I had an Ironman day and night of sorts...

Last night I was so tired, felt a cold sore coming on and wished I could have went to bed early. I knew I wasn't going to get a chance to do that when my brother called from the Airport at 11 pm just to make sure I had beer in the fridge. Which I of course I did. Alice picked up two cases, a total of 48 beers and half were King Cans. Little did I know, 8 hours later we would have finished them all before going to bed.

There's not much to say about last night other than it was FUN. Lots of beer, lots of laughing, lots of BBT (beautiful booze talk). Then the beer bong came out. My brother was freaked at how industrial and scary it looked. He then bet me $1000 that I couldn't do 6 beers at once. I tried hard, but couldn't do it. I probably got 4 down. Damn, I really wanted that $1000.

At one point I read yesterday's blog entry to Bob, as it was mostly about him and I wanted him to hear it first hand. He got very verklempt and was hugging my arm as I read it. He was touched. He laughed, especially about me thinking he only has a grade 10 education, he knew I was right and a nailed his description perfectly.

Normally Alice stays up with me when we're partying. Partly because it's fun, but also because she's my "guardian angel". She looks out for me. You see, if she's not around I could get pretty crazy and the next thing she knows I'm calling her from Las Vegas in the morning. She was tired and I "assured" her everything was going to be okay and I'd be on my best behavior.

For a few hours it was just Bob and I, talking, laughing, crying and hugging. We did some play fighting earlier in the evening, I was hitting him with the bong and he was deflecting and trying to get me with a stool. Sitting, just the two of us, we had some heartfelt conversation and touching moments. Things came full circle, as pre-school kids we were best friends, then arch enemies as adolescences and in our teens, and now were best friends again. I was touched when Bob told me he felt I was his "best friend".

We got to bed around 7:30 am and all but 4 beers were gone, only because Alice put them in the fridge upstairs and we didn't know they existed. The Sun had already been up for a while before we decided to pack it in. In my altered state I was wondering if I should just stay up and do my training first, then go to bed.

It's a good thing Bob and I live 2100 km apart, us hanging out on weekends could be the death of each of us. We're a bad influence on each other. If my mom only knew, she probably "wouldn't let me play with him anymore". lol.

I went to bed and had a BKO (booze knock out). I woke up on top of the bed, fully clothed at 11 am. Not a sheet disturbed. I shuffled downstairs, had some coffee, pancakes and within an hour was out the door for my long ride and brick run. Needless to say it was an interesting ride.

As I rode I was still in an altered state, if you know what I mean. No listening to podcasts today. My brain couldn't take the thinking required, all it could handle was listening music while it vegged. For the next 4 hours I trained and didn't eat a thing and only drank a little bit of water.

I was on auto pilot and physically felt fine surprisingly fine. My heart rate was incredibly low for the entire ride. I actually though my heart rate monitor wasn't working properly. I didn't have much leg strength and until the last hour.

When I finished, I had a bagel, jumped in the shower and came down and had a beer. I could feel a deferred hangover coming on and the only way to fight a hangover it to get back on the horse and start drinking again. When I got back, Bob had invited some friends over to join us for dinner.

John and Heather Barclay also came over for dinner and we shot our application video for the TV show "Mantraker". Shooting video is a LOT harder than it sounds. It's tough to sound natural. Lots of takes, lots of laughs. John was taking the serious approach and I was taking the crazy "wild card" approach. Hopefully we got some good footage to work with.

The rest of the night was a continuation of the previous night and I don't remember what time we got to bed, it was at least 3:30 am. I wish my personality had a personal regulator, I only have an "on" or "off" switch and it can make for some tough mornings.

Congrats to Johan Stemmet and Maryka Sennema , they're official a Kona Ironman Finishers. I was tracking them all day.

Long Bike - 3:30:36 / 102.1 km / 29.1 kph / 126 avg hr / 2726 ft climbing

Brick run - 30: 14 / 3.46 miles / 8:13 pace / 140 avg hr / 282 ft climbing

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