Hemingway and Holly

Trisaratops will be the one to blame. The Ironmom, who has a very popular blog zipped a comment my way. She suggested I shoot for a 1:50 in the Cleveland Half Marathon in mid May. Thats what she is pointing towards, and the more I think about it, the 1:50 will be the perfect Intermediate Goal for me. Thats about 8:30 per mile. With the St. Malachi race in the books, I have made a new, short term goal. 8:10pace for a 5k race, sometime in April. Know of any good races????? Shoot me an email, por favor. Thanks TriSaratops for giving me the Motivation. I also posted my (things could change, but lets get this down) Schedule for 08.


I have to say, Sara's blog was one of the first ones that I read when I ventured into the endurance blogosphere. Very entertaining stuff. Charlie'sTrifolk, I first checked out and Jodi's and DaisyDucs as well. All Cleveland area triathletes. All their links are in the margin to the right. I first starting reading blogs last summer. It was in early October, when I fired up this bad boy. Since then, I've come to read lots of great blogs from near and far.!!!

DO IT THE HEMINGWAY


Ernest Hemingway has inspired many writers all over the world. In a way, we bloggers of the endurance kind are doing things the Hemingway. The bearded wonder always believed that a writer could treat a subject honestly only if the writer had participated or observed the subject closely. HELLO!!! Thats what we endurance bloggers do. We sweat, we grind, we suffer the agonies of the quest to expand our horizons. All the while, we peck at our keyboards and reach others with our accounts of the experience. Hemingway figured the work would be flawed because those reading would sense the lack of expertise. He ran with the Bulls, or went deep sea fishing and many other things and those experiences would find the printed page.


Hemingway wrote sparingly. He made every word count. How would he describe racing in a triathlon????? Heres my version of Old Man and the Sea. (or Triguyjt in a wetsuit.)


OLD MAN AND HIS WETSUIT

He gazed at the water. It invited his form. He dove in. The liquid taunted him. He stroked assuredly. The distance, 2.4 miles was covered in 1 hour and 20 minutes. He was tired and swallowed much seawater.

He left the sea and ran to his bike.

"How far will you bike?", asked the woman

"Not far"

"Really?"

"Yes, really"

"Good luck. Will I see you again?"

"Yes, but first I have many hills to climb".

"Godspeed".

"I would like a banana", he said. "The banana will sustain me".

"Would you like a ripened one, or should I climb that tree?".

"Climb the tree, and fetch me a Gatorade"

He conquered the hills and was very speedy on the bike. After 6 hours, he was back to put away his bike. He still had a marathon to run. He was sweating alot, and noticed the woman was gone. Where did she go?? Damn those women!!


(and so on, and so forth. Thats the essence of Hemingway....I think)

HERES TO HOLLY

Thanks to the Cleveland Plain Dealer for an nice article today on wheelchair racer Holly Koestner. Holly has raced all over America and is bearing down on her goal of racing marathons in all 50 states. She is an inspiring example of dedication and determination. I poked around the web for more stuff on her. This piece written in 2005 was about her incredibly gutsy finish to the Marathon in the South Dakota Black Hills which began at Mt. Rushmore and finished at Crazy Horse Monument. South Dakota was where the Bride and I first lived in 76-77 as newlyweds when I worked at KEVN TV. I loved the Black Hills. However, the hills can be brutal and to push up those inclines in a wheelchair at the end of a marathon takes an amazing person. She belongs in the J.T. Motivation Nation Hall of Fame.