Throwback Thursday - The Day I Was Born

My First Day Alive

Throwback Thursday - The Day I Was Born

See I was cute at one time in my life!!  This is a picture of the day I was born.  I am not sure if I am yawning or crying.  More than likely I am yawning because that is the face I still make.  I wish the photo was in color because you would see my rooster red hair which quickly turned to blond in a few months.  Caution Redhead Running would have been jealous. 

Update From a Long Vacation..

ITS COLD!!

Happenings in the Blog World
So I am a little more awake than on Monday.  I noticed many other bloggers have slacked during the holidays so I do not feel so bad anymore. 

Others like Silly Girl have been posting away.  She even posted a Throwback Post where she was traded to a local African tribe for 50 cows and 20 goats but they quickly returned her when they discovered she was a well armed sorority cheerleader working for the Dutch army. 

Q on the Move had a great blog of his new green Christmas sweater.  The reindeer looks more embarrassed than Q.  He also had a post about the night before Christmas where all the popular bloggers got a cool shout out. I was a bad boy so I was not on the list this year.  It was a very creative and funning post worth looking at.

Health Update

I went to several doctors over my vacation.  They ran many tests to find out what may be wrong with me.  They ran an ECG, an echocardiogram, a 24 hour Holter monitor and blood work.  I am still waiting on the Holter and blood work results but everything else came back good.  The echo tech said I must be a runner because my heart looked great.  I think she was just flirting with Mr Half TRIing.

The doctor said my heart looks much better than last year.  It is no longer enlarged and all the chambers are a normal size.  He does not think the Holter will show anything.  He thinks it was a perfect storm of issues (glucose levels, too hard training, training while still sick, the antibiotic I was on, possible dehydration, etc).   I am supposed to only train lightly till he gets back the Holter results.  I have to admit getting back on the bike scares me a little.

Christmas Wish List Update

Apparently Santa thought I was a good boy this year.  I was not on the naughty list like everyone thought.  (I really just slipped Rudolph a Benjamin to keep his muzzle shut and had him erase me from the naughty list).  I got a pair of Smith PIVLock V90 cycling glasses, Arctic Ease Cold Compression Wraps, an Allied Medal Display a long distance cycling book, a pair of socks, a small blender and some cologne to make me smell nice.  My mother also gave me all my baby photos and a nice photo scrapbook .  That will make for some great Throwbacks.

Vacation Update
So the family went on vacation to Tennessee last week.  We rented a cabin in the mountains of Gatlinburg.  It is the Orlando of Tennessee.  It was a nice place but I do not think I would go back.  I will Cliff Note the vacation in photos.

Arrived at Gatlinburg, TN

Bonnie and Chewie chilled!!

Bonnie and Triston went skiing

While I followed doctor's orders and chilled.  Hey, doctor's orders.

Visited a local brewer of moonshine

Tried the free tasting a few times!!

Found a cool British pub in the middle of nowhere.

Visited the Aquarium

Saw Sharkie Santa and Santa

 

Ask for more presents

One cold family at the aquarium

Drove to visit my family (sister)...

and mother..

and nephew

Chewie played in the snow

He made doggy prints

Found some strange things in my mothers closet.

Opened presents

Sporting the new hydration pack and lobster jammies

 

Bonnie looking cute

My new leg lamp.  It's a major award!

Drove home is the terrible snow blizzard and got home at 1AM

THE END...

So tired!!

 Sorry blog world for slacking on my updates but  I was on vacation for the past two weeks.   I only had boring scheduled updates.  I planned on creating an update post this morning but I am in zombie mode.  I left Tennessee at 6AM, got home at 1AM and got up for work at 6:00 AM.   I'm in no shape to create a post right now.  I hope to create one tonight or tomorrow. 

PS - I got good news.  My mother gave me all my childhood photos.  I got some serious Throwback material now!!

