Smells Like Foot in Here.....

So, its been a little while since I posted anything; sorry for the delay. A lot has changed for me in the past few weeks and my mind has been in other places than the blog. I am working on moving forward and restarting my life, all of this is a good thing for all parties involved.

For the past week or so, I have left some of my training stuff in "Big Red." Now for those that have seen the truck, its not big, very utilitarian, so it should come to no surprise that it might pick up and hold onto odors for a while. Well, foot is not an odor I overly enjoy. Warm apple pie, lilacs, oranges, etc; these are scents that I enjoy. Foot, not one of them!! But do I do anything to change this new aroma/love affair that I have began? The answer my friends is, Nope! So again, this morning, I will jump into the truck and head to the office. I have a pair of old training shoes, this past season's racing shoes, cycling shoes and some clothing. The clothing shouldn't be the problem, but I found out this year that I am one of those stinky sweaters. Not sure when this happened to me, and I offer a heart felt apology to those that have been surround by my stench; I didn't know! I mean, come on, its me; how could I stink, ha! A little rambling, moving on. I seldom wear socks when I run, causing some great foot scents to develop in my shoes. Growing up I never wore socks in my skates either, ruined a brand new pair in about 2-3 weeks from sweaty feet and odor. I think the best way to describe my new car freshener smell, smell a good cheese or even milk that is about 6 months past the expiration date. You know the milk has curdled and the cheese has turned green and grown hair. You always smell it, its like a bad car wreck hard to not stop and look. So you smell these oddities and think that it smells terrible. Often so bad its hard to describe, not anymore my friends, not anymore. You now have the ability to say "Holy...that smells terrible, phew, just like foot."

Rolled pants, letting air flow to not have a pungent foot smell, very very classic

A Real Soaker...

So, I have come across some free time as of late, feeling out of shape and in need to get back at it after watching IMOO last weekend. So I put the beer and frozen pizza on the back burner for a while and started to do some lite training again. I have yet to get in the pool, but that will come on Monday (so Dennis and Jim, you best be ready) I'll be the guy in Lane 1 that looks like a fish out of water. If I splash too much, I am probably in need of help, so please through me a line, ha! Got home from work last night, an absolutely perfect night and set off on a run. I did run in Madison, but for whatever reason last night I decide to increase the pace and see what I had left for fitness. I was surprised! I was out for a little over an 75 minutes and had a few good pick-ups and some big hill climbs. The hills that I found will work great for repeats once I am in full training again. My legs were a little tight this morning, but I thought it was because I had just gotten up and wasn't moving real quick yet. Nope. So mid-afternoon I put on the classic Marv Stevenson mismatch cycling gear and out the door I went. For those that live in the area, you know that it rained off and on all day. Well, because I am not the sharpest knife in the drawer, I decided to ride anyway. I did a good loop that lead me out past Fort Snelling, through the park, past the airport, around Hyland Park and back home. The rain came, than went, than came back, like I had some how pissed it off after the first shower by not turning around and going back home. I was caught in Hurricane Ike like weather, but pushed on! I feel I had a good run and ride the past 2 days, now I can just sit around, relax and wait for the excessive training bug to hit again; and out the door I go!

Mad-Town

Not sure how to begin this little blog post. Last week Friday, I packed and loaded all of my stuff and headed to Madison for IMOO '08. First Ironman for me to witness and I was caught way way off guard about the emotions that would come over me. I had no idea what to expect, the look of the racers out working to achieve the end goal. But first a quick weekend recap:


Friday: Dan, Jason, Nick and Casey met at my house to load and start the caravan to Mad-town. As always Dan started busting my ass for the amount of stuff I had packed, apparently I pack like a female. I had all of my swim, bike and run stuff. Plan was to get up Saturday morning and get some fun easy training in; so I felt it was all justified. We arrive to town about 2ish, get checked in and head to State Street, which became pretty much the general meeting spot all weekend. Stopped at a great little bar and sat outside to watch people and get our drink on, which we did!! It got pretty drunk out early on Friday and the stories that followed Saturday morning from people that I didn't even know where town, yet knew about my evening were very very entertaining.


