Snow Day 5

The snow is still here. Today we built a snowman with the neighbors, did some roller coaster sledding, crawled through a snow tunnel (that someone built last night) and made a snow fort!! It didnt snow again today, and actually some of it started melting away!!! We will see what tomorrow brings. I think we might venture out tomorrow!!

SNOW FUN!!!

It is still snowing, here is a quick video.

Here is a link to our 1st Annual Winter Hotdog Roast http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=6o14p67.7hkmd5vn&x=0&y=-8boaov&localeid=en_US

And one more snow picture of Owen

"I do this"

Rae was invited to a birthday party last week at an outdoor ice rink, it was right after school so I had to take Owen with me. We got there and he said "I do this", I said "ice skating?", he said "yes, I do this". So I thought fine why not, I went up the desk and they said they had a size 8 with double blades, so we laced up and off we went. Owen loved it!!!!

After ice skating, we thought we would head over to the Bellevue Botanical Gardens, since we were out and cold already. We go there and Owen and Rae were amazed, they loved it!!! We headed straight for the main house and got our hot cocoa and then headed off to find all the critters that were hiding among the lights. Once we found them all we decided we should go home before we turned into ice cubes, we had already been outside since 4:30 and it was now close to 8:00.

Just re-read one of my favorite poems

Thought I'd share:

On Turning Ten

The whole idea of it makes me feel

like I'm coming down with something,

something worse than any stomach ache

or the headaches I get from reading in bad light--

a kind of measles of the spirit,

a mumps of the psyche,

a disfiguring chicken pox of the soul.



You tell me it is too early to be looking back,

but that is because you have forgotten

the perfect simplicity of being one

and the beautiful complexity introduced by two.

But I can lie on my bed and remember every digit.

At four I was an Arabian wizard.

I could make myself invisible

by drinking a glass of milk a certain way.

At seven I was a soldier, at nine a prince.



But now I am mostly at the window

watching the late afternoon light.

Back then it never fell so solemnly

against the side of my tree house,

and my bicycle never leaned against the garage

as it does today,

all the dark blue speed drained out of it.



This is the beginning of sadness, I say to myself,

as I walk through the universe in my sneakers.

It is time to say good-bye to my imaginary friends,

time to turn the first big number.



It seems only yesterday I used to believe

there was nothing under my skin but light.

If you cut me I could shine.

But now when I fall upon the sidewalks of life,

I skin my knees. I bleed.



Billy Collins

SNOW!!!!!

Finally...... it snowed!! A day late, but thats ok, it snowed. Rae was convinced that Renton was surrounded by a bubble that did not allow it to snow here. She was very excited this morning and proclaimed "they burst our bubble"!! We got all bundled up and went for a snow walk. While we were out the rest of the neighborhood slowly trickled out and we ended up sledding down 24th and watching a few trucks try and make it up with no luck. It was pretty funny.

It is still snowing and its 11:45 am. We are in for a break and some hot cocoa, after nap we will head back out.

This is What is Going Down

Rae and I went to The Revels last night in Tacoma with my uncle Darby and his best gal Linda. It was the 15th annual offering from the group and this year they focused on the Scottish culture's celebration of solstice historically and Christmas in modern times through singing, story telling and dance.

We had a marvelous time. On the way home, I cracked Rae up for 10 minutes with my really bad "Borat" impression (... "And ... he get out ...").

I'm feeling like butt today, so I'm working from home. So far Winter Storm Watch 2008 has amounted to a spat of rain in my neighborhood. Stupid.

Miscellany:

Owen does not like masks or hats that distort his image of the person wearing it. If seen, Owen will say something to the effect of "No! No! Daddy! No!" cock his head at a 30-degree angle and say "Loud." Which means "scary." He got equating "loud" with all things scary from the Blue Angles flying over the house this last August.

Rae wants to be an actress and will be auditioning for the school talent show with some friends--they're performing "Fabulous" from HSM2. We'll see about that.

Jeremy's Own "Bucket List"

I know it is not just me who takes the opportunity to look inward and outward for new inspiration and where I want to go, what I want to do, and what person I want to become in the next year. The list I'm putting down here looks well beyond 2009 however.

Well, here it goes (in no particular order):

1. Attend a World Cup
2. Attend a Summer Olympics (already did winter in '88)
3. Vacation once in Costa Rica
4. Have a 40+ bottle wine cellar
5. Retire on the beach
6. Help Rae and Owen go to college
7. Tour Europe with Lynn, Rae and Owen
8. Do a bike tour with Lynn along with the Tour "dey" France (thanks Bob Roll)
9. Race triathlons until I'm dead
10. Break 3 hours in a marathon
11. Be happy with my job
12. Be patient with myself and others
13. Drink good coffee (not too much)
14. Drink good wine (not too much)
15. Retire when I'm 60
16. Write and finish one book
17. Help the kids grow up and start families
18. Make my wife happy
19. Always learn new things
20. Learn to sail
21. Learn to ice-skate backwards
22. Learn to ski a Black Diamond run
23. River raft the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon
24. Camp at Crater Lake

Some of these things I can do this year. Others, obviously, can wait.

