Weather, Beavers, training, traveling, writing, running, Jason Lester, Meyrick Jones....

I always have so many things on my mind, usually when I have no computer to bang out my thoughts on so, even though I really should be doing other things (I am the reigning king of procrastination), here are some things I want to talk about.

Weather: I live in Oregon, I shouldn't complain about the weather, but I always do. In some ways I wish it would snow. As I look outside today, however, its beautiful so I guess I wont dwell on that subject too long.

OSU Beavers: Watched the Civil War game on Saturday. It was a mess! The Beavers looked like a high school team, at least their defense did. I don't mind the Beavers loss so much as who they lost to, the freakin' Ducks. Duck fans have an excuse for losing and a superiority complex when they win. I know I wont be able to wear my Beaver's shirt without some Duck fan rubbing it in my face about the win last week, regardless of how long since the game was played. I would love to see UCLA beat the Trojans next weekend. Not to gloat about the Beavers making it to the Rose Bowl, should that unlikely event happen, but to shut up annoying Duck fans.

Training: Haven't done much. About two to three times per week is all I am able to motivate myself to do. Today is Monday. I started out the day with a 25 minute run. Not sure how far I went, probably about 2 miles, but at least I got out, no excuses. I just have to get over the pain in my knee so I can do something again tomorrow. I want to train, just unsure what I'm training for at this time. I want to try and do some track stuff so I can try and make the national cycling team in 2009 but I also want to race XTERRA events. I had a coach lined up but I told him I wasn't going to use him this year. he is a tri coach, a good one, but I think I need a cycling coach. I have a friend that is a cycling coach and I might use him hourly since he is pretty pricey per month. Having said that, should I spend more to get a good cycling coach because of my lofty goals?

Traveling: I'm supposed to go to Las Vegas this weekend for a seminar. Its worth 18 hours. I need 24 by the end of the year for my sports medicine degree, but the hours required for my state licenses are not due til February. Financially, it is going to be difficult to get it done by the end of the year. Going to Vegas will be relatively cheap however I will miss out on a couple of things, half a day or more of work due to flights, working this weekend at a soccer camp (more money out of my pocket), food etc in Vegas (lodging is free as I will stay at my mom's place) so now that I type all this out, I'm thinking I'm not going. I can do another seminar locally, not miss work, but miss out on an easy $400 for doing the soccer event. Decisions, decisions, decisions.

Writing: Not writing things like emails and blogs, but writing as in pen and paper. How many of us do this anymore? Even Christmas cards etc, some of us get pre-printed cards. I thought about this the other day and dammit, I'm going to write a letter the old fashioned way this week. I will keep you posted on that one. I do write chart notes but that definitely isn't what I'm talking about since my chart notes are usually in my own version of short hand and its not legible to anyone but me and hopefully most insurance adjusters.

Running: Like I said earlier, I ran for 25 minutes today, maybe 2 miles. I took the husky with me which perhaps took me faster so maybe I went 2.2 miles in 25 minutes but it hurt. My left knee hurt, my right low back hurt, and my right glute is tight and sore. I remember early last season, I went through a lot of pain and discomfort but once I got back into it again, the knee pain went away. I'm going to go with that until I figure that isn't the case and then perhaps rethink the whole running thing.

Jason Lester: Jason is a guy I met at World's this year in Vancouver. He was representing the USA in the AWAD division. His coach is one of my Ironhead team mates and told me about Jason before I met him. We have talked about getting together to put a proposal together for local race directors to have an AWAD division put into some of their events. He has an injury to his brachial plexus from a bicycle/car accident and is unable to use his right arm. Yesterday, Jason finished Ultraman Hawaii a little over a month after finishing Ironman world championships and winning the AWAD category there. Ultraman is a tough event, 6.2 mile swim and a 90 mile ride on day one, a 171 mile ride on day two, and on day three, they get to run a double marathon. Jason swims with one arm and on day 1, he swam through a school of jelly fish, got stung, had trouble breathing, and got pulled into the rescue boat. After hearing the doctor say he was going to get a medical DQ, he rolled into the water and kept swimming. After battling jelly fish, massive cross winds, a whopping headache, and 100 degree heat, Jason finished in 24th place at 32 hours and change. Pretty amazing guy. I wouldn't even think about attempting something like that. I don't like swimming that much :)

Meyrick Jones: Another guy I met at World's in June. Meyrick is a below the knee amputee (BK) and is on the Canadian tri team. He is hoping to make it to the 2010 Paralympics representing Canada in the Nordic Skiing events. MJ is one of the best ambassadors for disabled athltetes I have ever met. He started the Momentum Foundation (website is still under construction) and has been working on getting it off the ground along with raising three children, being a husband, training, being an advocate and motivating people (able bodied and disabled alike) to push themselves beyond what they expected (not sure if that comes out right, but he is one hell of a motivator), and traveling around parts of Canada doing some kick ass things. Not bad for a kid missing part of his wheels eh? I'm writing about him not only because he motivates me but because his writing is amazing. I like to write, MJ LOVES to write so I encourage you to read his blog, he is very insightful.

OK, I'm done with my writing to make up for last month, I hope to write more sometime soon. With a pen and paper........