It's been awhile since my last post. I've been a little too busy to post so here's an update. In the past 2 weeks Liza and I did our first Triathlon, my parents visited, and I've stayed busy building trails. The Triathlon was a fun experience ( not gonna be more than that though.....don't worry!) doing something new that I was a novice at. It was fun to race with no expectations and no pressure. We were quite concerned with the fact that we had only been swimming a couple of times and faced a 1500 meter open water swim. The bike and run would be no problem after that. We started in one of the last waves to go so we had plenty of time to watch the other waves start and get progressively more nervous about the impending drowning we were sure to suffer. Soon enough it was time to go. Into the water we went. I had agreed to swim with Liza since she was so worried. She did great and never looked like she was going to die. The hardest part was watching everybody else swim away and not chase them. The swim seemed a lot easier than I was expecting as I just cruised along enjoying being in the water. For the first time in forever, I didn't get any water in my ears. Soon enough, we'd reached the dock and climbed out....in last place. After a 300 meter run to the transition area I was indeed the last person on course. This may not have happened had Liza not run off and left me when I was laid low by a sand burr in the foot. She didn't even look back!
On to the bike....after a "relaxed" transition, I finally got on the bike. Facing a 12 mile bike, I was really wishing it was 112. It took me awhile to catch anyone, but then was passing people left and right. The legs felt realllllly weird for probably 6 -7 miles and by the time I really got rolling the bike was over. Some aero bars would have been nice too but this was not far from an "off the couch event" so I didn't put that much effort into it. Anyways- I blew into the T2 a little hot....say 30mph hot, scrubbed speed through the grass, and cx dismounted perfectly for a solid bike time. After a slightly less relaxed 2nd transition, I started the run. That felt crummy for 1/2 mile or so but then I got rolling. Soon, I checked my Garmin and saw that I'd been running quite a bit faster than I had planned. Feeling good, I lengthened my stride and pressed on. I probably passed several hundred people on the run. I got caught by a 15 yr old kid and we battled back and forth for the finish. He got me....which was fine. I finished right about where I figured I would. Good times. I headed back to the transition area to see where Liza was. Her bike was on the rack meaning she was out on the run. People were still coming in from the bike meaning she'd made up a good bit of ground on that leg. She made up more on the run finishing strong. I was very proud of her for doing such a good job despite not knowing how to swim well. 1500 meter doggie paddles are tough!
After a quick shower, we headed downtown to get some food. Pleasantly surprised by downtown Wilmington we vowed to come back for a long weekend. What a cool town!
The day after the Tri, my parents came to visit. We had a great time and it went by far too quickly as always. With plans for a family Christmas in MB,they headed back to Dahlonega. I headed out to the trails to finish them. Tough work ensued with the crummy dirt there. Rake, cut roots,rake, cut roots,etc. Over and over until you hit real dirt instead of decomposing mulch. Dirt is somewhere between 8-18 inches deep under a spiderweb of roots,bark,leaves, and other organic matter. Every now and then I get to dig and build features. It's a slow process but I'm making progress. I hope to have the trail completed by the end of the week. It will be a short loop, but fun and fast.
I better have it done this week. I start training for 2013 next monday! After keeping it pretty random and unstructured for the last umm.....several months, I'm ready to get things going again!
Anyways- That's it for now....DH out.
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