The Snake and the Mongoose

Brad is a friend of mine who is all of 26 years old that I met in 2009 when we were both training for IMLP.  Since that time, we both ran Goofy Challenge (some of it together), and I've gone to IMFL and IMWI to support Brad.  Brad and his wife, Morgan, had volunteered to crew for me last year in Ultraman Hawaii, but as we know, that race didn't happen for me.  Brad changed jobs a few months ago and now works for Hershey's (yes, CANDY!), and he told me about that change in February, along with inviting me to come along to IMCOZ.  In March, I said I'd get in touch, but I didn't, because I still wasn't feeling right.

Fast forward to July, and I go and check and see that IMCOZ is still open for registration, I get in touch with Brad about obtaining candy (how selfish of me) since I am starting to train again, but not really for anything in particular, decide we should catch up on the phone, and well, here I am training for IMCOZ and coaching Brad.  Brad will qualify for Kona in another year or so as long as he listens to me!

What does this have to do with a snake and a mongoose?  Well the mongoose thing goes back to when Brad and I were driving to IMLP in 2009 and he saw an animal on the side of the road and said he thought it was a mongoose.  Long story short, we have a running joke about mongooses, I bought a stuffed mongoose for Brad a few years ago, and that animal (recently named Chico) now goes to IM races.  Chico will definitely be going to IMCOZ.

The snake thing is in reference to one of the mongoose's favorite (?) foods--the cobra.  I assessed a penalty to Brad during his NothingMan last Saturday for using an elevator, and he presented me with an appeal: 

So I guess this means *I* am the cobra.

Brad and I text stuff about mongooses back and forth randomly, so today I went to Google News and searched for "mongoose" and I find this link to a review of a new movie called "The Snake and the Mongoose."  One of the lines from the review is: "Snake and Mongoose is a film about the intersection of commerce and passion, about the struggles of chasing a dream, and it's also about a friendship that spans decades."  WTF?  

• Commerce is the candy that seemed to be a trigger for us to get back in touch
• Passion is our mutual passion for IM training and racing
• Chasing a dream well that would be Brad trying to qualify for Kona
• Friendship that spans decades?  Yep!  26 to 56, I'd call that a few decades!
   

This seems like some sort of omen to me.  Or just an extremely happy coincidence!  I plan on going to see the movie when it's in my area.  Should be awesome!  Seems like the universe has some sort of plan here.

Checking In

A friend of mine told me after I had finished UMC that he had been concerned about me for a bit because I wasn't blogging so much. He related that the health of the athlete is directly proportional to the amount of blogging they do!

Since I'm allegedly in my off season, I don't have so much to write about just now, but will soon. This weekend I am heading up to Madison to do a little training and then spectate for the Ironman. I have a few friends racing, and I will get to hang with a few more. It is odd that I have not been up that way since May. Usually I am up there riding 2 or 3 more times during the summer, so it will be special for me.

Next week I will be in a training class for work for most of the week, and then on that Sunday, I'm doing a NothingMan. If the weather was good for IMWI, it means the weather will suck for NothingMan, but I hope this year is an exception and that the weather is good BOTH weekends. In 2007, weather was good for IMWI and then it was in the 30's the morning of NothingMan. In 2008, weather was good for IMWI and then we had torrential rains the weekend of NothingMan. In 2009 for PirateMan, which was before IMWI, it was cold AND rainy! So I'm hoping for 70's and dry this year for both IMWI and NothingMan.

Right after NothingMan, I begin my new position at work. I am so excited about it for a number of reasons. First, many of the people in that group already know what a crazed endurance freak I am, and some of them are, too! Second, I hope this means I will earn a few trips out to Colorado Springs to work and hang with some of them! When I do, I will use that time as a run focus, because I just love the Santa Fe Trail. Also I hope to once again run part way up Pike's Peak on the Barr Trail. The last time I was there was in 2007, and I totally enjoyed myself as you can read here.

