Making up is FUN to do...

Another late night and early morning. Or in other words, "living in the moment".

Today was a training make up day. The plan was to do a swim, run and weights. Instead, I also added an unscheduled bike session. When I was talking to Jamie last night, he mentioned he wanted to do a ride in the morning and I decided to join him.

Originally, I met Jamie on the bike a couple of years ago, and we hadn't ridden together once this year. To me, this was a "friendship" ride.

Even thought it wasn't part of my training plan, I wanted to do it. Jamie's been telling me he's so out of shape, I wanted to find out for myself. He's wrong!!! His riding was very strong.

What I found was that his speedometer was screwed up. It's not set up correctly and when he's going 30 kph, it says he's only going 27 kph. Without knowing it, if that happened to me, I'd be "depressed" too. Could you imagine being an multi-Ironman finisher like Jamie and pushing it and ending up with a sub 30 kph pace, I'd need Physiatric help.

We had a great ride, talked most of the time and it seemed that no matter what direction we went in we had the wind at our faces. We passed a couple of cyclists and shortly thereafter, the alpha male came screaming by us.

Now I don't mind being passed and beaten by a stronger rider, I'm big enough to take it. But when a guy passes you, stays a head of you for only 200 meters and then "bails", I call that a "pussy". If he passed us and stayed ahead for a few kilometers as we "tried and failed" to catch him, that's a "real man".

After the ride, I hit the pool. I had "mush-brain" from last night, which made the swim totally enjoyable. It was a weird day at the pool. They only had one lane open due to lifeguard training. In my lane was a guy that looked like a pedophile and a Japanese women that couldn't swim well.

The pedophile kept looking at the young kids that were trying to get their certification. I consider a guy who's in his early 30's with a gut that looks like he has a turkey in it and wearing tight Speedos a pedophile. I was creeped out just swimming beside him.

Today, I wished the pool had a "penalty box". The women in my lane was swimming so slow that if she was going slower, she'd be going backward. Normally this is not a problem, but when I hit the wall at the same time as her and she doesn't let me go in front of her and she tries to go in front of me that's crazy. I wanted to give her a two minute penalty for being so "stupid".

Before I started the swim, I realized I didn't have my swim shorts. They were missing, again. I wasn't sure if I left them at home or that the person that took my first pair from the YMCA, was sitting at home smelling the crotch of my second pair.

Instead of being defeated, I swam in my non-chlorine acceptable tri-shorts that I use for weight training. When I finished the swim, rather than NOT doing weights due to a garment issue, I did them in my casual shorts. Today, nothing was going to deter from catching up and finishing my training. Not even if it meant I was going to look like a "dorky 80 year old" doing weights at the Y, the only thing I was missing was velcro shoes.

Once I got back home from the Y, I headed over to the school track for my running speed work session. I was NOT looking forward to it. The track is never easy and the only upside was it was the first speed work session of the schedule and was a little shorter than most.

I was smart this time, I brought a towel with me to put over my car seat to absorb the post-training sweat. I haven't been doing it lately and Alyssa thought my car was smelling a little foul. With all the 40 C hot weather we've been having this Summer, the "baked sweat" smell is not the nicest of car air fresheners.

It was go, go, go all day. As soon as I finished at the track, I showered and Alice and I headed over to Jamie and Barbs to watch Rambo and have some beers in their back yard. Nothing is as good as "beer and blood" on a Friday night. I told Jamie that if he likes "Rambo", he's going to LOVE the "Expendables".

I have a story to tell about my Kegerator, but I'm going to leave that for tomorrow. I've got some more barley carbo-loading I need to do tonight and don't want to stay up too late.

I've also got a long ride planned in the morning. I'm starting with Jamie and tagging off with Shaw. I haven't seen Shaw since the last ride I met him on. I'm looking forward to catching up. After our first ride, he's now been a regular follower of the blog and probably knows a little bit more about me since that first ride.

Mod Bike - 1:22:40 / 41.84 km / 30.4 kph avg

Long Swim - 1:02:17 / 3000 meters

Weights - 45 minutes

Speed Run - 47:40 / 10.20 km / 4:40 km avg pace

8

Weekend early...

