I have come to understand just how lucky and blessed I am for doing Triathlon and being as active as I am. It has allowed me to experience things and places that I would not otherwise have seen or done.. I first came to this realization a couple of weeks ago. I had a 3 1/2 hour workout after work on a Saturday. That meant I would finish in the dark. I was not dreading the workout but was looking forward to being done.
Because of this workout I was fortunate enough to watch the Thunderbirds performing as Mather Field as I drove down Sunrise. Trust me, this put me in a good mood, it was amazing to see them coming across the road in front of me! At Lake Natoma, my swim went better than I had been swimming all year. I slowed down and focused on only 4 of the 8 things that Coach Jen has me trying to fix in my swim stroke. If I tried to focus on all 8 I would forget to breath! My ride was decent, considering I had a long run the day before. After sundown I headed out on my run. Downriver I went, figuring it would be the safest part of the trail after dark. When I turned around it was about 30 minutes after sundown. I stopped on a bluff overlooking the river and had such an amazing sight with the trees silhouetted against the sky and geese honking and landing for the night. I realized just how lucky I was to be there, at that time, enjoying that particular sight!
Last weekend I was in the Santa Rosa / Napa area supporting Barb and Katie during their RAGNAR Relay that went from San Francisco to Calistoga. I was able to run with Barb through Santa Rosa late at night, like midnight and later! When else would you get to run past bars or having bar patrons run along side of you wondering what on earth your are doing at that time of night! Pretty entertaining at one in the morning! Then I drove over near Sonoma and ran part of a leg with Katie starting around 5 am, out in the middle of nowhere. I then pinch ran a four mile leg through Sonoma and just had a blast. I did learn though, that after a night like that, spending $1 dollar for a hot shower in a high school gym is money well spent. Followed by $1 for Cup O Noodles for breakfast, can't beat it! I realized how lucky I am to be healthy enough to do this. You have very different conversations with your spouse and daughter when they are tired and sleep deprived! But also, how many dads get to do something like that with a grown child? Not many. RAGNAR was fun to experience, from the outside looking in.
Overall, training is going well. My body is holding up and getting stronger as the training builds up. Coach Jen's training seems to be working, I am less tired now than I was early in the season when the training volume was lower. The end is in sight. I am now trying to pay attention and smell the roses along the way.
Ed
