A welcome to the new year!

November 2006: I won the Grand Masters category in the half-marathon during the Louisiana Trails races. Can I do a full marathon in 2010? Hmmmmmm.

We're just about 2.5 hours away from the new year as I write this...will probably go to bed in a little while. I'll take everybody's word that when I wake up in the morning it'll be 2010. Right now it's miserably rainy and dank outside but you can still hear some fireworks going off here and there in the neighborhood. Probably they're being fired out from under a back patio or carport around the area...keeps the powder dry until it's time to unleash the ordnance. One of our dogs, Sophie, is not pleased with the noise while our new dog, Coober, is curious about the sounds but I'm not sure if he's scared. His ears are definitely perked up!

Some end of the year numbers: I totaled up 5142.3 miles on the bike and 259.3 miles running for all of 2009. I would have liked to do some more but the weather the last 3-4 months has really curtailed my activities (I did run in the rain once last week and between storms last Wednesday). Tomorrow...New Year's Day...I'll put in a ride with the local bike club to Waskom, Texas and back, about 26 miles total and a nice run afterward (depending on the weather again) but nothing too hard since I'm participating in a duathlon on Saturday and I don't want to wear myself out. So I'm aiming for a nice start to the new year. I intend to run a marathon sometime in 2010, mainly because I've taken an interest in doing one while I can and before my legs eventually crater. I'd like to be able to say I've done one. I need to pick out a locale, something unique and not the usual fair that many of the runners here usually do. Like the marathons in New Orleans, Houston, Dallas White Rock, or Cowtown (Fort Worth). I'm looking at other possibilities...like the race in Missoula, Montana or the marathon that honors the bombing victims in Oklahoma City. A friend has been suggesting the Commanders Marathon in South Africa (probably not) and Big Sur in California (sounds too hot for me). We'll see where it goes.

I hope all who read this have a good New Year's celebration and that you've got plans or aspirations for 2010. Something to look forward to. I'm going to hang out with my wife and see what life brings and see what it is about life that I can affect. Just another adventure. Let's enjoy the ride.

Happy New Year to you all!

Oh, man, what a holiday....

It's the evening of December 26th and I'm kinda worn out. We woke up early but not as early...Jonnene has to work this weekend and we had to walk the dogs so we had to get up early enough, but I was dragging. After she went on to make people healthy again I attached my new Look pedals to my TT bike and switched out the cleats on my shoes. I adjusted the tension but will need to ride it a few times to get the pedals just right. Then I went to the local building supply stores to get a few items for Mom's bathroom....still have some renovation to finish up, to install the medicine cabinet, some accessories, and the faucet. Then it's all detail work after that. At least it'll be a functional bathroom that she can use again. Jonnene spent the time after getting off work with house stuff. Tonight we went to Newk's for supper and went over to Kohl's to do some clothes shopping and get some comfortable pajamas for Jonnene to lounge around in while recovering from her upcoming shoulder surgery.

Christmas Eve was mostly composed of a few last minute errands. I took Mom around to check out bathroom items, including choosing the medicine cabinet. We got it to her house and found that two corners of the mirrored door had been chipped, so I would have to make an exchange after Christmas (see above). I cleaned up when I got home for our trip out to Dad's for Christmas Eve supper and opening some presents. Both of Gladys' daughters and their families came over and the supper was pretty good. I brought over my laptop and at around 7:30 that evening we were able to watch Jonnene's family in Perth, Western Australia open presents on their Christmas morning. We used Skype to make the audio/visual connection and it worked great. The picture below was taken by Jonnene's niece, Michelle, on her new camera where everyone posed, including ourselves on the big screen TV, for a family portrait (below).

Jonnene and I are on the screen in the back for this family picture!