After NothingMan, I am going to do a little run focus to prepare for the CheaterMan (aka IMFL) marathon. I am looking forward to the running, as I will begin visiting my big hill at Greene Valley. I still remember last year thinking that it was going to be so hard for me to run up the hill and that I would have to just hike it; but I found out that I could run the entire thing and it really gave my running a boost. And I remember 3 years ago going there to ride my MTB and going up the hill on the bike and thinking it was crazy that people were running up it! But hey, I had run part way up Pike's Peak, which is way worse, so I don't know why I thought I would have trouble. My how my perspective on things has changed!

Meanwhile, I have been training too much for someone who is supposed to be "taking it easy." The thing is, I feel so not stressed out right now that the hours don't bother me. But I am doing a proper taper for NothingMan which is sorely needed. Look at my weekly training hours and weekly bike and run miles since May 17:

Week Beg.	Training Hours	Bike Miles	Run Miles
5/17/2010	20.34	177	34
5/24/2010	14.83	125	27
5/31/2010	8.43	37	12
6/7/2010	19.64	170	37
6/14/2010	16.37	121	26
6/21/2010	15.94	171	31
6/28/2010	18.23	152	36
7/5/2010	18.60	176	41
7/12/2010	17.72	154	27
7/19/2010	13.09	94	26
7/26/2010	26.48	291	10
8/2/2010	17.17	74	52
8/9/2010	17.00	173	25
8/16/2010	17.93	172	28
8/23/2010	19.50	172	33
8/30/2010	18.09	168	24

Now, UMC was the week of 7/26 and the run kicked off the following week, in which I did no running at all. But still...I guess that is why my metabolism has been in high gear since UMC. It may also be, combined with my lack of other stress, why I am getting by on less sleep than I think I need. Maybe, though, I only need 7.5-8 hours of sleep when I'm not feeling stressed!

Meanwhile, I am slowly chipping away at my non-athletic to do list, and that is a good feeling. While picking up fallen twigs and branches from my former neighbor's tree yesterday, a woman 2 doors away that I have never seen nor spoken to yells, "Did you see what happened?" And I turned around and a huge tree was down in the lot next to mine taking the power line to the house with it. The young couple who had lived there left a few months ago, and the house, which was owned by the guy's Dad, is in foreclosure. The day the couple packed up a truck and left, I asked whether they had turned off the utilities. They assured me they had. More on that in a bit.

So I begin talking to this neighbor and ask her if she knew when it happened, and she said she heard the crash the night before. So I next asked her if she'd called ComEd (our electric company) to report the downed power line, and she said no. I asked her if she was planning on making the call, and she said I was being mean. WTF????? Another person who won't take action. I called ComEd within minutes, and when they arrived later in the day, they severed the power line and said that it HAD BEEN LIVE!!! Wow, nice, that could have caused a fire. But they didn't remove the downed tree, and I was chatting with the workman, and he pointed out that in fact the gas is still on (although not being used). So guess what? I am making it MY priority to find out what bank owns the house and get after them and the city to first clear the tree, and next to take the fucking house down. The reason it's in foreclosure is that the owner let the mortgage lapse when they discovered how damaged the house structure was (which if they had asked before they bought the dump I would have gladly told them), and because it sits on a lot with a creek running alongside it, the house cannot be improved upon structurally. The house will not be sold, and so I am going to make it MY business to get it dealt with. Once it's down, the creek drainage will be improved again, and if I can get my neighbor across the street to give the city easement, the creek can be dredged and widened along a significant portion which will be good for much of the surrounding area. But my main concern is eliminating a fire threat, and next to obliterate the pile of weeds that has grown next to my lot in my front yard. I have lived next to the eyesore for too long, and it's time to take action. I'm pissed the former occupants lied about the utilities, but they were horrible neighbors, so it doesn't surprise me they would lie. The guy's Mom was there yesterday to take some stuff out of the house, and I asked her if she would provide the name of the bank. One way or the other, I will find out and get it dispensed with. It will be nice to have an open lot next door!

