ourjourney2011

Helen and her grandson Zach

“Go for the gusto!” Those words echoed in my mind throughout my preparation for this event. You see a couple of years ago after a huge dinner (was there any other kind there?) at Tony and Helen’s. Helen said to me. “You know Dave, if you keep working all the time, this life will pass you by”. You have to travel and experience life… “You have to go for the gusto”.

You see I had taken on a few side contract jobs. In short, I was out of the house working 12+ hours a day. I never knew how right she was until Sept/Oct 2010.

That brings us to the present, I (with Coralee’s approval) decided to drive 36 hrs south to Texas and compete in a really competitive 24hr race in 95+ degrees temp.

Travel… check,   Experience life …check.

Ok so here we go. I have been training pretty hard since my Canmore Race. In fact outside of a week or so off afterwards I was right back at it. Even in Penticton I was putting in some good volume rides while on holidays. I was even fortunate enough to be able to spend a week training one on one with my coach Shaun, in Rossland, with another of his atheletes Scott. Let me tell you… I spent the majority of the time looking at their back wheels, in fact sometimes they were too far ahead to even see their back wheels. However I found the training invaluable, and the comraderie second to none. Shaun’s family were so very accomodating to me that, I felt right at home there. It was an excellent experience to say the least.

Fast forward to October 8 with a bunch of training rides in the sun and rain under my belt, I pack up my truck and head out on the road.

bikes on the truck

A few of you may ask… “why didn’t you just fly down”? Well, that’s a great question.  Planes and bikes can sometimes not go together so well, so I would need a special case/box, and that would mean exta shipping costs. Let alone that I am bringing another bike for emergency use if my main bike breaks down in the middle of the race. Then there’s the mechanic tent, all my tools, gear, well… you get the picture. It truly would be a nightmare to get this gear there by plane, now what if it got lost….?

Day 1

sleeping quarters

Montana training

wyoming

Well, let me tell you……When I got into Casper there was 2″ of snow on the ground and Casper mountain had at least double that. There was no way I was going to try and ride in that and risk an injury or sickness. So I pushed forward thinking that Colorado would be more favorable.

ice ice baby!

Thawed!

As fast as it had started… it ended… I drove into Ft Collins Colorado, and was faced with 17C temps with some overcast. It wasn’t the warmest but it sure beat the snow.

Horsetooth Mountain

I was enjoying the scenerary, and watching the clouds roll in.  I didn’t know at that point if I was going to get rain or snow as I could start seeing my breath after about an hour into my ride.

anybody for a "Pain Sandwich"?

Ride complete, approx 2hrs… bike is loaded, I grab some fuel in town and I’m on the road, with my free hand I was massaging my legs as I drove.

Day 3

I wake up just north of Boise City, Oklahoma, to an absolute beautiful sunrise. I had to stop and text Coralee these pics as they were awesome.

Oklahoma morning

Windmills

Back on the road I go, this time I start to get a bit more excited as I know this will be the last day of driving . If all goes as planned I should be arriving in Austin later tonight.

I couldn’t help myself…. I stopped off at Boise City, OK, and bought breakfast at a tiny roadside restaurant. I ordered the breakfast burrito with beans and sausage and hot green chili’s. A very good thing that I was travelling alone…..

9pm I arrive at John’s place in Austin. John is another athlete of Shaun’s that I met in Canmore this summer at the 24hr race. This guy is no joke as he had never even ridden the course before the race (in Canmore) and he pulled off a very commanding 2nd place finish overall.

John had this huge grin waiting for me and we both got into talking about bikes, racing and more bikes, training, and more bikes.  We didn’t turn in for the day until well past 1 am and John had to work in the morning!

The next few days were pretty much just getting acclimated to the heat in Austin, trying to get my legs back in form and seriously trying catch up on my sleep. I was really sleep deprived from the trip and I was having a hard time trying to get to sleep at night.

Thursday before the race I picked up Coralee from the airport, and man it was nice to see her, you don’t realize how much you miss someone that you share your life with, until you spend a few days away from them….  I missed her very much, and yes, I was sure to tell her so

A quick bite to eat at Freebird burritos on the way home from the airport, and off to our hotel for the balance of our stay.

Later on that evening Steve and Tamara (Coralee’s sister) arrived from North Carolina to give us moral support in this event. That turned out to be another long night as we didn’t stop visiting until 2 am.

Friday was John’s day off so it was a perfect time to head out to Rocky Hill Ranch and get our spots on pit row picked out. This way we could get our pits set up with everything we need and we could drive out Saturday morning with minimal preparation for the race.  This also would provide a great preride of the course for us, especially for me to get my bearings straight on the course.

We drove out approx 60 mins to the ranch, and pick a spot on pitrow for us. This is where some great advice I received back in Rossland in August, comes flooding back to me. “Make sure you look around on the ground for Fire Ant’s nest’s” trust me you do not want to set up camp near or on one of those”.  Sure enough I find a nest at the first spot we pick, I break out the ant killer I bought just for that scenario, and moved our pit further down pit lane.

When these little ants bite you (trust me they look small and harmless) they can leave you with pain as bad if not worse than a bee sting, and there is generally hundreds of them!

With our pits setup and our preride lap behind us, we head back to Austin, for a much needed shower and pasta load phase at a great italian restaurant. Then off to bed for a good night sleep because we are going racing tomorrow!

Race Day

I got a great night’s sleep and had a big breakfast, and at around 8am Coralee and I jump in the truck, grab my bikes from John’s house, and start the drive to Rocky Hill.

I have to say when we got to the Ranch it looked kind of daunting to me, there were alot of cars, people and some really nice bikes. I am talking UBER nice, like “works of art nice” like.. well you get it.  We get parked get setup, bikes ready to go, attend the race premeeting, and really the last hour before the 12 oclock noon start goes by incredibly quick.

I had a chance to meet Ray Porter, who evidently placed third in this event last year and just came off competing in the “Tour Divide” race. This is an event that takes place over 3 weeks and 2500kms that goes from Banff, Alberta to New Mexico.

Well Done Ray! Evidently he is competing in my class, and is a very strong rider as his prior achievements stand.

I met Greg Parham, AKA “the caveman”, who has won this event 3 yrs in a row, definitely a very fast and capable racer.