PSS - I also got back all but one test from the doctor.  I should get the last test results this week.  I will post the results in the next few days.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas From My Family To Yours

 

 

Me, Triston, Bonnie, my nephew, mother and sister

My Best Friend

My little frog friend that showed up last year in my mailbox

Thorwback Thursday - Santa

Your never to old for Santa (Age about 21)

Mr Half Triing as Adult: [narrating] Strange. Even something as momentous as the Scut Farkus affair, which it came to be known, was pushed out of my mind as I struggled to come up with a way out of the impenetrable Rocket Science Rocket Bag web, in which Bonnie had me trapped.
Half Triing: Santa. Yeah, I'll ask Santa.
Mr Half Triing as Adult: [narrating] Of course. Santa. The big man. The head honcho. The connection. Ha, Bonnie had slipped up this time.

Santa Claus: Come on up on Santa's lap, here's a wet one. And what's your name little boy? And what do you want for Christmas, Billy? A toy truck? Get him off my lap and get my a towel.
[Mr Half Triingis pushed down the slide]
Santa Claus: Oh, I hate the smell of tapioca.

The picture is of me at about age 21. How says you get to old to sit on Santa's lap.  Sorry Santa about the tapioca!

Christmas Wish List

Okay Santa, this is what I want for Christmas.  I have been a good boy.

1. The Rocket Science Rocket bag. This is a really nice bag.  Santa, if I got this bag all my sports stuff will not sit on top of my nightstand anymore. I promise.
2. A pair of Smith Pivlock V90 sunglasses.  Santa, these are not to make me look cool. They are to protect my eyes (which will be needed for item #6).  Note: why do we say a pair of glasses?  You do not get a pair, you on get one glasses.  When you tell your kid to go get pair of sock you do not expect him to come back with only one sock.
3. The Complete Book of Long-Distance Cycling: Build the Strength, Skills, and Confidence to Ride as Far as You Want Santa, building confidence and strength is really important to a growing boy.
4. I want this Allied Medal Displays medal hanger.  Santa, I want to show off my blingage.
5. I want the movie Airplane on DVD. "Oh stewardess! I speak jive."
6. No! No! I want an Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle! Oooooooh!

 What's on your holiday wish list? 

Throwback Thursday - That's Just Not Right!!

Throwback Thursday - That's Just Not Right!!

Now that is just not right!!

Okay, this is not funny at all!!.  It's not even right!!  It was okay when they dressed Q on the Move like a girl (here and here) but NOT ME!!  I am much cooler than that!!  See, I was looking super sexy sporting my duckie jammies for a date with some hot baby at daycare.  I even had my yellow, convertible baby walker all gassed up and ready to go.  Then my sister and another group of thugs held me down by the hand and head.  Then continued to ruin my threads and fashion cred by placing what appears to be the same wig from Q on the Move's cross dressing post on my hairdo! When this atrocity was going down some thug in the background is adding insult to injury by doing yo-yo tricks.

BTW: who was dressing my sister on the right.  Seriously!?!? Blue hillbilly flannel with a rust colored, sleeveless jacket? My sister was sporting the Marty McFly jacket.  "Hey Half TRI-ing, get a load of this gals's life preserver. Dork thinks she's gonna drown."  Also look at those nails?  Did she get those done by a color blind person?  Seriously red in the winter.  That is so fall.   She should have taken fashion advice from her 1 year old brother.  She's such an L7.

Stolen from my sister closet.

Put on The Bench Till Further Notice

I have been benched by my doctor until further notice. No sports or gym work what-so-ever. He is sending me to a cardiologist specialist for another round of tests (echo, stress, tilt table, event monitor and possibly more).  I have already been through this once before (see my first post here) and I am sick of it.  I am only 32 years old and I have to deal with this crap. 

If I trained this long and this hard and I can not do my HIMs I am going to be seriously pissed off.  I will be out at least $600 and could have to give up training all together.  I will have to change the blog to a flea market to sell all this stuff I had to buy.  That will be one heck of a giveaway! Say tuned for that giveaway!

