Ukrops 10K- Richmond, VA

Saturday morning we drove into Richmond for Carol & Heathers first 10K! The out and back course is on beautiful Monument Avenue, famous for it's row houses and monuments of Confederate generals Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, J.E.B Stuart, and Confederate president Jefferson Davis (side note- In a obvious attempt at political correctness, a statue of tennis great Arthur Ashe was erected several years ago. Armed with a tennis racket and a book, not only is he completely out of place, some have observed that he looks like he's going to apply a "beat down" to the children that surround him).

With 32,000 participants and 50,000 spectators, it was an awesome scene to behold. They send the runners off in waves in 5 minute or so intervals. Carol has been diligently preparing for a couple of months and Heather was on Matoaca's cross country team this year, so they both felt confident they could set a good pace on the 10K (6.2 mile) course. While they were running, I took Jillian and her friend Bracey around some of the booths, etc. There were several music groups playing on different parts of the course and tons of people were running "in costume"as well (fittingly, they had their own wave). We saw Raggedy Ann, a team dressed as Pac- Man, Harry Potter, a viking, several men in business suits, a dude in a french maids outfit, a few people in bright green and blue skin suits, a man dressed like Indiana Jones pulling an inflatable rock, and most distubing of all- some fat guy from the cast of "Cats".

The weather was perfect for the event, just a tad chilly and most importantly, no rain! The local weather boobs had it completely wrong and this time the mistake was actually in our favor! About an hour after Carol and Heather's wave launched the girls and I grabbed a snack and found a place at the finish line. Carol and Heather crossed the line together in 1:26:48! Not to shabby at all for the first time! 6.2 miles is a pretty good haul! I'm extremely proud of them!

Today was a pretty good day...

I got my work done early and put in a 44 mile ride (2 1/2 hours)! It's absolutely pouring rain right now and it's supposed to let up tomorrow morning, which is a good thing because Carol & Heather are doing the Ukrop's 10k in Richmond around 11am. If they're lucky, it'll just drizzle a little. This run is a pretty big deal on the east coast. Around 20,000 people are signed up if the news is correct.

My ride went very well. It was cloudy, dry and about 58 degrees. All I needed to stay warm was my arm warmers and vest. It's nice to pedal along the James River and enjoy the scenery before climbing up Old Gun Road. It's not a steep climb, or particularly long, but I hit it at about the 25 mile mark so if I'm not feeling all that great it can hurt a little. Today I felt very strong and blasted up as fast as I ever have! It felt terrific! My fitness level has really taken off over the last two weeks. I've put in a lot of upper body and core work over the winter and really ramped it up the last few weeks. It really feels like it's paying off. I'm not where I want to be weight wise, but I've not been this light in years. I'm very happy now, but I'd like to drop another 10 or 15, I'd be ecstatic!

As I plodded along I thought about how important it is to practice "self denial". From large and small financial decisions, to what we feed our minds, to quantity and quality of food choices; it's a great habit to cultivate in every facet of our lives. I've not always been good at it, but I try and that's a good place to start I guess.

I celebrated my fine day with an Amstel Light.

More Fresno Memories...

Growing up in Fresno had its good moments. Now that I'm older and (presumably) wiser I can see that it wasn't as bad as I thought it was. I guess I was just your typically whiny (bored) teen who thought he was having a "Footloose" moment at times. You know the type.

I was out riding yesterday and today (42 & 32 miles) and had some great memories float by.

I remember...

I know alot of folks buy into the whole "global warming" scare, but it has always been hotter than Hell in Fresno. You have to be careful about touching the handle on your car door, sitting on your vinyl seats in shorts, and if your an idiot, walking barefoot on asphalt. The plus side was my mom dropping me and a couple of my brothers and sisters off to swim at Airways. I think it cost 50 cents and you could swim all day. The tallest diving board seemed like it was 50 feet in the air. I bet it was 10 feet.

I remember the Chicken Pie Shop. A restaurant that sells chicken pies has to be great, right? It was.