I met another athlete of Shaun’s, Antonio, he looked like he was ready to lay it down as well.

getting ready

Fast forward, ambient temps were in the 90′s and destined to make the high 90′s by 5pm (which is the hottest part of the day here). So I’m standing at the start line ready for the Leman’s start. Oh wait , Let me tell you about this course, it is around 16 kms or 10 mile loop which is around 80% single track and 20% jeep road. The climbing is around 800 ft per lap, so it is less than at Canmore. However , I didn’t have to concern myself with the dust and the heat, and snakes in Canmore. So trust me this course is every bit as difficult as Canmore, just in different ways. Especially in the speed department. This is a fast, fast course, so you have to keep your speed/focus up from start to finish. Ok enough of that.

11:59 am

So start line… ready set, GO!  I start running and seriously, I start getting passed by some super fast runners.  All I can say is I had to run full out so I could stay in the middle of the pack, and not being a runner, and in the heat I was getting pretty winded! I finally reach my bike and jump on so I can get a rest from the run, and sure enough I’ve got guys passing me like crazy. So I took a chance and hit the “almost maxxed effort” switch, so I could stay in the top half of the race. I was surprised to see that these guys (and girls) were hammering  it so hard and so early in the race.

At this point my intentions were to stay ahead of some of the slower riders and stay in the race as far as speed and pacing went. I was pretty sure if I let anyone in my category get a lap on me, that I would not be able to get that lap back.

Lap 1 went better than expected, I kept my effort in check to remain competitive and I was able to maintain a 5th place standing.  Laps 2-5 went without issue as well except…. I counted no less than 10 riders on the side of the course, complaining about cramping, in my opinion a direct result of pushing too hard in the heat, and BTW it wasn’t cooler it was actually getting a lot hotter.

The first 6 hoursThe heat of the day

6pm night laps

The race organizer said that our nightlights had to be on by 5pm, but because I was able to come in from my lap a few minutes before 5pm, the staff at the timing tent allowed me to get one more lap in before I had to put my lights on. That really helped me, I was able to get some time on my competitors on that lap without the extra weight of the light gear, and make up some of my “slow” time from the start. Doing this put me into 4th place when I came in at 6pm to put my lights on, and I was able to really make up some time. Unfortunately all endurance racers will tell you of a nagging pain or issue that comes on early in the race and progressively gets, worse not better and sometimes it takes them out of the race. Well I had one of those….I had really HOT painful feet especially in the bottom of my soles and it was getting worse every minute. The only option I had was to take my uber expensive and stiff carbon shoes off and change my socks and put my $80, 10 year old Shimano shoes, that flex like spaghetti.  So very quickly I did this….

Within seconds, I noticed an improvement, and to speed things up a bit, I never had another issue with my shoes and feet for the rest of the race. I guess riding a HT with super stiff soles on my racing shoes, made my feet take all of the brunt while I was riding.  Lesson learned.

Night laps… this is my favorite time to ride as it’s a bit cooler and sometimes too much cooler as the race progresses. Fortunately for me it was dark, but still pretty warm for my standards early into the night hours. By 9 pm I was able to pull off a 3rd place position.  I was still feeling very strong at this point, but Coralee was not…. I guess she had gotten a bit too much sun. Moving around in the heat is one thing I find that the breeze while riding helps a ton. Standing under the pit tent in 95 + temps is not! Coralee started feeling nauseaus around this time, and it was great that Steve was there to pitch in where could. You see Coralee was also helping John with his nutrition so she was working double duty all day and most of the night. She was a real trooper.

Another challenge we found with this event was there was a bit of a delay, (as with most events like this) but we were expecting superfast results and it’s just not possible, when you are out in the middle of the Texan mountains, go figure huh? So with saying that I was never really sure where my competitors were, I knew John was ahead of me but up until this point I didn’t know by how much. I also knew that Ray Porter was ahead of me, again I didn’t know by how much. SO I would just go out and ride knowing I was in the same ball park, but hoping I was improving my standings each lap. I was but so was John…

John was able to throw down the fastest lap of the race and get a full lap on me early (I told you he was strong) I was never able to get that lap back, I sure tried though.  I was able to pull off the fastest night lap of the race period (more on that later and my ghosts) and it wasn’t quite enough to bring him back. This was John’s day and he earned it.

12am

I did it, I was in 2nd place behind John, the spread between us was a full lap… I didn’t know how far I was ahead of Ray (3rd place). I had reports of anywhere between 3- 10 mins. He was pushing like I was, without a doubt. Somewhere between 1am and 2am I was out on course,  not knowing where Ray was and I had a rider come up behind me.  I was absolutely convinced it was Ray behind me. This was when I lit it up and put in a 1hr lap, which in turn put another 19 mins into my lead over Ray.

Back at the pits Coralee was having her own challenges as she was full on getting sick from her heat stroke, Tamara got stung by a fire ant and her knee swelled up pretty good, which left Steve to tend to John and I. Which he did pretty darn good under the circumstances.

Right after this is when John caught up to me, and it was then we decided to pace it out and have some fun, I knew I had a strong lead over Ray (I thought 1 full lap by this time). SO it was all about racing smart. This was pretty special for me I enjoyed the comraderie of this and enjoyed having a few laughs with my friend.

We both rolled into the pits at around 8am, me with 17 laps complete and 18 complete for John.  Coralee was back into support mode and looked alot better after having been able to get some fluids in her and and a short nap.   It was at that time I felt I could take a few mins to do a few stretches, and see how she was doing.  I looked up to see a pretty quick rider come in. “What number is Ray”? I asked Cor.  She said “I think it’s 37″, at this point I said “are you sure it’s not 67″? A few seconds later as she looked online she said “yeah he’s 67″. Just as I watched #67 ride by into his pits…..

Had I been that relaxed that I had allowed him to get his lap back from me?  Cor and John said the timing showed me well over 40mins ahead, but it takes more than 40 mins to do a lap…. So that means he has clawed his way back…

Attack

I look at John and say “I gotta go man”. I grab a bottle from Cor, just as I leave the tent John yells at me, I stop and look at him as he says  “don’t blow up”. It was valid advice and a wake up call, as I could ruin my whole effort by going out too strong, it could be short lived.  I guess I didn’t listen too closely though, as I ripped off a 1:07 lap, and then rode by the pits and grabbed another bottle for another 1:07 lap.  I felt strong, but the course was starting to wear on me, at this point my ankles were starting to ache a bit from acting as suspension over the now “chewed” up course.

