Break Time...

I took an unscheduled day off from training today. My legs are "shredded". They have NOTHING in them. Just walking was difficult.

Unfortunately, it was one of those days that my mind was willing to train, but my body just wasn't able. It's tends to be the other way around.

The culprits were IMSG, then taking only 9 days of rest, before back into IMLP training. My return looked like this; Day 1 - 6 hour bike; Day 2 - 1:35 Half Marathon; Day 3 - 2:35 bike and weights; Day 4 - 1:35 run. I knew I needed a rest when I was still doing my morning "shuffle" at 6 pm.

Rather than train, I "shuffled" around the corner and down the street to Jamie (8 x Ironman) and Barbs place and we drank beer and smoked cigars. I figured the least I could do is give my lungs a bit of a workout. It was a beautiful night, I think at one point yesterday it hit 27 C. Alice joined up with us and we all got a bit of an ab workout from laughing.

Jamie was "pissed off" when I showed up with my own bag of beers, he thought I was "trailer park" and he has beers for his guests. I guess it doesn't look good when you have a Porche Carrera GT, a Ferrari 16 M, a Audi R8 V10 and another Porshe in the driveway and your guest shows up bringing his own beers. That gave me a good laugh.

By the way, as a side bar, the swimming bags they give you at the Ironman events, that you normally banish to a drawer, are great for carrying beer. Little did my neighbours know I had beers in the bag as I walked down the street, they probably looked at me and said to themselves, "looks like Bryan's going swimming again, does that guy ever just relax?".

At one point last night, I was talking about Vegas and how I love going there. Most times I don't gamble and my plan is to get up and walk the strip, stopping at hotels and bars along the way and let serendipity guide me. Jamie told me he did the same thing years ago with his best friend and it was awesome. They walked from the new strip to the old and back, stopping and drinking along the way.

Before the end of the night, Jamie said, "lets go to Vegas!" He meant it. Right now let's go to Vegas?! I thought long and hard about it for "a second" and was "in". Then my "Alice" tether and Jamie's "Barb" tether overruled us. Although, I left the standing offer that if they ever want to go to Vegas or New York to experience it Training Payne style, I'm in. I'm not sure if they want to do it, or are too scared to do it.

Alice told them the process, "we just walk the streets aimlessly and crazy fun stuff you won't expect just happens, it's surreal". Barb asked if we go to shows or events. Typically we don't, or if we do end up buying tickets, we'll find ourselves having so much fun doing something else that we "blow off" the show. We've learnt not to bother buying advance tickets, it's a waste of money. Unless it's a UFC event, that's the only thing I won't blow off. Who'd blow off watching strong tough guys bash each others brains in?

I've come to learn that when you hang out with Jamie, it's time to go home when the street lights turn on. He goes to bed early and is up at 4 am. By the time I got home, I was beat mentally. I had a full day of meetings and staying up until 2 am yesterday blogging. It all finally caught up to me. It rarely happens, but I was to exhausted to blog before bed, I figured I'd do first thing in the morning.

Yesterday, I got a pleasant surprise, my blog made $25. Which means I made $12.50 per hour to write yesterday's blog post. Not bad, considering Canada's minimum wage is $10.25 per hour. Alice and the kids couldn't believe it. They didn't think I could even get a job worth $12.50 per hour. I showed them.

I'm proud to release the stats. The very FIRST contributor to the TPPF (Training Payne Party Fund) is, drumroll please.....comes all the way from Minneapolis, Minnesota and was Scott @ree_ti_ree. The rest, in order, where MattyO, then Doru , then Al Nolan , then Ian @PedalmanTO and last, but not least, Johan @tristemmet. Oh, and the last donor, who has given me about $200 worth of fine cigars and cold beer is Jamie Grant. Thanks guys, I "raise" my beer glass to you and you will all be getting special invitations to my Summer Training Payne Party Bash at The House of Payne.

Only 47 Party spots left, donate now. You don't want to miss out.

The funniest tweet I got back was from @ree_ti_ree and he wrote: "Just read the blog I own, that you write. haha. 1st party invitation that requires passport. Heck, 1st party invitation, period!"

