Easter Reflections

You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give. - Kahlil Gibran, 1883-1931

A busy weekend...drive out to El Paso Thursday night, ride the Trans Mountain Pass, load up and drive back early Saturday, Easter services at church, lunch with Mom, and trying to get a little rest in the middle of all the bustle... yeah, good luck with that.

First, the drive out to El Paso was interesting, in that we drove into a storm in West Texas just beyond Van Horn. We watched a freaky lightning show for a while, and did come up on a fire beside the freeway which had been started by the lightning strikes we were watching. But then we hit quite a bit of rain we hoped would put that fire out.

Trans Mountain Pass. Jeff had said he wanted to take the bikes and get in a ride while we were in El Paso. This was going to be the first time back in the saddle since the bike wreck. Needless to say, I was a little apprehensive about taking on any significantly difficult ride. We originally talked about a fairly flat ride,  but that wasn't to be the case. Smuggler's Gap is at the top of Trans Mountain Pass; a 1200-feet elevation change and about 6.5 miles up. And of course I managed to find the one tiny little thorn that was waiting for me... flatted about a mile from the top. And this may have been the windiest ride I have done, which would have been fine if it had been head or tail winds, but this was all cross winds or crazy twisty winds between the peaks. But it was a great test of the shoulder - and the mental state post-wreck.

The drive back was pretty awesome. We saw a gorgeous sunrise rolling into Van Horn. The colors in the skies were mind-blowing. Coming back through Fredericksburg we saw a bunch of bicyclists and motorcycles, all of which were having to deal with some pretty strong winds.

Sunday brought a chance to sit and ponder a number of things, which I will get to in a minute. But the sermon and the music selection were really enjoyable. Pastor Matt does a very entertaining presentation of the gospel without taking anything away from the message. Then lunch and some time to spend with Mom. 

So, when you stop and think about the events surrounding the death and resurrection of Jesus, and you step back just a bit with a different perspective... all kinds of things come to mind:

 - "what if I had fallen just a little differently, or a little harder? what if nobody was around? what if the helmet or sunglasses or riding gloves had not done their job? "

- "what if one of those two surgeries had not gone as well as they had? "

- "what if that doctor had given a different diagnosis? " -- Love you, Amanda!

- "what if they had not detected her cancer this soon? " -- Love you, P1 !!

- "what if you had not met the people you have met over the last 7 years?" -- Best of friends you would never have known.

It all comes back to the same thing - He has a plan, and He has known it for all eternity. We are too busy with life too often to acknowledge that. I feel like I have finally started taking the time to see the more important things; don't sweat the small stuff, don't think you can fix everything for everybody because sometimes you just can't, pay attention to what you CAN do, who you CAN help. I just know that I will do what I can to support the causes I believe in, and the causes that affect me and those close to me, because there are so many things wrong out there. Everybody has something that they can do, in whatever arena they feel they need to be... if you don't want to play in my sandbox, that's fine - go build your own. Just do SOMETHING, because it is important that you do.

 

Oops - it could have gone a LITTLE better!

Everything happens for a reason, people change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so you can appreciate them when they're right, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can come together. -- Marilyn Monroe

Well, the LoneStar 70.3 didn’t turn out quite the way I wanted it to finish. My 70.3 turned into a 24.7, and then I was done. I managed the swim pretty well (I found out later I had improved the swim from last year by a little over 5 minutes!) but the ride? – not so much… I was on the outbound leg, about 23 ½ miles into the ride, and facing the headwind all the way out. I was a couple miles short of the turnaround at the cell tower, just about to get off the bridge at San Luis Pass, and really looking forward to turning around and getting that tailwind on the way back. I went from looking up and seeing the tower in front of me, to looking up at an EMS tech… and not knowing what happened in between. From what we can figure out, one of my wheels caught in a groove in the road, and I went over the front of the bike and falling to the right. Fortunately there were no other riders about to pass me, so I am happy that I didn’t ruin somebody else’s day. My bike went head over heels to some degree, because looking at it afterward, the only damage was to the shifters on the ends of the aero bars. My helmet, sunglasses, gloves and jersey were not quite as fortunate. All brand new for the event, all were totaled as a result of the impact, but all did the job for which they were intended, so I am okay with the loss. In the process of hitting the road, I managed to split my upper lip. I was completely out for some period of time. A rider about 200 yards behind me said I went down real hard, real fast. He stopped the first policeman he found and told him to call an ambulance.