The Week In Review

A nutty time was had by all. Monday we pulled out the tree and decorated it. Wednesday was Girl Scouts.

Friday we went to Clam Lights at Coulon Park in Renton and saw a parade of ships decorated in holiday lights. We went with our friends Kevin and Theresa and their two girls Jordan and Sydney. Heck we even got to go on a horse-drawn carriage ride. The mom's went to Twilight after. Lucky ducks. The dads sat hung out, watched the munchkins and had a couple of Snow Caps before Kevin took Jordan home, while Syd spend the night.

Saturday it was putting up the lights in the yard and realizing oh, cr@p, we don't have enough for the roof this year--plus I still don't have a harness, and I don't want to fall to my death during the holiday season. Now the house looks semi-ghetto, but we'll suffer through this season and come back with a vengeance next (kind of like the Seahawks--owie).

Saturday afternoon we went to Nichole's birthday party at Hazen Pool. I tread water and had Rae head a rubber ball pack to me over and over again. I think I won the cannon ball contest too, as I was the only adult in the pool and all the 7 and 8 year olds don't have the body mass as of yet to hang with the likes of moi. ;-)

Saturday evening we went over to Doug and Susan's house (Nichole's parents) for the after-party. It was a happy little soiree and everyone brought some tasty things to snack on for dinner. Lynn had made some of Christine's famous Parmesan scalloped potatoes. Phenomenal stuff. (I'm getting bigger just thinking about those again.)

Lynn and I stayed up late and got the house cleaned up and the birthday goodies ready for Rae's birthday party on Sunday afternoon.

We went to the Castle Ice skating rink here in Renton where we'd rented a party room and let the kids work up a good cake appetite skating--some for the very first time on the ice.

Party Time

The decorations, of course, were High School Musical. The gifts were all brought unwrapped by her friends and we're donating them to Toys for Tots early this week. (So, yeah, we paid our kid $50 to donate all gifts from her friends to charity. Talk amongst yourselves.)

Nikki, Rae and Nichole

After the ice skating, we came home to a house full of Bergmans and Morins and watched the Seahawks find a way to loose another game. We then had my homemade chili and some Corn Bread from Lynn. After dinner, Owen had some "Happy Cake" as he'd stayed back and napped while Grandpa Jim looked after the place while he slept and we skated.

Ah, the Unbridled Joy of a 7 Year Old

Jim's birthday is Wednesday, so we had a gift opening extravaganza. They both made out with some good loot. None better than Rae's bottle cap necklace which she immediately proclaimed after opening: "Look a beer cap with my letter on it!" Good times.

Merry Bootybutts

Last Days in Victoria

Ok, tomorrow turned into the day after tomorrow, but nobody is following as of yet, so we're all good. Saturday morning Marc and I made a big pancake and bacon breakfast. Very yummy. After, the mom's headed out to do some shopping while the men-folk took the gaggle of kiddies to Sooke, which is about a 40-50 minute drive to the Southwest of Victoria.

There we visited "Big" Owen and his Will who is not quite two. Mama Al was in the states ... shopping. (You catching a thematic element here? ;-). There Owen and Will showed us around the place (very nice new digs out there), the kids watched Elf and the manly-men watched college football and drank Steinlagers.

We barbecued some dogs for the kids and some burgers for the adults. Lynn and Amanda walked in the door in the nick of time to have lunch. (Catching another thematic element?)

I drove the Wensauer's van with Kiefer in the back and Marc asleep up front. The girls were all in the same car along with "Little" Owen who was supposed to get a nap, but fat chance of that on the way back into Victoria.

When we got back Lynn and I took the Mackenzie, Rae and Sloane back to the Commonwealth Pool for a short swim while the boys took a nap.

We got out early from the swim, rushed back to the house, woke Owen up and made it to the Macaroni Grill for our 6PM reservation in the nick of time. We were celebrating our last evening together, but more importantly, Mackenzie's birthday (Dec 1) and Rae's birthday (Dec 8).

Wild Man Owen with Kiefer in the background

Dinner was pretty good, but what made it fun was a couple of the waitresses were trained Opera singers who sang arias a couple of times throughout our dining experience.

Marc and I shared a bottle of wine while Lynn whined that we should have shared the pitcher of sangria which the table next to us was enjoying. Next time, baby.

The Dads

At the end of the meal while our waitress brought out ice cream with candles in them. One of the other waitresses came back and sang the birthday song in Italian while they stood on their chairs.

The Birthday Girls

We all went home with happy tummies, put the boys to bed and watched A Christmas Story; this was a first time for the girls. They loved it--we're going to have to watch it every year now.

Lynn, Marc and I played a little more Password, the dads drank some scotch and then we went to bed.

Lynn and I roused ourselves early Sunday, got the car ready to go, then woke and fed the kids. We rolled out around 8:40 and made it to the ferry dock by 8:55. We had reservations again and made the 9AM cut off to make good on them.

I have to admit, this was a much easier way to travel due to customs being just a review at the dock Canada side and again stateside. Easy-sneezy. No lines at the truck crossing or Peace Arch.

