Dog days

No, this time Im not referring to weather, but rather, an expression, "every dog has its day". Loosely translated, it means that anyone, on any given day, can be beat". Unfortunately, I became a victim of this on a week night.

Thursday agenda-Waterford 5k

Even though this was based on the crystal, most didn't have nor get one. The awards got worse. This was their 2nd annual, my 1st time running it (walked last year) & likely, the last because:
1. the standards lower but the fees higher.
2. won my age category & was posted as such over a half hour but was bumped to 2nd at the awards ceremony (last minute).
3. no master title.
4. no trophies.

The dog had his day; Jeffrey decimated me by over half a minute & broke the 18 1/2 to boot!

Saturday agenda-spooktacular 5k

Due to previous engagements, I've typically missed this one; not this year. After a devastating defeat, especially mentally, I was able to bounce back, with the lord's help. I was vindicated by defeating the kid, despite no significant improvement in my time. On top of that, I secured the master title, but with the help of Walthon's stellar performance that boosted him into the top 3; I missed by 1 slot. This race was my tune up for the main event.

Sunday agenda-Daytona half

I decided to make this my main event due to the distance. It was the inaugural, so we (my dad & I) did not know what to expect. I anticipated it would be great because the 1st 2 miles began on the speedway & we agreed. There was 1 major bridge which I call a stride breaker. Once I got over that, it was difficult to reestablish my pace. The half concluded within the speedway. The entrance felt like when the Olympians did their marathon. The finisher's medal could've been better but the post race refreshments was 'spot on'. This was my dad's 1st race of the 2008-09 season, my 2nd distance event. The NASCAR experience was awesome. It was a fringe benefit of the half registration.

V

Victory!

Saturday agenda-steps for independence 5k

Ya'll know I need a tune up race prior to the main event; this was it! I crammed this one in prior to the last sprint triathlon/duathlon offered by multirace. I had planned on running & winning easy since the race for the cure 5k was going on in Miami. To my dismay, this was not exactly the case. Although lighter than most, the top 3 slots were filled by the quick, young guys, forcing Luiz Souza into 4th. That's bad for me because that means he'll automatically win the master title. Luckily, it was 3 deep, but unfortunately, a legend, Ralph G, showed up & dating to the past, had consistently beat me. This seemed to be the case until the latter stages of the race, where, with the help of the Lord, I was able to pass him up for the 2nd place position.

Sunday agenda-race for the troops du/tri

This was the last sprint triathlon by multirace & our last du relay to be counted in the series. John G backed out at the last minute, leaving both Gene & I to fend off a very dominant father & son relay. Although we were already ahead in points, we felt the need to beat them for redemption. Praise the Lord that came to fruition. Remarkably, I had the fastest bike time of all relays & there were over a dozen teams. I finally got the monkey off my back by defeating the dad by nearly a minute, despite his cheating (bike not racked in correct position by placing on edge) & a good head start (son beat Gene into transition). Upon my return, I gave Gene a much better head start to the finish & despite the kid's record time (fastest of all relays & even my time on the tri), he held him off for our most gratifying victory. We felt like going in their face & making snide comments, much like the dad did to us, but we were better than that. We let our actions speak louder than any words. We were just too professional & refused to stoop to his cockroach level. After I did my part for the du team, my major obligation, I had a duty to run on a tri team set up by Miami pace. I changed my outfit, then went out and ran. The tri team dominated by about 5 minutes! Both teams I was involved with won their respective category. I am proud of all the teammates I worked with.

Championship weekend 08

Hey yall. Happy Columbus day. This past weekend was the family fitness championship weekend held at Cypress gardens in Winterhaven. My task was to win 2 titles, one was a title defense.

Saturday agenda-Powerade duathlon final

ESM had both the duathlon & triathlon finals on the same day. Naturally, since I don't swim, I had to du. I trained hard on the bike to improve on my former weakness because #1-all my losses were a result of that & #2- I du tri harder! I was hoping to just merely complete the du as a formality since I was already in the lead for the series but somebody decided to enter my category. When it comes to competition, I am a bit greedy; I want my cake & eat it too, with icing on it! The individual race would serve as the icing; the series win is the cake. Now for the breakdown. In the lead run, I was barely in the top ten. This was by design because I knew I need reserve for the next 2 disciplines. Although some improvement was made, I still continued to struggle in the transition zone. By the grace of God, I had my best time on the bike on this course & actually beat the guy in my crosshairs. After transition, he got out 1st. I caught him & another by mile 1. Unfortunately for me, I slipped on a rain soaked wooden bridge & lost 2 position, one was my master target. The Lord allowed me to recover but I had to now go to a strategic, tactical race, rather than speed. I was blessing by the Lord & outsprinted him after 3 miles to the finish, winning my category.

Sunday agenda-the ancillary events

ESM refers to the non multi sport activities as ancillary events. First up was the inline 10k skate. I had not originally intended to this one but after the snafu in Ft Lauderdale, all entrants were granted a comp entry. I used the event as a tune up for the 5k. Despite obtaining my best time in this genre, I was dead last in my age group, the most active of all.

This was the inaugural Powerade 5k grand prix series. Thanks to God, I was able to win both in the race, and in the series. I took top medal for the 5k but unlike all those registered runners, I also won in the series. My time barely broke 20 but was sufficient to be 4th overall, especially after somebody let me get in front in the last stretch.

Escape

We all should know the importance of escape.

Saturday agenda-escape from Miami

No, that's not the name of the event I did. It's actually the Pilot 5k but Jon & I escaped from Miami to do this event on the Florida west coast. I thought I was doomed to just training for my required tune up but he came through again. I was hoping for an easy time but that did not come to fruition; I had to battle. Considering that I was sick for about a week & had to curtail my training, I had to resort to strategy. While Jon was in the lead pack (3), I latched onto the 2nd wave. However, I struggled to stay with the master pack (4 including myself) for most of the race, while dodging this guy who kept drifting & cutting me off. By the grace of God, I got past all of them in the final stretch using my patented master kick. We aint washed up yet. The master pack finished 4th, 5th, 6th & 7th! In fact, except for 3rd place, the top 7 slots were 35+ in age.

Sunday agenda-escape to Miami

Yes, that is the name of the event I did. However, not alone. This year, PR racing offered both a sprint & Olympic for individuals, the latter for relays. I selected a team of 3 runners. However, since this is a triathlon, 2 had to go out of their element. Adam lead the team by swimming. Although he can do all three disciplines & has competed solo in the past, he was desperately needed as neither Gene nor I can swim. As for me, this was my 1st time on the bike in this event. Gene was in his element but said he hadn't competed in a 10k since his younger teen days. We all were put to the test, especially since we discovered that Felipe formed a team to rival us. Worse, he was gonna be in his element, the run! I already assumed we were gonna lose to his team & prior to the race, told the team we must hustle to earn second place. In fact, I thought we might only get the finishers medals. Well, we got 2nd place male relay (to our surprise) and 5th out of 41 total teams, regardless of category. What was amazing and shocking was that we lost only by about a minute (not destroyed) and it was not by Felipe's team (they got 3rd). Considering that Adam is not really a swimmer & was actually preparing for the Chicago marathon next week, he still swam within the average times. I got my personal best on the bike for a 40k, remarkable because I had 8 hills (2 laps over 2 bridges), wet ground & westbound head wind to contend with. Get this, my cycling was the best of all male teams, 5th of 41 teams; wooooo! Gene was 2nd only to Felipe, & both were the best of the 41 teams & i believe the only ones to break 50 minutes. I am so proud of the team, named triple sweat threat, a variation of an undefeated team I formed way back.