What a great day, is all I can say. It was like I had four days in one and it felt wonderful to be alive.

It started with me having lunch with a competitor who wants to use us for his overflow work.

We met for lunch at Earls to discuss business and pleasure.

Earl's is a great restaurant that just come to Toronto via Western Canada. They only hire "attractive" people. I'm sure they MUST ask for body measurements and proof of "sexy wardrobe" on the job application.

We had a great meeting over a couple beers. I got back to the office and at the end of the day Johnny asked me if I wanted to go for beers with him. I said, " sure, I just can't stay to long, I've got training tonight".

Anyways, one beer leads to three and it's ALWAYS fun hanging with Johnny. He's my brother from another mother and a guy I truly enjoy "shooting the shit" with. It's been quite a while since we went for a beer together and we had some good laughs.

I enjoyed the part when Johnny said to me, "I don't want to sound gay, but you're looking really good, the best I've seen you". I replied, "Thanks, I appreciate that, I don't know, I've been in better shape, although I did qualify for Kona last month, I guess I'm in good shape, Thanks" and afterwards I thought of should have kept is simple and said, "Thanks homo".

It was a typical triathlete response, rather than just giving a simple "thanks" and move on, I had to analyze it, compare it in my head to the past, validate it and then add caveats to the thank you. When it comes to being in shape and body weight, triathletes are "all women".

On the drive home, I had a great phone conversation with Al Nolan, my second brother from another mother. Al's coming to the House of Payne Beer Run. He had to miss the first two and even though he has a fundraising commitment later that night, he's coming for the run at least.

Al had two concerns about coming. The first is he has to find a ride back to St. Catharine's from Burlington. It's about a 40 minute drive and the second is if he stays for Payne-a-Poolza he's concerned he'll get out of hand. For those that know Al, he's one "funny dude" with a big head. By big head, I don't mean ego, I mean "physically", he has one big "Mellon".

I told Al, the run is always fun and I think this group may be the craziest. Out of about 12 - 15 that are going to be doing the run this year, only 4 have done it before. There is going to be a lot nervous new victims with "am I going to puke my brains out anxiety". I see it every year.

In the past, many of the participants were not huge beer drinkers and had "governor's" on themselves. Don't get me wrong, every year is GREAT, but it never went too late and no one got too crazy, other than me at the "after party" on my deck.

This year has the potential to change all that. Of the new people coming, I know at least 4 or 5 that have no "governor's" on them. Guys that need that "special wifey poo" to keep them out of jail, or at least out of the back seat of a cop car. Al's definitely one of them. You can take the boy out of the Prairies, but you can't take the crazy Prairie boy out of Al.

Actually, Al was telling me that his wife Julia is really supportive about the beer run and said, "stay for the night, I'll take care of barbecuing at the fundraiser". I said to Al, "awesome, great, I've got a comfortable pullout sofa you can sleep on". Al's on the fence. He knows if he stays, it could get "out of control fun". I told him, don't decide now, after the run, if you want to stay, pull and "audible".

I think Al should stay and here's my simple argument. "Al, you do so much for so many, now it's time to take care of yourself" AND "late night, impromptu flights to Vegas are much more funner with more people".

When I got home, Jamie and Barb came by for a beer and cigar. Before I knew it, it was a few more beers, laughter and it was dark out. Doh....Friday's going to be another training make up day. Jamie drove over in a new car he bought, a white Porsche.

It was funny, Alice and I were at the downstairs bar and Barb comes to basement patio door and I'm wondering, "where's Jamie". Barb says, "Jamie out front, he wants to park his car in you're driveway and wants you to turn the water sprinkler on your front lawn off before pulling in the driveway".

I figured, "no problem, that make sense, you don't want it to park it on the street or get it wet". What I didn't realize is Jamie is meticulous when it comes to his cars. The first time I experienced this was when he took Alice's new car for a test drive. He put his ass in the seat first, then clicked his heels together to get any dirt of the bottom of his shoes and then swung his legs in. I was thinking, three things, "One, that's a great idea for limiting the amount of dirt you get on your car's floor mats. Two, it shows a lot of respect to someones car, and three, it's completely unnecessary for a 2003 Honda Accord.

