Are You Ready for Some Ironman '08 !?!?

This post is in compliment to Bigun's post

Peace Train

( Cat Stevens ) remake by 10,000 Maniacs

Now I've been happy lately, thinking about the good things to come
And I believe it could be, something good has begun

Oh I've been smiling lately, dreaming about the world as one

And I believe it could be, some day it's going to come

Cos out on the edge of darkness, there rides a peace train

Oh peace train take this country, come take me home again

Now I've been smiling lately, thinking about the good things to come

And I believe it could be, something good has begun

Oh peace train sounding louder

Glide on the peace train

oh ah ee ah oh ah

Come on now peace train

Yes, peace train holy roller

Everyone jump on the peace train

oh ah ee ah oh ah

Come on now peace train

Get your bags together, go bring your good friends too

Cos it's getting nearer, it soon will be with you

Now come and join the living, it's not so far from you

And it's getting nearer, soon it will all be true

Oh peace train sounding louder

Glide on the peace train

oh ah ee ah oh ah
Come on now peace train, peace train

Now I've been crying lately, thinking about the world as it is

Why must we go on hating, why can't we live in bliss

Cos out on the edge of darkness, there rides a peace train

Oh peace train take this country, come take me home again

Oh peace train sounding louder

Glide on the peace train

oh ah ee ah oh ah

Come on now the peace train

Yes peace train holy roller

Everyone jump on the peace train

oh ah ee ah oh ah

Come on, come on, come on

Yes come on peace train

Yes it's the peace train

Oh ah ee ah oh ah

Come on now peace train

Oh peace train

How Exciting!!!!!!!!!

Dreaming about the world as one (our little corner of the world anyway)

We are going to have so much fun in Couer d'Alene '08. Can't wait to get together with everyone. For updates and an "A" list of who's attending click on over to Bigun's blog. He's keeping an eye on all who sign up. We'll have a few of our Blogger Ironfolk there for both sherpa duties and moral support. I'll be packing the cowbells and pom poms to cheer everyone along the route. I am sure I can get a little help on the cowbell/ cheering action from Stronger , Bolder,

Mrs. TriGreyhound, Mrs.Blink & The Blinkettes!, Big J, Nytro, Iron Benny, Big Mike, J Wim and Duane. Geek Girl won't be joining us on the sidelines....she has decided to race! We'll be having a great time. I wonder who else will be joining us....?

p.s. I tried to download a video of 10,000 maniacs singing Peace Train and I found several videos of Cat Stevens performing the song as well. Let me rephrase that, one of Cat singing and several of Yusef Islam singing it. The London performance was beautiful. Hope you enjoy!

The First Day

Their first day outside.... if you click on the pictures, they'll take you to the site with the video of their first day outside.


















But...there's this green stuff everywhere...
















Who said that?!?















Are we done yet?










Hey, where are you going?!?!








Ready for tomorrow.

Training Log

Monday night - I took a Yoga class
Yep - sure did. My friend Green Eyed Lady has been asking me to go to Yoga class with her. I have been wanting to go. Really, I have. So, I attended class on Monday night. That's our instructor Debbie on the left, Green Eyed Lady in the middle and me on the right. GEL took a few pictures of the instructor in pose and then a few "group" shots. She closed her eyes. Yep, she sure did. Not an open lid to be seen on her face. So, Bigun cut and pasted my left eye over her lids. Enhanced the color a little... voila!(double click the picture for a better view!) There you have us. In all of our post yoga glory. It was fun. I must say, if you tri folks haven't tried yoga, you should. It stretches your body out in a most wonderful way. Awesome afterwards. I think that all of the great stretching on Monday night enabled me to extend my ride on Tuesday.

Tuesday night - I rode a little over 15 miles on my bike.
My longest ride so far. I suffered a neck injury last summer and am still working through it. It was a pretty bad injury. The Doc now wants me to go through a series of epidurals injected into the 3 highest disks in my neck. Any ways, my point is, after about 7 miles of riding, my neck is usually in too much pain to ride any further. Tuesday night, I rode 2 laps at Flatwoods. I felt great during the ride and no pain after the ride. I think all of the stretching the night before really helped.



You are probably asking one really big question right now...

What am I training for?

The answer is...
A faster metabolism.

Happy Father's Day

Father's Day. A big day. Not everyone has a father to celebrate. Maybe your Father has passed away, perhaps he's never been around while you were growing up, or sadly, some would have been better off if their father had decided not to hang around. I am very lucky. My Father did hang around and he is still with me.






