The Wild World of Sports

Here are some things we can take away from this weekends marathon and half marathon exploits.

Scott Sullivan and myself are faster than your average bear, and human for that matter. It was awesome.
Bloody nipples will NEVER be cool.
People poo themselves while running, seriously.
8000 people is a dam lot of people.
13.1 miles is a dam long way.
And it was super fun.

So, last week I was stuck down with some sort of illness that still remains undefined. I don't know what was going on but I had the worst soar throat ever, a minor fever, and I felt like I had just taken a ride inside a drier. Rad.
I laid on the couch a lot and called out of work on Thursday to do some more couch laying.
Then I drove south, picked up Ali in Boston where she had just slain the Child Life Specialist exam (results forthcoming) and further south we went to RI.
Friday saw some low key action, a serious 2 hours nap, and some awesome time with Scott and Abby and late arriver Hoshiah at the old Fez. Scott later informed that the Providence select have forfeited the Fez to college D-Bags in favor of higher ground on the West Side. This came as sad news to me. I think it was the hamburgers fault.
Anyway...
Saturday, I awoke in awful pain and we headed to the Urgent Care. they had no answers for me but gladly took a bunch of money. Lame. I got a perscription for some medicine and off we went to the wedding. My cousin Kim was getting married.
It was fun.
We ate dinner.
Then departed for the great green state once again, racing Scott Sullivan there the entire time. We made it to VT in under 4 hours. What?! Yeah, cruise control and all that.
Met Scott at the house and finally crashed out at 1:00 or so.

Early morning! We were up at 6:00 and walking towards downtown to go pick-up our race numbers and info. The great bagel hunt 2009 took place as just about everywhere was closed for Memorial Day and we were HUNGRY. We found some bagels and an americano at Brueggers and felt saved and satisfied. Scott and I hung around the finish not really sure how to prepare for such an event and my nervous motor mouth never stopped talking.
Scott was running the first leg of the race and he headed over to the GIANT mob of people waiting on Battery street. From later reports, we would come to find out that Scott didn't start moving for over a minute after the race had officially started. Not his fault, just no where to go. CRAZY.
Marathons are kind of like, all the fun of bike racing, and a great sense of community if none of the assholes where invited. There is very little ego, no equipment scoffing, no major crashes that threaten lives. In short, it was a lot of fun.

Scott had the honor of running the first leg, in THE RAIN. All together now, LAME. He would later tell everyone that he didn't mind it. And I believe him, because come to find out, he doesn't wear socks when he runs. This is strange to me. But I'm not his feet, so there is no need to worry.

In the end, Scott ran a PR (personal record) of 1:46:32 and I ran a PR (by default, because this was my first 1/2) of 1:42:32. We were 44th out of 110. Rad!

When that was over, we headed to a BBQ hosted by Will S. that I work with. Good food, good beer, and friendly faces all around. The saga didn't really begin until much later in the evening. But, more on that later. Keep your eye on Scott's blog.

And bike racing.
I like Scott's idea that I am hiding out in VT until you forget that I am fast. We'll see. Don't hold your breath too long. I have some things in the pipeline and have been getting some training advice from a friendly face in the New England racing scene.
It's thursday and my legs finally feel 80% back to normal. I think by the weekend I'll be 100%. Though, it's scheduled to rain for the next 6 months, so we'll see if I don't trade in this GT for a canoe.

Also, GT has a twitter page! You can check it out here: http://twitter.com/GTDirtCoalition

Over and out, out and about.

Aa

Hello cool cruel world

Hey hey!
First, I apologize for the lack of posts lately. There hasn't been too much to report on. Ali and I will be heading down to RI this weekend, albeit briefly to attend my cousins wedding on Saturday.
And then!
Dooms day.
Marathon day is Sunday. Scott will be my accomplice in this mission to run 13.1 miles. It has been occupying a bit of my brain lately to say the least. I ran 7 on Sunday night, so we at least know I can do half of the half marathon at 7 minute pace. Hot!

In exciting news, Ali will be taking a big big test on Thursday. Wish her luck! More to follow.

And now...
The pain of knowing. I went to meet for the local Tuesday night shoot-out match and found no one. Come to find out there is a training crit somewhere. Go figure. In Vermont, where there is only 1 crit all year long anyway. That being said, it is a pretty gnarly crit and some practice sure wouldn't hurt anyone. So, I guess it makes sense.
But really, knowing. There is something awful about knowing. I am at that stage of training in the season where I know where I should be and I know what I'm capable of and I also know where I"m at. And where I'm at is FAR from those other two places.
After going to the Tuesday night meeting ground, and finding no one, I headed out for a ride. I passed a bunch of people going this way and that. And it dawned on me. The feeling of NOT KNOWING is long since missing in cycling. Which is interesting and I can't really decide if it's a good thing or a bad thing. What I mean is, instead of just experiencing the ride, and feeling my quads burn going up Irish Hill, I KNOW that this should happen 3/4 of the way up. Or whatever. But if I didn't know... I would just think the hill hurt.

I am stumbling on my words right now.
On a side note. Last week I came across some old posts from when I had a Live Journal. Seriously. I admitted it. I am a pro at interneting and that's the truth.

So, it has been awhile since I have entered the competitive arena of cycling, and I am beginning to miss road racing, though it's really a foggy memory at this point. I am looking forward the GMSR, per usual. What I don't miss are freezing cold training rides trying to pack the miles on and fixing flats on wet, salt covered frozen wheels. And early spring races with shitty rain and wind. And crashing. I don't miss crashing at all. I fall down on the BMX bike enough to know that I'm still living and tough enough to continue. But I DO NOT miss licking road rash wounds for weeks after skidding down the road.

I don't know when I will poke my head out my racing hibernation hole, but I garuntee that when I do, it will me worth waiting for. So whether it's Balloon Fest or Batten Kill 2010, I'm bringing the A game.

Also, check out peakingracing.com. It's a VT company and they do some pretty wild events. And I use that word loosely.
Like I said, not too much to report. My small Sony DSC-T1 camera is getting repaired and should be ready in a week or two. That will mean more photos more often.
And, if I get in touch with Kipp there may be some more action footage than ever.

Would anyone like to buy my iBook? I would like to get a desktop.

Also, in the market for:
SRAM short or medium cage mountain rear der. x7 or better.
Road rear der and shifters. 9spd 105 or better.
Some magic to get my Jetta running.
Front Disc wheel 26"
31.8mm mountain bars, flat or riser.
Shallow drop road bars, 40cm, 31.8mm clamp. black.

I think that's it.

See ya'll soon.

Aa