This is going to be an expensive party for @ree_ti_ree, he trades currency from his home and I assume in his underwear, he's also going to have to buy a pair of pants. Going through the airport in your underwear is a no no.

Unscheduled Rest Day - Half Marathon Blister Healing time.

6

Beer, Cigars and 70's Music...

If you like reading my blog, I mean really like reading my blog, please donate now.

Your financial contribution will help keep me in the lifestyle to which I've been accustomed and the more fun I have, the more entertaining the posts you'll get to read.

Today, my buddy Al, the cheapest man on the planet and maybe even the universe, told me he enjoys reading my blog so much, that he'd be prepared to pay to do it. I almost had a heart attack. I had to look out the window to make sure the world wasn't coming to an end.

Al is not a triathlete, he's a long-time friend and a future PFG. Last year, I motivated him to buy a bike and I'm trying to convince him to do a sprint triathlon this year. He lives in St. Catherines and reads my blog regularly. He has also gotten his friends and future PFG's reading my blog.

He explained that he likes reading my blog because I blend triathlons with partying and having fun and I motivate him while also making him laugh. He says most triathletes tend to be somewhat one-dimensional and I'm an example that you don't have to be. Actually I think the exact phrase he used was "triathletes are boring and I might be starting a new movement". His words, not mine.

I'd love to make money off my blog. Alice would love it even more. She and the kids give me a bad time about the amount of time I spend blogging. On average it's about 90 minutes a night, sometimes more.

By enlarge, I enjoy doing it and know people look forward to reading it. It also keeps me motivated to keep up my training when I know others are watching. With that said, it would be great to make a little extra money doing what I love doing. Isn't that everyones dream.

I've been tracking the growth of my blog since day one. In the past 30 days, my blog has got 6027 hits and has had 2201 unique visitors. It's currently growing over 48.34% every 30 days and 35.52% is direct traffic. It's cool to see the numbers grow, it tells me people must enjoy reading about my lifestyle adventures.

When I tell others about the blogs growth, everyone tells me, "You should be making money off it" and then give me suggestions. The most common suggestions are that I should put up google ads or banner ads. I've never much liked that approach, I felt it would just clutter the layout and look like my blog is a ploy to make money.

Today, Al gave me the idea to add a "Reader Donation button". I loved the idea. It's a direct "I don't mind taking your money", no BS approach, and keeps the blog clean and easy to read.

Now the PBS Sales Pitch:

If you like my blog and get something out of it, I'll gladly take your money. You'd be donating to my TRAINING PAYNE PARTY FUND or TPPF for short. It's kind of like my personal for-profit charity. The best part is you'll receive NO tax benefits or receipts. Why kill more trees.

When you donate to other charities, you never know how your money is spent. In many cases the money you donated is spent on administration, sales and overhead costs. In some cases, very little goes to the actual charity.

My TPPF is a purely "transparent fund". It's important to me that my readers know how their donation dollars are spent.

First off, my TPPF has NO staff or overhead and never will. It's just me. Every dollar donated goes to buy "beer, cigars and pay for my satellite radio subscription", any money left over, I'll be forced to WASTE on "triathlon training gear, race fees and travel expenses". And in the REMOTE event that there is ANY money left over after that, I'll put it towards buying a new liver.

My TPPF does not market itself with gimmicks. I don't like it when an organization promotes that "a portion of your donation will be re-donated to another charity". My TPPF collects the money and it is given directly to me. No one else will get a nickel.

In fact, TPPF encourages those with terminal illnesses and disabilities to also donate, and if possible, often. I don't discriminate. My TPPF will also accept any bequeathments and will allow anyone to put my name as a beneficiary on their will, no written permission required. Of course, in all of the above cases, only donate if you find supporting my writing efforts worth while.

Your donations will relieve some of my financial pressures and keep me in the "training fun zone". By "training fun zone", I mean "train, party, have fun and blog about it and do it all over again and again" zone. As a matter of fact, if you think I'm too tethered at any given moment, and you'd like to liven me up, your immediate readership donation will "grease the fun wheels", if you know what I mean.

From time to time, my TPPF will be asking for the generosity of those "deadbeats" that enjoy reading my blog regularly and are too cheap to "throw me a beer". Er, being politically correct, I mean I'm going to be asking your generosity to help build my paid readership base.

