I haven’t written in over a month so I thought I’d fill in the blanks on what’s been going on. Living in Hastings, that should take one paragraph. In case you haven’t heard, there was a group of us that decided to skip signing up for Lake Placid Ironman next year with Bill, Kim and Gary, but we were gung-ho about signing up for Ironman Wisconsin. In order to do that, you almost have to go to the race site since the races fill up so fast. Well, our gung-ho got up and went somewhere, but it wasn’t to Madison. The race is going on today and none of us are there. Maybe it sounded better at Lake Placid with Ubus still affecting our judgment. I shouldn’t really say none of us are there because Matt Toburen (not a Trilander…yet!) and John Hopkins are doing the race. I hope the weather cooperates for once. Cheer them on!

A group of us did do the Three Rivers Triathlon a couple of weeks ago and all had a decent race. My training partner Bill, who had an excellent race, was the only one to not place in the top three of his age group. His age group was tough and had some “ringers” who ran the run in a 7:30 or so pace! For the first time ever, I was last in my age group. Usually I’m in the middle of the pack, but my small chain ring (a 42 which means nothing to you non bikers) was too hard for the relentless hills. Although I’ve lost some weight, it wasn’t enough, and it was tough pulling that lard over the top of those peaks. Luckily I was going fast enough not to start rolling backward down the hill I had just climbed.

Of course, I’m old and use my brain injuries from Ironman Wisconsin 2003 to excuse doing dumb things. I wore shoes that I thought I always used in the past for short races. They had speed laces so you slide them on like slippers and away you go. They had very little wear so I knew they would be fine. WRONG!!! After the first mile I remembered why I didn’t wear them any more. They have a rub spot on the forward part of my right instep. It was annoying at mile two, quite sore at mile three, and a real pain in the “you know what” from there through mile six. I went through all the stages from a red abrasion, to the beginnings of a blister, to a full blown blister, to a torn open blister, all in less than an hour. Matt (my son) went with me to the race. He had stayed up late the night before, winning a couple of hundred dollars in a poker tournament, so he was quite tired. On the way back, I made him go by the area I used to live in and past the church his Grandfather preached at when I was in grade school. If that wasn’t punishment enough for staying out late, I made him listen to stories about my childhood.

Bill, Diane and Kim are all doing the Grand Rapids half marathon in late October, so they’re into their training mode. Thankfully, I’ll be in Belgium during that race so I don’t have to make any excuses about why I’m not doing it. Matt and I will be visiting breweries and pubs in Belgium and Germany, so I’m training for that. It’s tough work, but I’ve mastered the American twelve ounce right arm curl and I’m starting to set my sights on the half-liter “lift and tilt”. Europe is metric…they all learned it while we in the USA tried but couldn’t…so Judy…how fast is 100 kilometers per hour?

I’ve had several Sundays in a row of  “…those days where you feel like you could run forever”. Today I felt really good, but my legs were a little tired so I ran slow and went 8.26 miles. Yesterday, Jean was having lunch with her high school classmates…no, from the class of 1966…she’s not having to go through high school again. Anyway, I was bored, and the Michigan and Michigan State games were over, so I walked to the Dairy Queen on the new sidewalks our tax dollars just paid for. I walked right along, but not all out as fast as I could go, and it took 47 minutes one way. I figured it was between 2 3/4 and 3 miles. Since I am trying to watch my weight, I counted the calories burned up when a 200 lb. person walks at a 3.5 mile per hour pace for one hour and 34 minutes and came up with 540 calories. I got a medium butterscotch sundae which, in my The Complete Book Of Food Counts, is 400 calories (actually a medium chocolate sundae is 400 calories so they must be close to the same). So I burned 140 more calories than I took in. Great diet, huh??

Just (Bored But Not Looking For A Job Or More Chores) Jack