Good reading for a friday afternoon

http://triathlon.competitor.com/2009/10/features/david-bailey-collision-course_5161

San Diego Triathlon Challenge‏

The SD Triathlon Challenge benefiting the Challenged Athletes Foundation was an awesome experience. The athletes are really inspiring and hanging out with all the good people involved makes for a great event. Of course it all happens in beautiful La Jolla with typical San Diego weather, awesome! My favorite part of the day actually wasn’t out on the bike. Although we had a nice route through the countryside in Rancho Santa Fe and then down the coast on Highway 1 back into La Jolla. And I did have a great ride including cruising with Floyd Landis group, seeing Tara Llanes on a hand cycle, and meeting an awesome guy named Brad. He was in his 20’s and a single leg amputee, wearing an Operation Rebound jersey, which told me he was injured during battle as part of the Armed Forces. While riding he explained to me that he had some experience competing with hand-cycles, including some wins at marathon events, but this particular ride was only his 4th time on a standard bike with his prosthetic. He was on a rental bike and doing 56 miles with 4,000 feet of climbing with essentially one leg and only 3 training rides EVER. These athletes are more determined than the rest of us, they have to be…

Back to my favorite part of the day - waiting in the transition area for Beth to finish the swim. Luckily she started in the last wave because that allowed me to watch the majority of athletes come in from the water and tag off with their partners, or head out on the bike on their own. Just like the brief intro I got to Brad's story, there were over a hundred other athletes, each with their own amazing stories, who I got to watch doing their thing. And they’re no different than the rest of us, telling similar stories about how the water temperature was, or how their bike didn’t shift right...

The one thing these athletes do need help with is the cost of medical care and $15,000 plus prosthetics. That’s where CAF comes in and you can check them out at http://www.caf.org/ If you want to get a better feel of what these athletes and this organization makes possible - http://www.challengedathletes.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_seyret&Itemid=53&task=videodirectlink&id=20

Thanks for reading! Dana

Evening Bliss

Race Across the Sky - pretty cool watching an epic mtn bike event on the big screen last night. Still don't think I want to do it though. There are some other epics out there that actually have oxygen that I would rather go after.

Beautiful fall weather yesterday

I only got on the bike for 1 hour, but it was the best hour of my day

Sky

It's hard to keep focused on work when the weather is so nice outside. I think that I have to rush home and try to get on the trails for an hour before heading to the movies... http://www.raceacrossthesky.com/

Things are good

Mud run was fun. 4,000 people doing an off road 10k run with some mud pits at the end. I wish there were more obstacles throughout...

CHOC walk sunday was also a good time (its a great fundraiser). Beth and I followed it up with Grandslam breakfasts at Dennys, visit to Grandmas, a killler nap, couple hour easy road ride to Back Bay, dinner at home, church, and watched Extreme makeover home edition. That's a good Sunday!

Back to work on Monday, but things have been good there as well. Processing a lot of orders right now since it's busy season in the non-profit auction world, and working on a couple key projects to keep improving how we operate.

Worked it out at the gym for the first time and hoping to get my first swim in tonight. I think my weight workout went well since I only used the bar for squats - no weight. 30lb dumbells for bench press. For swimming my goal this winter is to learn flip turns and swim a mile straight. Just because it sounds like a good idea.

Running

The other thing I did while in Texas was go on a run with Brett the morning of the wedding. 30-40min turned into a solid hour and I knew my legs would be dead. We ran at 8 in the morning, and I spent the rest of the day and night standing, most of the time is cheap tux shoes with no support. So Sunday and Monday my quads were probably the sorest they have ever been. I literally had to brace myself to walk down stairs.

The legs are finally better, especially after a couple short mtn bike rides, but I some how agreed to this tomorrow morning... http://www.camppendletonraces.com/mudmap.htm

Not sure what I was thinking. Back to work, lots to do this morning.

Staying Busy

Not a single ride last week and things were as busy as ever. Beth's friend Lynn had a tough time on the Catalina Channel swim last Tuesday night, but never gave up to finish in 15:53. The long time caused Beth to miss our 5pm Wed flight to Texas. Luckily there was a 7pm flight that got us there at 12:01am Thur... From there the wedding (and moving) errands with Dee and Brett were in motion and we helped out where we could. Rehearsal, dinner, bridal breakfast, photos, wedding, reception, more visiting and next thing we knew we were at the airport for the flight home. Awesome weekend but a little overwhelming trying to visit all the family in Texas we dont get to see nearly often enough. This week things are really busy at work. And with the shorter days its hard to spend much time outside. I at least snuck in a good 1hr ride on the mtn bike last night and took a couple of the more technical downhills in Aliso pretty fast. Next up I'm may doing a little adding up my race expenses for the year for anyone who finds that interesting. And hopefully confirm some sponsorship for next year sometime soon...

Lynn!

Flower prep

Dee and Brett!

Other Stuff

Sure have been busy for only riding once in the past 9 days... guess there are a lot of other little things in life to get caught up on when the riding winds down. Things at work have been getting pretty busy, which is good overall, but takes a little more energy from my day. Shorter days also mean less time for getting outside after work. Laguna was amazing at the end of last week though, really warm and calm. Saturday was a very good day of hanging out there. Sunday Beth and I went on a long ride, a route we're calling Tour of OC, and it was a true fall day, sunny blue skies, but windy and cool. The wind and route wore us out and took up most of the day in the end.

Now Beth is crewing on another Catalina channel crossing - her good friend Lynn making the swim. It's 7:30 Tue eve so they are probably about to leave Long Beach to cruise out to Catalina and get Lynn started about 10-11pm... crazy...

Tomorrow afternoon, we leave for Deanna's wedding in Texas!! Can't wait to see everyone. Straight to the airport from work for me. Long day, but well worth it to have the full day Thursday there. Saturday is the big day. Pack to a few emails, printing photos, then chores and packing for me

Life is good