starting back up.

I try to start getting back into a small groove of training. I've yet to do a run since the marathon, but I did get on the TT bike the other day. Felt good, did a few longer intervals, which was just me going faster for 3 miles at a time. I have 3 weeks to get ready for a duathlon in Arizona. I'll need to run sub 6 min/miles, and ride 21miles in around 50minutes.

The big news of the week is my best buddy, Mark is having a baby. Uncoiencidentally, he's getting married too, this Wednesday. I hope he doesn't have to sell his boat.

I'll get to see Jason this next weekend, via the internet and a camera system hooked up to it. But it will be good to at least see him by a live feed.

The marathon

The week leading up to the Houston marathon was not what I had planned. Instead of getting in runs, I did 3 spin classes and zero running. I called it a really hard taper. Every night I would go out to my lake and see if I could shoot anything that moves, with my bow and arrow. I'd put out some marshmellows, and they'd be gone the next day. So I knew their was activity, I'd just have to see it.
So with my lights I'd see a raccoon, an opposum, some deer, a red fox, and something in the water. A nutria rat. Several nights I've seen it, and so I moved to a different spot JUST to kill it. I think most of my energy went to killing that huge rat than getting prepared for a marathon.
SO I am out, trying to not wake the neighbors, so I have to use a bow and arrow, a two handed mechanism. Well, unfortunatly I needed to hold a light too.
Magan was volunteered to hold the light. The night we saw it, I didn't shoot. It was too far and not a good shot. I didn't feel like losing an arrow for no reason except a 10 percent chance of hitting it.
The next day I get permission to use a gun from Vicki, my neighbor.
But, I'm off to Houston in this timeline of the week, and going to Justins to spend the night.
Before I get there, I do some errands, and pick up my packet for the marathon. I'm running under the name 'wink;)'.
Wak up at 5 and eat/get ready to hit the marathon.

Justin ran with me the whole way. I had unfortunatly lost the ability to wear any shoes since doing primal quest, because a huge blister would grow if I did. SO I was stuck with using the Nike Free's. By mile 6 I was feeling the Free's and not doing anything for a solid week, plus some from the week before(2 total weeks with one run).

The calves were the first to go, feeling tight and like I needed a stretch. But no stopping while running. Mile 10 had some slight fatigue in my quads. Nothing bad though, almost half way done!

We saw Wooch and Jill on the course, and the thousands of cheerers, and passing everyone....it was very motivational! At mile 13.1, we were half way. I was feeling tired, but not really. My quads and calves were toasted, and blisters on my feet(in normal places) started to appear.

Mile 16, we see Justin's girlfriend, Allison and give a quick hug, and we have motivation for some more miles.

Around mile 20, we see Shaun and Patti. YEAH!. They rode next to us for a bit and time really flew in that section. The legs were really feeling tired, but I was still able to run. My longest I've ever ran straight was 18.5, so I was crushing my personal record with every step.

From mile 23, it got tough. We picked up the pace and my legs hurt. After running an 8:30 pace for 23 miles, and picking it up to a 7 min/mile pace WHILE my legs were fatigueing to the point of no return. The calves started to really flare up with lively pain. Could this be what not training properly will do to you? Will my calves rip themselves off of the bone?

I would tell Justin, that I wanted to get home and kill something after doing something for so long. I was getting ready for tonight.

Mile 24, I hear some Rocky music and pick it up to a 6:30 pace. We're cruising past lots and lots of runners.

Mile 25 and I'm hurting bad now. Not just my legs, but I'm starting to breathe heavy too. But I hear another Rocky song and hit that last mile with a good stride. Feeling stronger.......almost done now! Dun dun dun, dun dun dun dun, dun dun dun, dun dun dun dun......FLY!!!!!!!

Mile 26, we cross the line, under 3:40. Good enough for 635th in the race.

I head home, pick up my new tandem from BIKE LANE, and get ready to hunt.

