The House of Heavy Hitters...

It looks like the overwhelming consensus from the House of Payne 5 km Beer Run participants that it was a fun time.

I love it when a plan comes together. I also loved Matty O's race report blog post, it's at http://mattheworavec.blogspot.com/2010/08/house-of-payne-5k-beer-run-race-report.html

Today I was looking at yesterday's blog post pictures and re-reading the write up and thinking, "blog readers must be asking, who are these people?" What type of adult regresses back to teenage years at worst, and young adult years at best.

The results will probably surprise. Of the twelve participants, all are married, none are divorced, eight have kids, eight are triathletes, three have 15 Ironman finishes between each of them, one is a Kona Qualifier and the most remarkable, is most are LEADERS in their chosen career path.

If you're wondering "what do these people do for a living". Below is the answer to that question.

Sr. Sales Representative

Police Officer

Health Inspector

Accountant - Mergers and Acquisitions

Canadian Tire Dealer

Copy Writer

Business Development and Marketing Director

Lawyer - International Mergers and Acquisitions

NASA Research Scientist

Structural Engineer / Landscape Company Owner

Computer Programmer

Monitoring Centre Officer (Department of Corrections)

Among the "Royal Battle" participants, each seem to have the similar day-after injuries, which included sore muscles, sore or sprained body parts and "rug burn" on the knees and elbows.

For me, I think I got the worst of it. I understand the sore temples, that was from Al's "brain buster" and the sore abs and "rug burn" was from just plain wrestling. What I haven't figured out is how I hurt my ankle?

Hindsight being 20/20, with Kona only being 6 weeks away, I probably "should not" have been wrestling. Thank goodness the Lord takes care of "babies and drunks", and in my case, it could be argued I'm both.

The heat has returned to Toronto, today it got up to 41 C / 105.8 F and I decided to do my long run in the thick of it. This time I brought water and it barely helped. It was a hot and slow run on my number one side road route. With 30 minutes left in the run, I crossed paths with Alan Adcock, he was riding his bike towards me and stopped.

I felt bad for Alan, his mom had just based away recently and he was having a tough time dealing with it. It all happened so fast, he was on holidays at a cottage up north, the phone call came in and he was on the next plane to South Africa where his mom lived and he grew up. It was completely unexpected.

It was nice to catch up with Alan, near the end of our conversation, he suggested I should get back running before my legs "seize up". To late. It took about 5 minutes for them to get some fluidity back. Near the end of the run, I was "toast". The heat was unbearable. All I could think about was poor Simon (12:37) and Bob Lynch (12:56), who experienced similar heat yesterday during Ironman Kentucky.

I could tell from Simon's time and his brief tweets after finishing that it was a near 6 hour marathon walk. I did Ironman Kentucky in 2008 and it was similar conditions to what these guys experienced, in 2008 it was 93 F.

The worst part about the IMKY run course is it "sucks". It is through the inner city, it's not an attractive run and there is NO shade. It reminds me a lot of IM China, and this year, the conditions in China were near the same as Kentucky.

From his run times, I knew Simon was walking most of it. This may sound strange, but I have more respect for someone that's having a bad day and finishes, even if it means walking, than for someone who qualifies for Kona.

The mental strain is unbearable. None of us train "to walk". I know Simon was there for one reason and one reason only, to qualify for Kona. It was his last shot for this year and he got robbed earlier in the year at IMMY, with a 10:15 and fifth place finish in the 40-44 age group. I think this was Simon's 18th Ironman finish and he wanted so bad to go to Kona this year.

With that said, "Simon's my hero". He kept the dream alive and for the first time ever, IMKY had a 500 people in his age group and many of them were "dynamo's". Unless Simon got a cool day, I knew it was going to be a tough day for him. He's been training less than normal and it wasn't in the Malaysian heat, he had been visiting family and training in the "cooler" weather of the U.K.

Finishing an Ironman in the face of major adversity and disappointment is the true "Ironman" spirit. It's easy to quit, especially when you've done 17 already, you have nothing to prove. Yet Simon persevered. I'm curious to read his race report. I'm sure it was a tough day.

Again, congrats to Bob Lynch and Simon Cross on your Ironman finish. For Bob, he's a fire fighter from Windsor who follows my blog and would have been at the beer run if it wasn't for IMKY, it was his first ever Ironman finish. Special congrats to you Bob. Also, thanks for the TPPF contribution, tasted good.

Also, one other shout out to Brent Prokop who also finished Ironman Canada in 11:04. I think it was Brent's first as well. Nice job Brent. All three of these guys are in the 40-44 category, which is one tough age group to qualify for Kona in.

When I got back from my run, I was in near "heat stroke" territory. It was so hot today that Toronto announced an "extreme heat alert". They say all week will be hot as well. I was going to do a ride, but couldn't. I needed liquid and sleep. I postponed the ride to tomorrow.

However, finishing a run like that is gratifying. My dream would be for the heat to last until October 3rd when I leave for Kona. It's amazing how heat "saps your energy and slows you down". I did A LOT of walking today in order to keep aerobic.

The good news was my ankle wasn't bothering me too much. Actually, it may be more accurate to say, I didn't notice it. The pain of running with "rug burn" on my knees and elbows overrode all other pain. It took a long while for the sweat to dissipate the cracking of dry scab pain that happened with every step.

Long Run - 2:18:21 / 24.31 km / 5:41 per km pace