Every little bit helps, no donations are too small. If I could get just 1 million people to give me $1 each, or 1 person to donate $1 million dollars, I'd be halfway to my yearly goal.

Currently, I'm promoting a PBS type "Builder Program". For a limited time, those that donate $1000 or more will be recognized as "Life-time Platinum Training Payne Reader". You will receive a free copy of my new book, "How to get 3 hookers and a free hotel room for under $10". Knowing those secrets alone are well worth the $1000. Some of you will make that money back in no time.

To make it easy, I've set up three levels of donations. The first is a $5 donation to buy me a beer. The second is a $7.50 donation to buy me a fine cuban cigar and the third level is "readers choice". The only thing to be aware of is that there is a 10 cent minimum.

Whoever does "pony up the money", I'll recognize them on the blog and for the first 50 paid readers, you get a one day membership to the "Training Payne Party Training Center" which is located in the basement of my home. It will be one hell of a workout. PAYNE-A-POLOOZA -Happening August 28th, 2010.

It's now 1:35 am, I've been writing since this post since 11 pm. (This is the point where you go...poor guy...he's giving it his all...I need to "give him some pocket money to keep his wife Alice drinking the premium Bacardi Rum to which she's been accustomed"...and if that doesn't tug at your heart strings, I've included a video of the pain and suffering I go through every morning just to get down the stairs.

If you have any other ideas of how I can "extract money from others who read my blog, please leave a comment or call 1.800.shakedown

Mod Run - 1:33:31 / 18.05 km / 5:10 pace

2

I don't know if I can do it...

I think I have a decent work from home routine. It looks good on paper anyways. My experience is that I need three weeks to try it, evaluate it and internalize it. Then I'll know for sure.

My legs felt a little better. I thought the leg cramping during yesterday's race was putting my ITBand in jeopardy of injury.

It turns out that the soreness was not caused by my ITBand being shortened from cramping, it was caused by my camera being in one of the lower pockets. It rubbed so much, it caused a golf ball sized lump.

I'm not sure if I like wearing compression tights. I've been wearing them to bed for the last couple of nights. They're not easy to put on. It feels like I'm putting on a wetsuit. Actually, now that I have experience with compression tights, I realized I wasted my money. I could have just wore my wetsuit to bed instead.

Motion is lotion. I did weights at lunchtime and my legs started feeling much better. It's amazing how exercise helps reduce the soreness from exercise. After work I also did a moderate bike ride. My legs felt better at the end of the ride than they did at the beginning

Getting back to the compression tights, they need to put a warning on the packaging. The warning should read, "if you have a blister on each foot, and have removed the skin over the blister, and now only have one layer of skin protecting your foot, DO NOT WEAR these tights, the tights will push all the blood to the uncompressed area on your foot, your foot will look like "Fred Flintstones foot" and it will look like it's going to explode, you need two layers of skin or you will feel EXTREME pain and discomfort, and the skinless blister area will look as red as a tomato."

My foot felt so relieved when I removed the lower half of my "Batman Costume", er, I mean, my compression tights. I now realize why everyone's faces look so bloated when they come out of the water after an Ironman. It's the wetsuit. It's pushing the blood to the head and feet.

By wearing compression tights, I'm now more convinced that ever that I need counseling for my triathlon addiction. I've realized I need to go back to the basics. I was actually looking at my 25 year old "Dave Scott Centurion" steel tubed bike and was thinking I should use it for my next race. I think it would be funny riding it and passing all these high priced carbon fibre bikes with guys wearing their compression socks. I'd ride by and say "the 80's rule!!!"

Weights - 30 minutes

Mod Bike - 2:35:13 / 76.62 km / 29.62 / 125 avg hr

4

Beautiful run day...

I ran the Mississauga half marathon this morning, I did a 1:35:21. Doru had a friend who had registered and couldn't run it, so I ran under his name, Vasile Blidar. With a name like that, I asked Doru if he was on the terrorist watch list. I didn't want to show up and get arrested.

I really didn't want to get up this morning, after finishing yesterday's blog, I got to sleep around 1 am and only got 5 hours of sleep. I "sucked it up" and met Doru and Miha just before the start.