The crossing was uneventful, save the same rollers we experienced heading up on Wednesday. We met a nice family who was heading to the Great Wolf Lodge. Their eldest daughter was just a tad younger than Rae, so they had lots of waterslide and wanding goodness to discuss. Owen was throwing down on snacks and grape juice and being his usual two-year-old self.

When we got back to Port Angeles, we stopped at the Wendys fueld up on fatty goodness but were concerned to see signs to "Save Our Pool" along the road. Lynn and I had swum at meets at the Port Angeles pool growing up--Lynn again in high school. I found something terribly awkward considering a storied port town losing their (currently) only means to teach future ship-fairing folk how to swim. Sad.

We drove back to Silverdale to Lynn's parent's place, picked up some stuff, and were back on the road again in less than 30 minutes. We finally made it back home around 3:30 PM. It was a relaxed all-day affair, for sure.

At 5, after showers, we walked to our friends, the Hundelt's, who have just had their kitchen remodeled. Great lasgna and salad and I was d-u-n, done eating. Well, that was until after the piece of pumpkin cheesecake I managed to ram in there somewhere.

We walked back home with our flashlights on, ooed an ahhed at the Christmas lights starting to appear in the neighborhood and snuggled up in our beds--happy to be home, but sad it would be another month to see Marc, Amanda, Mackenzie, Sloane and Kiefer.

American Thanksgiving in Canada Part 2

On Friday morning, Marc went off to work while the rest of us headed for the Empress Hotel for Miniature World and viewing all the Christmas trees in and around their lobby.

Miniature World was actually really great, even Owen (boy of 2) had a great time checking out the dioramas--especially the trains.

The trees were all themed differently and we took photos at several of the girls. Owen and Kiefer did fairly well in their strollers.

Afterwards we tried to make a go at Pagliacci's in downtown Victoria, but it was 12:20 by that time and it was an hour wait for our party of 8. Ah, well, some other time.

We ended up eating some lunch at the foodcourt at the mall. Kiefer napped while Owen and the kids scarfed up some chicken fingers and pizza.

Afterward, we stopped by the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Company where, I swear on my life, I had the best candied apple in the history of mankind. I'm seriously considering writing a short story where a man eats himself to death on a diet consisting mainly of Rocky Mountain Chocolate Company apples. They're that good. If only I could get them shipped to the states ... Argh.

When we got home we caught up with Marc and went to the Saanich Commonwealth Pool for two hours of splashy goodness. Friday night we had Thanksgiving leftovers and the adults played the game "Password" after the kids went to bed. I'd never played before and it was actually quite fun. It was the Men vs. the Women and, of course, the ladies won.

Tomorrow, notes on a trip to Sooke, the combined birthday dinner and coming home.

American Thanksgiving in Canada

"And how do you know the Wensauers?" the US Customs agent asked.
"They were our neighbors." I smiled.
"Really?" surprised, this agent from Port Angeles asked.
"Yep, they moved back to Canada a few months ago and we went to visit them."
"All right," the man said, "have a nice day."

It was a marvelous few days. Tuesday night Lynn and the kids picked me up from my outside the Columbia Tower and we drove straight down to the Ferry dock and made the 5:30 sailing to Bremerton.

We had a spaghetti dinner at Lynn's parent's place in Silverdale and spent the night there. We slept in, had a pancake and bacon breakfast and hit the road bound for Port Angeles and the 2:15 BlackBall ferry sailing to Victoria. We made it easily, walked around town and had lunch at the Downriggers restaurant. The food was decent and well-priced, but the service was mediocre and we had to wait 30 minutes so we felt a little rushed trying to make it back to our car by 1:30.

Santa Castle Made of Sand in PA

The sailing was smooth save for some rollers in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the clear day made for great views of the Olympic Mountain range and the city of Victoria, B.C. as we approached.

I hadn't been to town since 2004 when I did the New Balance Half Ironman (the same year I did Ironman Wisconsin). We were visiting Marc, Amanda, Mackenzie, Sloane and Kiefer Wensauer and seeing their new house in West Saanich, just outside of Victoria. They live a 5 minute walk from the Commonwealth Pool (which was finished in 1997 for the Commonwealth Games). It is a great community center (or centre) with everything from spin classes, a birthday party room, dance studio, teen center, 10 meter platform diving board, 50-meter competition pool, water slide, wave pool, kid pool, hot tub, sauna, steam room, plus an additional shallow 25-meter pool, just for kicks and lessons.

We put Kiefer and Owen to bed around 8 and just made our reservation at the Med Grill just a few minutes down the road. It was great to catch up over a good meal and some yummy wine with just the adults.

Thursday saw Lynn and Amanda cooking for a fair part of the day while I scowled in front of the football games. Marc came home early and watched the tail-end of the Seahawks getting embarrassed (again) on national TV. At least we had some Belgian beer to soften the blow a bit.

That evening we had Owen, Allison, Will and their dog Scout over for dinner. We had some more tasty wine and a fabulous Thanksgiving meal shared by our Canadian friends. Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, carrots and stuffing. Good times.

