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!

Beer Mile 2010 Penticton

What a Performance!! Jeff and Wade threw it down! Here is a little video to help explain. I hope to participate next year and break my personal record of 14:50*.





* I can't hold my liquor at all.

GW

the first flakes!

There was a buzz in the air yesterday at school. It was snowing! You know when kids can't do anything else but look out the window, that was yesterday. Fortunately, I had a strong coffee yesterday morning that made me bounce off the walls too so the energy was there! (I think I was more excited than the kids!!) When I finished up at work I dropped by the Bike Barn to say hi to the crew and then I went home and waxed my skis, in preparation for a ski this weekend!
It was been a good fall, I did a few xc races and was happy with my running. I did Provincials in Aldergrove and came 17th out of 22. It was a frickin' hard course, 5 loops and 3 significant hills in each. I ran 40:48, a slow time but the winner only went 33 mins and he can run around or under 30 mins. Plus, I felt great!! That night I went out in Vancouver with Sam and his GF Katherine as "Allan" from the Hangover. Awesome times!!
Turns out, the hills or the dancing did in my right calf. I ran a few times after BC's but pulled up lame walking up some stairs at school. I'm currently on the mend and taking it easy. I would gather that this is the best time of the year to be injured, so it's R&R right now.

I can't wait to ski!!


GW



ps: yes that is a " man-beard"



** Correction to a previous post. Thanks to DBD (was TBD), ADB, and KBD. :)

Socialization

We saw "The Social Network" the other night and I've been thinking about it all week. I've spoken to a couple of my classes. About what a friend is, how we communicate or rather how "they" communicate and what it means to be a friend to someone.

The more we (my classes) talked and the more Katie and I talked about it, the more questions we started to ask. For example, what will happen to society in 5 or 10 years or even 50 years when the teenage generation doesn't know how to talk to other people?

They can text to each other across the room or while sitting/standing beside each other, but they can't talk to each other in person. I don't think it's facebook's fault or textings fault - people passed notes to each other for a long time. It's not even the kids fault,(I sound like my dad saying that) really its no ones fault. But, eventually we need to connect with people in person. Think about the most recent best night or day you've had. I bet it was with a person, not sitting in front of a computer.



I think I better go watch the first karate kid (thanks Chris), then Jerry Mcguire.


GW

A little inspiration!

We'll it's been a whirl wind of a couple of weeks! I have a great posting at Pen-hi teaching Math and Science. I'm also helping coach the cross country team! We have 31 students running cross country and a few of them are absolutely flying! We're looking for big things! I stumbled upon this video, If anyone finds this cheese in Penticton, let me know.



GW