Monday Monday – I’ve Got a Date!

Posted on May 19, 2009 by 21cm

And not just any date – oh no. I’ve a got a three way scheduled for mid-June. Ooooo baby! That’s right! I’m meeting up with Runner Susan and Juls for a wine country bike ride! Wine will be involved. Lots of wine. And Cheese. And more food. And showers. Yes…. showers.

I think Mr. Runner Susan will be there, too. Lucky guy, non?

In other dating news I got back on match.com last Thursday and my profile has been view over 480 times. I got 1 email from a guy whose profile reads:

“Im a old fashion country guy who loves rodeos and country music. Im currently divorced and im looking for a nice country girl. I like fun and respectful women. I do have kids. I like football and warm nights by a fire. I guess u could say im adventrous”

You think he actually read my profile? Me either. I told him I didn’t think we had anything in common and his response was

Subject: Your Choice

Body of message “I tried beautiful im a good man and i would treat you good “

I’m still taking a pass.

Posted in Monday Monday, True Love | 6 Comments

Why I’ll Never Look Like Angelina Jolie

Posted on May 17, 2009 by 21cm

I just ate an entire Pizza. 900 calories; 330 of them from fat. Only I put some more cheese on it so make that 1200 calories with 500 of them from fat. Awsome.

Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments

Getting out the Vote

Posted on May 15, 2009 by 21cm

No – I’m not talking about the California Propositions. I’m talking about my friends’ most excellent short film. I want her to win! Most of her competition is pretty poor and not doing well at all but she’s up against a short animated thing that is behind in views but ahead in votes. I really, really, really need your support so I’m posting the instructions for voting and both versions of her film. Please – if you have a couple of minutes go vote! She’s very talented and adorable and I want her to win!

TIA

The Youtube rating system is somewhat unclear, so i’m just being really nit picky and sending these easy steps out in case you haven’t rated yet.

How to vote: (first double click on the embedded videos so that you are on the YouTube site. You don’t have access to the rating system, otherwise)

1. Make sure you are logged into YouTube

2. Click on the 5th star in the rating area of the video (just below and to the left)

3. If you don’t have a YouTube account, you have to create one (VERY SIMPLE!) by clicking on ‘Sign up’ in the top right corner of the screen

4. Repeat for every YouTube account (ie, email address) you have!

Now, for those of you who are a little sneaky like me (and who really want to help us win!) there is also a FRENCH VERSION of the film up here:

No one seems to really be watching/voting on these, so it might be a sort of back door way to get our numbers up!

Posted in Accolades, Fun in a tub, Tribute | 1 Comment

Monday Monday – Mother’s Day

Posted on May 12, 2009 by 21cm

Mother’s Day 2009 went like this:

7 AM – Fabulous Open Water Swim Clinic where I learned some great stuff about sighting that might even keep the kayak guys from having to chase me down next time I race – awesome!

8:30 – coffee and fruit

9:00 – Trail Run. I was feeling kind of trashed and really slow so I only went part way and then turned around. I still managed 10 min miles so I’ll take it.

10:00 – Shop at Trader Joe for fruit, bread and other stuff

11:00 – make delicious French Toast and fruit salad with yogurt

12:00 – Nap!

1:00 – conference call with 2 lovely daughters to revel in Mother’s Day love (son had already wished me Happy Mother’s Day in person)

1:30 – work around back yard

3:00 – head to nursery to pick up some more vegetables and flowers.

4:00 – home again.

4:30 – Nap!

5:30 – spend some time with son

6:00 – head out to pick up delicious Thai food

6:30 – eat delicious food, read paper

8:00 – put clean sheets on bed

8:30 – color hair and shower

9:00 – watch Desperate Housewives and decide it’s time for that show to toss in the towel

10:00 – watch Brother’s and Sisters and draw same conclusion

11:00 – zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

In the spirit of sharing I’ve added a good Dave Scott swim video that addresses the issue of sighting.

http://broadbandsports.com/flv/bbs-xplayer.swf?n=23772

Posted in Monday Monday | 3 Comments

The Relay – We Should Have Left the Cranky Pants in the Van

Posted on May 9, 2009 by 21cm

It all started months ago when a guy in my race club announced an interest in getting some teams together to run The Relay – a 200 mile relay race that starts in Calistoga and ends in Davenport. It used to end in Santa Cruz which was far more recognizable but the city of Santa Cruz decided that 400 vans full of stinky, exhausted people invading it’s beachy paradise was just no good. Who needs all that revenue anyhow*? But I digress.