I'm out, I took the bow and arrow, and my 30.06 with Varmit bullets and a couple of lights. We wait and within 5 minutes I see a raccon 30+ yards at the end of the lake. I take the bow and make a hard to see shot. The red lens cap on the spotlight took a lot of the visability away. I shot just under him, and lost my arrow tip in a stump.
5 minutes after that, we(Magan and I) hear the nutria swimming to our right. We switch positions, and spotlight it. It's around 60 yards away, swimming back and forth....all I can see is it's head.
Then it comes up on a shallow peice of land in the water. BOOOM! I take the shot.

One nutria rat dead.

Unfortuantly the 30.06 woke all the neighbors, and make a tremendous ECHOOOO!

Run-ning

So after getting killed by Justin on the 18.5 mile run, I got out on the bike for the first time in a month.
It was a new setup for the TT bike, and I had the powertap on it. Went and did a 25 mile ride after work, only to find it took me 1:08 to do. I averaged 21mph and 200 watts. I can't wait until I actually get to go hard and see what I can do! All that running just made me MEAN!
Just for a reference, this course that I used to ride(the same one I just rode) was completely smooth. Now it has chip and seal on half of it. I used to ride it hard, and my best time was 1:06, for the 40k. This time I was out testing the powertap, taking it easy at first, then keeping it under a leash once warmed up.
I have around 100 new songs on my itunes. Thanks to Magan. And some generous gift cards for Christmas!
I got some new camo from the Sportsmansguide.com, waterproof baby! I'm really wanting to go turkey hunting one of these days.
Marley and Me, the movie about the dog, is very sad at the end. It was kinda good though, Magan and I went to see it the other night.
Last night, I taught a bunch of basics at Karate. Work hard, fight hard. Well, some of the guys wanted to grapple. Hmmmm, I haven't done that in a year or so. And I haven't even done any stand up fighting in a couple of months. So we do some grappling. Eventually I start grappling with Spicer, Chris Spicer, who is a pro at that MMA thing, 200 pounds of fighter. He was stronger and more technical than I was. But I lived long enough-5minutes.
Check out their website:http://deathrowmma.com/

Well I gotta go, Mom's birthday is today, and we're taking her out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5W58LoiSEQ&NR=1

I was crying after seeing this. The third guy is doing ballarina stuff. The guy on the far right looks like a monkey. The 6th from the right looks....slow.

