Well it’s been quite a ride! The rest of the summer has gone by virtually in the blink of an eye. Fall has hit hard and fast, bringing with it cold and windy weather. And looking outside…I see white stuff everywhere!
There’s been way too much training I would have to catch up on since my last post, so I’m just going to concentrate on my last race. The Queen City Marathon. Christina and I have been training partners for the summer and plan on continuing through into next year (I hope). It was difficult to train with vacation and work getting in the way here and there, but we managed as best as we could.
QCM race day started out a bit chilly. We were socked in with fog and it was only about +10*c. Thankfully we were wearing long sleeve shirts that we could peel off once we warmed up. We lined up with the 2:15 half hopefuls, thinking we would fall somewhere in between 2:15 and a 2:30 finish time. Our longest practice run had been 16km. I had done it twice and I think Christina did it three times. Our hopes were high and the atmosphere at the start line got us revved right up.
We couldn’t actually hear the gun go off for all the cheering that was going on at the start line…we knew once the 2600 runners were moving forward that our turn was coming. We knew we had to pace ourselves. If you go out hard in the beginning, chances are you’ll bonk before the finish! We decided to stick to our 10/1’s through the entire race and that’s what we did once we got around the first loop and out into the run course.
All was going well and we were maintaining a great pace up until about the 16th km. My lungs were doing great, I wasn’t losing my umph. For some reason, my thighs started seizing up! I couldn’t believe it! It was like my brain was thinking “okay you’ve never run past 16km…you can stop now”… my legs didn’t want to go any further.
I felt horrible for Christina. Every part of me wanted to speed up for the last 5k, my legs just wouldn’t let me. It took everything I had to not walk. Christina was doing everything possible to encourage me forward, all the while my legs were saying “screw you…I’ll quit if you make me!” Looking back, I think that was one of the worst struggles I’ve ever had to go through. Cudos to Christina for sticking with me to the end! You could have left me in the dust and headed to the finish for an even better time. But you didn’t! You stayed with me. You yelled, screamed and threatened me all the way to the end! Despite my lack of enthusiasm and piss poor attitude at this point, you stayed! I had visions of collapsing before the finish line, but you managed to encourage me right to the end. Thanks buddy! I owe you big time for that one!
And now….I’m looking forward to getting back at it all over again! Since the race I’d made it to Crossfit for a week of workouts before I was knocked on my ass yet again! This time by means of a motorcycle crash. It was a gooder to boot. My bike is totalled (although I’m still waiting for the formal letter from SGI). Thankfully the guy that caused it admitted he was completely at fault. How could he not…he was driving southbound in the northbound lane straight at me! It was 8 a.m. morning rush hour traffic, I had no where to go and had to put the bike down doing 45km/hr.
I’ve been out of commission on all my exercise since. The first week spent on crutches. Now I’m dealing with fluid on my knee and some residual swelling along with the last of the aches and pains. Most of the bruising is finally gone, and I’m on day 2 without a limp! YAY!!! Crossfit here I come! It’s hard to believe that almost 2 years ago, I was an overweight, pack a day smoker who would look at exercise and say “ya, maybe one day”. One day has now come and gone and I can’t wait to get back at it. I know I’ll have to take it slow. I don’t want to injure what’s healing, but I gotta do something! I have to be active, I just can’t sit around anymore. It’s almost like I’m going through withdrawal.
Some athletes say that a person can actually go into a depression after their last race of the season is done. Add the last race, plus a motorcycle accident, plus not being able to be active in any way at all….I’ve been going freaking nuts!!! Hopefully I’ll be able to get back at maintaining this blog as I’ve added a few things along with my training. My diet is changed over to mostly Paleo and I now take an awesome health supplement! More to come on those at a later time. It’s Saturday, I’ve got stuff to do today so I can do some exercising tomorrow!!!!!
Until next time, be good to yourself and remember:
Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish.
Well it looks like we did kinda get some form of summer! At least where I’ve been for the past couple weeks! My trip started to the sunny Okanagan for the Ironman Canada Triathlon. Once again I was volunteering on the finish line and”T” was racing. This year, two great friends came out to the race as well. Carla (our friend and massage therapist) andChristina (our friend and my training partner). Carla made the drive out with me, and we had a blast!!! Tanya flew out the following Wednesday and Christina flew in on the Saturday. Mom and dad had quite thehouse full!
The swim start was awesome as always! Over 2600 athletes got in the water for the first 3.8km swim portion. The race start is always highly charged with the most incredible feeling of awe and wonder. So many people, willing to go through so much, so they can make it over the finish line in somewhere under 17 hours!
Ya…they go by sooooooo fast, you generally don’t see them till they’re past you! That’s Tanya in the middle of the picture…going hard and fast! She’s on par for her 12hr race!

