Ran my first triathlon race yesterday - the Kirkland Triathlon.  I was pretty sore and tired afterwards, but very happy and proud that I completed it.  It’s hard to believe that a year ago I was 25 pounds heavier, wasn’t active at the gym, and hadn’t rode a bike or swam a lap in years.  It was last Halloween that I made the decision to get active again, and only the end of June when I decided to enter this triathlon.  Not too bad…

I had a fun time, and learned a lot (about racing in a tri, and about myself).  I learned that it’s important to have the right size wetsuit (mine was a size too small [imho], and I think that prevented me from using all my aerobic capacity during the swim, which carried over to hurting lungs on the bike and the run), that it’s important to bike the course before the race (so you can see where the hills are), and that having bike shoes (instead of running shoes) on the bike will save your feet from “hot spots” (the pressure points where your feet press against the pedals — my feet were NUMB after the bike portion).

I’m looking forward to running it again next year, and may try another tri also (maybe the Seafair Tri).  I might also sign up for some more 5K’s.  It’s good to have goals…

Anyway, for the sake of posterity, here are my results (against the #1 overall [Rusty], and against the #1 in my age group [Ryker -- who was also #4 overall]). 

                                                                     BIKE                    RUN    OVERALL
                                    OVERALL    DIV     SWIM   SWIM   TRAN   BIKE      BIKE   TRAN   PL AFTER   RUN    RUN
     NAME           RACE # AGE SEX   TIME     PLACE    TIME   PLACE  TIME   TIME      PLACE  TIME    BIKE     TIME    PLACE CITY & STATE
 1. Rusty Pruden           25   M   1:04:38      1    0:11:48    9   1:27   0:33:34     3    1:03      6     0:16:46    4   Kirkland, WA
 1. Ryker Lammers     5    40   M   1:07:50      1    0:12:48   49   1:27   0:35:01     6    1:12     11     0:17:22    6   Kirkland, WA
64. Noah Van Loen   304    40   M   1:41:59     64    0:19:31  627   4:28   0:48:50   562    1:33    576     0:27:37  685   Seattle, WA

Alex also ran in the Kid’s Tri on Saturday, and had a pretty good showing, He was also hampered by an “equipment malfunction” — I brought the wrong helmet for him and we wasted at least a couple of minutes trying to get it fit on his head.  Again, room for improvement next time.  Alex and I both had a blast!

  	  	  	  	  	  	                        CHIP 	CHIP 	AGE 	PLACE 	SEX
NO. 	NAME 	                CITY, STATE 	RACE # 	SEX 	AGE 	TIME 	PACE 	DIV 	OVERALL OVERALL
1. 	Scott Hesmondhalgh 	Woodinville, WA 2395 	M 	9 	0:06:17 7:29 	1/26 	1/150 	1/76
109. 	Taryn Gustafson      	Woodinville, WA 2400 	F 	10 	0:10:57 13:02 	16/26   109/150 47/74
111. 	Mallory Gustafson  	Woodinville, WA 2401 	F 	7 	0:11:03 13:09 	9/21 	111/150 49/74
114. 	Alexander Van Loen 	Seattle, WA 	2432 	M 	8 	0:11:07 13:14 	25/36   114/150 63/76

Categories: Family, Seattle, Sports
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I was the coach in the “coach pitch” part of Alex’s baseball game yesterday. Berne (the head coach) was traveling, and asked me to pitch the game. Never having done anything like that, of course I said yes.

I only hit 2 kids.

I also managed to “strike out” 3 or 4 kids, including Alex. I say “strike out” since the rules in Alex’s Pony league (North Seattle Baseball League) is that each kid gets 6 pitches to hit, and that’s it (they can keep alive on a foul ball for #6). This puts a little pressure on the pitcher, since I’ve only got 6 chances to make a good pitch to the kid.

Bottom line is that I don’t think we won, but I did get better as the game went on, our team didn’t need to go to the bullpen in relief, and that all of our kids got hits. Plus, it was a wonderfully sunny day, Anne and Leah came over to watch, and we all had a great time. I sure am proud of Alex.

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Congratulations to the Seattle Riot for getting a bid to the 2006 UPA Club Ultimate Championships! Anne and I took the kids up to Burlington on Sunday to see Sharon and the team work hard through 2 Final games (the Front-Door and the Back-Door since there were 2 bids to Nationals available via the Northwest Regionals). We didn’t actually get to see Sharon play since she had hurt her shoulder the day before, but are looking forward to her doing some rehab and kicking some serious butt at Nationals! Go Shark!

Categories: Family, Play, Sports
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Ah, I love stories like this. The honest, every-day family man, whose dream of playing in the NFL seemingly flittered out. Now, suddenly, a second chance. It shows that we’re all looking for “one more shot” (or, a shot at all). And stories like this make us dream that it could happen to us too.

ESPN.com - NFL/PLAYOFFS04 - Darcy: Dream vacation

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This is JUST SO COOL!

I love snowboarding, and this would be a kick to try. However, I might wear a little more body protection than just the gloves (check out the guy in the video who is doin’ it in shorts!).

Yes, wicked cool indeed…

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You play golf? You heard of Tiger Woods? Yeah, I think so to. And yet, he’s striving to get better. This is one of the better articles I’ve read regarding Tiger’s swing, its origin and future. This is a must-read article covering Tiger’s swing evolution and current status. There’s a lot to learn here.

If I had one wish….

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Congratulations Phil - a 59! A magic number from the Zone. And in the final round to win no less. And, it was almost a 58! Just……wow.

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