It's the new year

2008 was good. 2009 will only be beter.
I was sick, kinda, going into christmas. So I didn't run or ride any. I haven't ridden since the cross races, and I've done a 15 miler the week before Christmas while running. I was hoping I could get the legs used to some long pounding miles before I trudged into a marathon on Janurary 18th.
So being sick and not training a month before something a hard as a marathon, and never having done one, I began to wonder. No worries, the sickness would be gone in a day or two and I'll be good to go!
On the 26th Magan and I left for Goldthwait, to visit her family and go hunting. I took every advantage I could to get out and kill something. I had no choice....the sickness lingered, and I wasn't going to do a run only to have 3 more days added onto the sickness.
The first day I sat on a hill, no blind, just me with the wind to my face. Deer came out, but I waited and shot a raccoon.
The next day I went back, same spot, passed on some deer and shot a doe, which is in fact a female deer. Shot through the heart! Loading her was more difficult after tracking her, by myself, carrying her down a mountain by myself, and putting her on the 4 wheeler by myself. We ended up using that doe for bait for some bobcats down by the river.
The next morning I woke to go in a stand with the big deer. Magan's cousin, Mark, who owned the land, needed to manage the population. So I was to shoot not a big deer, but a certain one he didn't want. We saw 15 bucks, most of which would've been 12+ points had they not broke off all their antlers in fighting. These pretty semi-tropheys were lucky I couldn't shoot. The deer that I was supposed to shoot never showed, and lucky for him...I was jones'n to kill again.
That night, we drove to Fredricksburg to go to the Rock Box. It's a funny show, and we saw the christmas version.
here's the doehemian rhapsody, about Texas Hillcountry deer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-rc3QPR_OI&feature=related
Jason would love it there! It's beter live.
Then on Monday, I was out again. I was in a makeshift blind in the fenced off exotic animal area. I was after a blackbuck. He was the only one left, and Mark didn't want him there anymore. I was more than happy to be out again, but I've yet to see him, and was wondering if he was still alive! We drove around, looking at areas he could be at, and saw nothing. Then we flushed him out. I saw him, and was super ready, adrenaline pumping. I was looking for a shot like a whitetail deer, but never got the opportunity. This thing was fast, and could disappear in a heartbeat. Mark told me I'd have to shoot him african style....on the run.
I'd stalk up to where he 'could' be, and eventually flush him out....he'd run, through trees, and I'd shoot my singleshot toward him. Never getting him.
Hours went by, me stalking, not trying to spook the zebra and addax, and occasionally taking a bad shot.
I came back, after lunch, to try again. I located him after an hour, and began the stalk. This time, I thought about what I was doing wrong, and corrected. I led the deer, and took a calmer shot.
I ended up shooting right behind the ribs....which is a bad shot, but I also didn't want to hit the front, as it would be a great mount. It took some good hours, and lots of energy, but this deer/antalope is sure pretty, and worth it.
Guess what, I felt beter after killing that deer.
I finally return home....not sick anymore, and get a good 9 mile run in. It feels ok. But it feels like it takes a long time....my mind isn't used to it anymore.
New Years was fun, the normal gang came over to the house....played dominos, and I played some Lego Indiana Jones on the Wii.
On New Year day...I went for an easy jog....around 6 miles. I kept going and exploring and ended up doing a 14 mile run, with some walks every 25 minutes for 1 minute, it took just over 2 hours. I'm thinking I can do the Houston Marathon in 3:30 or less. If I was training beter, and longer, I would go for under 3 hours....but starting a month and half before something that long is just too much to ask your body to do.
I was planning on doing the cross races this weekend, and missing the E2(torture test) since I haven't ridden any. But after being sick, I might miss both, and just try to get some runs.

Now I need to go plan for this weekend....and see if I need to sign up for Leadville.