The club ended up putting together 4 teams –

– Real Runners Don’t Tri (who put the smack down on the next team)
– Fableux Americains (the triathletes, a.k.a The French as in smack talking French Olympic swimmers who end up not winning)
– Larry’s Lounge Lizards (pretty fast runners out to have fun)
– FoMo MoFo Mamas (12 women of varying talent)
I was (and still am) a MoFo Mama, a title that fits me well.

The race had over 200 teams, each with 2 vans containing 6 runners. That’s a lot of vans and a lot of people so they stagger the start. Our team was the slowest of the 4 so we started at 9:30 and our Van 2 ladies came all the way up to Calistoga so we could be a team at the start line.

Click on image to see more

It was a nasty, rainy day and the vans made a mud pit out of the field we pulled into. At 9:30 our first runner took off and the Vans took off, too – Van 1 to the next runner exchange and Van 2 headed out for breakfast. 4 hours later it was my turn to take my first run which was 4.85 miles, covered in 44:21 or 9:08 a mile. Unfortunatly the rain had stopped because I could have used a good downpour right about then. That’s a really good pace for me and I was literally cooking. One of the reasons I ran so fast((in addition to the fact that it was a race) was because I knew that I was all the stood between everyone in the van and lunch!

The cool thing about being the last runner in the van is that both vans full of people were at the hand off so I got double the cheers – awesome! That first handoff wasn’t so memorable but lunch was. We went to a restaurant, put in for a table and I headed off to the ladies room to change out of my sweaty clothes. When I came out the group was gone! Abandoned! Except for one woman,and then I found another and then we found the rest of the group and had a really delicious lunch at a BBQ and wine place that was so fabulous I wish I could give you the name but alas…. I forget.

Back into the van and off to the Van exchange spot we went. That turned out to be in the middle of nowhere with no cell reception at all. We had no way of knowing how far out the other van was other than to guess. We slept a little, wandered around a little and were met by The Real Runners at one point who had left at 2:30 and were already passing us up. Nice!

Handoff accomplished we headed off to repeat the process of going to the runner exchange, handing off and moving along. At this point it was dark and we were getting a little punchy and I wasn’t really clear on why this was so much fun. It was fun but it wasn’t the ribald, best time of ever experience I was expecting.

My next leg started in Ross, CA at about 1:30 AM or so. The crowd of runners stood on the sidewalk by an office building being shushed by the volunteer in charge because in Ross they don’t tolerate late night noise even if it is generated by people raising money for cause. Whatever. Off I went, through the center of Sausalito and up, up, up to the Golden Gate Bridge. That part was very cool. The bridge is closed at night and as you approach a volunteer opens an electronic gate. It’s like being let into a prison. The part that was less cool is that the hill getting onto the bridge is long and steep and the damned bridge is uphill-ish until the 2nd tower. I ran every step but it was hard. Finally I saw the toll booth, the bridge started heading down and I started hauling ass. I ran into the crowd and was told – go left! so I headed left and was told go Right! through there! So I headed right, through there and was told – go across the streetf and turn right – almost there! so I ran across the street and was told go right! Almost there. I was really tempted to yell IN A PIGS EYE! but in fact, there was my runner so we high fived (having lost the rubber bracelet hours ago) and off she went. My run was 5.8 miles in 59:40 for a 10:15 pace. Not bad considering it was mostly uphill.