Again, for some reason and maybe it was the beer glow I had going on, I wanted to sit in the his new Porsche to see how it felt. I've never wanted to do that before. I've never once wanted to sit in any of Jamie's other cars which are much more expensive than this one, but this one I did. Truth be told, I think I wanted to see how the feel of the seats compared to Alice's new Honda, to see if the $190,000 price difference was worth it.

I go to open the passengers door and ask if he minds if I sit in the car and he says "no you can't". At first I thought he was joking. Then he says "no, you have jeans on and I don't want them to mark my seats". I look at Barb and she verifies, "he's serious".

Parts of the leather on the seat are white. Then I looked at his drivers seat and he had a towel that he was sitting on as he drove. Reid came out to look at the car in his black pajama's and I don't even think they passed the "sit test".

Alice and I have talked about it before, Jamie is LUCKY he does not have a son, especially if it was Reid. Boys wreck and lose stuff. Before you leave the hospital with your newborn son, they should give you an owners manual and the first page, in bold letters, it should say, "Caution: If you have ANYTHING of value that you do not want wrecked, lost or stolen, take it off-site and hide it now".

If Jamie had a boy and he didn't keep him "caged" or had a "retraining order" keeping his kid away from his cars, Jamie would be going nuts. I could only imagine the daily conversations with his son that I've had with my own.

Jamie - "Hey Jr, where did this 3 foot scratch along the side of the Ferrari come from? It looks like the handle bars of your "chopper bike" scratched up beside it"

Jr - "I don't know, why you always looking at me, you always blame me, what about the girls or the dogs or the guys who deliver the beer? Why do you always blame me?"

Jamie - "Because you're the only one with a Chopper Bike with Ferrari red paint on the handle bar?"

Jamie- "also, where's my screwdriver set?"

Jr - "I don't know, why are you looking at me, ask mom"

Jr - "Oh and Dad, now that were done talking about the car stuff, can you buy me a "Friday the 13th hockey mask off eBay? Look at the one I found it's very cool and it's a good deal. If you buy it for me, I promise I'll stay out of the garage for a week".

If Jamie had a boy, he'd have to be highly medicated or his garage would have to have a "mission impossible" alarm and surveillance system with the red laser beams cris-crossing every corner at all angles and his very own home security guard. And EVEN THEN, it might not be enough protection.

After Jamie and Barb left, I ran out of daylight and knew training was out of the question. Alice and I kept on partying, listening to 70's music and talking. I love hanging out with Alice, we have such a good time together. Lots of laughing and sometimes a tear or two. Last night we shed one over her parents who passed away before we moved to Toronto.

I had a perfect eating day until when we went upstairs to go to bed. I started snacking and one thing lead to another. I ate everything in the house except the kitchen table. The chairs were delicious with Ketchup.

Oh, one last thing. I want to make an apology of omission. A couple day's ago I mentioned the people I've met through twitter, the blog and triathlon. It wasn't 22 people, it was 24. I forgot to mention Lindy and Reuban and thankfully Lindy reminded me.

I knew I'd miss someone and it's always the most obvious. Alice and I had such a good time when Lindy and Reuban came over and I can't wait till their next visit. If I've forgotten anyone else, let me know, and please forgive me, I do have "early onset Alzheimer's" and after 8 beers, I get "booze-heimers" until I sober up.

Oh, oh, oh, one last, last thing. Matty and Heather O are coming all the way from Cleavland for the House of Payne Beer Run. Matt has never done a beer run and decided to do a trial run the other day. You have to check out his blog post about it, it's very funny. http://mattheworavec.blogspot.com/2010/08/training-payne-hop-5k-beer-run-practice.html

By they way, it's not to late to register for the Beer Run or Payne-a-Poolza. The shirts arrived today and look GREAT. It also turns out that the night of the party, UFC is having a pay-per-view event that I'm going to order and play in the bar downstairs.

