Thursday, October 11, 2007

September in Paris

I spent most of the second half of September in Europe!  An arbitration hearing brought me to Zurich for three hearing days and several preparation days spread over a two-week period.  But what to do with the four-day weekend that magically appeared in the middle of all the work?  Why, how about getting a baby-sitter for the kids back in NJ and having Lisa meet me in Paris?  Sound like a nice idea??  Well, that's exactly what we did, and it was spectacular.

Following a somewhat comical false start trying to find each other Friday morning at Charles deGaulle Airport, Lisa and I spent a fabulous weekend in Paris.  The weather was absolutely perfect.  Making our home base at the Waldorf Trocadero Hotel, we walked until our shoes (and legs) were worn out, ate entirely too much, and saw many well-known, and some less well-known, sights.  Here are some pictures to help recount our visit.

Responding to complaints that my photography is too heavy on children and buildings, I made a special effort to get pictures of Lisa and me on this trip.  Enjoy!

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Delaware Diamondman Triathlon

Time to get caught up on the blog entries. 

September was a very busy month -- starting the weekend after Labor Day with my last triathlon of the season, the Delaware Diamondman Triathlon.  This one was the half ironman distance:  1.2 mile swim/56 mile bike/13.1 mile run. 

As luck would have it, we were handed a day with blazing sun, 90 degree temps and no wind.  That was fine during the swim, obviously, and even during the bike.  But the run was a different story.  Although I set out on the run at what I thought was a conservative pace, deep suffering began began to set in about halfway through.  I had led the race after the swim, and finished the bike in approximately 9th position.  At one point during the run, I had climbed into 5th place overall.  But then the wheels fell off.  The sun was unrelenting, and there was no shade on the course.  I slowed considerably, and even began taking short walking breaks -- the first time I have ever had to walk during a race of any kind.  Getting to the finish of this race was probably the most difficult thing I've ever done athletically . . . and that includes brutal 10,000 meter workouts back in my swimming days.  I finally did get to the finish, and surprisingly only three people caught me after I had moved into 5th place.  So I finished 8th overall.

What a way to finish the season.  Here are the results if you're interested in taking a look.