weekend « Kenny Smith | A remarkable thing happens …

weekend

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27
Jul 14

Catching up

The post where I place leftover pictures that haven’t yet found a home.

Our friend that got engaged yesterday invited all of his friends and her friends and their families downtown. He’d sent her off on a scavenger hunt, chasing down a series of love letters he’d written her at places that have been important to them. Meanwhile, everyone else had gotten organized and created posters and lined the first block of campus. Most everyone’s notes were sweet and special things about the nice person she is, or how she makes his heart go pitter patter and that sort of thing. We went with comic relief:

It was a really cute idea.

The brick wall downtown, picturesque as ever:

A woman bought one thing, and then did this with it. I bet she’s a lot of fun:

Clever restroom graffiti I found some time back downtown:

I well and truly bonked on my ride today

Saw this near the top, not at the top, but near the top. of the biggest hill I climbed today:

It seemed a cruel place for such a message. And I wasn’t even on the bike ride that needed the note. But, high sun, heat of the day, and there’s still more hill to go. Have a rest stop. Only you can’t, because this spray paint is old. That’s the way it goes sometimes.

On the other side of the hill you are rewarded, of course. It must be nearly a mile of descending:

And I bonked miles from home. That’s a lonely feeling.

This evening we were invited to campus to watch something historic:

It was just another sweet reminder of the nice people all over this special place we get to enjoy.

cycling / I do not know what is happening. / iPhone / photo / running / swimming / weekend — Comments Off
19
Jul 14

Chattahoochee Challenge

This morning we took part in the Chattahoochee Challenge sprint triathlon, a comparatively easy 500-meter swim, 13-mile ride and 5K run.

The swim is in the Chattahoochee River which, today, offered us the most mild current possible. (Our last two races have been in very quiet water. May the trend continue.) Last year this race was in the middle of the wettest summer a lot of people could remember and we raced down the swim course.

Somehow my time was a few seconds slower, though my swim seemed better. Must have been that current.

The ride is through roads and bike paths and Columbus’ scenic river walk. The race and the city block off an entire lane for most of the road portion, which is very nice. It is mostly flat, which is nice. I didn’t have a flat as I did last year, which was even better. My bike time was naturally much better without the flat, but it should have been better.

The run is through the historic and flat downtown Columbus district. It was during that 5K where I wondered about the wisdom of two triathlons in a row. Last weekend’s was longer, and both demonstrated my poor conditioning. I did meet a nice 50-year-old woman who was celebrating her birthday with her second triathlon. She was having a great run just as I was coming to that conclusion. (Happy birthday, Laura!) And, somehow, my run was two minutes faster than last year, too.

It rained before the race. It stopped raining long enough to get in the water. Someone thought aloud “Wouldn’t it be neat if we had a slide start?” and no one disagreed with them.

Someone should have disagreed.

We stood in line to get in the water for about 90 minutes. The first racers had finished their races while we were standing there bored, cooling down, burning off our morning fuel and feeling feet get achy on cement.

If you have the opportunity to do a slide start to a race: don’t.

This is a good race, but if they have this feature next year I’ll skip it.

It started raining again just as I finished my bike. I caught up with The Yankee during the run. Here we are at the finish line:

And then it rained some more. Everything we took to the race is wet, which is OK, but it made us proud to have left some dry things in our hotel room, and made that shower even better.

Here’s my bike computer after the race. This is my average speed which isn’t bad considering you have to walk your bike both before and after the ride for safety purposes and I was trying to save something in my legs for the run.

I should have pedaled harder. There was nothing in my legs by the end anyway.

As I said: The art, science, skill, talent and philosophy of triathlons is balancing the training and maximizing your minimums. I have no balance and many minimums.

But we had fun. Now we’re going to have ice cream, and rest.

adventures / family / iPhone / photo / weekend — Comments Off
12
Jul 14

Your basic family post

Visited the race registration today and showed The Yankee the bike course. We visited with my grandparents. We waited for dinner time and I spent most of the day kicking myself for not eating enough.

We went out to Ricatoni’s, an Italian place downtown. We’ll run by here tomorrow, but tonight I’m only thinking of the bread, the delicious bread blended with oil and a proprietary seasoning which tastes exactly like the mix used on breads in all of your finer Italian restaurants.

When the waitress came for my order I said, “Let’s talk volume. Give me the biggest plate you have.”

It arrived and I ate half of it. It was good, and will be even better tomorrow.

After dinner, some family shots on the sidewalk:

I do not know what is happening. / running / weekend — Comments Off
6
Jul 14

Tight in the middle

This afternoon, since it was only 90 degrees, it seemed a good time to catch up on some overdue yard work.

It was either that or ride my bike. I should have ridden my bike.

So I spent three-and-a-half hours trimming hedges, pulling weeds out of the shrubs and then raking up the annoying leaves and stalks and sticky, thorny, scratching weeds and vines.

And somewhere, on my third wind, I decided “Since I am already sweating, and my heart rate is up, this would be a good time for a run.”

Because the day was getting long, and I was ready for some exercise, and I equate sweat with exercise, this all seemed like a good idea. So I got finished with the stupid bags of trimmings and then decided to trim some trees. Now I’m covered in sweat and sawdust. I changed shoes and shorts and said “I’m going out for a quick run,” which is always a vague description. If you feel good, feel good and extend yourself, I say. And I felt pretty good.

I found and returned a miniature schnauzer to her owners. Called the number on her collar and stayed with the pup until they showed up. She is 13, they said, and know how it goes, but she was a good piece away from home. The pause gave me some more rest, so I felt good. And I kept running.

When I got to 3.1 miles I had a choice to make: continuing around the circle means a route of about eight miles, retracing my steps means I’d have a nice 10K. This felt like the best idea, until about mile four. The last two miles, to get home and to get to the 10K, or 6.2 mile mark, was something of a struggle.

I do not know what is happening.

But I picked a wildflower for my lovely bride! And I’m sure I looked a sweaty sight, shuffling down the road side with a bright yellow flower in my left hand, huffing and puffing for all I was worth.

When I got home she said that we define “quick” differently. This is true. There’s nothing quick about a six mile run for me.

I wrote all of this on Facebook. A buddy asked “How’s that spandex fitting Superman?”

Hence the title, above.