No training - other than day long beer intervals.

17

Friendly help...

What a day. That's all I can say. I had to concentrate the entire day and by the end of the day, my brain was "toast". The last thing I was looking forward to was training.

When I got home, I was on edge, to say the least. I just wanted to decompress. All day I was dealing with numbers and phone calls.

The minute I walked in the door everything was bugging me, especially Reid asking Alice all kinds of questions and his friends constantly phoning. I just wanted peace and quiet and all I got was noise. Even on good days, I can't stand the sound of the phone ringing. On bad days, I want to throw it out the window.

I so much wanted to bail on tonight's training. But I didn't. Instead I did the next best thing, I went downstairs to the bar and poured myself a tall glass of draught beer. Alice joined me and I filled her in about my day. One glass turned into three and before I knew it I was "decompressed" and feeling even better than normal.

I had time pressures to get on my bike and on the road for my speed work session, the days are getting shorter. I barbecued some chicken skewers and I barely got out of the house in time. I was lucky tonight's session was just under an hour long.

As I left on my bike, I had a nice "glow" from 1.5 litres of beer. My legs now felt strong. All day, they felt sore. I had a major morning shuffle and I was dreading tonight's session. I knew it would hurt. Not surprisingly, I didn't feel the pain anymore and I decided to put the "hammer" down on them. Which I did.

It was the first speed work session of my Kona training schedule and it wasn't too difficult. It was a 15 minute warm up and cool down and a progressively tougher 15 minute long interval. I gave it all I had. It was one of my best efforts. I even added a non scheduled 4 minute hill interval at the end for good measure.

When I got home, it was near dark. I just made it back in time. Tonight I realized my Kona training is going to require some time adjustments as the days get shorter. It's also getting colder. I can see a lot more early morning and cooler training days in my near future. It wasn't something I even thought about before tonight.

After tonight's session, I felt great. The "beer glow" was gone and the "endorphin glow" was on. As I finished my ride, I decided not to have anymore beer when I got home. After all, it wasn't supposed to be "beer party night" tonight, it was "beer, give me a push start night" tonight.

Speed bike - 56:31 / 30.3 km / 32.0 kph avg

4.5

Ladies night...

I woke up feeling 1000% better this morning. Taking Monday off from training was just what the doctor ordered. Now it's training catch up time.

Playing catch up keeps things interesting. It tough and I think doing it every once and a while is mentally and physically beneficial. It makes the catch up day much more physically challenging.

For me, that one day of unscheduled rest gives me more resolve to tackle the catch up day(s).

Last night, I didn't have a perfect sleep, my stomach was rumbling from yesterday's ice cream. My body hadn't eaten a lot of sweets lately and is not used to it. The sugar tends to act like a laxative. Nothing like a little "wee hours of the morning" tummy troubles.

I got up early and did my ride before work. It was cooler than normal. What a difference riding without "toxins" in you're body feels like, it's much easier. I had my power back again and even though it was windy, I was happy with my average speed.

One thing I've got to do is get a new set of earphones for my iPhone. I've now gone through three pairs in less than 6 months. I can't use the standard ear buds because they fall out, so I buy the kind that wrap around the ears. With all the sweating I do, I've water damaged 3 of them now. There is nothing more frustrating that not being about to listen to my podcasts or music clearly.

Around dinnertime, Alice, Reid, Alyssa and I went to the movie "The Expendables". I LOVED IT!!! It was probably the best action movie I've ever watched. The story line was not important, it's all about killing and blowing things up. It was the first time I saw a gun that blew up the bad guy from the waist up. It was like shooting a watermelon. The only thing left was his legs still standing. VERY COOL.

When we got home, I put on my new blue Desoto Tri-Shorts that arrived today. Desoto's are awesome. The best is their compression and the worst is I've worn out 3 pairs in the groin because the stitching is on the outside and the bike seat rubs it apart.

I ran Number 1 side road and had company. Running in the opposite direction was one women after another. It looked like a ladies tri-club. It was a great sight. I find nothing more inspiring that seeing triathletes training hard like champs. Some looked very new to the sport.