They gave me the race envelope and when I looked inside there was a bib, one pin and no timing chip. As it turned out, I attached the bib with the one pin and it fell off halfway through the race. I ended up finishing with just the pin.

I didn't care, I was just there to do the race as a training run anyway. I was more worried about Doru having to pay for the un-returned timing chip.

Before the gun went off, I pulled Doru and Miha up to the very front of the start line. I wanted us to be in that "customary" race start photo, the one they usually use to promote next years race.

I'm sure it will be a funny picture. All these lean looking runners, including Kenyans, and then there's me, Doru and Miha. The only thing I forgot was my captains hat. I left the house without it. Wearing the hat would have made that "starting photo" funnier. It would be like finding "where's waldo, I mean, where's the captain".

I ran with Doru for about 15 km, up until the Marathon and half marathon split. He was running strong. For the most part we maintained about a 7:10 pace. It was a super hard course, if you don't like running completely downhill on a slight grade that makes you go faster.

Along the way, I talked to a guy who was wearing an IMSG finishers shirt and then Peter, a friend of John Barclays. Peter was the 3:10 pace bunny. We ran around his "force field" until the turn off.

Doru didn't know this, but as we ran side by side, I was debating if I should just do the entire marathon with him. At the last minute, I decided against it and it turned out to be a good decision. After I separated from Doru, around the 17 km mark, my legs started cramping and each foot started getting a blister from my new runners.

I then realized I should have expected it. I'd only run twice since IMSG, for a total of 70 minutes. Not to mention, the dehydrating beer consumption on Friday and the six hour ride I did yesterday. Had I done the full marathon, I would have cramped badly and probably injured myself. Even after just doing the half, my side thighs were sore and I was concerned about my illiotibial bands.

I finished and ran into Hazel McCallion, the "super old" mayor of Mississauga. She's cute, small, tough and I heard she can "hold her liquor". Very impressive for a 130 year old, although I don't think she looks a day over 90. She's a living legend and has been mayor since 1978 and has a great reputation and her City is one of the few in the world that is debt free. I had a guy take a picture of us, fortunately for her, the lens was dirty and she got the equivalent of photographic botox.

I also ran into Stephane, another one of John Barclay's friends. We attended the McMasters swim workshop together earlier this year. He was volunteering. I was telling him that just as I crossed the finish line I felt like I need the porta-pottie. This is the third race in a row this has happened. It's like clockwork, I can last for 21 km's, no problem, and then the stomach starts to grumble and rumble. It's a "crappy" thing to deal with.

When I got home, I used "the stick" to massage my legs and put on my Zoot Compression tights. I also wore them last night to bed for the first time. I think they work, instead of waking up and shuffling like an 80 year old this morning, I figure they took 10 years off my life, I was now only shuffling like a 70 year old.

Time will tell if they work. I think they will. The only disadvantage is they are hot. It's like wearing really thick long underwear under your pants and today it got up to 20 C. It was a little sweaty to say the least and it wasn't the most comfortable with running rash in my groin area. I got it from the race. Thank god for Glide.

All and all, I was pleased with the race. It was fun and more importantly a good social event. It was good catching up with Doru and Miha, who both had great races. Doru ended up with a 3:18:50, his goal was to do a 3:15 and qualify for Boston. Miha did a 4:14:07 and Doru said she felt great after the race, unlike him. He thinks he went out to hard. I thought his time was great regardless, especially since it was only his 2nd marathon ever.

The rest of the day was rest and relaxation. Reid had to miss his swim club due to illness. He went to the doctor and has Gastroenteritis. He threw up last night and has diarrhea. It's actually pretty serious. It is contagious and is the leading death of infants and children under 5 years old.

Only after a doctors medical diagnosis, did I decide to "cut him some slack" and let him make up today's swim later this week. I didn't want to, but I figured it was probably the responsible thing to do. I will give him credit, he felt the same way yesterday, and still did a weight training and swimming session.

Mississauga Half Marathon - 1:35:21 / 21 km / 7:12 per mile / 4:32 per km

Overall 227 of 2102 AG 29 of 288

Video below is of the neighbour behind me. If we can fix his lawnmower, I think we can cut Canada's emissions in half.

Epic day...