So lots of things going on in my life, but it's all manageable at this point. I'm still working on my ATP (Annual Training Plan), and have most of it set through February of next year except for the actual workouts, which I am beginning to fill in. Since it's no big deal for me to swim 2 hours, I'm going to try and retain that level of swim fitness at a minimum, but also since I've committed on paper to doing a 10K swim on New Year's Day like I did last year. Only this time it won't be the big unknown--it will be, ho hum, been there done that and I am hoping to get a few other friends to do it with me. Also, instead of my traditional Thanksgiving weekend 1/2 NothingMan, I will be doing a 2x2x2 (2 hours each of SBR), which I think will be more fun. That about carries me through the end of 2010, but the best part will be when my great niece or nephew is born in November! I am still hoping for niece, but nephew will be fine. I am sure his/her Mom and Dad is already wondering when Great Aunt Sheila will start buying the little one sports equipment. As soon as possible!

That's it for today's update, so since I am going to be very busy for a few weeks, if I don't blog, don't worry!

Life is AWESOME!

Ironman Florida Spectating and Nothing Report

Click on the post title to get to the HUMONGOUS Flickr folder with all kinds of pics that chronicle my time in beautiful Panama City Beach, Florida. The pic above is Cindy and I on race day out doing our spectating thing.

I was so lucky to stay with Shelley and her family, who you will see in many of the photos, particularly her son, Eric. Eric and his Dad spent a lot of time golfing, but then we all hung out at the pool, the expo, the Gatorade swim and various other locations.

Here's a brief summary of the good stuff that happened:

Wednesday: I arrived, Shelley picked me up. Shelley gave me some birthday gifts (naughty panties and some other pink stuff), and I gave her some pink stuff from Trashy Cat. I went for a 1-hour bike ride on the course with Shelley and her friend, Dennis. Shelley had a technical, which we were able to repair in order to get back, and we got new seat post bolts on the way home so she was good to go for race day. Wednesday evening, Shelley made one of her amazing dinners, which we ate out on the balcony looking at the sunset. Shelley, Eric and I went to Walmart for provisions, and while there, we had fun in the ladies' bra department. I got a new Barbie that came with "TV Cooking Show" accoutrements. Eric played the trumpet.

Thursday: Eric, his Dad (Jeff) and I volunteered at the Gatorade swim. I got a cool shirt from Tom Ziebart. I had fun watching the athletes doing their thing (and sometimes laughed at them or with them). Shelley, Jeff and I went to a winery and tasted many wines, none of them made from grapes! The winer is the Panama City Beach Winery. Check them out! I bought a case of the tomato/chile pepper and 6 bottles each of coconut and passion fruit. I had mine shipped home, since it was cheaper than paying for it to fly on the airplane with me! I also got some nice Caribbean hot sauces. Shelley bought a few bottles of some other wines to take back home. The wine tasting set us up for a nice afternoon of hanging at the pool and walking along the beach. Shelley had some more training to do in the afternoon, and so I opted for a long walk down the beach to visit with Brett, his wife Courtney, and their twins. It was really nice and peaceful walking down the beach. When everyone got back, we had another great dinner care of Shelley's cooking.

Friday: This was a jam-packed day! It began with Shelley organizing her race crap and me organizing what i was going to need for the day. Shelley, Jeff and Eric all went and volunteered at the Gatorade swim, and I suited up to swim 1/2 the course myself and then run afterwards. After that, we all went and ate breakfast/lunch at Waffle House. Eric and Jeff went golfing, and since it was such a gorgeous day, Shelley and I went down to the pool and ended up taking a nice, long walk on the beach together, talking and laughing. I was wearing a thong, and some guy (Pumpkin Man) was behind us walking enjoying the view. We chatted with him and continued along on our way. On the way back to the condo, I saw a sailboat that seemed perfect for some hot photos, and so we posed and snapped away! Then Shelley needed to check her bike in, and I tried sneaking into transition with Eric's bike, but it didn't have numbers so they wouldn't let me in with the bike, so I handed the bike over the fence, jumped it, parked it, and then went back in with just a wristband from IMLP. Got a few pics of Shelley and Maria, and then we all went back to the condo to hang at the pool some more. I put the thong swimsuit back on, Shelley and I took another walk, and I ended up crawling through a sand tunnel! One woman didn't think I'd fit, but the men could tell that I would, and so I went through and Shelley took great pics there. Back at the pool, I was then kicked out for wearing a thong, but it was late anyway, so our pool time was over. Shelley made another kick-ass dinner which would set her up for race day. I really liked her garlic bread. I tell ya--people that love garlic are good in my book always! Next, Shelley and I dressed up as if we were Halloweening, but we ended up only making some of the athletes a bit nervous (I guess that was my fault--thong swimsuit with thigh high stockings and a tutu and crown???) and then walking down the main road a bit strutting our stuff. Finally, returning home, we had to get Shelley to sleep early for race day. It was Halloween, though, and we were watching Poltergeist, and I finally had to turn it off because I didn't want any nightmares.

