Merry Christmas and best wishes for a peaceful and prosperous holiday season. I haven’t got the time to write up a big post right away, but wanted to send out Season’s Greetings to all my virtual and real friends throughout the world. Here’s wishing you and yours a great Christmas. I’ll write more later. I promise. Till then, you can check out some of the pictures of my Christmas thus far, with more to come 😉
The invitation came exactly 11 days before the big event. I got an innocent-enough sounding message asking if I was interested in joining a U.S. team to race at Untamed New England, a well-known American adventure race. I was immediately interested, but also scared. Untamed is traditionally a multi-day race, and although I’d always wanted to tackle it, I wasn’t sure 11 days was enough prep time! However, this year, the race was actually being run as a 24-hour event instead of multi-day. For that reason, it didn’t take me long to respond in the affirmative that I’d join the roster! I was to be a last-minute replacement for an injured team-mate, and was recruited on James Galipeau’s recommendation (ironically, he was another replacement racer). All I knew was that I’d be racing on THE Untamed New England team (there were 2), and it would be a fast team looking to podium! What follows is the tale of that race, a tale of struggle, suffering, and success. Read on!
So there I was, setting up my transition zone. The reporters scurry over in the hopes of interviewing me before the race. […]
Well, this past weekend marked the official opening of Ottawa’s annual winter celebration, Winterlude. You know, ice sculptures, snow carving, skating on the canal, outdoor music events, etc. etc. But did you know that each year there is also an associated sporting event in the triathlon community? Yup, each year there is usually a Winterlude Triathlon, consisting of a skate, ski, then run. This event is put on by Zone 3 Sports, and is as much a part of Winterlude as the sculptures. Last year, I raced in it, although it was turned into a duathlon, with only running and skiing, due to ice conditions. And this year? Well, sadly, mother nature’s lack of direction on the weather front meant that this event was only an 8km run along the canal :-(. As such, I didn’t sign up this year. However, that didn’t mean I couldn’t take part in a new event, the Winter-Lewd Triathlon! Yup, this one was thought up by a few crazy racing friends of mine, and this little post will fill you in on the details of this little event. If you’d like, you can head over to flickr and check out the pictures from the day.
01/01/08
Well, I’d better get used to starting to type out 08 instead of 07, since the new year is now upon us. As I write this, I’ve already spent an entire day in 2008, and am indeed looking forward to getting to bed and resting, as tomorrow it’s back on the bike for a tough slog up a very long hill up to 500m to get to Rotorua. Luckily, I don’t have to stress too much about it, as I’ve already booked accommodations, as well as deciding to spend 3 nights in Rotorua, since it is basically one of the major tourist locations, and a center of sorts for Maori culture, which I’d like to learn a bit more about. However, this post isn’t about tomorrow, even though it comes to you from the future 🙂 Read on about my day off in Tauranga, as well as my New Years experience in this charming city.