When I was a kid, life was only about getting outside whenever you could to play and have fun. Then you have to do this thing called “grow up”!



Once out of the water, we had to run up a hill to get to the bike transition. I’m SOOOOOOO glad I only had to do that hill once! It was bad enough I was trying to get my land legs back let alone to have to do it going up hill! Regardless, it was on the bike and off I went. Well, ya remember that wind I was talking about? Turns out that was our head/cross wind for the first half of the bike! I struggled to maintain 20 km/hr for the first 10k. I tried to take advantage of every little hill I came across that could give me just a bit more speed. It was futile! All I could do was know it was going to be at my back on the return trip. And what a trip that was! Instead of struggling at 20k, I was hitting upwards of 50km/hr! What a rush!!! About 3k into the trip back, I spied Tanya on her way out to the turn around. Keep in mind she was doing the “Olympic distance” and had to do twice what I did. So after a 1.5k swim she got on her bike. As soon as I spotted her my first thought was “Oh crap, she’s gonna lap me”! Along came another adrenaline rush and I pushed myself even harder. Determined she was not going to catch me…I must have done something right. Before I knew it I was back at transition and getting changed for the run without being lapped!


Wow…hard to believe it’s been a week since my first triathlon! I’m eagerly waiting in anticipation for the next one July 19th. Although I am a bit apprehensive about the swim, and I’ll tell ya why in a bit.
Knowing I need ample time to warm up for swimming, I decided to get into the pool 15 minutes before the race start and swim until we were called in for the race. Everyone lined up one at a time and the whistle went off. One by one the swimmers went in 10 second intervals. I was slated as 39 out of 140 based on my predicted swim time of 6:30. I have to say, nerves played a HUGE part in the pool. Not that I have issues with swimming, cuz I don’t. Race jitters got to me enough that I had a hard time catching my breath and pacing. I passed a few people in the swim and ended the 300m swim with a very respectful time of 5:51.
Out of the water and into my first transition was an interesting experience. The transition area was directly beside the pool area. This is where we had to go to between each piece to get ready for the next piece. Thinking back, I really don’t remember much of it and it went very quickly anyway…ass on the ground, dry off the feet, put on socks and the bike shoes, put on the helmet, put on the shades, make sure my drink is on the bike and GO! 4 laps from the transition, out to College Ave, east to Broad St, south to the marina entrance and back to the transition area. I managed to keep a good pace. I passed quite a few bikers as well, but after the first lap I was running into people who were just getting on the bikes and just lost track. I think my bike portion was the strongest. I finished the 12k bike in 28:23.
What can I say about my run…it SUCKED!!! I wasn’t able to catch my breath from the first step out. I was hoping that it would improve as I got into it…but nope! Okay, that sucks, but I knew I had to keep going. I had to do 3 loops from transition down the path to Albert St, wind around to north of the transition and back south again. My first loop I grabbed some water. Second lap I had nothing, as with the third. I knew I didn’t want that “slosh” effect for the remainder of the run. It was still early and not too hot yet. It felt like such an effort just to get one foot in front of the other this time. Then…I rounded the second to last corner…300m from the finish line. I could hear the cheering for those just crossing. It gave me jump start and I kicked it into second gear. I rounded the last corner and felt an incredible joy when I saw the finish line, and realized I was about to cross it! I managed the 3.3k run in 21:57.
So…tomorrow is the big day for me! I’m sitting here wanting to write my goings on for the past week and keep getting distracted by thoughts of “what the f**k am I doing” going through my head! It’s my very first triathlon and I’m starting to get nervous already…go figure! I know it’s just a short one…but it’s me doing it this time!!! lol I’m way to used to going to these things being the support team for T!
And thus begins the new season in the life of the ”pack horse”… The week was a short one for me exercise wise. Job wise…a bit more exciting! It was time to put on the label of “official pack horse” for the weekend!