So now it is 2:30 AM or so and we are exhausted. A women on the team is a Marriott employee so we headed off to the Marriott for a shower and a nap. When we got there at 3 AM the lobby was full of inebriated Rugby players and their goofy drunk Rugby Roadies. One of them asked what we were doing so we explained the race and he smiled and said “You guys are awesome” and looked at me and said “can I give you a hug?” This was big, guy with the look of an islander about him and I said, “you don’t want to hug me – I just ran and I’m gross and sweaty”. Rugby guys, especially the drunk ones, don’t care about such things and he insisted so I gave in and lay my tired little head on his chest while he wrapped his big, meaty arms around me. If only someone had had a camera. I could have fallen asleep on my feet in his vodka infused arms but check-in was completed and I was hauled off to our room where I got a shower and a nap – a 2 hour nap. 2 hours.

Next up was the Van exchange at Cañada College where the walls came tumbling down. At this point I was so beat that all I could think of was getting it over and going home. I was not alone. When the Van 2 ladies came in (minus their runner who was out on the course) we told them we were just going to run our last legs and then head home. I went so far as to tell them we wouldn’t mind if they DNF’d. Seriously. This was a disaster. They were angry and hurt and let down and we were polite but defensive. I don’t know how I ended up being the spokesperson but I did a really bad job of it. I kept saying that we just couldn’t handle going to Davenport and waiting in the car for 5 hours or so in the rain. We were tired and we just needed to go home. On that sour note we headed out to swap runners and move along.

Do I look a little tired?

My last leg was a killer. I had to run stragiht up hill for 3+ miles. No break – just up, up. up. I ran it, too. The van stopped on the road several times to give e water and I got the driver to take my picture

Me running uphill for way too long

I managed to run those 3.2 miles in 40 minutes at a 12:30 pace which I thought was pretty reasonable considering the terrain. I only wish it had been raining harder – I could have used more rain.

When I got to the top of the hill there was the whole gang and the other ladies, the ladies of Van 2 were so nice and encouraging and kind and I thought all was well. Off we went in our Van and off they went in theirs to finish the race. We headed out for Mexican food and margaritas. For reasons none of us understood our driver, the one male Mama in the pack, decided to post a picture of us enjoying our meal to Facebook where it was seen moments later by the Van 2 Mamas who were still out in the cold and the rain – just as exhausted as us and who really did NOT appreciate that picture! Damn you iPhone Nation!

Suffice it to say the next couple of days were spent mending fences but the great thing about being in this club and about doing something like that together is that we were able to patch things up and plan a party so the Van 1 ladies and make dinner and margaritas for the Van 2 ladies. Beats the hell out of holding hands, eating s’mores and singing Cumbaya.

The Relay was really fun and I don’t mean to overplay the big blowup but it as fun as the race was I think that episode sort of defined the experience for me and taught me a very important lesson. If you do one of these events do not, under any circumstances or for any reason make decisions 24 hours into the race when you’ve had almost no sleep. That way lies madness.

As I wrote to the very most wounded party of all

If I learned nothing else during The Relay I learned that no one should say anything to anyone at Cañada College other than “holy crap balls am I tired!” or “where’s the food and the sleeping mats?”.

This is particularly true if you are racing in the rain. Had it been a beautiful sunny day we would have thought nothing of heading down to the finish and slapying ourselves out on some blankets in the sun to catch a few winks while we waited for our team but no sleep + cold + rain + prospect of hanging out in car = putting on the cranky pants. I only wish we had left them in the van and just said “Good Morning!”

*In all fairness to Santa Cruz the parking is limited and on a nice day all those vans just cause a nightmare of traffic problems. Not that we had a nice day but you know….

Posted in Events, Racing | 7 Comments

Hump Day Miscellany – I Got Nuthin’

Posted on May 7, 2009 by 21cm

1). Where have I been? Right here. Same place as always

2). FaceCrack is an evil time suck

3). I’m kind of working. It isn’t an official job yet but it will be soon and so I’m doing stuff. More later

4). I have been a lazy ass about training. Seriously – I need to gear up because I have another 70.3 coming up in July (Vineman)

5). I did The Relay last weekend which is a totally loopy 200 miles relay race from Calistoga to Davenport (somewhere near Santa Cruz) that you do in teams of 12. I have a story. I just don’t feel like typing it up right now.