If the doctor says I can no longer do sports, I may just disobey his orders.  I may just take my chances.   C'est la vie

Super Bonked - Out for the Count

Mr Half TRI-ing was KOed in 12 Miles

On Sunday I was super excited because I was going to be getting back on the bike.  Lately I have been sidelined due to half marathons and laryngitis. I was also excited to try out my new shoes.  But the ride did not end so well.

Sunday started off like all other rides.  I was riding with the Florida Freewheelers on a nice B/C ride.  It was a course I have done about a half dozen times before.  The ride started off a little cold but I was prepared with the proper winter gear.  I was feeling fine for about 11 miles.  I was doing an average pace of 18-21 mpg and riding as point for some of the ride.  I was feeling great.  Then we stopped to have the C riders catch up.

This is when things went south really quickly.  When I stopped I started to take off the arms of my windbreaker because I was starting to sweat.  As I was doing that I started to get really light headed.  I told the guys I did not feel right and that I would catch up.  That is the last thing I remember for a few minutes.  My buddy Angel said he was staring at me but I was not staring back at him.  He said he was asking me to tell him his name and he got nothing from me.  He then tried to get me off the bike but I had a death grip on the handle bars and would not let go.  He knew there was an issue because I normally would have told him to leave me !@#$ing alone (which I would have LOL). 

They got me off the bike and placed me on the ground.  Someone thought I was having a stroke (not sure why they thought that) and started to call 911.  Just about that time someone shoved a GU into my mouth.  The combination of hearing 911 and the GU woke my butt up quick because I remember saying why are you calling 911?  They said they were either going to call 911 or call Bonnie.  I said calling 911 would be better than calling Bonnie (she does not take situations like this well).  I finally convinced them neither was necessary. I drank two water bottles felt much better. 

The boys stood next to me the whole time.  No one would leave me till they were confident I was much better.  Many of them volunteered to ride with me back to the car.  I finally said I only needed one person and I wanted the other to continue on with the rest of the ride. 

When I got home I drank a lot of water and ate some grub.  I then went shopping and still did not feel right.  I did not feel all that bad but still not normal so I had some ice cream to bring my sugar back up.  That did not seem to help.  I called my doctor friend and he asked me to come to his house (it’s sure is nice to be great friends with a doctor).  He checked my sugar levels and they were normal.  He wants me to stop by his office tomorrow to do some further tests.

So what did I get out of this?

1. Make sure you always eat a breakfast BEFORE going out to train.  My doctor friend yelled at me for only eating a banana.
2. Drink enough fluids the day BEFORE training.  This was not a hot day and I was only about 30 minutes into the ride so the ride did not dehydrate me but I may have not have drank enough the day before.
3. Doctor informed me to make sure to take Magnesium and Potassium supplements to help with the dizziness and light head issues.  
4. Make sure you eat enough throughout your training.  When I am at work I eat every 2 hours and I eat everything in sight but when I am off of work I tend to skip meals and eat poorly.
5. Never pass Angel on a ride because I think the real issue was him slugging me because he was pissed I was beating him on a ride.  :-)
6. I love the Freewheelers.  They are a great group of cyclists.  They really care for each other and are super friendly.  Today they got a lifelong member.  Thank you guys for everything!!

Well, Mr Half TRI-ing bonked really hard today.  It was a little scary and I hope to never have this happen again.  

Has anyone else ever had this happen to them?

Throwback Thursday - Gianni Versace

Mr Half TRI-ing At Around Age

Throwback Thursday - Gianni Versace

I am really not sure what age Mr Half TRI-ing was when this picture was taken. I would assume it was the real early 80's because the room on the left has what appears to be red shag carpet (in the original you can see it more).  That would put me around age 4. 

Apparently my mother was being cheap that month because I was in a serious need of a hair cut.  I do have to admit though I look better sporting the Beatles haircut look more than the Macgyver.  But I am still looking stylish in my white (with blue trim), Italian, K-Mart v-neck t-shirt.  This Italian handcrafted shirt is delicately paired with some hand stitched, indigo blue Sears slacks.  This outfit is completed with the Egyptian canvas, blue and white belt.  