Saturday: Race day!!! My plan was to sneak into transition with Shelley, then watch the swim start and then get Jeff to drive me out onto the bike course to do some riding, and then wait for Shelley to finish 1/2 marathon and then sort of jump onto the course myself and run 13 miles or so, just for training. Getting into transition was a snap with my handy IMLP wristband, and I even pumped up some athlete's tires. I gave Shelley a short massage to get her loosened up, and then I went down to the Gulf to watch things kick off. It was, as are all Ironman starts, a true spectacle! Funny thing was that the people who lined up right on the buoys got out about 25 yards and hit a sandbar and all had to stand up and walk! I got a good pic of that! Then I hung out waiting for my peeps to come out of the swim, and I caught most of them in action with good swim times! Next I walked back to the condo, where Jeff and Eric already were, and Eric made us all a great breakfast of scrambled eggs, hash browns and peppers! I didn't really feel like I needed all that food, but what the heck, I'm doing some exercise! Jeff then drove us out onto the place I thought would be good for me to start riding (I had David Greenfield, who I've known for several years, of Elite Bicycles, give me as good a position as possible) on Eric's bike, which is a road bike with toe clips. The place I picked was at about mile 59 of the course, which was perfect! I had initially thought about riding the course in reverse, but I ended up riding in the race! It was fucking totally fun, except for observing all the cheating going on. And I mean blatant cheating! But what was also fun was that me being out there fucked with a few people's heads, particularly the men. Women were all like, "Great job!" One guy asked if he could ask me my swim split, and I flipped him off. Some German chic shouted something at me in German which I imagined was cursing. I kept totally to the right so I didn't obstruct anyone's racing, and actually rode at about 19-20MPH most of the time, so I knew it was going to be a fast race for everyone. I hadn't ridden 60 miles in weeks, but I managed it just fine, on a gorgeous, gorgeous day, and then I had to do some fancy footwork to avoid the transition area and get back to the condo. I stopped by the Elite tent to hang with David and his wrenches, and decided I'd put on a swimsuit to come out and cheer until I was ready to run. I even drank 2 beers! Cindy came by, and that was awesome, and I also met Bigun and his wife. My Brazil bikini was very popular with both racers and spectators. I ran with some random people just to get them motivated. I met Peter Kotland, who has the course record for the Ultraman double marathon at 5:33. Unbelievable! There was much laughing and cheering, it was totally fun. I figured about when Shelley would be returning from her half marathon, so I ran upstairs to suit up for my own run. I may end up appearing in official race photography! The spectators were all cheering for me as I ran, which was both cool and weird. I hadn't run 13 miles since NothingMan, and wasn't sure I could, but I ended up doing about 15 which was cool. I tried to get into the condo to change since I was cold for underdressing for the night chill, but spazzed out on opening the combination lock for awhile, and so I missed seeing Shelley cross the finish line, which pissed me off. But she came back and Eric and I helped her shoes and socks off her tired feet, and she didn't eat anything. I had a few beers and rustled up a sandwich because I was still hungry and thirsty, and got to bed around 11:00PM. I hoped Shelley would wake up hungry because I went to bed hungry and knew I'd be starving in the morning!