Last Lap

I roll in to the timing tent, and one of the support staff says to me “that’s 20 are you going out again”? I replied “I have come too far not too”…all while looking at what I stuck to my handlebar stem.

my inspiration

I ride over to our pit and Cor is waiting for me, she says “you’ve got it Dave, second is yours… just get this lap in and don’t kill yourself”.  I grab my bottle and out I go on my final lap. I’m feeling good about my efforts, feeling pretty good of John’s and just trying to keep the wheels moving after the last 2 quick laps.  About a mile into the course I get passed by Greg Parham “the Caveman”. He had a tough race yesterday, and had to bow out of the race for the night because he was pretty sick. Here he was out the next day for no other reason but to finish his race, he probably was still feeling the effects of the day before, but he was going to finish his race on his terms. Just goes to show you what a fierce competitor he is.

I finished my lap in a respectable 1:13:29 and call it a race…..

I walk over to Cor and Steve takes my bike, and Cor and I just hug for a few solid minutes…just taking in the race and the finality of our Journey 2011, almost a full year after we started and finished within a week of the 1 year passing of Helen.

The finish

post 24 look

If you notice I have a pretty dark mark on my forehead, that is from the padding on my helmet from being so wet that it didn’t act as padding anymore. It didn’t start hurting until the last few hrs… not fun.

John the weapon….

John at the finish line

Still all smiles after being chased by a crazy canuck all night….

Well deserved win John! Congrats!

nice way to end it

Ya know funny thing was…. If you  remember how I had to go out and hammer 3 of the hardest laps to try and keep ahead of Ray. Well it turns out, when he came into the pits  he was exactly 1 full lap behind me!. Not matching my lap as I had thought . After those 3  painful laps  I was able to increase my lead to  2 laps, due to the timing delay.  I would like to think I would have done it either way…. 

After the race, Coralee stayed a few more days, and John was gracious enough to show us both around Austin. I ate a lot of food and Austin has the best variety of foods I have ever had. We had a really nice Texas BBQ dinner with John and Mena (John’s girlfriend) the night before Cor flew home. I left the day after that, starting that crazy drive home.  This time it was different though.  I had some great, great memories from this whole experience to take me home.

Acknowledgements

First off I want to thank Terra Firma promotions for putting on a kick ass grass roots event. It was absolutely awesome! Rocky Hill Ranch for hosting the event and for looking after their trails as well as they do.

Every other competitor that was at that event. You could feel the vibe and everyone was super gracious passing or being passed on the trail. Especially to the ZZtop look alike guy who gave me some of his drink because I had run out fluid in the middle of my last lap.

To my really good friend John, who opened his home to me  and slept on the couch and gave me his bed, because he knew I was hurting when I drove in from Calgary.  You are first class John, mi cassa your cassa my friend.

To my Coach Shaun,  Your training and support go well beyond coach/athlete relationship. I consider you my friend and appreciated all that you have taught me in this experience.

To my lovely and caring wife Coralee, who in the wee hours of the night still put me first when she was sick. You are the most unselfish person I know babe.

To Helen and Tony… there isn’t a day that doesn’t go by that we don’t talk or think about you two.  This journey has allowed us to be closer as a family, and these life experiences will be with us the rest of ours lives.

So what’s next ?

I am signed up for the 24hrs of Adrenaline in July 2012, and I am prequalified for the World Solo championships in September, and maybe, just maybe I can get down to Texas for this event again….

This will be it for Helen’s Hope and my efforts, as I have come to a place in my journey where it is healthy to move on. That’s not to say I won’t throw “Helen’s Hope” into the ring for a special event in the future but for now it has served it’s purpose, and brought us all together a bit closer……

Helen in Australia

6 Months 23 days 11hrs 55 mins later……

I am standing somewhere in the middle of the “pack” or in the middle of the racing field waiting  for the bell to toll 12pm. This would be the start… or in my case the finish of all these months training and sacrificing time with my family so, I can compete in this race.

Am I nervous….. yeah I’m nervous I have all my family here to support me in this effort to raise awareness of this terrible life stealing disease. I try not to think of any of this, just the task that lay ahead of me. 24hrs of riding and to finish with a podium… Considering I haven’t raced in the 7 years leading up to this year, I am ready.

2 mins to go and I can hear throughout the crowd that all the favorites are situated at the front of the “start/finish” line, which is somewhere around 200 riders ahead of me!. I tell myself that it’s not important that I have my own plan, and I will deliver when the time is right. 1 min to go and I start to get a bit jumpy and the competitor next to me notices this, and holds out his hand to wish me luck. 12pm and I hear the horn blare, somewhere up ahead . I know the race has started because I can see  the heads of people moving up and down ahead of me, just that the “wave” of bouncing  hasn’t hit my little group yet. Then it does, and I am off running … er jogging.

To give a little background this race has somewhere between 1600 and 1650 competitors, this is divided into corporate teams (10 person) all male, all female , 5-2 person , and finally soloists. Because of the sheer number of people competing at one time, this event has employed the use of the “Lemans” start this will “thin the herd out” so to speak. We are to run 500m(approx) a very short lap around the crowd and up and over and back down to the Start/Finish and then through the timing tent and then finally out onto your bike and off you go onto the course. It works, but if you are unfortunate enough to get stuck er .. be placed behind a slower rider or runner you could spend a bit of time trying to get past them.

So, now back to my running, I turn the corner past the tent and reach for my bike. It was easy to do because everyone, I mean all the competitors except for myself were already riding their bikes.

First lap, not quite last place....

Actually I’m wrong I am ahead of one other rider. So I jump on my bike realizing that I am pretty much in last place, give or take… I had a plan…. Even now I wonder what my family and freinds  were thinking, as I  trot by in 2nd to last place.

Ok so I m off, let’s do this. First lap is terrible, with all these riders ahead of me, I slowly trudge by where and when I can. The trick is not to make any enemies because some of these riders are only riding 3-4 laps whereas my goal was somewhere in the teens, and I will see them later on in the race . If you know what I mean?

At this point it’s just about surviving the first lap without any accidents or breakdown’s. Just race my race, be prepared to get lapped by the ultra fast teams, and be slowed down by the not so fast. I had a plan. I know this because I have been laying awake in bed some nights thinking of this the last 6 months or so.

It has rained all Friday and all night prior to the race, then the sun came out between 7am and 11pm. Then it started to rain again. In other words the course was muddy, slippery and miserable. I see at about half way through my first lap that already some rider’s are off to the side of the course trying to fix their broken chains, bent derailleurs and good old fashioned chain suck(where the chain gets stuck between the bike frame and front chain ring) As I ride by I ask them if they are ok, most times I get a grunt, sometimes a big no. The answers all mean the same thing. I get it.

making my way through the field...(no pun)

having some fun with camera man

Let’s meet my pit crew, specifically :

Coralee –Pit manager, Nutrition, and my general needs looker after.