In the early 80's Gianni Versace would call me weekly to see what new fashion trends I was creating.  With my fashion advice and some piggy bank loan money, Gianni started a little clothing store in Italy.  We continued to communicate over the years on my Fisher Price walkie talkies but we had a falling out one day when I caught him wearing white shoes after Labor Day.  I could not be seen with him after such a big fashion faux pas.

5-4-3-2-1 Inspiring Story

I really appreciate everyone who follows my blog.  I never would have believed I could have ever gotten so many people following my crazy life.  I do not believe in giveaways that require people to follow my blog. I want my followers to follow me because they want to, not because they want to win something. 

Every time someone follows my blog I take some time to learn a little more about them.  I see what blogs they follow and if they have a blog I read some of it.  Some of their blogs I read daily and others I stop by when I get time.  I wish I had time to read everyone's blog everyday but that is just not possible.


Recently I got a blog follower that I have no clue how she found my blog.  Most of the time I get followers after I stumble upon their blog and leave comments on a few of their posts.  This follower I have never seen before so I was really curious about her.

This new followers name is Cara and her blogs called 5-4-3-2-1.  I usually like to start at a blogger's first post so I can learn a little more about why that person is blogging.  After reading Cara's first blog post I was inspired.  I would suggest checking it out here.  This is a heart felt post about issues her and her mother had to overcome.  It is a real tearjerker but well worth your time to read.  She used running and triathlons to rise above and overcome some major issues.  Hopefully it will further inspire many of you to reach your goals and overcome your life's difficulties.

What is your inspirational story?  Why do you swim, bike or run weekly?  Do you do it for fun or health?  Or do you do it to overcome life's difficulties?  Personally it is all three for me.  I started for health and to overcome some issues happening in my life.  Only after doing it for a while did it become fun for me.

PS: Cara how did you find my blog?

OUC Half Marathon and 5K 2010 Review

OUC Half Marathon and 5K 2010 Review

SOURCE

Please excuse me if this race report is not in the usual format or has some typos.  I am sick and not thinking very clearly.  I have a darn cold.

On Saturday I participated in the OUC Half Marathon in Orlando, Florida.  This race starts at Lake Eola and winds around the streets of the city of Orlando. 

The beneficiary of this race was the Florida Citrus Sports Foundation.  This foundation “serves as the charitable arm of Florida Citrus Sports and is committed to improving the lives, health, and education of children in our community through the following programs: Take Stock in Children, Florida Citrus Sports Summer Camp, Day for Kids, and the Dream Ticket Clearinghouse.” SOURCE

Before the race

 Today was the coldest day of this winter here in Orlando.  The temperature at the start of the race was a freezing 45F.  But being Florida it is hard to judge what to wear because it always quickly warms up.  By the end of the race it was 61F.  So during the race you have to peal off layers of clothing and carry them along the race.  It is always a pain to run in the cold in Florida.  I had to start off the race with a fleece thermal layer, a long running shirt, a running jacket, gloves and a winter hat.  By the end of the race I had strip off the gloves, hat, the jacket and really need to drop the thermal layer.  I started off the race freezing and end the race sweating.

Lake Eola (The race start)

Lake Eola and the ugly "Married with Children" water fountain

This was a very large local race.  The race had over 3000 runners participating in the half marathon.  The start of the race was very crowded and it took about a mile and a half to clear up.  The race than ran through the streets of Orlando.  These are the same streets I travel on every day.  I have seen these streets over a thousand times a year.  The race path even ran within a block of my house.  I could have thrown a stone and hit my house if I wanted to. 

Pretty and mean swan at Lake Eola

 This familiar route made the race seem like a typical training day.  Same old sights and I knew exactly what was around the next corner.  What made it worse is I could tell exactly how much further I had to travel.  But if you were not familiar with the route it was not too bad but it definitely is not a very scenic route.  It is just a bunch of neighborhood houses.  It is very similar to the route used in the 12th Annual Chick-fil-a Miracle Miles 15K.