What a week. I was pumped up to do the Dave Boyd memorial Texas Dare. The race was at Double Lake this year, and had no zipline. The team would be myself, Shaun Alimghty, Patti, and a HART guy-Johnathan.
Waking up early and getting the drive wasn't so bad, as it only took 45 minutes. Getting to see Charles, Sarah, John Abrams, and Judy(Dave's family) was neat. Cheryl even showed up for a bit, which was great to see her too.
Our team had great transition support, with Magan, Peggy and Nancy going after it. Feeding 4 hungry team MOAT members isn't so easy.
The race started off with a 3 mile run. Then a 7 mile run to the boats. We took over the lead from Vignete during this leg. Then we got in the 4 man boat, and proceeded to an island. We were talking and paddling good....but the wind was blowing like crazy. The waves were big, and coming from all directions. Shaun, the boat guy, was really worried, and thought about turning around and forgetting the points....it was too dangerous. But we kept going. Then about a minute after I took a big hit of water on the lower half of my body, we flipped the boat. In the middle of Lake Livingston, we flipped the boat.
The initial shock of very cold water over the whole body was taken pretty well. Since I was in front, I turn to see Patti freezing and eyes bigger than the moon. She was so worried. I gave her my paddle, and her and Johnathan started drifting to shore, while Shaun and I hung on the boat...unable to flip it back over. We sat there. Slowly letting the current push us to shore. Shaun was so cold his little legs started cramping. I too started getting the shivers really bad. Then we saw Vignette coming, in 2 boats. They paddled straight to Patti and Johnathan to help them out. I thought....WTF? Why not help the boat out first. Then I saw Rick Sanders(the race director) and John Abrams coming to our aid in a john boat with an 8 horse power motor. They grabbed the front string, and slowly....VERY SLOWLY, pulled us to shore. They were out there to tell everyone to turn around, the water was too dangerous to paddle on. So when they saw another team just coming out of the cove into the open water, they left us to go tell them to go back. We sat there for another 5 minutes and finally got pulled to shore. We were soaking wet for at least 20 minutes....probably around 30.
Vignette was nice enough to make sure we got out of the water, with the boat, before leaving to continue racing.
MOAT on the other hand, was border line hypothermic. While we took off our wet tops and put on Jackets from Rick and John Abrams to get warm by a bar-b-que pit at a house we 'borrowed', we noticed the rescue boat had flipped! John Abrams and Rick were up their waist in water!!!
We sat by this grill, using it to warm up, as we shivered violently. Until a neighbor was wrangled up into giving us a ride to the start of the paddle leg in his suburban. Once at the start, we sat by a fire, just starting to stop shivvering and starting to 'feel' warmth....key word is FEEL!
We decide to keep racing at this point, and just as the last place team is running up to check the point.
The 7 mile run back was brutal. Legs were numb,and the blisters I got on the way out were in full force on my soft feet. We manage though....we are like Spartan men, taught to feel no pain, show no mercy, and never retreat.
We passed a few more teams, and was treated to a bike ride on the next leg. Several dismounts, and remounts later, after crossing log after log. We pass a few more teams. only to have Johnathans chain break,and have them pass us again. We get going, and repass them once again. And the last bike section was riding around the course....which we passed Vignette. Only for me to have my handlebar taken out by a vine. I felt like Lance Armstrong on Luz Ardenden with the musset bag. We put time in on the other teams there, but the last leg was a run/nav. We were with Vignette during the start, and were chasing a team 10minutes up. Somehow, we got stuck on point 14, only to roll through the rest. We figure another 8 miles of running was enough to cap of about a marathon worth of running during the race. We ended up getting 3rd, with HART getting 2nd, and Vignette taking the well deserved win. Peggys food was eatten in mass after the race.
I was in bed as soon as I was home, and out again the next day, doing the Cross Through the woods in the Woodlands. I was sore. I've never ran that much. But I wanted to support the cross scene in the Houston area.
The turnout could've been beter, but the course was SPOT ON! Dave would've loved it.

Kevin Koen goes off the front early, while I do my usuall warm up during the race, only to pass everybody and then start racing. Lawson and Aaron rode strong, but I wasn't going to let them be dragged up to Kevin so easy. I attacked on the barriers and got a gap and started bridging up to Kevin.

I thought the time was only halfway done, after getting his 30 second lead cut down to 15. So I took an easy lap to recover from some harder efforts. Then I saw one lap to go, and knew it was over. I rode in after having a really fun race on a fun race course. Roots, sand, dirt, grass, pavement, turns, straights, mud, and hills....the course had it all!




So I wake up early today(monday) to get a hunt in with Robin Messina, my karate instructors wife. We're hunting pigs, unless she sees a deer, which you might just assume is dead as she is jonesin' to get one!
I see nothing all morning, and I walk to Robin to go to the truck. She tells me she was right next to them, but they woke up from bedding down and she never saw them. So instead of walking to the truck, we walk over to where they might be. We walk silently, and have full camo on. Then, about 10 yards away we spook two pigs! Robin squats, and I have my gun on them. We stay still enough, and they don't see us. They're just sitting beind some brush. I ask if she's gonna shoot, and she's waiting on me. Well, I didn't have a good shot, so I walk slowly to get a beter position. Then more pigs are showing up out of the high grass. They are starting to move away from us....so I have to take a shot.
Now before you read the rest, you must know I am shooting a 30.06. It's a single shot gun, that I normally use hollowtip bullets. I recently bought some hard tips, and don't know how they perform....I was hesitant to use them, but decided to give them a go.
SO.....this pig I shoot at is walking away, not even close to being turned sideways(like I'd prefer). I shoot. I hear squeeling as I see the other pigs starting to run to the woods nearby. My gloves hamper me from getting another bullet in quickly. I reload, and walk a few feet to see the pig I shot with guts hanging out, and hurting. I aim and fire again, ending it quickly. I see something fly in the air about 25 feet off the ground. Hmmm?
I run in the woods to see if I can get another pest. I don't see one, so Robin and I do a quick loop and come back to the pig.
When coming up close, the intestines were hanging out(I didn't put this picture up, as it was very graphic). The bullet went in clean on one side, and ripped a hole about a foot wide in the other side! The second shot was in the head, going in right behind the eyeball to exit on the other side, with brains spilling out.....and his ear removed! That was what was flying up in the air. Here's some proof....