Mitch – Timing, Strategy

Vince – Mechanic, Mechanic, Mechanic. (did I say Mechanic?)

Scott –Morale, Inspiration, and much more than that especially later on …..

The rest of my friends and family, who I will mention later.

Lap 1 I pull into my pit, and wait 10 mins as my crew chip off and clean the drivetrain on my bike. The chain and drivetrain was essentially gummed up from the muddy conditions from the course. However the sun had started to shine and I was starting to feel like this was going to turn into a fairly nice day, (as the forecast had stated last night.) I find out after the race, that after lap 1 I am in 31st position. As the race progresses and the day wears on and,at this point the race settles into its own routine and pace, the course is getting dryer from the bike traffic, and with all the sunshine it is actually a different race all together from the first lap. My concentration is just to try keep my head, focus and not make any mistakes.

THE NIGHT COMES… Actually not so dramatic, it starts getting dark, at around 8:30 and my team elect to get my lights and batteries setup for the night riding. This is to start at 9 pm or around  9 hours in to the race, and no I don’t know my placing. However I know I am doing ok as my body feels good and the bike is flawless.

All solo riders bike plate numbers range from 1-76 (my plate number is #9). So as I am out on course, the “tactics” start, or should I say “games”. This seems to begin at around 11:30pm , case in point…… Rider #19 , this rider would be riding ahead of me, and then as I would gain on him, he would pull over and let me pass. Which I thanked him for (I can’t see the number plate from behind, but he can see mine as I pass). Right when I pass, he decides to shadow me, which is all fair, which means he rides right up behind me essentially chasing me, hoping to force me into making a mistake, which is pretty darn easy when you are riding in the dark. I speed up as I don’t want to hold him up, however he does the same. I ask “do you want by”? . He responds no, then I start to get what is happening, so I slow and go back to my race pace as I still have better than 12hrs to go…. So as he is behind me and following, he starts to ask questions like.. “when are you stopping for a break”?. I say I am not stopping for a break. With that he says it “can’t be done”… and a couple of reasons why not. The next I get is, how many laps have you done. Well this is where I make a mistake. I tell him I am on lap 7, whereas he comes back with “ I forget how many laps I have done”, then he passes me almost taking me out, in the process. So here I am thinking about this guy and not the reasons why I am doing this, or the “plan”, I am now thinking about this guy. After about 20 mins or so I start to refocus, I start to talk my self out of racing him down, to make up my spot, I just lost to him. I say a small prayer under my breath to “stay the course” 12:10 am I pull into my pit for a battery change, and I point blank ask/demand what my place is in this race. I mean all I seem to do is get passed right. Where very calmly Mitch says I can’t tell you yet…. I am starting to get a bit sore (upper neck) and the only thing I could say was. “At least tell me I am ahead of #19”! He says “ I can do that”! Just then Scott comes over and starts massaging my neck while Vince is changing the batteries, and it worked. The pain is all but gone and I am starting to feel some relief. All the while I am scanning Mitch’s face while he is looking up the current standings , in the race . All of a sudden he starts laughing and tells me “you have nothing to worry about Dave” “ #19 is 4 laps behind you!” . This is where I say an *expletive* and our whole pit starts laughing, the moment was completely surreal. At this point Mitch/Coralee say something very inspirational to me, they said that I have been moving up in the standings every lap. In fact there are racers placed ahead of me that are either out of the race, or taking a break. With this new found knowledge, I head out for another lap…..

The next 2 laps are pretty uneventful, the course is quiet, and somewhat spooky, dark and it is cold ( and man I am glad to have kept my leg warmers on). At this time of the race I start to have a bit of internal turmoil, questioning and the “why’s” do start to creep in. I will say I had some personal conversations, and I won’t go into detail but , I will tell you they weren’t with racers,or any one else connected with this event, however these were necessary conversations, and I heard every word she said.

At 4 am mark I come into the pit and I notice that my legs are starting to cramp a small amount, I also notice that I am starting to get dizzy, especially when I got off the bike ,  in order so the bike could get serviced.

I start another lap. As I round the corner to the halfway mark of this lap, I see Coralee and Mitch standing on the side, which they have done for every lap  up to and including this one. This time Coralee tells me to stop, she says “ I spoke to Shaun and you are not drinking enough fluids”, “that is why you are light headed, and starting to cramp” I immediately stop at the fluid station , and grab a drink of “GU” . This drink is a mix of electrolytes, and fluid. Honestly, within 10 mins out on the course I start feeling better!. I come in to the pit from this lap I immediately jump on my foam roller, and matt that Cor had brought over for me, and did a few stretches and rolls while the bike was being worked on . I am also getting a little down as I am tiring, This is where I heard from Mitch that my Coach (Shaun, who is also competing solo) was out due to an injury. Which is a terrible loss, considering the amount of training he does, especially winning this race  as a soloists previousely!

This is when Coralee and Mitch did the unthinkable.  They tell me what my placing is! Wow!, did it ever motivate me.

16th place as I go  out for another lap, I was renewed. I told Cor t( prior to me leaving) that it was time for me to start the second phase of my race. I have to go faster now, I have been conserving all day and all night. Now I have to ramp up the effort, if I want a shot at it. Armed with grabbing 2 drinks as I ride by the feed stations per lap, and a bit of motivation. I wanted to nail it down now.

The “plan” was starting to take shape. The next 2 laps were great, as the sun was coming up, and I could finally change my helmet( to the lighter one without the light) and get rid of my batteries and light on my handlebar. Just doing this small act felt really good and my body appreciated having the better bart of 1.5 lbs removed from the bike and especially me..

Top 10!!! Somewhere around 6:55am  … I was pacing 10th place, this would be at the finish of my 11th lap and somewhere around the 200km mark. Funny, Coralee and Mitch told me earlier, that Shaun was out due to a crash, I swear it must not have registered in my mind. That is why it came as such a shock to me as I rode down pit lane…. Look over and see Shaun running next to me, as I ride my bike in . He was asking how I was feeling, and that I was doing well. This is when I told him,  I wasn’t planning on stopping  anymore that I was fatigued but I wanted keep going. Which is pretty good as I just came off my fastest lap of the race ! I grab a bottle at my pit, then I head to the Timing tent located at the Start/Finish line to register my 11th lap, (basically a walk by so the timers can see my #plate).