6). I had more to say and if you give me some encouragement I might just start blogging again but I get the impression that I’m not the one only afflicted with FaceCrackitis and I’m thinking my readers are but few.

Posted in Hump Day | 10 Comments

Tuesday Monday – Because it is

Posted on April 21, 2009 by 21cm

No more Monday Monday on Tuesday. That’s just wrong.

So here’s what I did this weekend.

First Climb Diablo to Junction then climb Morgan Terrirtory

** update**

I just re-read this post and realized that if you aren’t a cyclist it sounds like I am a nutjob who speaks in some strange tongue. I’m not going to re-write it. Just an observation.

That second climb looks a lot like the first but the general concensus around here is that it is much harder. I didn’t really know when the climb started because the road winds through a heavily wooded area so you can’t see what’s coming. I found myself thinking “this had better be the climb because if it isn’t I’m in a heap ‘o trouble!” When we got to the very steepest part I had no idea what to expect and my HR was in the stratosphere so I stopped for a minute to let it go down. Then I started up again – going up a steep hill. It’s still easier when you have O2 in the system. Of course that part flattened out a bit just around the corner but the climb was not done. Oh no – there was a ways to go.

I only used the little chain ring for that 1 part and the rest of the time was in the middle chain ring. My climbing was really good and I felt a huge sense of accomplishment for having done this. On the way back a couple of fast guys pulled us slower riders in and then I kind of ran out of gas. When we were just about back – close enough that I got dropped, I flatted. No princes in shining spandex came back to rescue me so I had to change my own tire. I was actually kind of glad of that, too because I did it in a relatively short amount of time and it worked and it’s always nice to know you can save yourself.

Sunday I took a nice recovery ride follwed by a whopping 20 minute run and Monday I did an open water swim and a little run – a whole 30 minutes. My next race is The Relay which is all run. It takes you from Calistoga to Santa Cruz (199 miles) in 36 legs for each 12 person team. That means you run 3 times in about 30 or so hours so I need to practice running some more. I think I’ll skip practicing the sleep deprivation and enduring a lot of stink, though. That is something that needs to be endured real time because there’s just no reasonable way to simulate that experience.

Posted in Cycling, Fun in a tub, Monday Monday, training | 7 Comments

70.3 Championships on NBC Sunday at 4:30 EST

Posted on April 12, 2009 by 21cm

And that is your friendly reminder, people. Don’t miss it! Especially don’t miss it if you are in the Kona lottery because they will scroll the names of the chosen across the bottom of the screen while this airs.

ps- if you want to do this race just do an M-Dot 70.3 that has slots. They were rolling way down the list at Oceanside so it’s a good bet you’ll get in.

Posted in Events | 1 Comment

Monday Monday – That Was Hard! Oceanside Race Report

Posted on April 6, 2009 by 21cm

I think I wrote fairly often about how anxious I was about this race and how apprehensive I was about it. As the week leading to the race drew near I went through every emotional state possible and I felt hopeful, fearful, dread, excited and just plain anxious. It was kind of a relief to just get there and get registered and get race ready.

First of all I’d like to offer a shout out to my traveling companion and roomie Melinda. We had only ever met once before on a ride and you just never know what you’re going to get when you’re about to spend 16 hours in a car and a couple nights in a hotel room with an almost stranger but she was great. We had a really good time together so thanks for being my bud, Melinda!

Second of all I had a brief blogger meet up with Don of Studio YVR who I spotted at registration.

Don and Me at Registration

Race Day

The Swim – I have a signature move!

It was really cold and windy in the morning. I think everyone was pretty concerned that our hands and feet were half frozen before we’d even stepped in to the chilly waters of the Pacific Ocean but it was show time so oh well! They send the waves off in 3 to 4 minute increments so you all have to line up in a chute by a sign that has your wave number on it (mine was 13) and then you are herded into the water. Much to my delight that water felt warm and it didn’t occur to me that it was because I was so cold. I figured so many people had peed in the harbor they had raised the water temperature and on that delightful thought I swam out to the starting buoys.