Zack's. I can never smell a clove cigarette and not thinks of Zack's dance club.

Bowling at Fresno State. We used to make up names for the score sheet, I'd usually pick a name like Fausto Coppi. My brother would pick something subtly perverse. We thought it was funny to have it glowing on the overhead!

We used to play "pickle" till we were exhausted!

My grandmothers walkway used to be lined with jars of sun tea in the summer! Nothing, and I mean nothing, beats a Mason jar full of ice cold sun tea in the summer! She also made top notch potato salad as well! It had little chunks of pickle in it.

My dad was a mechanic for a time and once brought home a "crap load" of donuts he salvaged off of a donut truck that wrecked. If I remember right my mom froze alot of them so they wouldn't go to waste. I think we had the metal sheets they were on for quite some time as well.

I once had a blue and white "SWATCH". That was one trendy timepiece!

We used to eat breakfast at Roding Park with my Dad's family. They'd cook pancakes, bacon, etc. It was fun.

Grandma Smart always had a frosted Christmas tree! And made some wicked rum balls we used to sneak away with!

Ottmar Thomas' Toyota of Visalia commercials! What an accent that mook had!

Pizza and Pipes! It's impossible to eat cheap pizza whilst listening to an obnoxious pipe organ and not have fun! I think it burned down.

I used to get most of my school clothes from the J.C. Penny catalog and GEMCO. Those were the days of terry cloth shirts, O.P. shirts and shorts (nutters), and shoes (fake Vans) sure to keep an orthopedic doctor gainfully employed.

It doesn't seem that long ago. Man does time fly!

Pot O' Gold!

The Eighties were an incredible time for Irish cycling! It's not like the peleton's cup was running over with Irishmen, I can only remember four. Two of them were amongst my absolute favorites, Sean Kelly and Stephen Roche. Martin Early didn't get much press but was a very capable rider for Fagor (sweet kits) and PDM. Paul Kimmage toiled for RMO and later penned the very compelling "Rough Ride".

My first look at Kelly was the 1986 Paris- Roubaix. The combo of Phil Liggett's commentary and John Tesh's techno music blew me away. That was the most heroic sporting event I'd ever watched at that point in my life! This race was long, cold, wet and muddy. Over cobblestones? You've got to be joking! These are HARD men!! I wanted a KAS jersey something fierce!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_onBx2ZSHA

http://cyclinghalloffame.com/riders/rider_bio.asp?rider_id=49

Sean Kelly was a flat out freak on a bicycle! He also won the Vuelta d' Espana!

Stephen Roche was a weapon of mass destruction in 1987! He won the Giro D' Italia, Tour de France, and World Championship; only Eddy Merckx had accomplished that before.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BrvsSOs920

"It's only a mountain..."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8woHATqz8E

http://www.cyclinghalloffame.com/riders/rider_bio.asp?rider_id=114

I still have my Carrera jersey (what a team that was!).

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Rain, Rain, Drizzle, Drizzle

What a sucky weekend! Sometimes I think the weather has it in for me. The weeks I'm on the road it's 70 degrees and sunny. Lately, the weeks (or weekends) I'm working at home its too crappy to venture out. So I spin on my trainer, which bores me to no end. On the plus side I have been hitting the Y and getting some really good upper body/ core sessions in.

I've been using Hammer Nutrition's HEED drink mix the last few weeks and can't say enough positive things about it! I've used Hammer Gel for about a year or so and love it as well. They have an excellent website with some very interesting articles about their sports supplements; you can check it out at http://www.hammernutrition.com/.

I was up in the DC area this week and had Korean food for the first time. It was teriffic! In fact, I may go on a Korean food tangent. The dish I had is called Bibim Bap. It's a salad of sorts with rice, and several small bowls of a variety of marinated vegetables. You mix them all together and add some of the spicy sauce that came with it. I love variety in my diet and this is something I plan on enjoying again!

If you ever find yourself in Alexandria, VA you should check out Hee Been on Little River Turnpike (http://www.heebeen.com/), you won't be disappointed.