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.

First Day of School!!

Thursday was the first day of school for all four kids.  We made four stops during our grand tour of the Mountain Lakes schools.  First, Lisa walked Nina across the street at 8:00 to Briarcliff School for her first day of middle school.  Then, by 8:15 we were in Stephen's classroom at Wildwood for his introduction to first grade (David walked separately to Wildwood  -- too cool for us -- guess that's what happens when you hit 5th grade).  Next it was off to Scribbles preschool where the action got undeway for Matthew at 8:50.  That was quite a morning, and it's sure to be quite a year.  Check out the pictures. 

Project -- Post-Vacation

So here is what things looked like when we returned from the beach.  Lots of progress!

Ocean City 2007

We have just returned from a beautiful and fun-filled week in Ocean City.  The weather was absolutely perfect, and the kids never seemed to get tired of the water, sun and sand.  There was lots of great company, too.  Olivia and Christina were there for the entire week, Cathy and Dick for half the week, and Emily, Mia and Mia's friend, Taylor, for the other half of the week.  Enjoy the pictures, which you'll notice are conspicuously lacking in adults . . . 

Project -- Three Months In

Here are some pictures showing the state of our home renovation project just before we left on vacation.  A lot was accomplished while we were gone, and I will post pictures of the current state soon.  Progress is steady, but somewhat slow, although the pace picked up considerably while we were on the beach.  While writing this post, I have realized there are now pictures of the master bath.  I'll include those in my next project update.

Summer of Baseball 2007

As many of you know, the first part of our summer was quite fully occupied with baseball.  David played for the Tri-Town 9-year-old all star team, which involved 15 games over 6 weeks, and many practices.  He had a ball, and along with playing the game, has become quite a fan.  He never misses a chance to catch a Mets or Yankees game on television.

In keeping with that theme, my birthday present this year was three tickets to the Mets vs. the Cincinnati Reds on July 15.  Stephen and David accompanied me to Shea Stadium that Sunday afternoon while Lisa stayed home with Nina and Matthew, who had had quite enough baseball, thank you, with all of David's games.  Here are some pictures from the day.

Mixed Results

My up and down 2007 triathlon season continues.  As faithful readers of State of Nature will recall, I suffered a minor bike crash during my first race of the season, the Columbia Triathlon.  Two races in July gave me opportunities for redemption.  The first, the Randolph Lake triathlon, is a sprint race that takes place only 20 minutes from our front door.  This one went really well for me, as I finished fourth overall and first in the 40-44 age group.  Full results are here, if you're interested, but even better is the headline I got in the local paper! 

I looked to build on that result in the very competitive New Jersey State Triathlon on July 22, but it was not to be.  After a good swim, I was in the middle of one of my best bike rides ever when my race was derailed.  A policeman at an intersection had a mental lapse and pointed a group of four of us in the wrong direction (left when we were supposed to go straight).  By the time we realized we were off course, and doubled back to rejoin the race, we had added almost five miles to the ride.  Needless to say, after all that, I did not place well (look for me down at number 66).  But taking the positive, my bike speed overall was excellent -- although for 28 miles instead of 23.5 -- and I managed a solid sub-40 minute 10K run despite my disappointment.