Seeing them motivates and pumps me up. Each one was running at different speeds and they were separated like you'd see in a race. As I passed each of them, I gave them the thumbs up. Some were really focused and hurting. I threw in a "go girls" and "that's it ladies" along the way to some that looked like they needed it.

As I was running by one, she yelled back. It was Adena (@talluleh). Once I realized it, I turned around and crossed the road and gave her a big sweaty hug. We finally met face to face, albeit brief. She looked like she was doing well, she was up near the front of the group. Unfortunately there was not time to talk, I had to keep going and so did she, but I'm sure we'll catch up at Payne-a-poolza.

Twitter and the blog has sure been a gateway to meet new friends. It's cool and weird. You first meet people and get to know them online. Then when you meet them face to face it's strange, you know them, yet you're meeting them for the first time in real life as well.

To date I've met 24 people through the blog and training, they include; Simon, Rodney, John Proc, Doru, Chad, Nina, Dana, Lindy, Reuban, and Adena (briefly) and Brent (briefly at Lake Placid). I've also met John Barclay, John Fortin, Hugh, Jamie, Shaw, Kevin, Mark Rutledge, Carlos, Hans, Mark Parsons, Alan, Martin and Steve at the Pool and during bike rides. I hope I didn't miss anyone.

Soon, I'm going to meet more blog buddies; Corey Philp, Leo Blanc, Matty and Heather O at the House of Payne Beer Run. Matty and Heather are even going to be staying at our house. I'm also going to meet Sonja, Ian and maybe other twitter/blog buddies in Kona.

Leo emailed me recently and asked it he can come to the House of Payne Beer Run, he's follows my blog and came out of the "wood work". I laughed when he sent me race photo's of himself to verify he's not a crazy. I told him he didn't need to verify he's a normal guy, John Barclay has his police gun in his car just in case there's trouble.

It's just a matter of time until I meet Johan, Jevon, Mike, Mandy, Tammy, Rob, Ian, Steve, Bill, David and many, many others. It just shows the power of the Internet.

What I like about meeting people through triathlon training, twitter and the blog is I find the new friendship to be similar to the ones I made as a kid. They are open and lasting. There's no hidden agenda other than triathlon, running or cycling as a common bond.

I consider some of my closest and timeless friendships came when I met people twenty three years ago through triathlon. I can pick up with any of those people, even after all these years, like time hadn't passed. Gord and Rich are close friends that for over 23 years I've talked to regularly.

Lasting, true friendships, that's another reason I love triathlons.

Mod Bike - 3:45:27 / 116.23 km / 30.9 kph / 130 avg hr

Mod Run - 1:30:29 / 18.06 km / 5:00 per km avg / 145 avg hr

Dead tired...

I couldn't train today, I was exhausted. Three straight days of late night partying did me in. I knew I needed a "detox" day to get me back on track.

Work was a little tough today, I wasn't my sharp self. Alice was no better, in fact all day her blood sugar has been low.

She's normally perfect when it comes to keeping her blood sugar stable. This Summer she's had more trouble with her blood sugar than I can remember. She thinks its from the heat and humidity and the late nights don't help.

The worst is that if she has low blood sugar and goes for a Coke or something sugary, everything is gone thanks to Reid and friends. Poor Alice. Even this morning, she woke up low and I had to get her some orange juice and there was "barely" a glassful left. I told Alice she needs to start hiding the "good stuff" in the broom closet or something.

Today was an expensive day once again. First thing in the morning we dropped Alice's old car off at the Auto Repair shop. The air conditioning wasn't working, it was shimmying and needed an oil change. We tried out a new garage that was highly recommended to us. I usually take it to the dealer, but I wanted to find a lower cost alternative.

The challenge is to find a auto repair shop that is "good, honest and has fair pricing". I always feel like I'm getting ripped off when it comes to anything auto. Then Jamie says, "why didn't you take it to my Canadian Tire store, I know a guy that will give you a deal". Doh!!!