BLANT! the air horn goes off and for the first time in my history as a triathlete I had not one shred of panic. I was just swimming in a crowd, trying to find some space and feeling good about my abilities. I should have savored that moment quite a bit longer and remembered it later in the day. I was doing great sighting, sticking close to the buoys and just counting to 100 over and over. Then we got to the turn around buoys -yay! I knew I was supposed to be sighting on the jetty to the right so why I took off to the left is any one’s guess. I went from being in a crowd to being all alone which should have been a clue to look up and see where I was but no – my signature move is to get chased down by a kayak dude who is there to tell me I’m way off course. And so I was – signature move accomplished! I just wish that kayak dude had seen me sooner and been faster because by the time he caught me I was at least 50 yards parallel to the rest of the pack so I swam back that way and blindly made my way into the sun and back to the ramp. As I approached the ramp I saw a big round bouy on the right and bunch of triangular buoys to the left of that which clearly meant swing right and head between them. So I keep heading left until some guy is yelling ‘SWING RIGHT, SWING RIGHT!” Signature move dos! I finally find my way out and the swim is done in roughly 45 minutes – same as Vineman. I was okay with that but clearly I need a new signature move.

T1 – Out of the water and the wetsuit helpers got me unzipped. I should have asked them to strip me on top because as I started to run I pulled down the right sleeve which promptly got stuck on my stop watch. And I mean stuck. My left hand was frozen and inoperable so I just started running along shaking my hands in front of me like a nervous Nelly with stage fright. By the time I got to the bike I had just enough dexterity to claw my sleeve off and get stripped and suited up for the bike. FYI – I swam with my arm warmers under my wetsuit and that worked great. I didn’t need them but I think I saved myself some sunburn. Suited up and ready to rumble I was off. T1 – 5:34 and I had no idea how it compared to Vineman.

The Bike – SCREW YOU WIND!

The bike started out great. I felt like I was flying and in retrospect I must have had a tail wind. I didn’t know that, though and I was pretty high on my speed. I got passed plenty because the waves behind me had all kinds of men and much younger women and I knew I’d be passed and I didn’t really care about that because I was doing a fair amount of passing myself. Most of the ride is kind of a blur. It was fun and pretty and speedy for quite a while. I just kept anticipating ‘the hill’ which I knew would come at about mile 40. Only that wasn’t ‘the hill’. The real hill – the one that kind of sucks the life out of you is the first little steep thing at about mile 28 and steep it is. You can see it well ahead of time and you see a line of people snaking up it like ants. I was still sort of naive when I got there because I was still thinking that ‘the hill’ was at mile 40. I also thought this hill was about an 8% grade but no. Turns out it gets as steep as 13% according to Melinda who has a Garmin with a really good altimiter in it. I stayed on my bike and just ground it out and passed quite a few people – especially the ones that bailed and were walking their bikes up the hill. Admittedly I used the small chain ring because I had it so why not?

After that the other hills didn’t seem like such a big deal and I just kept going. I never needed to resort to the little chain ring again and I was passing people like crazy on the climbs. However, once the hill climbing was done I found that I wasn’t going very fast and I was pretty upset about it. Were my legs that trashed? Was I on a false flat? What the hell? None of the above – it was the wind. The in your face, frustrate you to death wind. I hate wind. Hills I don’t mind because I get gravity and I know I have to fight against it but wind is invisible. It makes noise and it pushes a little but mostly it makes you work really, really hard to keep up your forward momentum and I find it maddening. I could feel my 16+ mph average speed slipping away and it really bothered me but there was nothing to do but keep plowing through and get to the end of the ride and I finally did.

As I approached the chute I noted my time on the bike (a temptation I resisted the entire ride) and was totally disappointed to see that my time was the same as Vineman. Seriously. In spite of the hills and the wind I was disappointed because I wanted a big PR in this race and so far the swim and the bike had been even. This was the start of my undoing.
T2 – I was quick! I got out of there in 2:22 but had no idea that was 2 minutes faster than Vineman which, had I been thinking about it, would have meant that I was set for a PR.