Amanda and Allison's parents joined us for a desert of pumpkin pie, fresh-whipped cream and vanilla ice cream. Gordon, the dad, tried to get me to go sailing with him on Sunday. He had a race and he needed some Rail Meat. I appologized that I was leaving Sunday morning back to the states. Pat, their mom, had a second helping of pumpkin pie, claiming it was the best she'd ever had--even better than her mother's.

It was darn fine pie--and I must admit, I've always been partial to my wife's too.

We chatted late into the evening and went to bed. I slept hard and well. Part two, next post.

Yard Update

Our back yard is really coming along. The wall is up and the stone is on!! We need to cap off the top and then finish the stairs around the back. Once we lay the grass, it will look even bigger!! We will have about 15 ft wide by 45 ft long of grass for the kids to run around in. Then its on to finishing the deck!!

Target

This seems to be as good as place as any to write down the funny things our kids say. Owen and Rae and growing up so fast and I cant possibly remember all they do so here goes our blogging attempt....again.

Owen goes to Gym Starz Gym, which he calls 'guitars'. At the gym there is a table of snacks for sale, for the team gymnasts to raise money, anyway there are lollipops for sale and Owen loves them. The other day we went to gym and they were all out, he was not happy. We were getting in the car and he kept saying sucker, sucker, all gone. Then he said "Target, buy more"!! My kid is a genius!!

Dang It ...

Owen decided he was going to clean up. He likes to clean--not quite an OCD level, but if he exhibits this level of cleanliness at, say, age 11, I'll be one ecstatic papa as he'll be far more productive in his attempts.

This time OP decided he was going to Swivel Sweep up the remnants of his dinner. He reached down, touched the battery compartment and it started right up, so he started sweeping. As a test and because I'm a turkey, I turned the switch to "off" and it stopped. Owen tried touching the battery compartment again and pushed the still-dead Swivel Sweeper back and forth. No dice. "Dang it," he said under his breath. "Dang IT!" again a little louder.

***

Rae asked me about scientists and degrees at bedtime. We often talk about astronomy and math at bed (well, I attempt to talk about both, given my limited knowledge in both). We were going on about college degrees and how long it takes to get them when she got an earnest look on her face and asked, "Can you be color blind and be a scientist?"

***

I've been telling Rae a bed-time story in a series of cliff-hangers staring an (as yet) unnamed girl and her monkey Ricco who wears a diaper. They live in Algiers in the 20s. Perhaps I'll serialize here in the near future.

Well That's All Of Got to Say About Tha'at.

Obama: Happy.
Life: Full.
Frustration-Free: Launched.

Ironman Story is as done as it's going to be for now--that's probably simply because I'm not willing to be done. I'm just on a hiatus.

Until next time, I'll see you on the road and on the trail, at the gym and in the pool.

Cheers,
~JG

Ironman Coeur d’Alene 2008: Who Am I?

The stars are blazing like rebel diamonds cut out of the sun
Can you read my mind?

Tuesday night. The beach fire was down to coals. The constant crash of a waterfall from across the lake was sounding like the 405 with my bedroom window open at 2am.

I was gaping at the Milky Way for the first time in years. My legs still hurt like hell--the Oban 14 wasn’t quite doing its job--but I didn’t mind, I was with friends and family. But would someone help me out of this chair?

Slippin’ in my faith until I fall
You never returned that call

The year was rife with stupidity on my part: bad bike fit, ramping up my distance running too quickly, starting my training more than 20 pounds over my race weight, incurring an IT band injury in my right knee and not being able to run for 6 weeks--including the prime training weeks 6,5, and 4 weeks out.

Woman, open the door, don't let it sting
I wanna breathe that fire again

Getting my wife Lynn and the Family back on board for me to do Ironman #5 was no easy task. When we drove over to sign up at the end of June of 2007, I was in the middle of one of the more difficult periods of my work life. Work/life balance was out of whack, I wasn’t happy with myself and what I was becoming. Lynn was right to question if this was the right thing for me to be tackling given the situation.

In my core, I believed I needed something like Ironman to get me back on track. The daunting, monumental nature of the task would force me to change my ways, or break myself trying.

She said I don't mind, if you don't mind
'Cause I don't shine if you don't shine
Put your back on me
Put your back on me
Put your back on me

When someone in the house is training for an Ironman, it is always a family affair.

Once the holidays were winding down, I was at my nadir in terms of fitness, and the weather was at its bleakest, it was time to start the 6-month ramp of training.

Stellar times.

There were many runs pushing my son Owen in the BOB Ironman Baby Jogger in the rain and funk. There were multiple trainer rides in the garage listening to a local radio station’s 4 hours of 80’s music on Sunday mornings.

Once I was committed and the training started, Lynn got behind me and Rae and I started talking about how we were going to cross the finish line together for the 3rd time in her young life. She’s proven to be a good finisher over the years.

Before you jump
Tell me what you find when you read my mind

I was questioning my resolve as when I was having back and knee issues related to my bad bike fit. I considered just cutting my losses ($200+ one night hotel and $475 entry fee, new wetsuit, two new pairs of running shoes, new pedals, new cycling shoes and a bunch more smaller stuff) and throwing in the towel.