Today's long ride was just what the doctor ordered. There's nothing like a long training session to get me back tethered to reality. Since IMSG, my partying has been "off the Chain".

"Off the chain" is my new term. I don't know where I got it, but I'm using it all the time. I love it. It describes so many things perfectly.

This morning, I was up at 6 am and I wasn't in good shape. The partying finally caught up to me. My hand was a little shaky when it hit the alarm clock and I didn't feel very healthy. The heart rate was much higher than normal. I should have stopped at 2 cigars and 10 beers last night.

Earlier in the week, Carlos invited me to join him on a 6 hour ride. I went for it. I'm trying to be more spontaneous and it would be my first long ride since IMSG.

Ari, one of the partners of the company that bought my company is also a cyclist. He got into riding a year ago. We had talked about getting together for a ride this weekend, so I invited him and he brought along his friend Rob. The plan was to do a couple of hours with Ari and Rob, and then Carlos and I would continue on until we put in 6 hours.

The weather sucked. It was cold, cloudy and windy. I took pictures on the ride. Rob is in the light blue jersey, Carlos is the dark blue and Ari is in the red.

Ari and Rob live in downtown Toronto and have never ridden in the Escarpment. It didn't take long for them to say they loved riding the area. I tried to take it easy on them and only went up two big hills, sixth line in the beginning and rattlesnake point at the end. Even with just those two major climbs, Ari still thought the entire ride had lots of hill climbing. I guess I don't realize the rolling hills are still hills.

I saved the rattlesnake point climb until the end. I wanted to give Ari something to tell others about. Ari went out a little hard in the beginning of the climb. He didn't realize how hard and long it was going to become. A little over halfway, he was yelling, "when does this thing end".

Ari loved the area and ride so much he said he was going to come back tomorrow and bring his wife. She also just got into cycling. We also agreed to get together next weekend in an area near him. Next week will be my last group ride until after IMLP, I need to up the intensity and speed.

Carlos had a great ride. He's joined the MAO program this year and his gains have been incredible. I've really noticed the increase in bike speed. For me, today's ride was tough. I was not feeling well, physically or mentally. I'm glad it was an easy pace, and even then, my heart rate was high. I couldn't have gone any faster if I wanted to. Actually, according to MAO, I was only supposed to do a 3 hour ride.

About 4 hours into the ride, I figured I'd have a major bonk by the time we were done. I was actually looking forward to it. My condition was noticeable, Carlos could see it. I felt weak and on some of the downhills had visions of losing control. I felt sleepy tired.

Strangely, within an hour, I started to feel much better and finished feeling relatively strong. Although, when I got home, I was tired and stinky. All I wanted to do was shower and sleep. Just as I was falling asleep on the sofa, Epic Bill Bradley (@epicbillbradley) called.

For those that don't know who Bill is, he's an extreme endurance athlete. In 2005, he went bankrupt and lost his trophy wife. He then did a "Forest Gump" sort of thing and started doing epic races, like "the race across America" and "ultra runs and triathlons". You got to check out his blog and I put some of his video's below. His feats are amazing.

Around September 28th, Bill is going to make his second attempt to swim across the English Channel. I've never spoke to Bill, but we have twittered. A week ago, he mentioned that he's looking to put together a support group for his English Channel swim. I think I was "on beer" and replied "I'm interested".

Today he returned my phone call and I got the details. First off, "Bill is nuts", I've never laughed so much. It didn't take long until we both agreed we are birds of a feather. We're both "off the chain". We must have spoken, exchanged war stories and laughed for close to an hour. He thinks my personality is ideal for Ultra races. I agreed.

He said something interesting that I won't soon forget. Bill has done about 8 Ironman. He said he "cried" the first time he completed an Ironman and then they didn't do it for him. He says the "ultra races do it for him". Near the end of these races, he has a good cry. I got that. I love a good cry just before finishing and Ironman's aren't doing it for me. I guess I need to try some "cry baby races".

The date he picked works perfectly for me, it's after Ironman Syracuse 70.3. I also got an offer from Jevon, another blog and twitter buddy (@ironmanj) and he said I can stay with him at his place in the U.K. Jevon is like me, an Ironman beer drinker, who doesn't stop at just a few.