White Egret at Lake Eola

 There was plenty of water stops around the route.  There were 8 water stops each placed 1.5 miles apart.  Each had the typical water and Gatorade but nothing else.  There were also plenty of Port-o-lets at the beginning of the race and two Port-o-lets at each water station.

All the volunteers and police officers were great.  . The race volunteers where eager to cheer you one and hand out water.  There where police officers at every major interception holding back traffic.  This must have caused many motorists some major headaches.  The blocking of many of downtown Orlando’s intersections quickly created traffic congestion.  They changed the route this year so it would not include so much cobblestone roads but still much of the race was run on these knee killers.

The race was reasonably priced.  The price of the race was between $45-$55 (depending on when you registered).  With the registration you got the typical long sleeve tech shirt.

The post race area had about 10 tents with people handing out the usual bags, coupons, advertisements, etc.  The weird part was nearly all the tents were empty with no one in them.  Those manning the tents ran out of everything they were handing out by the two hour half marathoners finished the race.

The post race grub included the typical water, sports drinks, bagels and bananas.  There was a DJ playing music and inflatable slides and moonwalks for the little kids.  The cool part of the post race was you got TWO FREE BEERS.  Quinton would have loved this race!! After two beers maybe he would stop whining about not getting a RUNNER RUNNER RUNNER shirt (although I also am feeling a little left out :-(  ).

Free beers and race bling

 The race results were posted on the internet about 2 hours after the race.  This was very quick and it really surprised me.

Overall this was a good race.  It was run by the local running store Track Shack.  Any race they put on is always good, very well organized and greatly planned out.  I was close to home and it was cheap so it definitely beat another boring training run.  I would give the race a C+.  I would have graded it a B but the cobblestone roads, boring route and lack of variety at the water stops caused it to drop to a C+.  I will do the race again and I would recommend it to others.

Mr Half TRI-ing

My race results were not my best but they were not bad.  If you look at my completed races you can see why I took it easy on this run.  I have had an extremely packed couple of months with nearly no weekends off.  I finished the race with at 2:07:44 with a 9:45 pace. 


Triston and Bonnie also did this race.  Bonnie has also had a packed race schedule.  She did two full marathons in 8 days followed by this 13.1.  She became a marathon maniac last week.  She was so excited she had to pose in her new shirt as soon as she got it.


 Triston PRed on this race.  He finished at 2:34:25 with an 11:47 pace.

Triston and Me

The family post race

Biking in the Middle of the Lane - Cycling Savvy

Biking in the Middle of the Lane - Cycling Savvy

This is a great article about why sometimes it is safer to cycling in the middle of the street.  I highly recommend reading it.

http://cyclingsavvy.org/hows-my-driving/

Throwback Thursday Terry Lane

Christmas Circa 1992

Stand back ladies!! Here is another picture with my MacGyver haircut and surfer shirt.

I was about 12 years old when this photo was taken.  The man on the right was Terry Lane.  Terry was a friend of my mothers who I spent many years of my life around.  He was a great man and he loved me more than any other man in my life.  He always treated me like his son.  He was around for nearly every Christmas. 

Terry unfortunately died on Decemenber 18th 1997.  Terry was a victim of a faulty space heater while camping in his van. He was a former merchant marine and an avid windsurfer.  If it was a windy day you knew Terry was going to be late to whereever he was expected to be.  Whenever there is a strong windy day I always laugh because I know he is late for whatever God has planned for him.  Today look at those you love and tell them you love them because you never know when they, like the wind, will pass.

PS: Yes that is an Old Milwaukee Light beer in my hand.  Terry was also "thrifty" with his money.  You will never see an Old Milwaukee Light beer in my hands ever again.  I would not even feed that beer to my plants. 

Glutton for Punishment

Image Source

 Guess what stupid thing I did last weekend.  I must have been in a turkey coma.

Bonnie wants to do a 70.3 Ironman next year.  She heard good things about 70.3 Augusta so she asked if she could do the race and if I would go with her.  I said I would go with her and compete in the race with her.  Dear lord next year is going to hurt!  Two half 70.3 races in one year.  I think there is something wrong with the water in our house.  We have gone nuts.

