cloak, bringing back childhood memories of stargazing and a feeling of heartache that, save a worldwide power failure, I would never see a sky like that near my home ever again. Sigh.

Digression aside, the evening legs would prove to be everyone's best, given the perfect running conditions. Granted, some stretches were somewhat scary, most of all, S---'s crossing of some river whose name escapes me. The promised police officers were either late or otherwise not there, making for what could have been a rather harrowing crossing, but the Department of Public Safety arrived shortly before S--- did at the bridge. True, the conditions were not idyllic, but S--- did make it across safely, as, apparently, did all other runners.

My leg would begin just after 9:30 that night, a 6.76-mile journey from the middle of nowhere to the edge of nowhere. However, I knew N--- was waiting for me, so I hurried myself as quickly as I would allow, given that I knew I had two legs remaining and that sleep would be a luxury we were likely to have to do without. Time for this leg clocked in at 52:09, averaging 7:40/mile. This was closer to my intended target pace. Too bad it would be the closest I would get.

Leg #3: Stage 31: Hershey Trail - Houston
"Bigfoot is scared of rhino noises."

Such was the advice of another team awating their runner in George Bush Park a little after four in the morning. Closer to the city, the stars had been drowned out by the glow of the gluttonous lights of H-town, making for an incredibly dark run. My headlamp, though, kept my path illuminated, including the "Bridge Out - 1 Mile" sign I spotted fifteen minutes into my run. Thankfully, the bridge was not really out, and I traversed the 6.79 miles without incident, save the loss of my reflective belt when I shed my long-sleeve shirt shortly after crossing the aforementioned bridge; the humidity was horrible.

Malnutrition was beginning to take its toll on me by this point. My stomach was in knots prior to the start of the stage, but mercifully subsided for most of the run. By the time I finished, I was famished, and my time reflected that the stage that remained to be run would be the most difficult of all. For stage 31, though, I managed a pathetic pace of 8:36/mile, racking up a stage time totaling 58:28. I suck but would suck more before we made it to San Jacinto.

Leg #4: Stage 38: South Houston - Deer Park
Daybreak brought no relief to my stomach. I was on the verge of hurling what remained of my Denny's feast from the evening before and the few bananas and Clif Bars I'd managed to ingest since when I spotted J--- making his way to me. He looked how I felt, and I knew I would look even worse at the conclusion of the next 6.45 miles. Just shy of an hour later, I would be proven correct. Sometimes, it wouldn't be so bad to be wrong, and I do wish this could have been one of those times.

There were some memorable spots to this leg, though. In addition to getting "Chick'd" (all-woman's team whose slogan on the back of the team shirts stated, "You just got CHICK'D") by a former Olympian, a support van helped me with navigation, hydration, and encouragement -- the latter provided in a Scottish accent, no less. Funny how the Scotsman was about the only one on-course not to comment on my attire (law enforcement seemed to like it; gang bangers cruising the hood Sunday morning didn't), but I, again, digress.

Stage 38 proved itself challenging for more than just the exhaustion, though. Myriad turns and obstacles (cars, brush, dogs, aforementioned gang bangers) made the course particularily difficult, but not insurmountable. Once I got my bearing on the directions and realized how close I was to the finish, I was able to pick up the pace some, but would prove to be trivial, for my finishing time for the 6.45-mile Sunday morning jaunt through the neighborhood clocked in at 56:26; 8:45/mile. Still, I didn't care, but for the .36-mile epilogue, my running for the Texas Independence Relay was over. Yee--haw.



What Doesn't Kilt You...
N--- brought the team home in style. Her form looked great, and the smile on her face, all the way to the finish, was a site for tired, sore eyes. Not to be outdone by her boyfriend in his kilt, N--- even wore a sport skirt as she brought us all home.

And so we finished. Total team time was 29:12:43 (8:36/mile) to cover the 207 miles and miles of Texas. Out of 63 teams in our division, we finished 19th. After crossing the finish, we received our finisher's medal (hefty things, too, although bailing wire, instead of the red zip ties, would have been a nicer touch), pizzas (warm food!), and beverages. Faces stuffed, we piled back in to the vans and headed home...well, to S---'s parents' home, first, for a much-needed shower. Gotta say, were it not for that post-race shower, the mid-race shower (and hour or so sleep) in the hotel rooms S--- scored for us using her rewards points, and the uber-comfy support van, the experience would have been drastically different. Thank you, S---, for everything.



Of course, thanks goes out to everyone on the team. The crew in van #2 totally rocked, for, apart from my snap when trying to navigate out of downtown H-town, not a harsh word was to be had amongst us all. Van #1 was just that, too, for, were it not for the cross country super stars, our pace would not have been as high as it was.

A poet once wrote that "a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Thankfully, he didn't have to smell us or our vans, for we smelled anything but sweet. However, a team by any other name, or with any other people at the helm or on the run, would not have had the soul to survive the intensity of the 2008 Texas Independence Relay. That's not to say I'm definitely running it again next year (TIR's proximity to TAKS is a major detractor, plus, I'm still considering IMAZ for 2009), but were I to, I can think of no better teammates to have.

Long post, I know, but thanks for reading.

TIR is Here

After several months and virtually no training, my first 'race' of the season is here. Fortunately, it's being run more for the fun than for time, but the Texas Independence Relay will be challenging. My bags are packed, and I need only pick up my groceries. Hope there's enough room in the SUV S--- has secured for our use.

The girls' basketball team played in the state semifinals tonight up in A-town. I played chaperon, but it went remarkably well. We were back at the school and all the kids were picked up & gone by a few minutes past ten. Far better than any of the swim meets last season.

I feel inclined to write more, but my eyes are heavy and my mind is wasted; today was a long day. The next several days promise to be every bit as long, only with several 6+ mile legs thrown in to wear me down physically, as well. I can't wait.

Wait I must, though, before writing more. Remember the Alamo and remember to check back for another update next week. Thanks for reading.