Leaving St. George...

The next morning after IMSG, I felt much better. My legs were a little sore, but nothing major.

Before I left St. George to get to Vegas for my 11:30 pm red-eye flight, I went to the Kona roll down with Martin Paul. As expected, I didn't get in, it went to the 8th place finisher.

Martin and I had some lunch and I took off to Vegas. My plan was to spend about 7 hours on the strip and drink lots of beer and have as much fun as I could before my flight.

I started off at Bally's and went to the spa for a massage. Then it was lunch and beer. It's amazing how easy it is to make friends when you have 3 pitchers of beer during a meal. The first person I met was Jessica, an executive Casino Host. She was having her lunch and we started chatting. A Casino host is responsible to find big spenders and bring them to their casino to gamble.

I have a book called "Whale Hunt in the Dessert" and it's about Steve Cyr, a Las Vegas "Super Host". It has amazing stories about what Vegas does to attract and keep high rollers in their casinos. They call the high rollers "Whales". So when I started talking to Jessica, I knew exactly what she did and was fascinated.

I then met an older couple, married 56 years, from Denver. He spent 50 years as a water works engineer and she was a homemaker. It was so cute how they were still sitting side by side like school kids. I learnt so much about water treatment and it was interesting. I'm not kidding, it WAS interesting. It's something you never think about.

As I was leaving Ballys to walk the strip, I bumped into JOE STEELE from Kingsville, Texas. I noticed his Ironman St. George finishers jacket. We started talking and I found out Joe's secret. Joe had a hole in his heart that caused an aneurysm in early March and it even paralyzed part of his face.

They operated with cardiac catheterization surgery through his leg to repair the hole in his heart. Joe should have died. The doctor said that if Joe was not in Ironman shape, he would be dead right now. I joked to Joe that I was talking to "dead man walking", and I was. In Joe's case, training and racing Ironmans, literally saved his life.

Six weeks ago the doctor said Joe could start exercising again. Joe's an Ironman, so he started easy with a 5 mile run. In only 6 weeks, Joe went from death bed to finishing IMSG, which is probably the TOUGHEST Ironman on the planet. Joe was in my age group, 45-49 and finished with a 16:14:04.

What's most incredible, is that when I first started talking to Joe, I didn't know his background story, and he was just telling me he was so disappointed with his time and this may be his last Ironman. After I learnt his story, I thought this guy is AMAZING and CRAZY!!! How many people can suffer an aneurysm and have their heart repaired and then finish an Ironman 6 weeks later, and then be was disappointed with his time. Tell me Joe's not a competitor.

One other great fact about Joe, is he's a PFG (Previous Fat Guy). He used to be 50's heavier. I included a picture of myself with Joe. If you want to send Joe any supportive comments, you can email him at jpsteele@sprint.blackberry.net .(hope you don't mind me posting your email Joe -too late).

I was so lucky to meet Joe and hear his amazing story. Every Ironman competition is filled with unsung heroes. People that have overcome incredible odds to complete an Ironman. At IMSG, Joe was was one of those unsung heroes. If this was Kona, Joe would have deserved to have been on TV as one of the human interest stories.

After meeting Joe, I headed over to Bills Saloon. It has the cheapest beer on the strip. I find that the cheaper the beer, the more interesting the people. If you've ever watched the Canadian TV show "Trailer Park Boys", Bills Saloon had the same type of clientele. It was karaoke night at Bills. I loved it!!! I danced with the "Karaoke Queen - Barbara Ann". She said I needed to move my legs more, I told her I just finished an Ironman yesterday, cut me some slack.

I was taking pictures of the people I met along the way and was twittering my adventure until my phone died. It's too bad, the photos help me remember what happened when I wake up hungover the next day. I've also included the pictures of Jessica the casino host, my old Denver friends, and Barbara Ann.

I almost didn't leave Vegas. I was so close to just staying overnight. If I didn't have meeting scheduled on Monday afternoon, I think I would have stayed. At the airport, I met a few more people and partied it up more.

I met a ex-Winnipeger, who's Indian (India Indian), who's now living and working in Brampton as a Chiropractor. I'm also an ex-Winnipeger, I grew up and moved from there six years ago. I was giving him a bad time. I told him he must be tough, because being part of the ultra minority of Indians and growing up in the prairie town of Winnipeg, he would have experienced lots of verbal abuse and taunting. He agreed and laughed.

I then met another Winnipeg girl. She was so ugly, fat and drunk. She was standing with the Chex Mix food bag strapped on. I was so hungry, I walked up to her and asked her if she'd like to trade a sip of my beer for some of her Chex Mix. At one point, I had to grab the beer back out of her hand or it would have all been gone. We had a great time whooping it up. I don't know what it is but I'll party with a fat, ugly, drunk chick anytime. They are so much fun.

I had some more great chance encounters at the airport. I was lovin it. I wished I had more than 7 hours to hang around Vegas. On the plane, I felt sorry for the people around me. About 10 minutes into the flight, I passed out with my mouth wide-open for the entire 4 hour plus flight. I must have smelt like a brewery. I do remember getting weird looks when I woke up. They probably got drunk from my breath. Haha.

I got home at 7 am, had a little snooze and was at work by noon. I felt like I was in a time warp. It seemed like IMSG and Vegas was weeks ago.

This morning was funny. Last night, at swim club, Reid worked out for 90 minutes with a 25 lb medicine ball. He was doing exercises with an older, 6 foot tall kid, who was pushing the pace. When he got home he had trouble walking up the stairs. I loved watching his big butt sloth up the stairs to bed in pain. This morning he couldn't move. Alice had to get the big gun, "aka me", to pull him out of bed. I got him onto the floor and then took video of it and posted it below.

For those that don't know. I have a 3 month bet with Reid that he can't train at a high level with the best swim club in Ontario. If he does it for 3 months, without missing a workout, he gets $1000. So far he's on track and already is looking thinner.

My blog had record stats yesterday, it had 833 hits in one day. I attribute it to the IMSG VENUE RACE REPORT. I got so many great comments from the volunteers who loved hearing what others thought of their race. Again, they held a beyond WORLD CLASS event.

Rest Day - IMSG Recovery

183.4 lbs / 8.2% Body Fat.