Getting up to date...

It's been a while since my last blog. If you read my last one, entitled, "back to school..." you would understand why. Well, I suppose now is a better time than any, so lets play catch up. I'm still trying to decide if this is worthwhile or not, considering the only people who read my blog are Paulie, Tom, and occassionally Jess (maybe?).

On September 14th, I did the Sooke half iron relay with Linday's Mom, and Barb Bialokoz. I don't know how I pulled that one off, but I managed to get an amazing team with 2 fabuolous athletes to race with. It was a blast! Not only did I have one of my best swim times of 31:50 for a 2K, but Barb dominated on the bike and Mel FLEW on the run. We managed to pull off a first place overall finish for the relays. I also did the individual sprint race for fun. I didn't know how well my knee would like the 5K run, but I decided I needed to man up. That is the last triathlon race of the season.

Mid September was my birthday. I think with hearing me stress out for the past 2 weeks, Paulie decided he would come to Victoria and celebrate with me. It was pretty rad that Nic, Ferg, and Brendan hosted a great shin-dig at the Sandell Manor. With a 'Cowboys and Indians' theme to the get together, I was fairly impressed with some of the costumes. Paulie even made an appearance with a Cowboys football t-shirt. Pound it, Paulie! Also, during the summer, my Mom bought me a motorbike for my "early birthday present". It's proven to be quite the challenge, as I'm sure Kent can attest to, but I've been getting better and better. I rip around the waterfront loop, and through downtown and I get so many funny looks, and people doing double takes. I often get a lot of thumbs-ups, all of which I chuckle to myself about.

Thanksgiving weekend - my favourite holiday of the year - Paulie came into town, like normal. It was so rad spending time with him and going for some wicked hikes. I'm pretty lucky that I get to talk about anything and everything with him... all the while hiking around local trails. When I was in Hawaii, I decided to sign up for the RVM half. Due to a persistent knee 'injury', for lack of a better word, I decided to demote myself to the 8K. I was ecstatic with my run time! Considering a lot of other factors, I was extremely happy to finish with a 39:20 - far better than I ever thought I could do in that state.

Lately I've been motorpacing Danny Sessford up climbs. The first time we went out, we were at the observatory. Half-way up the third climb, I ran out of gas! I coasted down in neutral, and rode back at a slow pace, and turning my bike off at every red light. It finally caught up with me going up the hill at Broadmead Village. Danny then started to push me, while he was on his bike! We decided to pull off to the side of the road because it was probably not the best idea to push a motorbike in the bike lane. My ginger friend, Katie, came to our rescue and brought a gerry can with a full tank of gas. Later that night, we realized that I had a reserve tank! Good to know for next time, I guesss!

Yesterday, I got hammered on the OBB ride. I was trying to tap out of the pain box, but it just wasn't working for me. I was feeling pretty good, and pretty strong for the first half of the ride. Then, coming around the corner by the airport, I knew I was fading fast. I was at the back of the lead group and they were slowly pulling away from me. I got hit hard by a very strong head wind.... the strongest I've ever riden in, which made it impossible for me to bridge back up. I looked behind me, to see the second group, and I tried really hard to catch a wheel, but I was spent. Long story short, Tom and Danny ended up pushing me the rest of the way home. Needless to say, I had a great nap when I got home.

School has been going really well. I did a lot of switching around with classes during the first two weeks of classes, and I'm happy with the ones I am taking. Because I'm super busy with all my school work, my training is definitely on the back burner, which I'm a little bummed about... but c'est la vie. I'm pumped about the classes that I have lined up for next semester. I've 4 set out for now, so I'm just trying to decide how much training I want to be doing in the spring and how much time I will need. I might drop a class once second semester comes around.

Now, I am going for a nice easy spin around the waterfront. It looks like a good day for riding, so this will be my abrupt ending.

Keep your chin up,

J