Former alcoholic Steve White finds redemption in faith, running

Formerly homeless, alcoholic Orlando man tries to qualify for Boston Marathon

I thought you would find this interesting so I will pass it onto you.

The original article can be found here: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/health/fitness/os-homeless-marathoner-20101119,0,3971493,full.story
By Kate Santich, Orlando Sentinel on 9:45 p.m. EST, November 20, 2010

Steve White trains recently at Orlando's Howard Middle School for his first marathon. He was trying to get his life together at Orlando Union Rescue Mission last year and joined a program called "Stepping Onward," which helps people make changes through running". (RED HUBER/ORLANDO SENTINEL / November 9, 2010)




"The sun is not yet up when Steve White arrives at the Howard Middle School track near downtown Orlando. He has just put in 12 hours on the graveyard shift for a linen service, but before he sleeps he must train. Soon the 43-year-old is running half-mile repeats like clockwork, a chiseled, solitary figure in the dawn.

His first marathon is a week away, and White is determined to run fast enough to qualify for the most prestigious road race in the nation: the Boston Marathon.

For any runner, making it to Boston is an accomplishment worthy of lifelong bragging rights. For Steve White, it would be a Cinderella story.

Until two years ago, he was homeless, a longtime alcoholic and a 20-year smoker who hadn't run since his high-school-football days.

"I felt like I've been a loser all my life," he said recently. "This gives me a chance to prove to myself, my family, the people I've let down, people that knew me as the old person I was — this gives me a chance to let them know I've changed."

But White might have never made it to a starting line without a 39-year-old woman named Claire Grove, a doctor and marathoner herself, who is trying to change the way people feel about themselves by helping them to run.

In January 2009, she started a nonprofit called Stepping Onward, initially for men and women in homeless shelters and later for teens in foster homes.

"Negative self-talk is so common," Grove said. "I had such a passion for running, and I loved the lessons it had taught me, especially about being able to overcome that voice in your head that says you just can't do it, that it's too much and you should give up. I wanted to inspire others to overcome that same voice."

Steve White was one of her first recruits.

'I was just kind of lost'

White grew up in tiny Rustburg, Va., where he ran for two things: his football coach and his wrestling team. The latter had a 5-mile trek up a nearby mountain, and White can remember the feeling of his lungs straining, his legs churning and the sweat running down his body.

He loved it.

Despite his middle-class upbringing and loving parents, he had a haunting sense of not particularly belonging anywhere. It didn't help that he was an only child and that the neighborhood crowd bullied him for his shyness. By age 12, he had already started drinking to fit in.

It would only get worse as he left school and tried to make a living.

"I was just kind of lost out in the world," he said. "Everyplace I was looking, I couldn't get fulfillment."

At first, he went to trade school to become a welder. But he wound up working everything from fast-food gigs to shipyards to oil fields in New Mexico.

In his 20s, he also started smoking.

By his early 40s, he hadn't much to show for his life. He had never married, never stuck with any particular career path, never saved any money. He was drinking frequently and working at a Taco Bell when his hours were cut and he could no longer pay his rent. Again he moved on, this time to Orlando, and landed first at the Salvation Army.

One night, he heard some men talking about the Orlando Union Rescue Mission only a few blocks away.

"They was talking about the program and how it made them go to church and stuff like that, and they was downing it," White said. "But I thought: 'That's exactly what I need.' "

'He'd just run in circles'

From the day he joined the Rescue Mission's discipleship program in March 2009, White gave up drinking and smoking. To make sure he wasn't tempted, he started exercising, giving his body a high from endorphins rather than nicotine and alcohol. But disciples are not allowed to leave the premises for the first 60 days — a way of keeping them out of trouble.

Brad Sefter, then a resident himself, watched baffled as White did lap after lap around a tiny parking lot.

"He'd just run in circles, and then he'd go up and down these two flights of stairs for, like, an hour," Sefter said. "So I asked him if he wanted to come running with me, and he jumped at the chance."