He lives in North Carolina and I live in Florida so I won't be seeing him today. Even though I won't be seeing him, he's here with me. He always is. My Dad is a retired Military Policeman with the US Army. He wasn't always with us when we were growing up. Sometimes he would be TDY or stationed in another country where we as a family couldn't follow. Sometimes he was "out in the field". I remember too that he worked "CQ". As a kid I didn't know what CQ stood for, I just knew that he was working at night. He would report for duty at 6pm and check out of duty at 6am. We lived at a small Army Depot in NY for a while. Seneca Army Depot. Most of you have probably never heard of this place. It's closed down now. They closed it in 1995. With the supposed end of the cold war so too came the end of Seneca Army Depot. There is a lot of red tape to cut through before it's final designation will be decided.
When my Dad was on CQ often times he would come home on his "lunch hour". We lived on the base in Military Housing. We hardly ever heard my Dad come home for lunch (at midnight or 1am) but every now and then he would come upstairs to say hello to us (me, my sister and my little brother) and to show us something truly amazing. Once he brought home an orphaned baby fox. Another time, he opened his big green military jacket and clutching to the inside was a baby screech owl that had gotten caught on a fence. My Dad was always bringing home surprises for us. We didn't get to keep the foundlings but he always wanted to share it with us. His smile and excitement over the beauty of nature has stayed with me. Seneca was full of secrets and beauty. Seneca is also home to the only known herd of White Deer. No, they are not Albino. Their noses and eyes are brown. The deer were always in our backyard. It was a common sight on the depot. Beautiful.

My Dad taught me a lot about life. He always seemed eager to learn about things. When we lived in foreign countries, we traveled. We traveled a lot. There was always a trip to somewhere. He was always able to see the hidden beauty in things. I like to think that I inherited that from him. When I travel I look for the hidden beauty. The things that are right in front of us and no one notices.





My Dad is also a jokester. He likes to play practical jokes on people. Not the mean sort but the silly sort. He cracks me up. My Dad likes to laugh. My dad likes to talk, he can share all sorts of interesting things with anyone willing to take the time and listen. He always has a story to tell. He has always tried to enjoy what life has to offer.These are some of my memories from when I was young... my Dad used to sing with old Country songs. Mostly I loved hearing him sing with Johnny Cash. He used to take me on motorcycle rides. Once he brought home the rattle of a snake that was in the wrong place at the wrong time. We used to take RC Dune Buggies out to race. He taught me how to shoot a gun when I was young. I learned how painful it is when a bow string snaps the inside of your arm after being released improperly. He used to stop anytime he saw a sign for puppies. Rarely did we get to bring one home, but we stopped to play with them any way. I know how to spit shine boots. My Dad has always enjoyed good food. Wherever we lived, he introduced us to the "native fare". My Dad has never met a stranger.

When I think of Nature and it's beauty, I think of my Dad. When I think of being an American and a Patriot, I think of my Dad. When I hear Johnny Cash, I think of my Dad. When I look at my Chournie, I think of my Dad. When I think of strength, my own and his, I think of my Dad. When I think of my Daddy, I think of Love.
Happy Father's Day Daddy.
All my love,
Diana

Alcatraz Summarized

I'm not really sure where to start. I tried to keep everyone updated while we were in San Francisco. Bigun is telling his story. He's telling it the right way. I was an observer - a witness...

How about visuals... I always enjoy this part. I'll leave the actual reporting up to Bigun.

Schwag inspection. No one can resist, look at all of the curious athletes looking into their bags while they wait in line for their chips.

I tried to watch the athletes jump from the ferry at Alcatraz. It was too far away to be able to see who who. The door on the bottom left of the ferry, you can barely see an "orange" head. I believe it may be Bigun. He was one of the last off the boat








Bigun coming into T1 from the swim

Bigun is second back. This was the last curve before T2

Zooming past me onto T2

I got a Thumbs Up as he entered the chute for the finish line.

Sarah Reinertson is talking while on stage with fellow Challenged Athlete Foundation Members. Please notice - 2nd girl from the right is Melissa Stockwell (she swam), the tall man next to her is Andy Hatcher (he ran) and the man in the long black sweats with a Tank on is Rich Ingram (he biked)- all three ran this as a relay team. Team Operation Rebound.They are all three Iraq war veterans who have survived attacks from insurgents.