This is where the heart and soul of the event is, the timers and the competitors and the spectators are all yelling “Go Solo!” to me and “GO #9!”. This was very inspiring for me as I felt I was really part of something big.  Especially when a couple of the timers, ( who don’t even know me)  yelled out “Go Dave” it really effected me.

This is where my life get’s interesting….. I come in after my 12 th lap and I see Shaun waiting for me at my pit with all my family. He grabs my handlebars of my bike and looks me in the eye and says… “How do you feel?’ I say, “ I am really sore and my left leg is starting to cramp up, now”. “My stomach is good though”.He then says “Ok, You have 2 more laps to complete, SO “you had better start getting your head around that now” (almost like he never heard what I said first..)…. Shaun adds “ This lap will be the hard one, but your next one will have to be  fast, and it will be the easiest of the 2”

The pain is setting in...

So, I head out…. I hear the yells and the screams, and I see my team, but somewhere in my mind, it is all just a bit fuzzy, and surreal. Somewhere around the first quarter of the lap, I wake up. I get a handful of clarity. I say to myself, let’s throw down the fastest lap in that I can and . I mean really hammer it and see what I can do! During the race thus far, I have been wearing a Heart Rate monitor, this way I can keep my effort in check and pace myself until I really need to (Like now), turn it up ( if I can). So for my first 6hrs of riding I tried to keep my HR at or around 135-145 beats per min (BPM) average , with spikes to 155-165 for steep quick climbs. as this was a nice comfortable pace for me to keep, without being too taxing. Around the 6-12 hrs stage up my HR across the board 5 BPM. With saying that, I upped my average another 5 (BPM) the last lap over the rest.

So when I say to you, that I had decided to go all out, I did.. I was maxing out at 185 BPM on the climbs and keeping my overall effort over 170 BPM. It ended up that my

13th and final lap,(or so I had convinced myself) was my fastest lap of the race! What is kind of humorous now, that I think back to it. While ,I ride by and grab a drink from the 1st checkpoints, the timing volunteer yells, “is this your last lap?” I said no, I have one more to go … He then yells your “Crazy!!!” Followed by “GO #9!” “Go #9!” and the other volunteers join in. which was kind of cool to hear as I ride into the bush and you can hear this going on behind you. Very Cool!

it may not look it. But I'm having fun....

As I ride into the Start/Finish Timing tent. To log my 13th lap….. I start to realize that I don’t have much left in the tank, so to speak. Everyone was waiting for me on the way up the first hill. And I did a bad thing. I pulled over and got off my bike! Shaun was standing there. He looks at me and says “what are you doing ?” “ get back on your bike!” I say “I just need a break”… He then adds “No No, get back on your bike “.Coralee, then hands me a fresh bottle , gives me a big and kiss. And I get on my bike and try to complete another lap.

I  kid you not , I was absolutely wasted. I had a ton of thoughts and emotions all running through my mind at once. All at once I look over and see Shaun…. And he is running next to me, He says somethings that hit home for me. Things like my preparation, my training, and how important it is for me to complete this. I whisper  as I didn’t have the energy to actually voice, “yes”.

I then look down and start praying that my legs will loosen up. You see at this point I have lost all of the feeling in both my feet, my left hand, and my left leg is about a one or 2 steps from seizing up all together, as the cramps have returned with a vengeance! , then throw  in some pretty decent neck pain.  Well, you get the picture.

You see one of the things that was playing in mind , was that I was starting this lap at around 9:36 am, and my previous lap took just a shade over 1:30 hrs, to go 18.5k. The 24hr rules are, as long as your lap is finished at or before 1 pm it will count. So In reality it is potentially a 25 hr race if you need it to be. Great so with doing the math I need to complete 2 laps in just over 3hrs. WHICH I HAVEN”T DONE YET! What makes anyone think I can do it after 21 hrs of riding? ….

I continue my lap thinking of all this ,and around this time everything except for a window that encompasses my front wheel and approx 20’ ahead of me, is all I can see, really. This is where, I won’t go into too much detail, but I sure did some talking to the man upstairs….  For the Final Lap.

last lap

The race course ( from the start). Begins with a climb up and then a short downhill past the Nordic centre and then it takes you up for a solid climb for (in my case ) approx 40 mins of steady climbing, with minimum grades of 6% in other words it can be painful So,as I start the gruelling climb, I see Laura and Vince, standing on the side of the course markers, and as I start getting closer , they start to run and cheer me on. I got a lot energy from this as Vince, Laura, and I met through Mountainbiking, a long time ago. For them to be here for me and this cause means a lot to Coralee and myself. I keep my head down, only looking up when the trail demands it as I continue the arduous task of climbing this mountain…. For the last time . really. My recollection of what follows for the next half lap of the course, is muddy at the very least. I know I didn’t spend a lot of energy thinking of anything else but trying to keep my legs spinning(barely) so my legs wouldn’t seize completely, that was all I could focus on.

just before the "Roller coaster" (my name for it)

Its funny, how just when you think you can’t go on,  there is nothing left, you get the strength, from as simple as the look on your wife’s and son’s face as I ride by them. I can only say, what happens next is a miracle. My pain all but stops….. everywhere…. There is only me and the bike and my breathing. I actually get out of the saddle and start sprinting, I actually turn it on. I start riding like my life depended on it and it felt great. Looking down at my HR monitor, I see my rate start to creep up and “Im Good” I actually start passing riders, mostly team riders at first, but I passed the eventual winner of the event (Matt Dugan), at “Matching Jersey’s” (a part of the course that I think is the absolute most difficult to fully ride do to its steepness and technicality)and bring back a lap that he had taken from me . The next part of the course, from around the 11km mark, starts to go downhill so as far as elevation goes it takes you within 30m of the of the river. Of course what takes you down…. The last climb. A long gradual climb that start at around 2% and ends up on the other side of 10% (so my butt meter tells me) and then shoots into a single track climb with a sharp switchback, that pushes you out on this makeshift Fire road for the last 2kms to the finish line. Get the picture?

On the gradual climb, I pass 5 people. 1 of the riders,I know is a direct solo competitor, on the steeper part of the climb I pass 2 other soloists. Of course by this time my mouth is as wide as it can get to suck in air, and I am truly maxed out heading into the singletrack. I look behind and see that 2 of the soloists are starting to get their second wind as they are gaining on me. Not by much but they are right there with me, ( within 20m or so). So I do whatever I can, praying, that I can keep this pace up and make it within time. To make this lap count!