So after a trip to UTMB and getting stitched up, clean cat scan and xrays, I was discharged and able to go back to the race. The race support had brought my bike back to the transition area, and Jeff had packed all my stuff up for me. We looked to see if the last of my friends had finished and then packed all the stuff in the truck for the trip home.

This past week has been really slow for me, in that I was not able to do any workouts, just sitting around trying to heal. Tomorrow I will get the stitches out of my lip and hopefully cleared to start back up with the training. Ironman Kansas 70.3 is about 2 months away, and I want to be ready, at least to finish…

My brother-in-law calls it retro grade amnesia, where the body decides "you don't REALLY want to know about this!" and blocks out the 15-20 minutes surrounding the accident. And after seeing the deep scratches in the right lens of my sunglasses, the body probably made the right decision!

Everything DOES happen for a reason… I appreciate that I was able to finish last year, and I am excited that my swim time improved as much as it did. Another plus? It didn’t happen AFTER having to run 13.1 miles J…

DNF - Those Ugly 3 Letters An Athlete Doesn't Like...

And The Journey Continues...

Challenges make you discover things about yourself that you never really knew. They're what make the instrument stretch--what makes you go beyond the norm.   --- David L Boren

I have managed to get in quite a bit of training this past week, which leads us to this coming Sunday... LoneStar 70.3, version 2. I want to think I am better prepared for this race than I was last year. I have challenged myself to better the time by 30 minutes. That might be overdoing it a bit, but a goal is a goal. The bad news is that they expect it to be fairly windy this time around.

So in the last couple of weeks, I did the Rosedale Ride, the Spokes and Spurs, a half-iron distance ride with an Ironman Texas trainee, a few runs, and a lot of swimming. 

The rides have gone pretty well, good workouts considering every one of them included a bit of wind.
Spokes and Spurs was a particularly auspicious occasion, in that it was the 7th anniversary of my heart attack, to the day. I was blessed to have Coach Jeff, Kristi and Bruce ride with me to commemorate the day. Thanks, I love you all!


I have managed a few runs since running the Cap 10K, so I think as long as I can stay hydrated, I should be able to run a bit better than last year.


The swims have been anywhere from 1000-2600 yards, so while it won't be fast, I feel pretty comfortable about the distance. Again, with winds, that could all change. 

So it comes down to this... here we are again at Lone Star 70.3 !
Once again, I am only competing with myself, but I have had a number of friends step up and offer to write a check to AHA for a little more if I manage to meet my goal. And as nice as that sounds, I will, as always, be happy to finish...happier still if I can collect those checks!


Once I got down to Galveston, I wanted to get the bike dialed in, so I switched to the HED 88s and headed for Seawall Blvd, since that is where we will ride Sunday. Rolling along the beachfront, I could feel the cross winds blowing against the deep-dish wheels, but it was manageable. So I think the plan is to put the 88s on the bike, and if it is windy Sunday morning when I get to transition, switch to the 58 on the front. That would give me a bit more control.

Tomorrow i am going to get up and go spectate the Sprint, which is the race in which I was actually supposed to participate last year... isn't it funny how much better He works things out differently than we mere mortals plan them?

I am excited to do this race again. It definitely is the kick-start to the tri season for me, and commences the long triathlon road to Ironman Florida. So I look at Sunday as just a long training day. I think I have remembered everything from last year, so as long as everything goes well, it will be a great event.


I have a few friends also participating this time around, most of them for the first time at this distance, so regardless of who finishes first, it will be exciting to see them at the finish.


So - hopefully the Cardiac Ironman jersey will be seen crossing the finish line vertically, and still able to celebrate. That's the plan, anyway...