Saturday: My mom and I had previously talked about the Farmers Market around the capital and how cool it was. So that is where I started Saturday. I was more than likely still not so sober as I walked around the market. Figuring a cup of java would do the trick I made my first of many trips to Starbucks, no luck, but good coffee. Went back to the room, took a little nap and than went for a run with Dan and Monster. Dan was in rough shape after Friday night and was looking just to do about an hour of easy running. It ended up slightly longer than that, but we were on a mission for him and Monster to find an ink shop for new body markings. With Magellan in the lead we were bound to get lost, which happened. Why do I follow the one guy that gets lost going around the block? We went out again Saturday night and met up with the girls (Jen, Jmac, CY and Merilee) for another night of fun. Went back to my favorite new Madison bar for more Black-n-Tans. Must of had myself about 1500 Black-n-Tans over the weekend, they were oooooh so good.


Sunday (Race Day): Got up, jumped on the bikes and headed to the swim started. I wasn't moving overly fast yet (see # of Black-n-Tans consumed to answer any questions) so I missed the swim start, but was able to watch a majority of the swim and the lead guys run into T1, they were moving. They run faster out of the water than I run the 3rd leg of the race! Back to Starbucks for coffee and a muffin! Sunday afternoon was spent walking the bike course after we were giving poor info as where to met everyone for the BBQ. No worries though, it was a great day and I was able to see everyone on the bike and they looked awesome. Went back to the room, had a few more cocktails in the free bar, jumped on the bikes and went to watch everyone running. This is where the emotions started. Seeing the sheer determination, grit and up coming pride that each athlete was heading towards was simply amazing. I've seen the races on TV, but to be there is a whole different feeling.


Monday ('09 Sign-up): John, Kate and I got up, packed the vehicles and headed down to registration for next year. I had been on the fence all weekend about getting my spot for '09, but after watching people finish I knew this was a race I must do next year. I got my spot and am now just waiting for an email to sign up and pay, that its the real deal!! I am just smiling thinking about crossing the finish line next year.


The weekend was a total success for me. I took responsibility, self concern and caution and tossed it out the window when I hit town. And for those that were there with me, well, they saw it. To all of the finishers, GREAT JOB!!!

Saturday night crew at the Irish Pub for Black-n-Tans

The long awaited photos of my past. If you are unsure of why these are being posted, read post from a few days ago and hopefully it all makes sense at time

Sunday afternoon at Ma Weekes, following the third place game at McQuad's in Bismarck, ND. This is a group of beat up, beat down guys that just played 4 or 5 games in about 100 degree heat, after drinking all night on Saturday and getting minimal sleep. Oh the days of softball. (I am the guy in the middle with my head down, making sure my feet are still on my body)

A photo from 2005, me getting ready for my first race; Door County Sprint. The race that started it all for me. I had no idea what I was getting into, laughed and pointed at the funny helmets, spandex suits, shaved legs on guys and odd looking bikes. WOW, have the times changed for this guy.

Capt Jack's Prior Lake 2 Miler. What a day this turned out to be. Had a great late season swim with 2 great current friends and met 2 new ones as well. Notice "Super Stud Jim" sans wetsuit. Hes kind of a big deal!!!

21st b-day. I was living on the U of M Campus for an internship to finish school. A very interesting 9 months of my life. Take some small city kid, that thinks he has every thing figured out, and put him in the city. At least I survived.

And than there is this little fatty. Ive been told that they had to tape the refrigerator shut, otherwise I would eat until i was sick. I am 3 in this photo. Again, I apparently just finished eating an entire chocolate cake, and my parents felt it more important to get a photo than a wash cloth to clean me. Come on, I'm 3, help a brother out. I noticed this at work today, for those that really know me, I always have 2 shirts on.....I guess that started early in life.

After a pretty sweet guilt trip from a fellow training partner for standing them up on Sunday, this morning i got my butt out of bed and did my first run in a few weeks. I found out real REAL soon as to why I hadn't been running. Its a lot of damn work to run. Man did I forget how tough it is...I would much rather bike or swim. But nonetheless I got a short 4 miles in this morning in the nice humid weather, I didn't stop sweating for about 2 hours. I think I might be in that full off season weight/shape mode.
This coming weekend I am heading to Mad-town for my first ever Ironman spectating event. I am going with a great group of people, so its going to be a blast. I am bringing my wetsuit to swim Saturday morning with the Hirschman's and anyone else that is looking to swim the course. I will also have my bike and running stuff for some very very lite exercise. I am not sure what the weather is suppose to be like nor do I care; I am going down to support and cheer for a number of people that I know racing and to hang out and relax. I should hopefully have some great photos from the weekend that I'll post next week.