Thursday, November 27, 2008
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Ironman AZ
Full Report Pending but check out this video to see some folks with flexible ethics.
Keep in mind this is 36 miles into the race. This is NOT right out of transition.
AND I promise you this - there was a bigger pack than this one!
I should also make it clear that the reason I was able to get this shot (start the camera up before the pack arrived) was that we saw them approaching the turnaround 3-4 minutes before they came back to us.
They were together coming and going!
Keep in mind this is 36 miles into the race. This is NOT right out of transition.
AND I promise you this - there was a bigger pack than this one!
I should also make it clear that the reason I was able to get this shot (start the camera up before the pack arrived) was that we saw them approaching the turnaround 3-4 minutes before they came back to us.
They were together coming and going!
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Can't find my way home.
So here I am in Tempe and tomorrow is another running of Ironman Arizona.
I'm staying with Scott Curry and Chris McDonald at their homestay. The owner is a generous age grouper named Carl and he has to have one of the nicest homes I've seen in a very long time.
Check out the photos below!
Tomorrow is going to be a fun race. I've got a bunch of friends racing.
Christine Fletcher is fit and I'm certain will have a good race. Trevor Wurtele is looking great as is Chris Brown. I've never seen Curry looking this good or confident. He and Paulo (his coach) are proud of the work they've done. Jasper Blake is here and I KNOW he's done some solid training this fall in Victoria. He's bringing with him young Steve Kilshaw. Few in the Ironman game know Steve's name but I think they will after Sunday.
This is the first time I've met Chris McDonald but the boy has some great tales. Today he was telling me a little bit about his journey. He's a great story teller with a generous spirit.
It seems he started out a rugby player in Australia - weighing 240 pounds! He met Scott Molina through some friends before he knew anything about the sport and certainly anything about the legendary Mr. Molina. Over the next four years they became friends and did quite a bit of training together. Chris told of two vivid memories he had that he now counts as pivotal moments in his triathlon history. He and Scott were out on a long bike ride and, like riding with many athletes of Molina's stature there was little chatter. After about 3 hours of silence, he recalls Scott looking over at him and saying, "You know, Chris you could have a future in this sport."
Some time later, when Chris was racing his last event as an age grouper - I don't recall the race but I'm certain it was an Ironman, he was making this way to the finish line, running in 5th over all, and he passed Molina running the other way, also racing as an age grouper. He remembers he and Scott seeing each other and Scott pumping his fist in adulation.
Chris and I talked about how important those moments were for him and the reasons why.
Talk to any athlete out there who has tasted some form of success and ask them what were key moments in their athletic life and a great many will tell you of a time when someone believed in them - someone who was not obliged to believe in them and then expressed that belief.
At any rate, it was a nice chat, and I'll be cheering for him to have a great race.
Now it's time to get some sleep. Tomorrow will come around quickly.
I love this sport.
And I love this house:
I'm staying with Scott Curry and Chris McDonald at their homestay. The owner is a generous age grouper named Carl and he has to have one of the nicest homes I've seen in a very long time.
Check out the photos below!
Tomorrow is going to be a fun race. I've got a bunch of friends racing.
Christine Fletcher is fit and I'm certain will have a good race. Trevor Wurtele is looking great as is Chris Brown. I've never seen Curry looking this good or confident. He and Paulo (his coach) are proud of the work they've done. Jasper Blake is here and I KNOW he's done some solid training this fall in Victoria. He's bringing with him young Steve Kilshaw. Few in the Ironman game know Steve's name but I think they will after Sunday.
This is the first time I've met Chris McDonald but the boy has some great tales. Today he was telling me a little bit about his journey. He's a great story teller with a generous spirit.
It seems he started out a rugby player in Australia - weighing 240 pounds! He met Scott Molina through some friends before he knew anything about the sport and certainly anything about the legendary Mr. Molina. Over the next four years they became friends and did quite a bit of training together. Chris told of two vivid memories he had that he now counts as pivotal moments in his triathlon history. He and Scott were out on a long bike ride and, like riding with many athletes of Molina's stature there was little chatter. After about 3 hours of silence, he recalls Scott looking over at him and saying, "You know, Chris you could have a future in this sport."
Some time later, when Chris was racing his last event as an age grouper - I don't recall the race but I'm certain it was an Ironman, he was making this way to the finish line, running in 5th over all, and he passed Molina running the other way, also racing as an age grouper. He remembers he and Scott seeing each other and Scott pumping his fist in adulation.
Chris and I talked about how important those moments were for him and the reasons why.
Talk to any athlete out there who has tasted some form of success and ask them what were key moments in their athletic life and a great many will tell you of a time when someone believed in them - someone who was not obliged to believe in them and then expressed that belief.
At any rate, it was a nice chat, and I'll be cheering for him to have a great race.
Now it's time to get some sleep. Tomorrow will come around quickly.
I love this sport.
And I love this house:
The front of the shack
Scott's wife Allison and his brother Brent.
Scott prepping bottles for his win tomorrow.Allison getting her shoes ready to go for a run with me.
The Theatre RoomThis picture doesn't do it justice.
Those chairs are monster recliners!
An Endless Pool within a finite pool.
Gotta have a hot tub!
The guest house behind the pool.
Chris watching football on the "small" TV.Friday, November 21, 2008
Communication Breakdown
So here I am in Phoenix and early this morning I get a message on my Blackberry saying I can no longer receive or send text messages or emails until I reset my Shaw account password.
Four hours later I get to a computer with an internet connection to find I can't access my Shaw account through webmail at this time - no reason given. So I get on the phone (long distance of course) with tech support at Shaw - 1 hour and 7 minutes later I get through. Apparently for no reason the tech guy can give me he says he has to reset my email account. Any email messages sent to me in the last 7 hours are lost.
If you think you communicated with me today - you may have not have.
When it rains it pours.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Opportunity
"I've got a defective gene."This I beheld or dreamed it in a dream;
There spread a cloud of dust along a plain;
And underneath the cloud, or in it , raged
a furious battle, and men yelled, and swords
shocked upon swords and shields. A prince's banner
wavered, then staggered backward, hemmed by foes.
A craven hung along the battle's edge,
and thought, "Had I a sword of keener steel -
that blue blade that the king's son bears, - but this
blunt thing... !" he snapped and flung it from his hand.
Then the king's son, wounded, sore bested,
and weaponless, saw the broken sword,
hilt buried in the dry and trodden sand,
and ran and snatched it, and with a battle shout
lifted afresh, he hewed his enemy down.
And saved a great cause that heroic day.
DON'T BE A CRAVEN HANGING AT THE BATTLE'S EDGE!!!
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