First off - the milestones. As of August 18th my twins Emily and Jesse turned 19! Where the hell did all that time go?! We all got together to celebrate at Boston Pizza (their choice) where they ordered their own beer of course. They are both starting college in September at Mohawk - what a cool stage of life.
Milestone number 2 - my sister Michelle turned 41 on August 19th. Not as glamorous as a 40th birthday but still another year in the life. Insert Wiser's slow clap here.
As for the streak - I have now gone 28 straight years with doing at least one triathlon - Whew! Cheers to that! The very first was not a tri-a-tri or a sprint but an Olympic. The race was the Windsor Triathlon in 1984. At the time there weren't many tris available, no wetsuits, no aero helmets and no tribikes.
Present at that race were two buddies - Scott Little (seen here to the left) and Henry Maciesowicz. Scotty and his family are currently on an adventure teaching, touring and giving back in Singapore. He clocked a 2:17 a few years back at the Around the Bay 30K (hope I got that right) so the boy can still move! You can check out his adventures in my blog roll under Littlerally Speaking - it's a really cool read.
Henry, who I had known since grade one, sadly and tragically passed away almost 5 years ago. From my earliest memories Henry loved to ride his bike. Named her Mildred. I did my first century ride with Henry and ended up doing my first Ironman (Canada, which sadly ended this year as well) in Penticton in 1989.
We ended doing this triathlon with cutoff trackpants for bike shorts, a couple of us had hockey helmets and we just had a blast. It definitely was challenging but felt awesome once done. If I recall correctly we then got rooms at the Windsor University residence. We had a whole floor to ourselves. More than a few beers were consumed - great times!!
My streak continues and now maybe another one will continue. My youngest, Logan (seen here with Emily), has now gone 4 straight years with a tri under his belt - and he's only 8! He did the Bobby Orr Hall of Fame Kids Triathlon. He did a 100m swim, 4.4K bike and a 1K run and had a blast. Logan has Asperger's but is able to work through his anxieties to complete these challenging events - we're all very proud!
As for my race recaps? I've done 2 races in the last 2 weeks. I went with Peter Ames to the Goderich Triathlon on August 19th. Peter had encouraged to do this small race cause of the course and the grassroots feel. It was all that! The race was a 1K swim, 42.5K bike and 10K run - way beyond my current fitness level. The bike course was HILLY!! Peter got 3rd and I got 5th in the 40-49 AG.
My second race was August 25th at the Bobby Orr Hall of Fame Tri in Parry Sound. It was an afternoon race and it was 90+ degrees out! I did alright, though, with a 12th place overall and 4th in my AG - missed 3rd by 7 seconds.
Next year I have IM Lake Placid again so I work on fitness til then. It's been an awesome journey and one I hope to continue for many years to come.
Have a good one - Cheers!