I told Billy that I'd talk to Jevon, maybe he has more space at his house, or knows someone that Bill can stay with. Before I ask Jevon, I asked Bill "if he was potty trained?" He said, "no". I also told him that Jevon is a director and maybe he'd be interested to tag along in the support boat with his video camera.

I joked to Bill that I wanted to put beer in the boat. My objective would be to "support and taunt". I'd be like, "Way to go Bill! how's the salt water? Man this beer tastes so good". Then I'd pee on him to warm him up. It's the least I could do. I hear the waters cold.

I'm dead tired right now. Today's ride brought me back to reality, and back on the chain. Tomorrow, I'm running in the Mississauga half marathon. Doru emailed me and said one of his friends couldn't run and wanted to know if I wanted to take his place and run with his bib. Trying to be more spontaneous and fun, I said "I'm in". Now I wished I hadn't, I'm sooooo tired and would love to sleep in tomorrow morning. Oh well, I guess there will be plenty of time to sleep when I'm dead.

Tonight, Alice, Reid and I went to the movie Ironman. It didn't live up to my expectations. I'd give it a 6 out of 10. Bad call, sleeping would have been better.

Long Ride - 6:13:59 / 160.97 / 25.81 km / 139 avg hr

Spring time signs...

Not a lot to report today, other than I was busy with work all day.

I'm now trying to work from home. In doing so, I find I'm working all hours of the day and night. It's like the old saying goes, "be careful what you wish for because it may come true".

Jamie and Barb came over later in the day for beers and cigars and it was the first time this year we've sat outside on the deck.

Finally the weather is starting to warm up a bit. I'm so looking forward to not having anymore cold weather bike rides. I was telling Jamie that if he's sure he'll be healthy enough to race Ironman Canada, I'd do it with him. It would be my 4th Ironman this year.

Alyssa decided she wants to have a garden and got the approval from the big boss, Alice. After dinner, her and Naziare started digging. Reid helped for a little bit and then told me, "digging with a shovel is not my passion" and decided to play video games instead.

Tonight, I actually got to bed at an reasonable hour, I have a long ride planned with Carlos and a couple of other guys tomorrow. Lying in bed, the big boss said, and I think the exact words were, "I'm sick of this Ironman racing, you need to stop". I guess she caught wind of my conversation with Jamie.

She said she's fine with the training, but no more racing. She also then got a little teary and said she constantly worries about my safety on my bike rides. I gave her a kiss and told her I'm safe, not to worry, and after IMLP, I'll take the rest of the year off from racing Ironman. Sorry Jamie, "no Ironman Canada for me" (Soup Nazi voice).

Rest Day

14

Small, small world...

I'm getting back into training, but I'm still in party mode. I'm having the time of my life right now.

It's only May and I've already done two Ironman races this year and the summer hasn't even yet begun. It's the weirdest feeling. It's like two years in one. I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to long training sessions in the heat. I've had enough of the cold.

After work I went out for beers. It's the second time I've been out this week and each time the waitresses were flirting with me. There's nothing better for the ego than the young pretty waitresses touching your arm and stuff.

Mind you, I shouldn't take it personally. If I was a waitress I'd touch old guys arms and flutter my eye lashes too. It brings in better tips. I was getting a big head about it all until she started touching the arm of the 50 something year old I was with. He shall remain nameless, he didn't want to be mentioned in my blog. Pussy.

We both like our beers. If there's anyone that can come close to me when it comes to drinking, it's him. I'm talking beer on beer. If it's a combination of the four booze groups, I'd lose. For those normal people who don't know what the four beer groups are; it's beer, wine, hard stuff and liquor. I can't mix, I turn Indian if I do. But beer for beer, I'll take on anyone.

We were talking war stories, who can drink more. I stared with a 20 beers and a 6 hour bike ride story after only 3 hours of sleep. He wasn't impressed. It was escalating. Then I asked him if he ever woke up on a Monday morning with a shaky hand when he reached for the alarm clock.

I thought I had him, until he told me he has such strong heart palpitations that he bought a blood pressure machine and put it beside his bed. If he's had a bad night, before he even sits up, he checks his blood pressure to see if it's safe. He trumped me on that one.

