Story Time

The Nautica Malibu Triathlon is a fund-raising event for The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation:

"The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation is the leading worldwide nonprofit organization dedicated to identifying, funding and conducting pediatric HIV/AIDS research, preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV, and promoting global education, awareness and compassion about HIV/AIDS in children."

Team Disney's goal is to raise $100,000 for the Foundation. You can help by sponsoring me for $100,000 online (they accept lesser amounts as well.) Yes, I want to give the Pretty Pretty Money.

One Month to Go

Well, the big day is in one month. I gotta admit I'm a little nervous about it. (of course, I'm nervous just getting up in the morning.) Although I'm (mostly) sure I'll be ready by September 25, I'm still not quite there yet. Last night was the first time I was able to successfully do the full bike-run combo, and that basically wiped me out. I still have to gain enough stamina to add the entire swim component.

This stuff is hard.

For Annie

Well I finally did it... I went and switched to the tie-less shoelaces. Not only that, but I actually - gulp - cut off the excess length. That should make Annie proud, who didn't seem too impressed with my previous method of looping an extra 10 feet of laces through and around my shoes. I still don't like the idea of not having aglets. (My 7th grade math teacher taught us that word. Bet ya didn't know what the ends of shoelaces were called, did ya?)

For the most part, the laces work. The trick is getting them set up properly to begin with. You need to set the tightness level when you're first looping them through the shoes; you can't really adjust it afterwards. They're a little tight now but I'm slowly making adjustments.

Previous shoelace rants here.

Magical Workouts

I'm at Walt Disney World this week, but just because I'm on vacation that doesn't mean I've stopped training:

I've been running (racing through Atlanta airport to catch a connecting flight 9 minutes after we landed); Did some strength training (carrying an exhausted 4-year-old cousin through the park); and cold water endurance training (hotel ran out of hot water the first morning.)

Mister Mandeville

Y'all remember Mister Griffith? Well, he has an crotchedy old army buddy, Mister Mandeville, who lives down in Santa Monica. We went to his house this weekend; he lives at the top of a five-mile hill. Now, you would think that if you have to suffer through a 5-mile hill by the beach, you should get rewarded with a beautiful view of the ocean, right? Wrong. We saw nothing but high walls and construction equipment. Fine. So you'd think that if you had to climb up the hill, you'd at least get a nice easy ride down, right? Wrong. I went down about 1/10 mile and I heard PWAFT! SZWING!

I got another flat.

I always carry a spare tube with me, and the Tri Team Pit Crew helped me change out the tire. (Thanks guys!) But after pumping it back up, I noticed there was a big gash in the side of the tire, and the tube was already bulging out through the hole. (eerily reminiscent of my own hernia.) If I tried riding just 100 yards on it, I would simply pop the new tube. Was I doomed to be stranded forever with Mister Mandeville?!

Fortunately, our Fearless Leader handed me an empty Cliff Bar wrapper (Crunchy Peanut Butter flavor). I was able to fold it up and insert it inside the tire as a protective barrier to seal the hole in the tire. It worked! Who knew how versitile those Cliff Bars really are?!

Word of the Day

unruninable - adjective. The construction or condition of a shoe such that it is impossible to run in without feeling severe pain or discomfort. "Wow, look at that blister! Those shoes are unruninable."



My new running shoes aren't so good after all. They've given me several blisters, but at first I thought the blisters were caused by some weird sandals I was wearing during the day. And of course, by now I've had the shoes too long so I can't bring them back.