Sefter was a runner himself, and because he was one of the senior residents, he was able to get permission to take White off the property for runs.

"I had been running six to eight months already," Sefter said, "and from Day One couldn't keep up with him. His endurance is phenomenal."

At the same time, Grove, medical director for a string of weight-loss clinics, had launched Stepping Onward, a name she took from the proverb she had first heard on a medical mission to Africa: The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

She recruited Sefter, who recruited White. From the beginning, Grove knew that White was special. While everyone else labored, he seemed to be comfortable. When he wasn't running, White was quiet. But when they trained, he and Grove would have long conversations about faith. Too, he was remarkably disciplined and eager to push himself.

For their first 5-kilometer road race — the Track Shack Celebration of Running — the group arrived about a minute after the starting gun fired. White was unfazed. He simply shot ahead through the crowd, passing hundreds of runners to finish in a respectable 22 minutes and 33 seconds.

His next 5K race, he ran 19:32. Then, recruited by Grove to join a 191-mile relay run across the state in November 2009, White faced his biggest challenge ever: running 22 miles, broken up into three segments.

He ran the final stretch looking as effortless as he had the first. The whole team joined him for the sprint to the finish line, cheering.

"At the end, it was a whole different Steve," Grove said. "He was the man. I knew we had to set a bigger goal for him."

'You have to want it'

Late last year, they settled on the Space Coast Marathon, a fast course in Brevard County. This year, the race is Nov. 28.

Soon after, White got a job at the linen service — and quickly got promoted. Twice.

His work ethic was becoming legendary. After his all-night shifts on Fridays, he would ride the bus back downtown, then ride his bike to meet the group for a Saturday morning workout.

Grove decided to hire a coach for him, and Stepping Onward paid his entry fees and travel costs. White kept working harder. He saved money, bought a car and, in September, moved out of the mission and rented a studio apartment. And, still, he kept training, often on his own because of his work schedule.

"He is an ideal student," said his coach, Bill Wenner, who has worked with hundreds of marathoners. "He'll do what you tell him to do and will give 100 percent of his ability to it. … I thought it would be a cool story if we could get him to qualify for Boston — but I would never have taken him on if we didn't think he was capable. I would have just told Claire we were barking up the wrong tree."

About 20,000 runners from around the world qualify each year for the Boston Marathon — held the third Monday in April — the only U.S. marathon that requires entrants to run a qualifying time. For men in White's age group, it is no slower than three hours, 20 minutes, a target White can reasonably expect to hit. But as Wenner points out, a lot of things can go wrong in 26.2 miles, many of them beyond a runner's control.

"It's not by any means a gimme," he said.

If White is nervous, he doesn't show it. He talks about the race with the same calm demeanor his friends say he always has. And when he runs, he prays, thanking God for his blessings and reciting biblical verses that bring him comfort.

Next weekend in Brevard will be no different.

"You have to work. You have to want it," he said. "But I'll let God guide my footsteps."

-By Kate Santich, Orlando Sentinel on 9:45 p.m. EST, November 20, 2010

Cyber Monday Deals for Triathletes

 Cyber Monday Deals for Triathletes

Slowtwitch has a nice list of triathletes related CYBER MONDAY deals going.  Here is the LIST

Another list is here

25% all items at TriSports


Did you know of any good Cyber Monday Deals for Triathletes?  If so, make a comment with them.

Space Coast Marathon and Half Marathon 2010 Review

Space Coast Marathon and Half Marathon 2010 Review

Source

UPDATE: See my race photos HERE.

The Space Coast Marathon & Half Marathon is located only a few miles from the Kennedy Space Center.  The Kennedy Space Center manages and operates America's astronaut launch facilities.   This is were all the famous US space missions flew out of (Apolo, Mercury, Gemini, Challenger and all the space shuttle missions).