I didn’t really open up to Lynn about how crummy my head was getting about the whole business, but I started to feel better after seeing the Physical Therapist and getting the bike adjusted properly. I couldn’t run, but I could swim and bike OK, so that’s what I did – swim-bike-eat-work-sleep – for several weeks. While it wasn’t extraordinarily high volume, I hadn’t put that much mileage in on the bike since college, and my swimming was starting to come back a little.

The drop dead dream,
the Chosen One

During the months of training you think about a lot of things. During the race, you face some of those things you’ve been running from the whole time:

Long before all this Ironman 5X mess, I was a scrawny, scared little kid from a busted home and a little brother into martial arts—I couldn’t even kick his ass anymore …

I was in the pool and on my local swim club due to having mild postural scoliosis which manifested at a young age—the docs said if I didn’t swim and take care of my back, it could get worse over time …

My second bike was a Red Raleigh 10-speed that I’d ride around the neighborhood until it got all out of tune and nobody could help me fix it …

A couple of years ago, I had a chest x-ray to determine if I had pneumonia or not. My doc called me and asked me if anybody had ever dropped me on my head, due to my compacted T2 vertebrae …

Can you read my mind?

A southern drawl, a world unseen;

When I was 12 my mom started dating this tug boat captain from the south named George. A real alcoholic piece of work, this one. My self-esteem was diving and I would get out of the house and run when it got to be too much.

A city wall and a trampoline

Bellingham nights. The first house. Biking down Chuckanut past Larabee and out into the fields. Trampoline in the backyard plus crazy amounts of alcohol. Get up early and run while the snow poured out of the sky.

It’s funny how you just break down
Waitin' on some sign
I pull up to the front of your driveway
With magic soakin' my spine

Biking back from work, no lights on my bike. Two Costco canisters of Gatorade in my backpack. Ride up to your door. Delivery ma’am. You mix some up and we talk. I’m falling in love with you. Oh well I don't mind, if you don't mind'Cause I don't shine if you don't shineBefore you go, can you read my mind?

I’m leaving you. I’m going to shoot the moon and ride and swim and run in the desert. I’m going to Peter Pan this thing until I’m dead and gone.

The good old days, the honest man;
The restless heart, the Promised Land
A subtle kiss that no one sees;
A broken wrist and a big trapeze

15 years old. Clean and jerk. Broke my wrist. On the verge. Swimming the fastest times of my life “no Junior Olympics for you, son,” pressure on my throat “count backwards from ten for me…” Quiet.

I never really gave up on
Breakin' out of this two-star town
I got the green light
I got a little fight
I'm gonna turn this thing around

Riding my bike to the top of 162nd street. View across the highway to the cemetery and the airplanes taking off beyond. Everybody always going somewhere except me. Watching this sentiment viscerally played out in “True Romance.” Not alone.

On the corner of main street
Just tryin' to keep it in line
You say you wanna move on and
You say I'm falling behind

When I finally turned the corner that took us down the main drag in town to the finish, I checked behind me to ensure I could cross the line alone. I waved one guy through and slowed up a little to ensure it would be just me.

A volunteer yelled out to me and my daughter came out of the crowd, grinning like the little mad-woman she is and came running up to me, grabbed my hand and pulled me through the finish line.

Can you read my mind?
Can you read my mind?

Five down. Five more years to go.

Lyrics from “Read My Mind” by The Killers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ch3hppFG3UQ

The Story is in Progress

I've made some good headway tonight. Could very well have it done tomorrow evening.

Teaser:

Oh well I don't mind, if you don't mind'
Cause I don't shine if you don't shine
Before you go, can you read my mind?

One for the Thumb

Well, we got 'er done.

I was able to see Rae, Owen, Lynn, Thomas, Maureen, Lisa and Mark Kendall out on the course several times.

I got to see Tommy twice on the run, speed demon that he is.

Basically, I feel like Indiana Jones in the first Raiders of the Lost Ark movie when his girl asks him, after trying to kiss him, "Well, where doesn't it hurt?" He points to his cheek "Here." And to his elbow "Here." And finally to his lips "Here."

I'm chaffed, I'm sore, I'm tight and I'm a five-time Ironman. Time to get some breakfast. I'll post The Big Race Story after I've composed it, probably Friday night when we're back from Priest Lake.

Thanks for all of your support this year.

We're All Together Again, We're Here

Remind You of Anyone?

Well, we're all here now. After a minor hiccup at the airport (Maureen didn't have her cell phone on), the ladies and the babies showed up.

Arrive Families

It definitely was good having them finally get here; many hugs and kisses were passed around. We took their stuff to the room at the Shilo Inn (bigger and cheaper than ours at the Best Western and like one block down the road, mind you--keep this in mind for all you would-be IMCDA participants), and immediately hit the pool.

Lynn and Owen Having Fun in the Pool

Well, I should say that Lynn and Maureen got in the pool. Tommy and I stayed dry and supervised. Hey, we're doing this race thing tomorrow.