I round the corner to get out of the switchback and onto the fire road, and who is there, but Jeff and his family cheering me on. You see Jeff was out yesterday with Ginnie cheering me on and he returned with the rest of his family (Laura and Jesi). Which is pretty awesome, cause I needed them right then!. So, Now I am out of the saddle, I am literally drooling, my nose is running and I can’t wipe either my nose or my mouth, Nor do I care to!. I don’t even look behind me anymore to see if the other riders are there because I can’t hear them anymore. Which is a good sign. My focus turns to chasing the 3 riders ahead of me. Which I do!. Right at the top of the climb I pass the last rider. And now I am on the home stretch (flat road with a short steep climb and then the finish line). I open it up, . Everything is literally a blur, I see people in slow motion with their mouths open yelling ( pretty good descripton huh?) and I see people ringing their cowbells . As I head past pit row … I see Coralee running towards the Start/Finish line  yelling and waving, I make my last climb, (still out of the saddle for the most part). And then down to the finish line…. It’s over at 24hrs and 46 mins and 41 seconds. I pulled off the fastest back to back laps of my race in 3hrs and 40 seconds. I walk into the timing tent and the first person I see standing there, is Shaun. We walk towards each other and he sticks his hand out, I drop my bike and give him the biggest hug! I thank him for his help. At this point Coralee has just made it to the tent and we both have a cry and the longest hug. And I look over and see the rest of my family coming in  and doing the same.

The finish line, and absolutely nothing left in the tank...

Words cannot describe how I felt at that moment.

So the next hour brings some exciting things,

1) I throw up.

2) I came in 5th place!!!!!

3) The feeling returned to my feet, ( my hands took 3 weeks)

At or around the start of this Journey, I had a really well….. actually a pretty smart guy ;) tell me, that “this  is a spiritual journey”. That “Sometime after the race maybe right away or maybe in a few days or weeks” “you’ll get it”. Puzzled, I just went along with it. Of course not knowing what to expect.

July 26, 6:30am on my way to work.

I got it.

I pulled the truck over for a few minutes of reflection…….

Some where up there Helen is pretty proud of all of US for coming together. Including the people who were involved in this, that had never  met her, they certainly knew of her after this.

So where do we go from here? You ask? Cor’s not done, she has a 10k in September and a ½ marathon in October.  She is going to nail it, wearing the Jersey of course!

For me? Well, our little family took our much needed vacation in Penticton about a week after this event, for some much needed R&R.  At that time,  I decided not to start  working on this blog until about a week or so into the holiday.

This experience has introduced me to some new friends, and renewed my relaitionships with my dearest friends. Let’s just say that there is a good possibility that  “Helen’s Hope” is going to Canmore, next year

Sooner than that! I’ll be wearing that  Jersey in Texas this October!http://www.terrafirmaracing.com/view.asp?id=45

I also want to extend a heartfelt thank you, to all our supporters for this cause.

Deer Valley Dental

Sobey’s (Canyon Meadows)

Western Management Consultants.

My Coach ,  “As tough as they come”  Shaun Taylor

And all our friends who all chose to be a part of this Journey with us  Thank you. (You know who you are, and I don’t want to put anyone on the spot)

Stay posted…..

relaxin at the pool in Phoenix

The 24hrs of Adrenaline, is under 2weeks away. Wether I like it or not….

A few new items to report:

We got our t-shirts in as well as our new custom jersey’s.  We even have one for Coralee to wear during the race.

Coralee's Jersey design

Back shot

We have setup our support team as follows:

Pit manager/ Nutrition — Coralee

Mechanic/ batteries for light’s —Vince

Timing —- Mitch

And we will be joined by  Laura, Christine, Scott, Zeboria, and Zachary, for inspiritional support.

Canada day long weekend we spent in Fairmont camping joined by Mitch, Christine, Michael , and Zeboria. the weather was perfect. It was also a great time to get some sprints and interval training in. Shaun had set me up with a w/o that was in his terms “brutal” and he did not disappoint.

It was basically me riding at 90% of my maximum for 3 mins followed by 12 secs of sprinting out of saddle, then back to 90% for 3 mins… this was to continue for an hour.

It was a relly difficult effort for me to do by myself due to timing and trying to do the w/o at the same time. Cor and I decided that she and Mitch could follow me on the Hwy while I was riding, Cor would time the efforts and Mitch would “honk” the horn  to let me know when I had to sprint and when I was finished my sprint.

Hill climb with beautifull view

Having a drink between efforts

It was a great w/o with some real improvements on my “personal bests” I have made some real strides in my conditioning since I started this process.

Some bragging stats are:

I have lost 23lbs and 4 inches off my waist size, my wattage output (how much energy I can output for set amounts of time) is up 33%.  This all since January 11 this year. I am feeling very good about myself and where I am in the scheme of this race. However I still have a huge chore to accomplish.

I am now really trying to focus on getting my head around this race, the setting up of my nutrition, the tuning and setting up of my bike, my clothing requirements  for the race. It could rain, and if it does…. Trust me it will be very cold! especially at that altitude.

Then there is the personal strife, the “chinks in the armour” so to speak. I am continually battling through this “what if’s?” the pressure I have put on myself.

I asked Shaun how I should deal with this aspect of the training, and he said “to sit back and relax”  take it all in . That I will do well in this race…

Good to hear, hard to visualize, to help with my motivation….. I mean Inspiration

This will keep me going in the wee hours of the night.

I’ll make a post the week before the race for more updates! stay tuned

Wow, it’s almost a month since my last blog…. it has been incredibly busy, between woekn training, and racing as well as trying to keep some balance at home.

Well, where to start…..    On my last post Cor and I were both heading out to do our events.  Coralee was competing in the 10k at the Calgary marathon, and I was competing in the “Giver8r” mountainbike race. I am happy to say that she did awesome!. Her time was 56 minutes, putting her in the top 30 out of 130 runners in her age group. 

My race was an 8hr endurance race, I completed 9laps or just under a 100k placing me 20th, out of 65 racers. I completed the race nonstop in  7 hrs 24 mins.

after 6hrs of racing, 1.5 hrs to go.

 The course consisted of muddy, rooty sections in the trees, with dry sections in the clearings. My b-inlaw Scott helped with the first 4hrs untill Coralee and Zach showed up after her race and took over for him.

