It seems like only yesterday but it has been 9 weeks since my last post! WOW, 9 WEEKS? Holy Smoke! December 5^th is coming, and is coming fast and we are not evening close to reaching our goal $$$$$ It will be here before we know, so if you have not donated yet, please think about it. We need your help. St Jude needs our help!

 

As I stated earlier it has been 9. Where do I start? First off let me say I have been BUSY. I know that is no excuse not to take a few minutes and keep my family and friends up to date on my progress. I am sorry and will try and do better next time. Are you happy now Flash??? I apologized.

 

So you might be asking yourself what I have been doing for the last 9 weeks that has kept me so busy. Life is what is keeping me so busy. First off the kids are back in school, Cam in the 7^th grade at St Alphonsus and Blake is a freshman at Catholic High, yes, I now have a kid in high school. Damn, I feel old! Cam of course has hit the ground running. It has been business as usual for him and I am really proud of him for it. Blake is also doing out standing; it has been a big adjustment for him being in a much bigger school and for the first time is running cross country. He is adjusting nicely. Secondly I have been swimming, riding and running, A LOT. In the last 9 weeks I have done one unplanned adventure race, one 5-K run, and three triathlons all while continuing to train for St. Jude. What follows are the simplified race reports. Let me start by telling you about the most exciting event, the adventure race. August 1, a typical long run turned into one hell of a race, a race against time. The run itself was going quite well up right up to when the stomach pain hit, mile 5. As Marci has talked about in some of her posts, my parents live on our run course and up to this point have been very helpful with water and words of encouragement. All that encouragement and support was washed away that morning by one simple mistake. At mile 6, after managing to run a hell of a fast mile while in serious distress and finally reaching my parents driveway and SPRINTING across the yard, and believing I will in fact make it to a restroom only to find no spare house key. DAMN!!!!!! At that point my normal training run became an off road adventure race, another 200 yard sprint along a ditch between two ponds and down into the canal I go with the neighborhood dogs in tow! Crossing the finish in Memphis would have giving me no greater pleasure than to reach that wooded canal. Even though it was a one man adventure against nature, it was the biggest victory of my career to date. On the morning of August 15, Blake and I did a Triathlon in Lafayette called the Games of Acadiana, it is a fundraiser for the Miles Perret Cancer Service. It is a well put on super sprint distance that is always a blast to compete in and it is for a great cause. Blake finished 2^nd and me 3^rd in our respective age groups so it was a good morning. That very same evening was the Twilight 5K put on by Club South Runners. It’s always the first 5K of the fall season and it was also our first opportunity for most of our team to get together. We had a great evening and it was a pleasure to get to meet everyone. Two weeks later on August 30, Blake and I did another Triathlon in Opelousas, La. It was a benefit for the area Boy Scout Troop. Blake took 2^nd in his age group again and I took home a door prize. As I have said before it is an absolute blessing to be able to compete with your kids. On Sunday September 15 the Cajun Man Triathlon was held in Lafayette, LA. Marci and I have been waiting for over a year for this event. We signed up for it in 2008 but it was cancelled due to Hurricane Gustov and by the way this day started you would have thought a hurricane was fast approaching. It was an early start for us driving over the morning of the race as it rained and lightening the entire way. The rained stopped about an half hour before the scheduled start and the race director decided to start a little early to try and get it in before the rain started again. His plans did not work. The rain started back up about half way through the ride and continued until I was done. My swim (800 meters) went off without a hitch but the run from swim exit to transition was quite painful for a tenderfoot. The ride (20 miles) was quite dangerous and I saw several riders with flat tires and one rider off in the ditch, I later heard he broke his leg and required surgery before the end of the day, OUCH! The run (3.1 miles) was what I really wanted to do well in because of all the training that I’ve been doing. The plan was to run a 7:45 pace but about the one mile mark I ran upon on a good size MAN and being the person I am I decided to speak. After a couple of polite words, I needed to continue on and as I did I got a slap on the butt from HIM!!! That is just so wrong in so many ways but talk about motivation, my 7:45 pace just did not seem fast enough, it was time for some speed work. I finished the run with a 7:30 pace and after that slap on the butt I had trouble stopping even after crossing the finish line. Two weeks later I still get grossed out thinking about it. That was just WRONG!

 

Back to the beginning, 11 weeks from this past Saturday we will be in Memphis, TN running 26.2 miles for St. Jude, Please donate.

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