The Little Fam

OP Working His Backstroke

After the swim, we headed to Tomato Street here in Coeur D'alene. Really good food. I couldn't even finish my dinner. Tommy got the same thing and managed to finish his though. We highly recommend this restaurant for athletes and families.

A great atmosphere, ideal for kids, and this, honestly, was the first dinner Tommy and I experienced this week where the wait staff was actually prepared for the onslaught. We only waited 30 minutes to get seated after our due diligence work form Wednesday night.

I Finished 2/3 of My Baked Lazonni

Now were back at the hotel. We just finished getting our water bottles and special needs bags for the bike and run together. A little reading and early to bed. We're up at 4 for breakfast and then it is off to the lake by 4:45.

If you want to follow along, go to www.ironman.com. My race number is #581 and Tommy's is #655. There should be lots of splits based on what they said at the pre-race banquet last night.

We go at 7AM PDT.

Good night. I might post a little something before I collapse tomorrow night, but no promises. I'm going to make it a good day. It's going to be my last one like this for awhile.

Cheers,
~JG

D Minus 1 and It Is Starting to Get Cloudy

Transition Area Beginning to Fill Up

Woke up with a pounding headache. Had a little coffee. Felt a little better. Went for a 15 minute run; felt a little worse. Hopped on the bike for 30 minutes and felt great. Came back to the room, and we packed up our swim-to-bike and bike-to-run transition bags with shoes, helmets, race belts, hats, sunglasses, fanny packs of food and electrolyte tabs.

We put race number stickers on our bikes and put them back on the rack to take down to the transition area. First we hopped in for a quick swim. The water felt a couple degrees warmer than Thursday--was still A$$ cold, but manageable. It's about 57 now they say. We swam about 11 minutes and hopped out.

One couple was taking pictures of Tommy and I getting our suits on (and laughing at us). Tommy wondered who's blog we were going to end up on. She asked for our race numbers, so it's possible we gained a couple more fans today.

After the swim, I went back for another round of ART while Tommy picked up some more water bottles. I had this big bloke named "Matt" from St. Louis helping me this time. Dude ripped into my right hamstring and abductor like nothing else. Then he went after my neck a bit.

My body is kinda happy/mad right now about the whole bit, but my range of motion is a ton better than it was during the run this morning thanks to Matt.

Turns out they DID have an underpants run. We saw them run through the Ironman village around 10:30. They were a smallish band, but lets say they were, Ahem, high quality.

After ART we headed back to the car, dropped off our swim gear and grabbed our bikes and gear we packed and proceeded to check them in.

On the Rack

It turned out I was missing my run special needs bag, so I had to get another one from the race volunteers when we went to drop off our Transition 1 (T1/swim-to-bike) and Transition 2 (T2/bike-to-run) bags.

Would You Place Your Behind Here for 5.5 - 6 Hours?

Before we headed to lunch, we walked the transition area. It was, unfortunately, still kind of a cluster in there--we'll have to determine the flow, we will have to figure it out tomorrow.

For lunch we meandered back up the main drag in town and ate at Toni Macaronis--an Italian place that is going to be a mad house tonight. We both had an enjoyable lunch, then headed back to the hotel for naps.

No More Basketball This Weekend

Must Remember ... Row 12

It's almost 3PM as I write this--Thomas and Maureen should be touching down in Spokane soon, so I'm presuming they'll be in CDA with my Fam around 4:30.

Our pseudo-reservations for dinner are set for 6 tonight, so that should give them time to get checked in and settled before we head off to eat.

Baseball Field Full of Volunteers: I Got Juiced Just Walking By Them

I must say, I'm a bit sad to have missed Rae's Kindergarten graduation. Those pictures are awesome.

Final disclosure: I do love having a "vacation" with just one of my buddies centered around when is the next workout and when do we eat? I owe my Redhead pretty big for this one.

Ironman Interrupted.....

Mrs. Steelsmith awarding Rae her Diploma

1st grade here we come!

Rae graduated from Kindergarten today, she is officially in 1st grade!! Her class celebrated with a great party and then a picnic at the park. Now we are off to Ironman to cheer on Jeremy; Ironman the race, not the movie. All of Rae's classmates thought it was so cool that she was going to Idaho to see 'Ironman'. :-)

The rest of the graduation pictures are up at http://flickr.com/photos/gerking/

In This Post: Bike Course! Mini Chickens! Waiting in Line!

And just in case you're wondering, this is Jeremy posting, not Lynn. I'm just using my wife's info to get the goods up on the ol' Blog, see. Just got back from Walgreen's. Tommy needed some reading material as I think he was getting sick of me reading hilarious passages from Sedaris' latest When You're Engulfed In Flames.

Is that a Gatorade Bottle in your pants, or are you just happy to see me?

Rule #1: Respect the Course.

We drove the bulk of the bike course this afternoon, listening to the CDs we made for the event. The nice thing about a 2-lap bike course is, obviously, you only have to drive 50 miles or so to see the whole thing.

In keeping with the report style I established for while depicting the run the bike course is A) Beautiful and B) Hilly as heck from miles 21-45 or so x2.