I had them look at the air conditioning, it hasn't worked for two years. Alice and Alyssa would complain about it and when I spoke to Honda they wanted $300 just to look at it and said it could be up to another $800 to fix. Instead of paying that, I thought it would be best for them to drive without air conditioning. If it was my car, I'm sure I would have had it fixed right away.

It reminded me of the time we got our first dishwasher. Alice used to wash the dishes by hand and kept asking for a dishwasher. I didn't want to spend the money. One day, she asks me to start doing the dishes. It only took a week until we got a new dishwasher. Alice disagrees, she says it was only a day or two of me doing dishes until we got a dishwasher.

I actually felt bad about not getting the air conditioning fixed. It had been so long that I forgot altogether that her car didn't have air conditioning. This summer has had more 40 C day's than I can count. No wonder Alice's blood sugar has been all over the map. She's essentially driving a "sauna" on wheels.

The Auto repair shop found that the air conditioning was an easy fix. Doh!!! It was a couple of valves that came loose and needed replacing. Cost $10 each, then they had to fill it up with whatever they fill it up with to be cold which was $200. The worst was they had to replace all four brakes and rotors. By the ended of the day, he said it would be $1000 total. Damn, that's a lot of money.

We registered Alice's new car and the government taxes were $1250. Then I finalized the car insurance. I was able to get it down from $3700 to $1800. Still high, but much better. I also got another quote from a different insurance company for all our cars and house insurance and the initial quote was $1000 cheaper.

I called my existing broker and told her I may be moving my business for the $1000 savings. She seemed "pissed" that I was encouraged by others in her office, while she was on holidays, to look at competitive pricing. She has 15 other companies she could have got quotes from and is now doing it. I don't want to leave, but $1000 buys a lot of Powerbars and Gels.

Buy the end of the day, we spent $4000 on cars. Not a cheap day. The upside is Alice's car is a hit. She loves it and so does the entire family. Reid's pumped because he knows he'll be driving it one day.

We even got "Mr Car's" sign of approval when Jamie took it for a test drive today. I've never met anyone with the fine attention to detail as Jamie. He's been into cars since he was a kid, he knows a lot about them and looked at the car so closely I thought he was a CSI agent. It's amazing what he looks at and noticed.

It was a struggle to stay awake today. After dinner, Alice's blood sugar was still low, so I figured that was a perfect excuse to get ice cream from Cold Stone Creamery. When we got home, I crashed on the couch. I was in a coma sleep, I couldn't even open my eyes if I wanted to, all I could feel was my heart beating hard and fast. So much so, it was freaking me out a little.

By the time I woke up, I no longer had daylight and couldn't ride. It looks like the next few days is going to be busy playing "training catch up". I sure wish I had a "moderation button". You can't outrun the effects of partying. What goes up, must come down. A positive is that I've been eating fairly healthy and look like I'm losing some weight. It's either that or dehydration.

I got a chuckle today from a YouTube comment I received on Reid's Triathlon Video. It was from a kid who did the race and was captured on the video beside Reid. He noticed himself on the video and posted a comment. It was one of encouragement and hoping he sees Reid at another triathlon in September.

I loved it. It's what the spirit of triathlon is all about and it's great to see it exists the same with the kids as the adults. That immediate and supportive camaraderie for each other is one of the big reasons I love the sport of triathlon.

One last item. I've been sponsoring the IM Talk Podcast with Triathlon Toons. The guys said some very nice things about me qualifying for Kona. I taped it and made a YouTube video and posted it below.

No Training - Coma day

Feeling the heat...

Last night was another late night. We had a bonfire in he backyard and today I realized I made one BIG mistake.

I left the screen door open in the basement and the man cave now smells like smoke. It's bad. Alice figures she can get rid of it, but it's going to take time.

I didn't wake up until 1 pm today. I was exhausted, too much fun. Just rolling over in bed took all the energy I could muster.

I knew my training wasn't going to be pretty today. Aside from me being physically "partied out", it was 40 C / 104 F outside.

