Triathlons and Touchdowns

Thanks to all who responded to my post on the late Darryl Kollai. Its good to know that others around the country are now aware of Darryl's dominance. May this knowledge comfort his family as time goes on. Darryl's son, Eric is hoping to get a race together to honor his father....I will keep you posted.

I write this after taking a "Two-bags-of-Ice bath. Just finished a tough upper body and legs workout at the gym with my son, Pat. We then proceeded to go to the Lake..and after warming up for about 10 minutes...did a series of 10 x 180 yard sprints up a slight incline. We jogged back down each time..rested 15 seconds and then sprinted up. Pat shot up the incline each time like he had rocket fuel up his butt....I ran very hard but the wheels just don't move as fast. Still..it was punishing and rewarding..

That I kept my Oat Bran I had at 9am and late breakfast down is another thing. Pat and I were to swim in Lake Erie early today, but it was too rough. So he cooked up a batch of his killer Pancakes. I had three of them. I think the Japanese eating champ Kobayashi might only be able to handle 5. Its like Pizza. You have 4 regular slices. Then you go to Chicago....HaHa!! Try eating 4 deep dish slices!!!! That puts the whole digestive system on alert, my friend!!!!. Patrick cooks whole wheat pancakes and adds walnuts, apples, flaxseed,.. The colon is high fiving the stomach. Great stuff!!! It was only 3 hours after the pancakes when we were sprinting up that hill....."Major Tongue to Ground Control".

I was happy to workout hard..just two days after a tough effort in the Portage Lakes Sprint Triathlon. Also that Sunday the Browns began their season at home against the Cowboys. It made for a fun filled 24 hours. While I am not dealling with terrorists like Jack Bauer, I figured I would relate the 24 hours for you...in machine gun style or failing that in the same style the Cowboys picked apart the Browns...

JT'S 24 HOURS

11:30pm Saturday Night ..leave Fox 8 to zip home.
11:50pm finished packing car....put bike rack on.
12:40 am Sunday...fall asleep..alarm set for 4:40am
2:00am weird dream about The Bride, me, Brad Pitt, and Michael Phelps...it involved water.
4:40am wake up.... Kiss The Bride.Scurry about getting my bike and Pats bike on car..
5:20am leave for Portage Lakes...about an hour drive...
6:20am arrive..head right to check in.. HFPRacing is very efficient. Done in 2 minutes..Have #250, which is what my weight would be if I never trained as a triathlete.
7:30am see Kim Sheehan, chat about Darryl Kollai. She was with him when he collapsed. Kim was racing the olympic. Helped her pump up her Zipp wheel.
8:10a..first wave of the Sprint goes off.. 400 people in Sprint. Each wave 2 minutes apart.
8:18am my wave..last of the Sprint goes off...I dash into water with a gaggle of guys. I immediately start passing people from the previous wave... it was very congested. Got hit about 4 times...was getting a little ticked off...Just swam hard. 750 meter swim was 14:10, which I believe included a dash up the hill to transition.
8:32am..dash into transition and some kid is yakking to another kid right in front of my bike. "Excuse me...people are racing here" gheesh.
8:34am head out on 20 k bike course... some rollers...nothing tough..a good course. cool morning..perfect for racing.
9:15am finish bike and head quickly out to run...its a great run course..lots of chances to see other racers and to pick out people you want to shoot for. See Patrick heading for the finish as I was barely a mile into the run. I yell "High Five" like Borat. We high five.
9:42am I head for the chute..ran stronger in the second half of the race.. "John Telich of Euclid Ohio, competing in the Jurassic division"... I thought he said that, but I could be wrong. Final time. 1:27:48. 7th in 14 man age group. 126th out of 390 plus. Not Kollai worthy, but it was a solid effort.
9:44am see Patrick...get his scoop. He came in 1:17:00..he was 31st out of 390plus. I think he's getting the hang of this stuff.......
9:50am visit with many other racers...too numerous to mention..cheer for those finishing and for the Olympic racers getting into transition.
10:00am go on a 20minute jog with Pat to unwind...
10:30am load bikes and head back to Cleveland. Buy big bag of Amish Red Licorice and Kill it off in 30 minutes
11:30am back home..unload stuff..The Bride says 3rd floor bathroom is leaking and a cabinet in the kitchen is not secure..gotta make some calls to get those problems fixed.
1:00pm take 45 minute nap.
2:50pm arrive at Fox 8 and leave for Browns stadium with Photographer and Producer.
3:35pm finally get in stadium after having to park about a half mile away..Hundreds of Cowboy fans in full dress are already jawing at Browns fans.
3:45pm go through credential area..Staff says "you just missed Lebron and he was showing his gold medal"
3:50pm go on the field for a few minutes to touch base with some staff people..coaches and some players. Its a zoo. Cowboys leave the field for lockeroom and theres nothing but Cowboy lovers by the exit..Everyone wants T.O. and Romo to look up. Both are focused.
4:00pm get on Elevator for Press Box. Jerry Jones and his posse getting on another elevator. Shake hands with Browns gm Phil Savage. Wish him luck. He's smiling. Won't be smiling for long.
4:15pm Kickoff.. not long after that, Cowboys score t.d. Browns defense playing the matador routine...Ole'
7:15pm game over..already down on field level outside lockeroom. Wait 8 minutes before Romeo Crennel comes out of lockeroom to do his press conference. I have another cameraman and we head into lockerooom and proceed to interview about 10-11 players...

7:31pm Braylon Edwards "Thats a good question....blah blah blah..." (in response to my question about the team not building off of a 16 play t.d. drive..
7:39pm Jamal Lewis "You're right, we looked like a team that wasn't together in preseason.(in response to my question about the offense looking like a team that didn't practice much together due to injuries.
8:00pm interviews done..I go to field to do some standups..
8:10pm done..start to leave stadium..same time Tony Romo is walking out to the team buses. Fans are screaming at him..
"Sign this" "Pose for this picture" He's got a gash on his chin.
Lady says to me "Damn, he's cute . Lady is the wife of a Browns player. No sign of Jessica Simpson.
8:35pm Back at the station and all interview material is being fed into the system.
spend the next 90 minutes looking at material...and writing a little piece for the show...
9:15pm check Ironman Live. My buddy Eric Gibb ripped an 11:03 at Ironman Wisconsin. He's a stud.Great job TriEric
10:05pm get notes and scripts to editors and they very quickly can piece the story together... God Bless time codes and computers.... Never would have figured I'd say that 15 years ago....
10:30pm Leave station..colleague Tony Rizzo handles the anchoring duties
11:30pm at home....watching different stations, ESPN..reading paper..stomach issues as either the licorice, or the halftime chili, or the lake water is making my tummy do the cha cha!!!! I take a Tums, but I'm too keyed up to rest.

Don't forget to check out the Motivation Quotations...J.T. originals...
Life's a Blast