There are some nice flat parts in and around town, but once you get out toward Hayden Lake, it's up-we-go-down the whole time. See the bike and elevation maps here. You'll see that the total elevation gain/loss isn't insane, but it is up/down like it was in Wisconsin.

For those of you who don't know me and my racing style, this means I cannot be a total fanatical lunatic jackass on the first loop of the bike. If I hang in there and let the dudes and chicks and the grandmas go by me the first time around, I'll be just fine come the run. (Three Sport Race. Three Sport Race.)

If you see my splits coming in at 21.8 MPH for the first loop, you might as well make a sandwich because it's going to be a long night waiting for my punk-A$$ to get home ...

Only serious business here.

We waited in line in the heat to get into the Big White Tent where all the athletes and their families chowed down on some watered down noodles and red sauce and the smallest chicken breasts to be discovered in America since before the invention of Steroids for Poultry.

Tommy and I were both still full from the Nachos and sandwich luncheon, so the Mini breast was just fine for our palettes. Tommy couldn't stop eating the free bags of organic peanut granola (??) that adorned the banquet folding tables, so I removed them from the premises while we watched inspirational films about the Hawaii Ironman and such.

A couple guys lost 86 pounds training for this thing. I lost 21 and I'm pretty stoked. One of the guys STILL weighed 260, and was about 6'6". He's gonna have a good, long day on Sunday. I wish him the best.

Feeding time at the carbo trough.

The fam arrives tomorrow. They're picking up Tommy's wife Maureen and his son Thomas at the Spokane Airport around 3 and then heading over. We're hitting the water in the morning for about 10 minutes, riding for 30 and running for about 15. Then its the last round of ART, and back to the hotel to stuff our bags full of goodness and get everything ready to rock.

Until next time,--the Milk Duds are going down easy and my body actually feels better than it has in months. I've slept more in the last few days than I have in years (I'll take my family over the sleep though).

Ciao.

Mark Kendall Sighting

Do you recognize this man?

My old college chum from Bellingham who I haven’t seen in nearly 8 years, and only corresponded with a few times was at the swim beach area this morning. We ran into him when we were waiting for Drew to finish his swim after we had our massages.

Mark runs speedshot racing and is certified USAT coach, USA Cycling coach and Masters swim coach. He knows his stuff (at least I still think he does). Anywho it was good to see him.

My Finish Line is Almost Ready

Drew, Tommy and I had lunch at Cricket's Bar and Grill this afternoon after we drove the course (more on that later) and watched the Turkey vs. Croatia second half + extra time. Holy cr@p, what a match.

Off to the pre-race carb extravaganza.

"I Woke Up This Morning with the Cold Water"

Well, in true Tom Waits fashion, we just got back from the Liquor Store.

I don't think the guy sees to many dudes with Ironman wristbands moseying through there that often. Tanqueray, Don Julio Blanco, Tonic and Roses Lime juice. It is going to be a good week in Priest Lake next week.

It's Fine Once Your Face Turns Numb

Tommy and I woke up late (7:30 ish), ate a light breakfast in the room, geared up and drove down to the race start area for a swim.

Holy cr@p it is cold. I haven't had a swim as cold since 1999 at Pacific Grove (in the Pacific Ocean) in California. It's about 54 they tell me.

This guy doesn't like to be cold.

Just before the swim, we ran into Tommy's buddy Drew who is doing his first Ironman here. Right after, Tommy nudged me and said, "I know that guy." It turns out he knew two of the guys: JC, a Pro from Mexico who Tommy has been helping to coach swim and the one, the only, Clint Lien from Victoria, B.C. Turns out Clint has a few athletes he is coaching doing the race here and he's here to support them (JC Ramirez and a Pro gal named Heather Wurteli).

I haven't seen Clint a couple years, but we've emailed a couple of times. He knew I was racing out here and hoped he would see me. Totally good to see him.

It's a small, strange, world after all. Just out of the swim, checking his BlackBerry.

After our swim, we headed out on our bikes to see part of the run course. We headed out of town and caught up with some other like-minded folks. They knew where they were going, so it was good we ended up on their wheels for the first part through town.

Once you get out on the trail along the lake shore it is A) Beautiful and B) pretty flat. There is one decent hill that includes the run turn-around. We are going only part-way up the hill though, and I hear the distance up the hill was shortened a bit from last years course.

There are a couple more hills through town and it is a two-lap run course, so I'll probably change my tune a bit come Monday. ;-)

We luncheoned outside at the what I'll call The Burger Pit. I spied it last year, as it is a hot-corner for bikes coming in and out of transition. It has a great selection of beer (we had water) and live music on weekend evenings. Total dive and a hoot. Saw that Germany had just gone up 2-0 on Portugal and devoured my Jamaican Jerk Burger and potato salad. Nummers.

After lunch we picked up a couple of souvenirs and had some ART work done. We cruised back up to the hotel, had a quick snooze and headed back out to the registration tent for our mid-afternoon, non-hectic registration.