Here's how my peeps did in the race:

Adam:

33

09:07:41

BROWN

ADAM

M25-29

2/111

Forrest:

534

11:01:41

FOWLER

FORREST

M50-54

29/173

Brett:

563

11:06:02

CORNWRIGHT

WILLIAM

M35-39

97/351

Shelley:

1666

13:40:03

MCKEE

SHELLEY

W45-49

56/91

Maria:

1272

12:34:34

EID

MARIA

W40-44

47/99

Sunday: This was play day! It began by, of course, a visit to Waffle House for breakfast. All of us were hungry, and managed to eat a bunch of food! Next, we went back to the expo so Shelley could get her some FINISHER CRAP!!! There was a really long line, because they would only let in like 4 people at a time, and I saw a table with nothing on it and offered to give Shelley a massage while we waited (Jeff stood guard for our place in line). I worked on her head, face and neck pretty well, but only one leg! I never did finish that massage, so I guess I owe her one! I ended up getting an IMFL beanie, that I really love, and some socks. After expo, it was time for more beach, Gulf and sun, as it was the most beautiful day so far! At sunset, we ran into our neighbors and hung with them a bit and had some beers, and then finally, Shelley and her family and I had dinner at Hammerheady's. We had a lot of hoots there, and then went back to the condo to do laundry and pack. I had to take apart the Barbie thing in order to cram it into one of my bags.

Monday: This basically consisted of wake up, final pack, load the car and go. I was truly sad to leave such a beautiful place, but even more so to leave a great friend that I don't get to see very often. But Shelley and I will see one another soon, I hope, and maybe we can just hang out and train! I think Eric might miss me, too, but he's 14, and any day now, I am sure he will not be liking his Iron Auntie as much anymore, but I hope he never outgrows it, because he's such a good kid and I really like him! My flights home were uneventful, and I'm really tired, and luckily I get a massage tonight.

Tomorrow will be a somber day as it's the 1-year anniversary of my Dad's death, but he would be happy knowing that I FINALLY took a freaking vacation and spent it with great people! So although I know I'll be shedding some tears tonight and tomorrow, I also know that I know some of the most wonderful people in the world, and am grateful for everything that I do have right now.

The Ironman lifestyle is a great thing. Sometimes I forget it, but this past several days just reinforced how much I love this sport and the people in it.

Have a great week! Below are my feet the day after, still looking awesome. I must have been commenting on something else I was looking at!

Thursday in PCB

I volunteered at the Gatorade Swim along with Shelley's son Eric and hubby Jeff. It was a lot of fun talking to the athletes and just hanging out.

Eric manning the Gatorade given to athletes when they were done swimming

Me before starting my duties

Swim course, at start area

Me, with my awesome new Nike Gatorade shirt given to me by none other than Tom Ziebart, who I first met at a local race in 2004

Me with Brett, who is also racing this year

Me, Shelley and Brett

Shelley and Brett

Brett

Me and Adam Brown, who lives near me and is fucking fast. He qualified for Kona this year but didn't go and is trying to qualify for Kona at IMFL 2008

Here's the awesome dinner Shelley made. The wine sucked, however.

The view from our balcony looking east

IMFL is really a fun Ironman to not do! I'd highly recommend it! Today I swam 1/2 the course, ran 1/2 hour and then we went to Waffle House for breakfast/lunch. Next, I'm going to have Eric's bike fitted to me better and then it's hang out in the sun for a few hours with my girl, Shelley. Later on we'll go Halloweening and then early dinner and sleep for race day, where I hope to bike about 60 miles and run 13 or so.

Tiki Hut Remodeling!!!!!

Since I'm having quite a bit of work done in my house, I figured I should start on a remodeling project at the Tiki Hut. It's been awhile since the girls (and the one guy) have been able to play, so since they are going to need to relocate for a few weeks, I thought they better get some action first. Interesting choices they made, don't you think?

Luckily, I bought a new camera yesterday, because my other one was acting flaky since July, and as of this morning, it's completely dead. The new camera is easy to use, and I'm dying to try out its video feature.

I'm not posting my "weakly" workout totals, since I didn't get much done last week, but that's OK. I've given in to the fact that all this moving stuff around, shopping for home improvement stuff and relaxing afterwards is what I should be doing right now. I'll get back to serious training soon enough.

And oh, by the way, that 50K race in Chicago is O-U-T!!! I'll be in Panama City Beach, Florida, cheering on Shelley and Brett and replenishing my tan! No doubt I'll get in some running while I'm down there, but the date I'm putting on my calendar as the "official" start of training is December 1. Whatever I get done between now and then is fine with me.