Thursday, June 26, 2008

SANDALS, BUCKLES & TOWERS

The hay is in the barn. The ball is in motion. The scene is set. Come Saturday, this old bird and son Patrick will be heading to Morgantown, W.VA for the Half Ironman on Sunday. Patrick is doing the Olympic distance. Its just his 4th ever race and he will rock it!!! Got a nice tune-up swim at Wildwood Park this am with , Elizabeth (nice to finally meet you), Matt, Brandon, and Allison. We covered about a mile. All is good. Tapered nicely the past week and now its time to see if I can reach my goal. 6 hours, 10 minutes.

Whats with the sandals??? Some call them Jesus Joggers. I actually enjoy wearing them because they put me in the Gladiator frame of mind. Yep.. Russell Crowe..Yessir.

Silly huh??? But I remember sitting in a motel on the eve of one of my previous Ironman's and watching the flick. I don't advocate beating the hell out of someone, or bludgeoning them to death... Of course not. But this just fired me up..Don't know any other way to describe it. So I am getting into that..."Let the battle begin" frame of mind. Sure, I will enjoy the atmosphere and try to have fun, but when I am racing I expect to be all business.
I know what its like to prepare so long for a race, but I have never had an event cancelled. One Pineman Ironman was altered due to excessive fog. Never swim in a lake in a fog!!!. But I have never had an event go bye bye and I really feel for the contestants at this years Western States 100. Due to fires out west, its been scrapped. That is really tough and I feel for all those who worked so hard to compete.

I interviewed Dr. Jack Andrish, a surgeon with the Cleveland Clinic as he was preparing to leave for Squaw Valley. He is amazing as are his son and daughter, who are both excellent runners. Dr. Jack was talking about the other-worldly feeling of battling Western States all day long and then for it to be somewhat of a mystical experience to be running alone all through the night. Great stuff. He had attempted 4 Western States 100's. He finished this one, just minutes under the cut-off and he finished another 9 minutes over the cut-off of 30 hours. 9 minutes over???
No buckle for you. Wow. Thats cold. Dr. Jack also had 2 DNF's. He is so passionate about ultra-running. I find myself leaning more and more toward trying an ultra. I will likely put a story on the air about him next week. Just fascinating talking to him.
Shout out to one of the best blogger and endurance athletes around.. Donald. Sorry WS100 did not happen. Best wishes on tackling the next big challenge. Keep writing that thoughtful, and entertaining blog. (CHECK OUT HIS BLOG HERE)

Finally, I propped 19 year old Kaleb Kaschalk for tackling Ironman France at such a young age and finishing it, as well. Kaleb sent me this pic from Paris. Not sure what that structure is behind him... Bah dah boom!! Everyone..Best of luck racing and training.

19 comments:

Benson said...

wow, you're all over the map with this post.
Best of luck to you and Patrick this weekend.
Victory will be yours.

Mnowac said...

Best of luck in WV to you and your son! I'm sure you will rock it. Have fun.

Wes said...

I do like those sandals. If my Nike sandals ever give out ;-) Well, the dog actually started chew on them... Grrrrr :-)

I am bummed for all the Ultra peeps having WS100 cancelled....

Good luck at the race this weekend! I know you will have a blast!!

TRI TO BE FUNNY said...

Nice kicks!! Wow--you know what they say about guys with big feet...BIG SHOES!!

Kick some booty this weekend! I'll be thinking of you as I'm trudging along in my Half-IM in Lubbock!

Viv said...

HAHAHA the structure behind him. JT sometimes you just tickle my funny bone.

Good luck to you and Patrick. I will be thinking of you guys, bettta kick some booty.

Tea said...

Every year, I think about doing an ultra. Specifically: http://www.wildwestrelay.com/

Maybe, just maybe I'm at that place where it sounds fun being held captive in a van with 3 other people running for over 24 hours straight across the mountain tops....

Thanks for re-igniting the flame.

(cool sandals, heyzeus).

Formulaic said...

Wow! First good luck on your Half and god luck to the mini on his Oly!

Cool deal!

I was crushed when Donald said they canceled the event!!

I think that you'd do great on an Ultra. They say it's all mental.

JUST KEEP GOING!

Donald said...

Thanks for the shout out, dude. Yes, ultras are all mental - you have to be mental to even think about it.

Have a great race this weekend!

RunBubbaRun said...

Have fun and become the "spaniard" this weekend..

Yeah, sorry to her about Donald and WS100 being cancelled..

C'mon joing the ultra "dark" side, I think you will actually have fun out there racing one.

ps. I think I was at the same Pineman way back when.. hmmm..I remember the fog and the swim being short..

Papa Louie said...

Have a great race in WV.

Kim said...

Best of luck this weekend with your race!!

If you interview Jack, ask him what his son Sean is racing. Sean is an accomplished ultra runner, he's won Mohican and Massanutten in the past.

And, if you are not doing anything August 4, come out to our Aid Station for the Burning River 100. I'll be at the Happy Days Aid Station, Mile 65 in the Race. This is just outside of Peninsula.

Lily on the Road said...

Have a GREAT weekend! It is so nice that Patrick loves going with his Dad. That's cool...good luck to you both!

Ryan D said...

kick ass this weekend! my neighbor was supposed to run ws100 this w/e too... he was totally bummed that they canceled it!!!

Unknown said...

Best wishes with your race!!!! Hope you have a blast. :)

JenC said...

Good luck and have fun at Morgantown! It is a great race!

Brian said...

Good luck. You'll be fine with all the training. Kick some butt and have fun.

Rainmaker said...

Good luck tomorrow morning! Had I had some resemblence of foresight I might have even wandered out and checked it out. But I lack such skill.

Cliff said...

Sucks ot hear Western 100 got canned.

IM France (Nice) is definitely a cool place to do an Ironman. I heard the bike ride is horrendous. It is climbing a mountain :o) Sweet!

Trishie said...

Done feeling sorry for myself and back on track :) Have a great race in WV! May the wind be at your back for you and your son :)