It was a fun race, maybe I will do it again… maybe.

The best part was the “High fives” from Zach!

So after the race I am back to training in the cold and rain, the wind and the mud. Just another typical  spring in Calgary!

So as time goes by I get the bright idea to try and complete one more race before the 24hr race at the end of July. So I send Shaun (my coach) an e-mail to ask what he thinks. I receive an e-mail back from him about an hour later with only a 2 word response.   Stating, “Do it”.

So here we go again< I sign up for a 5hr endurance at the Canmore Nordic Centre, it’s called the “Organ Grinder”. What I didn’t know was that this race is a pretty popular race with the local racers. After I show up at the event for sign in  I see the group is a bit more “professional”  and competitive than at the “Giver8r”. Or at least it seems so to me.

It rained for a few days right upto the race in fact, the 2hr XC race held the day before (on the same course) was cancelled due to the weather and  trail conditions.

The Sunday morning of the race was cool and sunny, so I thought I was going to get a break on the conditions, however about an hour intothe event  it started to downpour,and the conditions turned from ok to terrible. There were several spots on the trails I found unrideable due to the slick conditions.

Pic above is me at the Start line, wow what nice weather…

after the race,

 5hrs later, and I am pretty much soaked, and so is the bike.  I placed 27th out of 58 riders and 80 had signed up, a few DNF and a few didnt’s show up. in fact the race was approx 100 riders less than the year previously. What added to the drama at the event was the 3 bear sightings on the race course, it was just another element.

Now, I am back to training 16+hrs per week except now I am getting out int he mountains, I am especially concentrating on training at Canmore, on the same course that I am in for the 24hr race, of course the weather still isnt so great, and then there’s the wildlife…..

 I purchased some “Bear  spray” , I now carry  on my training rides as I usually train alone, and it’s suggested by the Fish and wildlife authority, as the bears are very active this time of year. Plus it makes me feel better

So, I will post a little more often the closer to the race it becomes (time willing), I am down to 26 days before the all nighter, and I’m looking forward to the challenge!

Just me and another rider, on the course.

Here’s a link to the event :

http://www.24hoursofadrenalin.com/canmore/

One of the best reasons to ride your bike!

After 4 months of training, Cor, is running her 10k with her brother Mitch, and I am riding my 8hr race today.

It has rained non stop all week,with exception of Saturday, and today. I prerode the course yesterday, and it is still pretty muddy in sections, otherwise it has dried up fairly decently in the open area’s out of the trees.

Cor and Mitch are gonna toe the line start to finish!

Wish us luck, And no mechanicals!

Since I posted last, I have really been able to challenge myself, physically and spiritually.

First off, when I returned home from Moab last month, I was still fighting my sickness and training between 10-12 hrs a week. So I wasn’t really giving myself a chance to fully get over my flu. I thought that it would be harder to try and make up ground in my training, by taking time off, then just to struggle through.

I was right! However, 2 weeks after I was back to my old self …. I came down with a head cold, which I am just getting over now. The good part about all this is, I have gotten quite  good at breathing without using my nose!

This past month has been really challenging, with the mindset I brought back from Moab, there was no way I was going back into the basement to stare at videos and spin on my windtrainer. It was mentally exhausting to keep that up after riding outside in Utah for a week.

So when Shaun sent me the w/o schedule my first week back. I noticed that one of the workouts was a 5 hour training ride!

The next afternoon on my way home from work I stopped off at MEC to buy some riding shoe covers, a cold weather shell for under my helmet, and new gloves. I knew I was never going back to the basement this year if I could help it.

Armed with my new found cold weather gear, and the knowing the forecast for the day of my ride was to between 7-10c, I felt I had a great day ahead of me……

Now where do I ride for 5 hours?  I was sure I didn’t want to ride in town, I wanted to be able to focus  for 5 hrs straight and not worry about traffic lights, etc. The logical choice was for me to ride to Bragg Creek and back.  I also thought the best time to go would be early in the morning.  That way I would have a better chance avoiding alot of traffic normal for this time of year as people headed to the mountains for the day. If I left early enough I could test out my new lighting system.

That night I set my alarm for 3am and went to bed excited for a great road ride, finally!

4am  I checked the current weather and it showed 3C. I then set out with my riding lights, and bundled up ready for the ride. As I headed out, it did occur to me that I may ride into some windchills, but hey… the sun will be up in a few short hours how bad could it be……

1st hour was pretty good, lights worked great, body felt good and I was pretty warm (except for my feet) they seemed a tad cold, but I always have cold feet. No traffic, all is well.

2nd hour, hmm feet are getting substantially colder and it has become a real task getting fluids from my Camel Back.  On a side note, I do not eat when I cycle for longer than 2 hours. Err, well that’s not exactly true, I DO eat but I get my food in liquid form. I drink a formulation of carbs/electrolytes and proteins. This fuel was recommended to me by Shaun as it’s easier to digest when exercising, and when you are burning upwards of 300 calories an hour, it’s the fastest way to replace calories on efforts such as this. So getting back on topic, I was having difficulty drinking because my Camel Back was freezing!

I was holding steadfast to the idea that once the sun came up all would be well,  or at least be in Bragg Creek and maybe the gas station was open where I could warm up. Not so… the sun was up and I was seriously freezing.  My feet were numb from the ankles down, and because I was so focused on that, I was neglecting any sort of importance of replenishing my fuel stores.  Like trying to thaw out my pack!

At the 2.5 hour mark, I bonk.  Plain and simple, I cannot ride any further. In fact I am so spent I just start pushing my bike on the side of the road pointed to Calgary. (At this point I am approx 10km east of Bragg Creek). It is literally all I can do to call Coralee from my cell phone, it seemed at least 5 minutes trying to get my pack open and dialing my lifeline, Coralee to come and get me. My hands just wouldn’t work because I had lost the feeling in my fingers for sometime now.

Within 30 minutes, I recognize our van driving down the road, Zachary in the back, and 5 minutes later I am in the van trying to warm up, trying to eat a power bar Coralee had brought for me. We both thought I had hypothermia, as I couldn’t stop shaking. Checking my temp gauge on my Joule afterwards, I found that it was -5c and with the windchill it felt much colder. I guess riding towards the mountains makes it much colder than in city limits, go figure.

I spend the day at home recuperating and refuelling my body, because…. I was going to try again on Sunday. 

