Poking the bear...

My name is Bryan and I have a problem.......I'm a compression sock wearer.

One day this past week, I even went to bed wearing my black, knee high compression socks. The only thing missing was a plastic pocket protector in my pajama top pocket. Alice got a laugh at them. I think I said something like, "do you think I'm sexy?!".

I think wearing them helped. I'm not sure. I do know my shin hurt a little until I took them off in the morning. I figured if they could hurt you, at least they're doing something. This week I also wore my full lower body compression tights. Man are they hard to put on. I don't know how Batman does it.

After wearing full body compression tights, I realized I have non compression underwear. I think they must be 4 or 5 years old. My philosophy is, "if the band hasn't separated from the fabric, they're still good". Although, they are so loose, I think I may have to start wearing suspenders with them.

Today I went to the Top Health Blogger website. Earlier this week, they reviewed my blog and felt I was worthy enough to get a Top Health Blogger badge. If you scroll down the page, you'll see my badge on the side of the site. I went back to the site because I decided to change my avatar picture.

When I got to the site, I was surprised to see I was already a Platinum member and had over 6600 points. How did that happen? I then realized they had "slurped up" and posted over 600 of my blog posts on their site and gave me points for every post. In the Ironman community on the site, my picture and profile is number one. It's at the top of the page and the first you see. I have more points than anyone else.

That made changing my badge photo even more appropriate, it would now be highly viewed. I choose the one where I have with a cigar in mouth and beer in hand.

I'm wondering how long it will take until some granola eating, sandal wearing, non smoking, politically correct, born again Jehovah, organic everything buyer, teetotaler and all around do gooder complains and I get a request to remove it.

I figured if Arnold Schwarzenegger could be the Chairman of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and smoke cigars before visiting schools promoting fitness, then smoking cigars must not be a bad thing. That's my secondary argument.

My primary argument is, "You got to have fun along the way". I've been told my blog is inspiring and motivating and people like how I mix training with pleasure. That alone should make it a Top Health Blogger site. It has merit. The fact that I also smoke cigars and drink to epic proportions with a sense of politically incorrect humour shouldn't be held against me.

With that said, I await with baited breath. I was also chuckling when I saw the picture of the girl with the bottomless male blow up doll on their site. I would think that would definitely grab someones attention. If something does happen, I hope it becomes a blog worthy story.

Tonight I had to jump of the beer wagon to fix a wheel. At least the wagon worked well for 5 days straight. Jamie and Barb came over and as always, we had a lot of good laughs. They had to leave when the street lights came on. I think Jamie is the reverse of a vampire, he can only stay out in the light and has to get back home before dark, or his face melts.

The rest of the night was booze talk and drinking-Alzheimer's with Alice. Drinking-Alzheimer's is a medical condition that is caused from excessive alcohol. The primary symptom is when you are telling a story or making a point, and if you segway for some reason, you then can't remember what you were talking about originally. I find by about 12 beers it kicks in. I was telling Alice we need to get a tape recorder that I can play back, I don't want the disease to get the best of me.

Talking about something getting the best of them, John Barclay is up 20 lbs since Ironman China. He has a bad hip problem and needs a replacement. Running and biking is near impossible. Unfortunately, due to his job as a Police Officer he's also around donuts all day, which doesn't help. No exercise, combined with eating junk food regularly, is the recipe to become a Fat Guy.

Being a friend, his pain is my pain and I've been trying to think how I can help John. I'd really like to run and bike with him again. Then it hit me! John could become a wheelchair athlete. I don't think or there shouldn't be any rules in the book that says you have to be a cripple.

John could get a high tech carbon fibre wheel chair for our runs, although he'd have to slow down for me. Another benefit would be he could carry my water and gels on those long runs. For biking he could get one of those hand pedaling machines. The new ones can now go as fast as a regular bike. For swimming, that would be easy for John, no kicking. He's always been good at that.

I think this is a brilliant idea. If John puts his heart and soul into it, it may even have a shot at qualifying for Kona and getting written up in the local paper.

Rest & Recovery

19

The Landlord from Will Ferrell