Our 'Mitten'

Katie and I got Attila, just about 2 years ago. He was a feisty little guy and loved to play, at any hour. You knew we had a cat and loved him very much because we would always find his toy mice in the oddest places. We played hide and seek and the "glove game". He would snuggle us in the morning and wait for us to come home at the top of the stairs.

This past weekend he wasn't himself, just not playful and ornery. On Sunday night he climbed onto his cat carrier (something he hates), and I wondered if this was his way of telling us that something was wrong. Monday morning I woke up to him getting sick. It wasn't pretty, so we took him to the vet and got some tests done as you would with any family member. Attila had a lymphoma in his abdomen, nothing we could do. Not good. After we took him home, he wouldn't eat or drink. He lost several kilos over the past 2 days and wasn't himself.

We took him to the vet today.

It's tough coming home with no 'Mitten' waiting at the top of the stairs.

Attila aka "Mitten"

Once upon a time I was on a boat......

It seems that Fall is upon us, cool mornings and beautiful Autumn afternoons. It's crazy how fast time seems to fly by. The Summer came and went, and now we are all back at it. I felt like my triathlon season was a success, but was left still wanting more from myself. A lot of things to work on over the winter to gain those few+ percent. So stoked!


Here is a little tidbit so we don't forget summer.

Peach Classic!!

Wow it has been a while since I posted on the blog. I always find it interesting when people don't blog. Blogging requires the right frame of mind. I usually think that when people don't blog it's because their either done with it or life is just kickin' some ass right now. In my case, it's been a busy year, with lots of things happening and asking lots of questions, "like what does it all mean?"

So last weekend I competed in the Osooyoos Half, where I had a smooth swim, and good bike (I led for a bit until the "rocket" known as Nathan Champness blew by me!) and a strong 5km (note: a half ironman consists of a 21.1 km run) I started slowing down at that point and then I started cramping, not a diaphragm cramp but an over all body cramp. I did some research after the race and have identified myself as a heavier sweater, so I'm trying out some salt replacements. The cool thing about training and racing is learning new stuff about yourself and adjusting to be better next time.

So, after my "death march", (and you know its a death march when your family is looking at you saying "keep going buddy", not "looking strong" or giving you the ol' Tiger Woods fist pump) I took an easy week of training and got ready for the race of all races - the Peach Classic Triathlon (in Penticton). I had a relaxed day on Saturday you know, just Alicia Slades wedding!! and dancing and looking at other people drink beer. Fortunately, it wasn't hot out so the temptation was dampened. If it had been hot, I just don't know - dancing and beer = fun. Speaking of these two great things on race morning with Jeff Symonds he was reminded of an old Rasputin dance injury. Nice~!On to the race!

The swim was very choppy, I did my best to stick to people's feet and lift my shoulders, I came out in 22:16, slow for me and a little ways back from some other guys - Ryan Smiley!(who is in the photo at the top) I had a good T1,and went out onto the bike hard because I knew some super bikers/runners were going to be coming up behind me - Anthony Toth, Scott McMillam, Rob Johnson and Rob Eakin. I was riding scared and whenever I looked down at my speedo I just thought I could go 1km/hr faster. When I got caught by Anthony Toth I just tried to keep the elastic from breaking. I was happy with my 1:05:02 bike! I had a quick transition, and went out on to the run in 5th. (We definatly need a 4 corners transition next year to make it more fair.)



Out on to the run I just tried to go as fast as I could. I held tough and ran a 40:10,not fast but I felt really strong and compared to last weekend it was way better. Overall I came in at 2:09:02 and 9th place, and 9 seconds out of 7th. The nice thing about having a good race is it makes you want to go train even more and smarter, to get even faster! Thanks to the race organizers and congrats to everyone who raced and to Jeff for the dominating performance!

Thanks for reading (mom)

GW

Ps: thanks to Kevin and his www.enduranceplanner.com just awesome!