The Run – SCREW YOU SAND!

Out of the chute, down the road and into the sand. Boy did that suck! We had to run for about 1/4 of a mile on the beach 4 times. Most of it was wet and packed but part of it was dry, fluffly sand that could easily have caused you to rip your knees apart. I think I high stepped it the first time but after that I just walked that part in the interest of not getting hurt.

Anyhow – I had already given myself permission to take the first 3 miles to get my legs back which was good because they were really tight and hurting. It seemed like it took forever to get to the first turn around and just before I got there I started thinking about how slow I was going and about how I would not have a PR and that lead to “I hate triathlon, I hate me – I suck, I have no business being out here, no PR for me today, Who do I think I am, I hate myself” and the tears started to well up in my eyes. “Oh no you don’t! You do NOT get to cry and feel sorry for yourself. You are doing a 70.3 mile race and you will finish and YOU WILL NOT CRY!” and as I started to supress the tears something very bizarre happened. I could feel my airways all slowly constricting like a deflating balloon and it freaked me out. I’ve never had an asthma attack but I figured that’s what it was and was gasping for air so I started walking and forcing myself to relax and open up my airways. Fortunately I was successul and I was at the turn around and that meant my 3 miles were up and it was time to run.

I ran – I picked up speed and I was doing great but now I was in pain and I was freaked out about the asthma thing. I think I was wheezing for a little bit but then I seemed okay and I was just trying to run a 10 minute mile. My plan had been to hold a steady 10 minute pace. This was not to be, though. I finally resorted to walking for 1 minute every once in a while. I walked every other aid station. I walked the sand. I ran slower than a 10 minute pace and just kept going. At that point my goal was to finish in a reasonable time. I also realized I had no idea what my Vineman time was but I thought it was about 2:20. Turns out it was 2:24 so had I known that and had I known that my T2 was 2 minutes faster I might have worked a little harder but no – I allowed the ugly inner voice that says “you suck” to have it’s way. I hope it enjoyed that experience because THAT WAS THE LAST TIME, BUSTER! In the future I WILL NOT BE BALKED!!

Finally I was off the sand for the last time and on my way in. I ran because the crowds were thick and walking just didn’t look good. I ran across the first set of mats that give the announcer the heads up that you are coming in. I ran down the chute and they called my name and I gave a little hands in the air what what and I finished! I had no idea what my time was. As it turns out it was 2:29 – just 5 minutes off Vineman and net 3 minutes down from Vineman.

The Finish

I had a crowd of team mates cheering me in and giving me hugs. To Dana, Julie, Kate and Maggs I say thanks! It’s so nice to have a welcoming committee just on the other side of the line. I got my medal and shirt and hat and got my chip off and then went back to wait for Melinda to come in. Later when I went to check the results they were up to 7:07 and I couldn’t find my name so I was sure my time was at least a 7:10 and I was really and truly bummed. It wasn’t until later I found out that I came in at 6:59 – just 4 minutes behind my Vineman time.

Lesson learned – no more stinkin’ thinkin’. Had I known how close I was I would have worked a little harder and suffered a little more to at least meet my Vineman time and I would have been happy. At this point I am happy. I raced well and I raced hard and I’m a real rock star for doing it.

I’m re-energized about Vineman, too. For a while there I was sorry I had signed up and just wanted to quit pretending to be a triathlete. Yes – that’s how I was feeling. Now I’m ready to train hard and just kill it up there so look out you 55-59 year old ladies. The new me is coming to get you.

Postscript –

I need to focus on always, always, always working as hard as I can no matter how I think I’m doing, no matter how bummed, no matter the pain. This is racing and racing hurts but when you get done and you know you have given it everything it feels great and the pain is all worth it. I think I’ve come this way before but I just didn’t grok it and I had no confidence. I’m finally, finally coming to a place where I believe in myself as an athlete and if I’m going to race I’m going to make it good. This is particularly important given how expensive these races have gotten. I can do a personal tri any time I want but entering a race means it’s business time.