I don't know how much meat will be good, but we got one pest out of the woods, and it only suffered for 3-4 seconds(for those that care). Next time, I might jump on one and ride him and shoot his little friends, then take my knife and get him too.

I can't believe the Dallas Cowboys. The game was 13-3. A ten point lead. Then Pittsburg kicks a field goal, and it gets lucky and goes in after hitting the post. No worries, 13-6. Then the officials make a bad call, the ball hits the ground and they call it a catch. Pittsburg knows this and hurries the next play, and why Dallas never calls a timeout or challenge is beyond me. So Pittsburg then goes and gets a big yard play. The next play is a 3rd down play, and the ref's mark it a foot more, and so it's 4th and inches. SO they go for it, only to really make about 1 inch, and they give them 4. So go figure they go and score that drive, and then Romo hucks another interception. IF they just get to the playoffs, they'll be good to go. If not, I'll be more pissed than a bull at a Red Day Parade while getting a cattle prod up the butt.

Errr. So Thursday I tought Karate. The parents love me. I must really teach kids the good morals and values they deserve to be taught. I see lots of tallent in those kids. And some could use a bit more. But they are all fun to be around, as long as they're laughing with me, and not at me.
I skipped hunting on Thursday, to hunt Friday. Go figure, Scooter couldn't go. So I practiced shooting some with the Bow. Then watched a movie that night. In the middle of the movie Scooter and Emily come over, and give gifts to JT and Jennifer and Grandma(Magan's Dad, mom, and grandma). I wonder WHY, and soon realize it's not for Christmas. They gave them baby shirts that say I'm the best Grandparent. So, Emily is pregnat!
Saturday was my first cross race this year, besides yetticross. I wasn't expecting much out of my legs, as I had only ridden a month ago at Adventure Race nationals, and have only done runs since then. After starting in the back, I move through the 20 guys and settle in 4th. Brian Fawley was killing it, and Mitch Comardo was chasing. I had Kevin Koen a few seconds up, and a big group on my wheel. I took two laps to realize that I wasn't going to hurt too bad, and had some power in the legs. And after learning the course a little beter, I picked it up and got a gap on the big group. I passed Mitch, as he flatted, and rode the rest of the race in 3rd. I took the last 15 minutes and took a strole to the finish line, pushing minimal amounts.
Sunday the course was cool. Some drops, climbs, twisties. Unfortunatly I didn't have my skills dialed in yet, and had to lose time in all the skillful sections. I think if I rode more that wouldn't be a problem. But, I was with Fawley, who was killing it again, Koen, and the boy. Fawley opened the gap on the first lap, and we rode around fighting for 2nd. The boy ended up dropping back to who knows what place, and I practiced some skills on the twisties. The open sections were easy, and I never pushed super hard. So things seem to be working in my master skeem of things.
I'm super pumped about doing the Texas Dare on Saturday, in memory of Dave. Unfortunatly, I'm filling in for Carlos, and Justin is now out of the picture too. Where is Jason when you need him! I'll let Shaun figure out the teammate thing, thats out of my league.