I forgot about this shot.....
You can see the tops of heads and kayaks as the swimmers make their way to shore here...

Here are a few other Bay Swimmers...

Nelson Skateboarding - to everyone's delight...

Yes. Nelson is the Bull Dawg

This shot completes my post. You have now born witness to Di's version of the Flora and Fauna of The Great Escape.

Thanks for stopping in.

Check in at Alcatraz

Before I go any farther - Thank you to everyone who sent me get well wishes. I appreciate it so very much! You are all so great!!
I wanted to post this last night but truth be told, I was soooo tired. It's 4 am here in San Fran and Bigun is already headed to transition. It opens at 4:15 and the buses to the ferry also start running at that time. He got his 3:30 wake up call, got dressed, grabbed his gear and was gone. Neither of us slept really. I am sure you all know how it is. I thought I would try to catch a few more Z's and get up at 6. Well, I'm wide awake with no hope of more sleep. His wave jumps from the boat at 7:05. It will take me about 30 minutes to walk down to the race area. I won't actually get to see him jump but hopefully I won't miss him coming out of the water. Brrrrrrr. Right now, the water is warmer than the air. Water 57 degrees - air 51. Holy Iceberg Batman! Really, the temps wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the wind.
There isn't a lot to tell about yesterday, Bigun picked up his packet/schwag (I'll let him expound on this) then got in line for his chip. The line looked pretty long but it was moving quickly.
The Expo was pretty good sized. Did I tell you it was FREAKIN" COLD?!?!? Oh yeah, it was. Everyone was looking for shelter against the wind. It felt more like Chicago in the early throes of Winter rather than San Francisco on the verge of Summer. WTH?

The athlete's meeting was at 4 o'clock - we were done pretty much at 2 o'clock. So, we pulled up a couple of chairs and camped out next to a tent on the opposite side of the wind. At about 3 o'clock this girl walks by sporting a Starbucks cup in each hand. That dirty rotten wench. Starbucks was atleast 3/4 of a mile away. Okay, okay I know, that isn't far. Normally. I'm playing the sick card now. Yes, I was up and moving but I found myself winded just trying to get up a measly little hill. Talk about embarrassing. It was. You would have thought I was 95 years old with emphysema. Argh. My point here is, thanks to the lovely, and helpful with directions, young girl bearing Starbucks, I had to get up and walk. Again. I know, I am really sounding like a big fat crybaby. So? I've been in bed for 3 days solid and really truly, I was just plain out of energy. Plum tired. Despite my mental whining ( I didn't let Bigun hear me whine and I didn't start crying) we walked to Starbucks. A little warm brew being my main motivator. Chai Tea Latte. Yumma yumma. Okay, so it was worth the Loooooooong walk. It did give me a little more energy and I actually felt better for it.

There were a couple of Star sightings yesterday. Sarah Reinertson was walking around. I saw her walking in but didn't want to seem like some star struck paparazzi so, like a chicken, I waited til her back was turned. I'm an idiot. This is her...walking away! I hope to see her coming out of the water today

Once the meeting started a guy came up on stage to explain how to make the swim. He gave the athletes sight guides and explained about how the currents would push them in a certain direction. Basically his advice boiled down to. Don't try to swim in a straight line for the beach. It won't work. He should know- he's made this swim 498 times. He's planning for#500 on the 50th anniversary of the famous escape. That's in June. I guess he'll have to get in one more swim before then. Insanity.

Next - two fellows in charge brought up a large course map and walked the athletes through what to expect out on the course. Cool. The wind was blowing so hard one guy had to hold the map while the other narrated. Swear.
I have never seen a place clear out so fast in my life. Once the athletes had all of the info they wanted swish - ghost town. I am here to tell you - it was cold and noone was pretending otherwise. Bigun and I headed back to our side of the water and I used the opportunity to snap a few shots of things along the way. Here are more Star Sightings....




This is Opus





I can't remember the name of this place....











The famous Golden Gate is in there somewhere in the fog. BTW ...Why is it, the Golden Gate has a RED bridge?

We decided to stop at a restaurant for dinner on the way in. By now, it was 6 pm. The sun came out. Huh, so that's what it looks like.....no, I didn't get a picture of it. I really need some more of those cordials. Since I don't have any I guess I better get ready to head out. It's 5:40 am on Sunday. Stay Tuned....