The aid stations and the crowds were great at Oceanside. They put your name on your bib and so many people called out “Keep it up, Pamela” “Looking strong Pamela” Only 2 people called me Pam. The kids at the aid station were very enthusiastic which, it turns out, is because they had a contest to see who could get the most votes. They worked hard and it was great. The military was great, too. This race goes through Camp Pendleton and makes a mess of traffic so a huge thank you to the people of Oceanside who had to endure long waits to cross the road and to law enforcement and the military for directing traffic.

Forward Motion Race Club had a great day at the races. We had 2 Kona qualifiers and 4 people on the podium. Congratulations to Dean, Kim, Steve and Kate, all members of our Elite Team. Well done! Everyone had a good day and a great time.

Oops – I sprayed myself with sunscreen but forgot that the new kit had a different cut and I missed spraying my back. That was my last lesson learned:

How would this look in a backless evening gown?

Posted in Events, Monday Monday, Racing | 16 Comments

Hump Day Miscellany – the Pre-Race Edition

Posted on April 2, 2009 by 21cm

Pre-race is a condition that is lasting far too long. It’s kind of like being pregnant. As your due date looms thoughts of just getting it over with increase. At least races always happen on their due dates which is more than can be said for the arrival of a baby. Anyhow – I still need to pack but I’m saving that for a bit and writing this, instead.

Uno – The Ironman 70.3 Championship race is going to air on NBC on April 12. Here, for your viewing pleasure is a trailer.

If you tossed your hat in the Kona Lottery ring be sure to watch because the names of those chosen will be scrolled across the screen. The fun begins at 4:30 EST.

2 Peas in a Pod– My health care insurance “provider” and I use that term loosely since right now they provide me with a way to spend a lot of money for insurance I can’t really use, did something spectacularly idiotic the other day. Imagine that. They used an automated phone message and sent a glossy, expensive mailer describing a FREE language service they offer for non-English speakers – in English. Way to reach out to your target audience, idiots!

Three Amigos – I’ve been fretting about my weight lately. I know, I know I am not SUPPOSED to do that because it makes my daughters think I am being neurotic and stupid but I do it so I’m writing about it. Anyhow, my weight seems to have taken on a life of its own and the number on the scale just keeps getting bigger. The other day I realized that my dark jeans seems like they fit really well and then I remembered that when I was at IMCDA last year I kept complaining about how big my damn pants were and how they kept falling off – so much so that DPRwas about really to throttle me. So when I realized the dark jeans fit I panicked and then I had a thought. I reached around the back where a leather patch should be and there was none. Different pants. Different size. Smaller. No worries. PHEW! I’m still annoyed with my weight but I’m not going to deal with it until after Saturday.

Quatro – more fun with advertising. I caught an ad the other day for a men’s hair color product called ‘Touch of Gray’. It combs over gray selectively leaves enough to keep you swaggering around with that distinguished look. The last line of the commercial, uttered by Mr. Only-Gray-Enough-To-Look-Distinguished was, “Now I look like I know what I’m doing and can still do it!” with the hot babe winking at him from across the room. Subtle, non? No.

Then there was an ad for the Schick Quattro Shaver for women that handles all of your hair removal needs. It passes over bushes in various shapes with various shaping needs, the last of which is in the shape of a triangle. So very subtle.

Lastly– I’m out of here tomorrow. I’m doing a little memorial/tribute run tonight to support the family of one of the fallen police officers who died at the hands of a parole violator with some automatic and semi-automatic guns in his possession. Tragic.

I’m feeling okay about this race but just okay. This post is sort of emblematic with me dodging the reality by distracting myself with other stuff. I’ve trained more than I trained for Vineman and I’m stronger but this is a harder bike course so I don’t have a good sense of how well I can do. Whatever it is will be fine. I’m fortunate to be able to do this at all. I’d like to say that I’m satisified with that but I’m not. I’m already afraid of failing myself on this one. I’ll just have to channel that fear into some speed and have the best race I could possibly have. I know I’ll have you all cheering me on and that helps – believe me – it helps a lot!

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