Astronaut and Me

The Space Coast Marathon is Florida’s oldest marathon and has been running for 39 years.  This is a unique marathon because it is all spaced themed.  Most of the race volunteers were dress up in the orange astronaut jumpers.  Each rest stop was themed.  Several of the themes can be seen below.  (You will see Dave Mari in most of the pictures below.  He provided the pictures for me)

I Dream of Jeannie

I Dream of Jeannie

Parrothead Club (Jimmy Buffett)

Avatar

Princess Leia

R2D2

Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker

Storm Troupers

There was no race day pickup which the only issue I heard people complaining about.  The packet pick up was at the Kennedy Space Center Complex.  This was pretty cool because you got to see many of the old rockets, space shuttles and other space related history.

Kennedy Space Coast Visitor Complex

 Below is a good summary of the cool things about this race (Source):
• Start the race to the roar of a Space Shuttle countdown and Liftoff on a Jumbo-tron
• Awesome “Astronaut” Medals
• Electronic “Space” Certificate to all finishers
• Expo and Pre-Race Dinner at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex! With Guest speakers
• Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex Discount Coupon
• “Space” Props along course and at finish line area
• “Space” Themed Water/Aid Stations all along course
• Volunteers in NASA-like uniforms and hats
• “Space” Photo opportunity with astronauts
• Opportunity to win tickets to "Astronaut Training Experience (ATX)" plus Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex admission for two people
• Official long sleeve technical T-shirt (moisture wicking non-cotton)
• Large Beach towels with race logo (instead of Mylar blankets)
• Set a PR with this year’s Pace Teams!
• A full Pancake, Egg & Sausage Breakfast and Pizza
• Race Pacer Teams
• Awards for the best space costume

The race started at 6:15 am on Sunday morning.  We stayed at a local hotel that the race directors suggested.  Two busses were set to the local sponsored hotels to transport the race participants to the race location.  Later after the race those same busses ran till about 1:30 pm to transport the race participants back to their hotels.  This was a very nice perk because it would have been hard to park in the small race area.

Prior to the race many of the Marathon Maniacs and Half Fanatics agreed to get together and do a group photo.  There were about 2 dozen of us who showed up and everyone was really cool and humble.  They are a great group of people.  Thank you Dave Mari for all the great photos.  It was really cool meeting you and I hope to see you again soon.

Marathon Maniacs and Half Fanatics

Mr Half TRIing

The race was mostly flat with some rolling hills.  The course went along the bay inlet and was a very pretty run.  One side of the run was the bay and the other side was really nice and expensive houses.

Typical Race View

This race was well organized and ran flawlessly.  All they stations had water, Gatoraid and GUs.  They had enough food (pancakes, eggs, sausage and pizza) for even the last of the marathon finishers. 

I have no complaints about this race.  I would grade the race a B+.  It does not get an A for the following reasons:
• Many of the aid stations were ran buy teenage kids who started to not care about cheering or handing out water efficiently for many of the mid to late in the pack marathoners
• The aid stations had only the basics: Water, Gateraid and GUs  I have been to may much smaller races where the aid stations were better supplied
• No race day pickup.  This caused many people to have to arrive the day before to pickup the packets.  It was a minor inconvenience for some people.
• The expo for such a highly attended race was very small.

Overall I would highly recommend this race.  It was fun and well run

I did not race this race.  I ran it as a training run.  My overall time was 2:07:47.  My hips were really stiff from riding the Horrible Hundred century the prior week.  I just wanted to run the race and have fun.  I did not really care what my time was.

I also got to meet up with fellow Central Florida blogger Kitzzy Life Style Change.  She is a friend of Bonnie and a great runner.

Kitzzy Life Style Change and Mr Half TRIing

 Bonnie ran the marathon.  She wants to join the Marathon Maniacs so this was her second marathon in two weeks.  She asked me to stay around after my half marathon to meet her at the finish line.  She did not state what I needed to do for 2.5 hours so I want to the Irish bar to have a few beers.  :-)  She thought it was funning and got a little jealous when she called me and I was having a cold beer.  See there are advantages to only running half marathons.  When I finished with the beers I backtracked 2 miles into the race to run with her to the finish line.  So I really did 17.1 miles today.

Bonnie and I

Look Mom I'm on the moon

Race Bling