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October 10,
2007:
Tuesdays' Gone
Not
much today went as planned.
Faris
apparently got swamped by the NBC crew and had
to postpone our swim today.
Too
bad. I was looking forward to that one. I
ended up sitting at Lava Java for more than five
hours. I’d work for about twenty minutes then
someone I knew would happen along and I’d talk
with them for thirty. Time goes by quickly when
you’re working like that.
One
of the first guys I was happy to see was my boy
Murray Frank. I joined him, his wife Karen,
their daughter Lexi, IMC race director Joe Dixon
and famed bachelor Andy Baldwin.
I’ve
been working with Murray for a few months. He
was fortunate enough to secure a lottery
position this year. He’s an unlikely Ironman –
a former defensive tackle who weighed in at a
sleek 360 in his college days. He’s been
training hard and lost himself a “Lori Bowden”
but obviously has some challenges ahead of him
this Saturday.
He’s
got a great attitude though. The boy keeps me
laughing.
But
it was Joe Dixon who really made my day. My
smack talking friend Korey Gendron was late
getting into IMC for 2008. He informed me that
was my good fortune, as he would have handed me
my ass out there had he got in (I’ve signed up
for IMC.) Dave informed me he knew “someone”
and it probably wouldn’t be too much trouble to
have young Korey on the start line next August.
HA!! You hear that Gendron? I guess we’ll be
seeing you in the pool a little more frequently
now!
Jonathan Caron and his coach Paulo Sousa joined
me next. Two nicer guys you’re not going to
meet. The subject of Slowtwitch came up. Paulo
used to be a huge contributor on the site but
apparently he’s been asked to refrain from
posting for a week or so. In effect, I guess he
got sent to the corner for a time out. Gotta
tell ya, I’m a little surprised to hear that.
He must have done something REALLY bad. I used
to post there with some frequency – lots of fun
people with a wide variety of opinions, made it
an interesting place to hang. I’d been attacked
hard there on numerous occasions but that’s the
cost of having an opinion I guess. I still pop
on once in awhile but I lost interest when some
fellow got on and stated that he wanted to “cut
the throat” of the volunteer who had sent him in
the wrong direction in a race. The kid was
obviously in need of counselling but the
moderator of the site thought he was just young
and full of vigour, or some such nonsense. When
it becomes okay to say you’re going to start
cutting throats on a website I figure I need to
be elsewhere. Too bad. In way it’s my loss.
I’ve enjoyed the space in past. I’ll have to
investigate what shenanigans Paulo got up to.
Must have been dark indeed! Probably threatened
to eat some new born!
Johnny and I discussed who we thought would be
the top Canadian this year. Last year I believe
Mike Neill took that honour and he’s back
again. This year the four main contenders are
Blake, Caron, Neill and Evans (that’s providing
they all beat McGlone and Bentley)
Caron and I both agreed that on a good day Evans
was tough to beat.
Johnny had his great day at Canada. I’ve never
really believed a guy can have great races at
both but for his sake I hope he breaks the
trend.
The
kid I’m watching for out there is Mr. Jasper
Blake. I’d give a limb to see him unleash the
big wave. There isn’t a nicer guy on the
circuit and his girl is pregnant. What that’s
got to do with the price of silver, I have no
idea but I’d really like to see him uncork it.
Most of you are probably already regular readers
but if you really want to enjoy a few minutes of
reading check out Johnny’s blog at
http://jonnyoworld.blogspot.com/
The
fact that English is his second language is part
of the charm.
Next, Reid coached athlete Mike Edwards joined
me. His numbers and age put in him in
Jalabert’s territory but as soon as he opened
his mouth I knew something was wrong. The voice
coming out was not the voice I’d known in the
past. Like so many he’d come down with
“something” since arriving in Kona. I suggested
he go home and gargle with Listerine once an
hour till race start. Sure hope that clears up
for him!
Chatted with Pete for a spell from his home.
Always frank, he sent me his predictions for the
race this year. I incorporated them into my
column for
http://www.triathletemag.com
Now
it was time for me to head home and get in a run
but first I wanted to check out the Red Bull
house. DeBoom had invited me the day before and
it turned out to be about 400 meters from where
I was staying. Sadly no on was in when I got
there but I scarfed a few cans of Red Bull
sitting outside – love that stuff! and went
home.
I
geared up for a “forty” minute run and was happy
when Cliff decided to join me.
The
run was going well but then Cliff cramped up at
twenty seven minutes and had to start walking.
Clearly being the superior athlete I left him
there. I was planning my mocking when a little
more than three minutes later my old Achilles
injury suddenly reared it’s ugly head (Sorry
AS. Didn’t have the guts to tell you earlier)
I turned back and rejoined Cliff. We walked
back to the house and enjoyed a cold beer.
The
rest of the evening was spent icing and writing
this.
Tomorrow?
Swim
with Sam in the AM then hook up with Desiree
Ficker and later Jasper Blake.
Love
ya like a brother Jazz, but guess who I’m
looking forward to meeting more?
Until tomorrow. |
