Thoughts and Prayers

This is a break from my usual snarkiness to give thought to someone important in my life who suffered a stroke two days ago. My thoughts and prayers are with him and his family, hoping for a full and speedy recovery.

Take a moment and reflect on all the good things in your life, and realize how tenuous it all is, as is life itself. Make sure those you love know it, and live generously and graciously. Most of all, find joy in every day and live life to its fullest, so that you may never have any regrets.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all! Santa was good to me this year; I got a Garmin Forerunner 305 to further my training pursuits. (I also got a titanium spork and a USB Rocket Launcher -- I now rule my domain!)

Now, anyone who's been paying attention will note that I have not, um, exactly, um, been great about training over the course of my holiday break. But I shall soon be hard at it again, I promise. If nothing else, I'll need the exercise to overcome the vast quantity of food that has been pervasive the last few days.

One last good note -- $600 in donations were forthcoming from various sources. That bumps me over the two-thirds mark toward my fundraising goal! Woohoo!

Like a Cat in Water

It was back in the pool for more swimming practice, with a gentle grace reminiscent of the Andrea Doria rolling on her side and slipping quietly beneath the waves. Except it floated longer.

Honestly, I think I AM getting better, there's just that breathing thing. I'm finding that inhaling with my face in the water is less effective than I thought it might be. I think I'll try something different next time.

On a brighter note, the group run on Saturday morning was good. Six miles easy running, followed by a shoe clinic at Ragged Mountain Running Shop. Kudos to Mark there for getting me in good shoes, replacing the improper shoes one of the other running stores sold me. Now, if I could just run through the water, life would be grand!

(Please help out with a donation to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society through my fundraising page -- Thanks so much!)

The Training Plan Has Arrived

Our coach (Ned) has given us our first four weeks of training plan. I've added it to my exercise log so we can all see how good or bad I am about meeting the training goals. Hmmm, though now Ned can be like Santa... he knows when I'm bad or good. But maybe he gives good presents! More likely, this may be a coal sort of year (although... rocks that burn? COOL! :)

Charlottesville Men's Four Miler

It was only my second actual race, but it went pretty well. It was a chilly morning (about 34 degrees at race start), but the cold was good once I got going. I ran four miles in 34:11 (my official time was 34:34, but I started pretty far back, so I timed it from actual cross of start line to finish line). I was hoping for 32 minutes, but all in all I'm reasonably happy with it. Finished 153rd out of 281, and 17th of 28 for my age group, so overall a fairly average, middle-of-the-pack finish.

It was a bit disheartening to be about half a mile from the turnaround and see two kids about eight years old already running back. But it did motivate me to keep going. And I did beat my father-in-law Jack (in picture). Okay, he's 73, but he's been a runner since he was a kid. And if I can't beat the eight year olds, I can still beat Grandpa! (I've got standards ... they're just really low). Though seriously, I hope I can even finish four miles when I'm that age, much less come in under 40 minutes (which he did, and won his age group -- Go Grandpa!)

(Please help out with a donation to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society through my fundraising page -- Thanks so much!)

First Swimming Lesson

Woohoo! Survived my first formal swimming lesson. It was with a very nice woman named Sue with a British accent. Not that that matters, but everyone likes a good British or Scottish accent. :)

We worked on treading water some, and mostly on body position for efficient freestyle swimming and breathing. Air is good. I took in a fair bit of it, along with a lot of water. You know that thing about getting 8 glasses of water per day? Yep, got it covered. {sputter} But I think I learned a fair bit, and I'll be practicing. So far, so good.

And no five year olds! Though the form I filled out to sign up for the lessons made lots of references to "your child". I'll just pretend I didn't see those.

(Please help out with a donation to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society through my fundraising page -- Thanks so much!)

We're a Quarter of the Way There!

Woohoo! Thanks so much for the tremendous support y'all have shown already. We're now more than a quarter of the way to our fundraising goal! I truly appreciate all the help and encouragement everyone has been so generous with. Thank you.

If you haven't donated already, I'd sure be grateful for whatever you can spare for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. A quick stop at my fundraising page makes it quick and easy. And you'll feel so good!

Now, back to my swimming practice. {gurgle} {sputter} {gasp}

(And in case you were wondering, "What's with the horse?" ... it's a quarter horse to celebrate being one quarter of the way there!)

Team Meeting (with Pizza)

Our first team morale meeting will be over dinner at Mellow Mushroom pizza on Monday (11/26). This is evil, of course. They sensed my weakness for pizza. They seek to exploit this. They'll tempt me with something wonderful, then tell me I can't have it unless I work harder. Or even worse, everyone else will order salads. Then I'll have a choice to make...

Addendum: I split a medium Kosmic Karma pizza with our mentor. So all was well.

(Please help out with a donation to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society through my fundraising page -- Thanks so much!)

I Didn't Drown

I'm still waiting for the ACAC folks to get lessons arranged, but that didn't stop me from throwing myself in the pool anyway. Yeah, it was the warm water pool with the older folks relaxing in it, but I swam 28 laps in it (it's about 10 yards long), then went and did two laps in the "real" pool. Total of about 335 yards in 45 minutes. Beijing Olympics, here I come! Or not.

Addendum: Swim lessons will start on 11/30!

(Please help out with a donation to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society through my fundraising page -- Thanks so much!)

A Personal Best Run Time

So I didn't get in the running yesterday that I'd planned to, but I got in four miles on the track at ACAC today, and did it in 32:39. By a serious runner's standards that's still slow, but it's almost averaging an 8 minute mile, and that's my best time on four miles yet. Woohoo!

(Please help out with a donation to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society through my fundraising page -- Thanks so much!)

Desired Outcome

So about that swimming thing...

Getting Started

Okay, it's 200 days from now until June 1st, 2008. At this point, I cycle moderately well, though not super fast, I run marginally and definitely not fast, and I can proudly say that I know people who are really good swimmers. I'm just not one of them.

So... I'm in the process of making arrangements for swimming lessons. Hopefully they'll start soon. I joined ACAC yesterday so that I have access to their pool and instructors. I expect to be spending a lot of time there in the next few months.

Long before the triathlon, I still have the Charlottesville Men's Four Miler to run on December 1st, so today I'm going to go running to keep that skill up. It won't be fast, but I hope to work up to fast. Right now I'm running about 9 minute miles.

(Please help out with a donation to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society through my fundraising page -- Thanks so much!)