A nice older dude named Terry helped me out. He has Pro Heather Golnick staying at his place for the week. My wife would kill for Heather's bike. I'll see if I can grab and post a picture of it before the weekend is over.

The Resort is tall and, during race week $500 a night

There are a few folks that get wayyyyyyyyyyyyy keyed up for an Ironman as you might expect. Cases in point: The Guy from Chicago who was walking with us to the swim area and could barely communicate he was so geeked up about the water temp. The lady with the #2 buzz-cut and pink shorts yelling at her comrades about how "the 60mm one is TOO SHORT!" and that she'd have to take the bike back.

She goes lope-jogging off, bike over her shoulder, toward the bike support area, while I look at Tommy and say "Dude, it's Thursday." He looks back and says, "Yeah, I know. It's going to be a long few days for her."

Just in case you were wondering, the song for the week is "Handlebars" by the Flobots. I guess it is getting some play on The End of late. Hadn't heard it until Tommy played it on a CD he made for the drive.

Finish Line

There are 407 guys in my age-group, roughly 20% of the race. 2390 total athletes in the guide.

It's in the upper 70s currently, but feels kinda hot given we've been sulking around in 55 and rain for the last forever.

We're gonna hit the hot tub, shower up and go to dinner here at the Hotel. Prolly read some David Sedaris after that and hit the hay early. That's just how we roll.

Dinner and 400 Feet in Coeur D'alene

Through the sunroof.

Well, it is a lovely town. It's supposed to be 72 on Sunday. My bike, and particularly my tires are ready to go.

I put my hand in the lake. It be cold. The Race tents are up. We'll be visiting tomorrow.

Dinner was eventful. We went to Brix right on the main drag in Coeur D'alene. It was recommended by my cousin Aaron and his sous chef, Emily. They said ask for Aaron. Aaron wasn't working tonight.

They were down a couple of bodies at work, and the Athletes have started their descent in town. This happens in all smaller Ironman towns. The services love the influx of cash, but have no idea, year-to-year how to deal with the sheer magnitude of people in town for the week.

One group of hoity-toity's left Brix after one of the wait staff offended them. I asked the gal who had done the offending and she had no idea what the heck just happened.

After ordering our meal and receiving the first two courses of the Chef's Choice 6-course meal, our waiter (doubling as the bartender--or vice-versa) came to us and said the chef had to leave due to a problem with his child at home. Would we like to order something else off the menu?

It was the longest 2 hour dinner of our lives. Food WAS good though.

After leaving dinner we looked for a place with pasta, that was kid friendly and that would accept reservations. No dice. We did find a place up by our hotel called Tomato Street. They put our name on the list early. We show up at 6 and our "wait is cut in half." I'll let you know what that translates into. If we don't get seated until 7, I'm ok with that ... its the 9pm business that's bad.

Start of 400 ft. of insanity (all with Tommy on the phone):

Heading back to Tommy's car, I was shown a tatoo on a young man's derrier that stated "Your Name." I didn't ask to see it. He asked me if I wanted to see his tattoo. I said "I've seen a lot of Tattoos." I think he was just going to show me anyway.

We pause and see a giant buffalo sculpture. I instruct Tommy to stand by the head while I take a picture.

Is that a dookie dish under your Tatonka?

We proceeded on. We were about to cross the street at the cross walk, when we were almost run down by a skate boarder. "Sorry," he said. As we crossed the street, I guy riding his mountain bike while walking his dog, just about bit it on the curb, as his dog took off a direction his bike couldn't go.

Then Tommy got off the phone. Just another night in Coeur D'alene.

Green? They're recycling the boat-load of bottles. It's a start.

Proof that my wheels and tires are ready to go.

Special thanks to Arby's for their free wi-fi. Makes me want to buy that 5 roast beef sandwiches for 5 bucks (or whatever the deal is this decade).

Almost Done Packing

I've got all my gear finally. Perhaps I'll list that out later. Tommy picked me up some Contiental Tyre Glue. I picked up the last piece of the puzzle today when I finally got my hands on a large size Blue Seventy Neoprene swim cap.

I talked to the massage therapist I'm going to see over in Coeur D'Alene on Friday and she said the water warmed up 4 degrees in the last couple days. It's at 55 now ... We'll see how it goes.

It's supposed to be 74 with a chance of thunderstorms on Sunday. We'll see if that changes. It usually is nice most of the morning, with the thunderstorms hitting later in the afternoon. I don't expect my finish line photo to have lightning in the background. I'm not that lucky. But if it does happen, I'll be flashing the Horns just to make sure the picture is super-sweet.

Friendly reminder you can track me at http://www.ironman.com/ on Sunday. I'm number 581. My racin' buddy Tommy is 655.

I'm a tired dude. It's 9:30 and there are still a few more things to do before sleep.

Tomorrow with more postage.

~JG

Jeremy's 35th Birthday

This past weekend was spent celebrating Jermey's 35th Birthday and Father's Day. We had a great weekend.

We had a Birthday party Friday night and then had dinner at the Space Needle on Saturday night.

On Sunday we went to Gas Works Park for a bit to play around. Mema and Grandpa were with us and they loved it there, they had never been.