Sunday morning, 8am;

I awake, and get dressed and head out the door by 9 am, this time I am greeted by 7C temps, and by the time I hit 22X the temps are climbing above 10C.

I rode to and from Sulphur Springs day area, in Bragg Creek in just over 4 hrs. I then rode the balance of my 5 hour ride on the bike trails in Fish Creek. This gave me a total of just under 122kms! Not bad.

The countdown to the 24 is on, in fact my 8 hr challenge is less than a week away.

Only one thing left to say, Thank God for blessing me with my wonderful wife, for jumping out of bed on a moments notice, wrapping our son in a blanket, and heading out on the road to come and get me. All this done with a smile, and grace like no other. Remembering how she looked when she was telling me to call, if something went wrong on my way out the door, Sunday morning.

I only know of one other person who would do that….

It truly is our Journey. Thanks sweetie.

Mom with Zach...right around her confirmation of diagnosis

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY to all the mothers out there.  For me, and I’m sure for others who have lost their mothers for whatever the cause may be, it’s definitely a day of reflection.  Last year’s Mother’s Day immediately comes to mind for me.  Mom was just about to receive a confirmation of her diagnosis, and was already feeling to effects of pancreatic cancer, so instead of going out to celebrate Mother’s Day, we brought it to her and had a potluck dinner.  This is where reality hits…we all brought food over, and mom was feeling so terrible and nauseous that day, that she spent the entire time we were there in bed with the windows open in her room and covers pulled over her nose so that she couldn’t smell the food we had brought.  Each of us took turns quickly entering her room and shutting the door so that the food smells couldn’t get through the open door.  We’d visit her for a while and then head back downstairs so that she could get some rest and the next person could visit.  We felt like we had made this an even more difficult day.  It was a hard one.  I think that she hadn’t yet been on any anti-nausea medication, or at the very least, not the strong meds anyway.  I’ve been thinking of her a lot, and miss her so very much…I can’t believe that it’s already been 6 ½ months since she’s been in heaven.

Shortly after she passed away I read a true story called, “90 Minutes in Heaven” by Don Piper.  Without retelling the whole story, the book is about a Pastor who had a very serious car accident, dies and goes to heaven for 90 minutes before being prayed back to life by another Pastor.  He describes it to be amazing beyond words, and says that there are no earthly words to adequately describe what he saw and how he felt and that when he returned to earth, he wanted nothing more than to return to heaven immediately.

While I completely believe the good pastor’s account, I often think about it and wonder if that’s what mom experienced.  Is it the same experience for everyone?  Whether it is or not, I know for a fact that mom’s enjoying it, and definitely not in any more pain or suffering.

THE TEAM NAME 
Thanks to everyone’s very creative team name suggestions!  I was really pleased with the number of people that commented and provided ideas.  It was good just to know that people were reading our blog site!  The name with the most comments about it is the one that we’ve decided on… “Helen’s Hope”. Once the jersey design has been completed, I’ll post it.  I’m excited to see it!

THE TABLE

Mom & dad's dining table...full of memories

I mentioned in one of my other posts about cleaning out mom and dad’s house.  Well, of course that means that all of us kids are taking various things of remembrance into our own homes.  Paintings that mom had painted, wall hangings, pottery and dishes that were used regularly, and various other items that we liked and had special meaning have all been removed.  When we were looking at everything, we started discussing mom and dad’s dining table.  They had had the table for almost as long as any of us, a few of the siblings really wanted someone to take it and use it, but each of us said that we just don’t have the room.  Having second thoughts, Dave and I decided that we could use it as our everyday kitchen table, with the benefit of having a second table that could expand to accommodate family dinners at our house.  So taking the table began really as just a convenience and a little bit of obligation.  Once we got the table at our place, Dave, my brother Scott and I all noticed the memories that have been carved into that table throughout the years.  The head of the table where dad always sat has some worn marks where he would always rest his arms after another one of mom’s fabulous meals.  The other end of the table has other markings from where mom would paint or do crafts with her grandchildren.  Dave immediately said “this is where I always sat”, and now still does.  As I told one of my BFF’s, Laura about the table about a week ago, my eyes welled up with tears and I realized that the table is now one of our most prized possessions.  I had no idea how many memories that table had.

CORPORATE SPONSORSHIP

Thank you to Sobeys Deerpoint...our first corporate sponsor!

Over the last couple of weeks we’ve been reaching out to businesses in our community where my parents and/or we frequent to ask for support.  Friday evening our phone rang…it was Sobey’s just down the street from us… Anthony, Store Manager and Jeff, Assistant Manager of Sobey’s Deerpoint are our first corporate sponsors!  I am so excited!

An UPDATE to our sponsor announcement!  We are pleased to announce that Deer Valley Dental Care has also agreed to support our cause.  A huge thank you to them as well.  It means so much to us to have the support of our local businesses.

We SO appreciate the support we are receiving from the businesses in our community!

If you’ve been reading our blogs, you already know that we are having custom jerseys printed to wear during our events to raise awareness.  We have been asking companies to support us for a mere $100 and a good quality version of their logo to add to our jerseys, t-shirts, blog site, etc.  If you own or work for a company that you think would support us in this cause, please let us know!  Because we have to order these by a certain date to get them on time, we’ve been asking for a response by Friday, May 20^th, 2011.

A huge thank you to Stefanie Condon-Oldreive from Craig’s Cause Pancreatic Cancer Society and Laurie Ellies from Pancreatic Cancer Canada.  They have been so supportive of us!  If this blog site finds you wondering how you can help (and I’m hoping that it does…that IS the whole reason for this after all!)  please consider donating to our cause.  You can do so by clicking either of the following links:

http://www.craigscause.ca/donate-now/ 
http://www.pancreaticcancercanada.ca/donation.php 

TRAINING UPDATE
Well, I’ve completed the 8 week training program that I found online.  Now I’m trying to improve on my time.  The one thing that I have to do…start running outside!!!  My man has continued to impress me with his cycling training.  Through sleet, rain, hail, thunderstorms and the night, Dave’s out there cycling in it all.  I am definitely supportive and impressed with his efforts, but on a rainy evening when he arrived back home at 11:30pm, dripping wet at the front door (and I was starting to worry about him)…I did call him crazy.  Now…if only I could catch a bit of that craziness!!  I HAVE to get outside…if it rains for my 10K run, am I going to run on my treadmill…NO!  I’d better get out there in the next couple of weeks before the big event!

Coralee