Giving a hand.

On Saturday I went on a 4.5 hour bike ride with a couple of (male) teammates. It was a very easy, pleasant ride with a few hills, a few cars and a few falls. Overall, the ride was really fun and relaxing.

About 15 minutes into the bike ride one of the riders got a flat-tire....I guess some bike tires are not made to withstand sharp, pointy rocks. Who knew?

After a few attempts at changing his bike tube, my fallen teammate was not making progress. In his tire-changing attempts not only were we causing a city-wide traffic jam in Brentwood (slight exaggeration) since we were taking up half the street we were on but we were also preventing the neighborhood [fancy] people from enjoying their walks since we were also blocking the running trail. Because of our actions, we made our contribution towards making sure cyclists everywhere have a good name. You're welcome.

After a few minutes I decide to step in and give a hand. I was successful. Was this a blow to the manhood? Probably. Was it a confidence booster for me? Absolutely.I'm a tire changing machine...or at least aspiring to be.

OMG, it's the HILLS. No, not the tv show.

"I've read that I flew up the hills and mountains of France. But you don't fly up a hill. You struggle slowly and painfully up a hill, and maybe, if you work very hard, you get to the top ahead of everybody else."
- Lance Armstrong

Prior to signing up for Wildflower, I had only heard amazing things about the event. Seasoned triathletes described it as the best triathlon experience ever...an event not to be missed. I was very excited and ready experience the "fun" they all talked about. So I got my credit card out and I signed up.

After registering I took time to study the website. I familiarized myself with the finishing times, camp ground information and various charts and graphs. During my browsing I came across the little chart above where I quickly learned that in Wildflower talk, the world "fun"=hills. Lot's of them...including one with 1,000 feet elevation gain.

Now, in my world, I don't particularly associate hills with fun. On the contrary, I associate them with fatigue, sweat and sore muscles. They're not my thing. From the start of this training season I told anyone who had a say in my workouts that I would do whatever they wanted me to do as long as they promised I wouldn't get "man legs." Nothing personal, like hills, man legs are just not my thing. For some reason in the back of my mind I associate hills with "man legs" which only contributes to my dislike of hills even more....

This will be interesting.

A Half Ironman.

In October I signed up to be a member of the Team in Training, Half-Ironman Team for the WIldflower Triathlon. Yes, that's a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride and a 13.1 mile run--in ONE day. I had always thought about trying a half-ironman but I never really had it in me to really commit to the training. Over the past six-months, a few things inspired me to bite the bullet and sign up for the race:

1. Seeing my wonderful Grandmother beat Lymphoma -- She is one of the lucky ones who survived this disease. Even though I've known her my entire life, she's a new person in my eyes. Her renewed appreciation for people and life has inspired me.

2. Seeing a good friend Jeff Hartnett complete the Lake Placid Ironman as a Hodgkins Lymphoma survivor. Watching Jeff cross the finish line was incredible! Jeff's ability to do this after being in remission for only a year, really leaves me a fully capable, healthy adult with no excuses.

3. To honor those who did not make it. People like the incredible Erica Murray who fought a good fight but who unfortunately was taken from this earth much too soon.

4. Finding Team In Training and being able to train and hopefully complete the event while supporting a wonderful charity. I have learned that numerous friends have family members currently dealing with this all too common condition and I want to do whatever I can to help further cancer research with hopes that one day the threat of cancer will be completely eliminated. To donate please visit my fundraising headquarters.

Since this is truly a once in a lifetime experience, I decided to start blogging in order to have a living document where I can vent about my frustrations, brag about my accomplishments and hopefully inspire one of you to try something new....something that scares you and that you may consider to be impossible. Life is short, remember to always make the most of it!