Two days ago, I got an email that I put on the blog, it was from a new follower, Corey Philp, and he was telling me that he was motivated by my blog to drink more beer. Corey is a fellow Canadian and lives in Toronto. He then sent me an email thread between him and one of his business colleagues from Calgary. I thought I'd post it, I thought it was blog worthy.

Corey:

This guy just missed qualifying for Kona in the 45-49 category, perhaps you should adopt his nutrition plan

At the first hour mark I had my egg McMuffin. I was riding by people and taunting them. I was like, "hey, did you get your egg McMuffin at the last aid station". One guy thought I was joking until he saw it in my had. I could see their mouths were watering. I was thinking, "enjoy your powerbar, hehe".

I got to the 40 km mark with a 32.8 km average. I was happy with that, especially since I wasn't pushing it to hard.

Gord McFarlane:

I like a strategy even I could adopt.

I once did a half ironman in Morden Manitoba and about half way through the run ventured off to the Dairy Queen on the course and got a blizzard.

Corey

I have been reading the guy’s blog, turns out his first half ironman was the Morden Tin Man you speak of below. He is a former president of Triathlon Manitoba. Left Winnipeg for Ontario 6 or 7 years ago and just sold his printing company. His name is Bryan Payne, his brother Bob Payne also has a printing company in Winnipeg.

Gord McFarlane

No kidding…I know Bryan very well….did my very first Ironman with him. He split his wetsuit 5 minutes before the start…he is a legend. Great guy

Me to Gord Mcfarlane

G, how the f*ck is it going. What a small word. I got an email from Corey, who follows my blog and saw the thread back to you. I was tingling.

How's life?

Gord McFarlane

I couldn’t believe it when he showed me the name.

We do need to catch up…I did Ironman again last year after 9 years off.

It was painful.

I will call you next week. Travelling now

Me

sounds great. Looking forward to it.

Gord McFarlane

Corey….thanks for getting two old buds together. I will be hooking up with Bryan next time in TO…maybe you can join us as we swap war stories!

Me to Gord McFarlane and Corey

Ah...you guys are wanting to experience my nutritional program first hand. haha.

Corey

Gord should bring his new Cervelo and join you on one of your 6 hour rides after a cigar and 20 beer. He’s been training at altitude for years, he can handle it…

What a small world.

Tonight it was raining and especially after beers I didn't want to train. I've done so much this year that I have no guilt not training because of poor weather, I've earned the pass. However, training tonight was meant to be.

Reid hit the wall. He had a BAD day. Everything sucked, it started at school. By the end of the night he hadn't done his run and I started the abuse. He was at a breaking point. I told him that he better do it because "if not you'd lose your $1000 and he'd be letting the blog world down".

He had tears in his eyes. He wanted to renegotiate that he get paid daily and that it wouldn't be an all or nothing. I said, "to bad, so sad, SIU baby!". He was on the verge of a breakdown and Alice was quitely telling me to back down. Er, more like "stand down". You don't want to come between a mother bear and her cub.

I knew I had to do something, so I said, I'll run with you. Lets go. And he agreed. It had just stopped raining and he started off strong for 100 meters, then it was a solid 13 minute per mile pace. I stayed by his side and started singing the Rocky song, "dun, dunda, dun, dunda, dun, dun, dun" to him. His spirits picked up.

He only stopped once for about 30 seconds and he said it was the first time he only stopped once during a run. I was pulling ahead and slowed down. I told him, "I'm not leaving you, no brother left behind!" as I grabbed him by his collar and pulled him forward faster. I then told him that when he gets faster than me, he better not leave me. The rule is "No brother left behind".

To me, if I ride or run with someone and even if they are not as fast or bonk, I never leave them. "No brother left behind", I explained this to Reid.

When we got home, he was happy. I figured since I was outside already, I may as well keep going. I did another 30 minutes on my own. Then it was back to the downstairs bar for beers and cigars. There's nothing better than a run sandwiched between beers and cigars.

The picture today is of my Manitoba brothers, Saul Simmons, Me, Rich Sohor and on the left is my old buddy GORD McFARLANE.

Reid Run - 20:00 / 3 km's - approx.

My Run - 31:45 / 5.96 km / 5:19 pace

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