Weather wise, this summer has been the warmest I can remember. It seems that every day it's been hot and humid. I love the heat and humidity. The only problem is I want to have a nice cool beer when it's hot out and want to party every day. It's starting to take it's toll on me. I need to reel myself back in.

Today I was "almost" at the point of thinking "it's been too hot for to long, it would be nice to have a break from the heat". Then I "bitch slapped" myself for even thinking it.

The one thing about's today's training I knew before even getting started, was that getting my heart rate up was not going to be a problem. Standing it was 90 bpm. Once I got on the bike, it didn't take long to realize, this is going to be one SLOW bike ride.

On some small gradual climbs in the smallest gear, my heart rate shot up to 165 bpm. I was also surprised that there were not many cyclists out riding today. I figured it must have been due to them not wanting to ride in the heat. It was a beautifully hot and hazy day in the Escarpement.

When I got back, I wasn't feeling too well. The past couple nights have been killer. The late nights, the beer and cigars had taken their toll. If it wasn't the last light training weekend on the schedule, it would have been a killer doing a 5 hour plus ride today.

Starting Monday, I've set a new goal, I've decided I need to try and pull myself away from my computer. I'm on it all the time for work and play. This weekend I was able to pull myself from it's death grip and it felt good.

Tonight the partying continued somewhat. We invited our neighbours John and Lisa over to hang out on the deck and have a few drinks. It was great catching up. We normally hang out with them a few times over the summer. This year, the summer has just flown by and we haven't had a chance. There's nothing like Sunday night fun, it makes the weekend last longer.

Mod Bike - 1:35:17 / 44.16 km / 27.8 kph avg

15

Lighting it up...

Some days I LOVE life. Today was one of those days where life doesn't get any better.

I was sitting on Jamie's patio, drinking beer, eating wings, ribs, fries, onion rings, listening to the waterfall hit the pool and watching UFC on a warm hazy Saturday afternoon. Does it get any better than this?

I took a mental photograph of the moment and said out loud to Alice and Jamie, "Life doesn't get any better than this!!!" Then the beer delivery guy showed up with more beer and it got even better.

Alice and I didn't wake up until noon. I hoped to swim a 3.8 km race at 8 am this morning but they started without me. Damn, why didn't they wait?

Last night Jamie had me all "freaked out" that I shouldn't have left the car with the old owners after giving them my money and I made sure I picked it up today. We got license plates and insurance, kind of, and picked up the car and brought it to it's new home. I must say, out of all the cars I've ever driven in MY LIFE, this car drives the best.

For the first 5 km it was driving nice and then when I realized I still had the parking brake on and took it off it drove much better. Then when I realized I had the transmission on in D3 and not Drive, and changed it, it drove EVEN better. Alice followed in my truck and when I told her I drove it with the parking brake on and the wrong gear, she wasn't too impressed.

My training plan was to do a bike ride with Shaw today, but by the time I woke up and he finished work and I had to pick up the car and he had dinner plans, it wasn't going to happen. Instead, I decided to postpone doing a ride until Sunday and go to Jamie's to watch the taped UFC pay per view that I missed last weekend.

It was an AWESOME fight. AMAZING. Best UFC pay per view ever. It's interesting, since I met Jamie on a bike ride, I gained an Ironman buddy and more. I helped him get back into smoking cigars and opened up the world of UFC to him and he provided me with a Kegerator expert and party partner. It was a match made in hell. One day, we may even get back to training together.

Alice loves her new car. I love her car, and the kids love her car. After returning from an afternoon of slothing debauchery in Jamie's backyard, Alice, Reid and I sat in her new car, listened to some music, as I drank a glass of beer and the engine was running. Alyssa was beside the car with my laptop on my truck hood as she picked her university courses.

Like they say, "a family that's in the garage sniffing carbon monoxide together, stays together". Gotta go, it's time to set the back yard on fire. I mean, "it's time to have a Saturday night bon-fire in the backyard".

Today's picture is one that I found of Reid on my camera. Alyssa and him were playing around when we were gone. Nice job Reid. You do "one" triathlon and you think you're a real hunk. Reid says it's his new avatar for Face Book.

Rest Day - No Training

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