Christmas Day saw Jonnene worked the morning at the hospital while I got in 4-mile run in below-freezing temperatures. Walking the dogs earlier that morning in the dark was way too much fun but there was no wind, so the run was easier to handle and halfway through I was nice and warmed up. When she came in around noon we packed the car to head to my brother's for a family get-together. Again, it was good food all around and I can tell you that I've gained a few pounds over the last 72 hours!

Miasses Draggin'

Finally trying to get back to being serious with my riding and I picked a heck of a day to start. This morning the temp was 38 degrees (wind chill of 31) with a nice 9 mph wind out of the northwest that we were going to be heading into. This ride was one that Mack put together for a distance of 100 miles and I was hoping I would be able to do it. My plan was to make a decision at the 30-mile mark as to whether I could do the whole ride or not...at that point I would end up with at least 60 miles anyway, a decent distance to cover at the beginning of my "serious" training. We had seven riders at the start and we were going to try to stay at a good 17-18 mph pace...after all, this is not a race and the main goal at this time is to get some saddle time and some miles in our legs. No need to rip them up when it doesn't matter. However, my legs were not in the mood and I knew that about 10 miles into the ride. Sometimes you have days like that. Even pushing a measly 18 mph seemed like the greatest effort and I was getting more flustered. The wind in our faces was not helping and its speed was increasing as the morning went on...at least we had some nice sunshine instead of the depressing clouds that seemed to stick around all last week.

I got dropped at one point about 22 miles in but caught back up, strangely enough feeling better by then and was able to climb a couple of hills with better effort, but then my legs started feeling bad again, working way too hard to keep up with the group for the effort they were putting out. When we got to the 30-mile point, Roland and I decided that it was better to head back home than try to be heros. So the two of us headed back to Shreveport from wherever we were in East Texas while the rest of the group went on (I heard later that they were plenty wiped out from their longer ride!). The nice part of our return was that the wind was now at our back and we would find ourselves cruising at 22-24 mph with little effort. I ended up with 63.1 miles and a tired pair of legs. I'll try again tomorrow but will only do about 40 miles with a mile run immediately after I finish. Hope the legs hold up!

Later in the day Jonnene and I took the dogs to the groomers' to give them a bath. Coober has probably never had a proper bath in his life so that was an experience for us all. He wasn't amused and would try to fight it but many times he'd just succumb and stand there dealing with it. When we used a blow dryer on him he's just scrunch up and bury his head into the crook of my arm and keep it there, probably going to his "happy place" in his head to get away from that loud thing constantly exhaling on him.

Sophie (at right) looks on as Jonnene washes Coober. He's not happy.

But he's clean and shiny and smells good now. Hopefully the more we do this he'll start to settle down and understand that he's not going to get hurt and that there's nothing to be afraid of. He actually was quite good, considering, because I wasn't sure if he'd just go nuts or be too submissive. He got to sniff at some of the other dogs there as well as the groomers on hand.

On The Run

Last night Jonnene and I participated in the annual Downtown Christmas Run, which is running four laps of a four-corner course in downtown Shreveport so that it totals 3.4 miles. We got there around 6 pm when it was already dark and the temps were already down to the upper 40's...not bad but the wind was blowing and that could put a tingle in your running shorts. I had already decided to run with Jonnene the whole way or until her knee started giving her problems. It turned out to be just fine as we ran the entire route and she had no knee problems at all! We averaged 9:16 per mile, coming in 127th and 128th overall...there were 330 finishers with timing chips, about 300 more without them. On the slightly downhill finish, I had her go out ahead of me and encouraged her to pick up the pace the final 200 meters. She kicked it and cruised in like a champ! We did the run at her pace which was good enough to put her into 4th place in her age group! I got 10th in my age group but if I had run my regular race I might have gotten 3rd or 4th. It didn't matter, this was for fun and I got to spend some fast time with my wife and it was all good. Afterwards, we had dinner with our friends Elka and Daniel, both of whom won their age groups in the race.

The week has been kinda hectic with some last minute free-lance jobs to finish up, trying to get the permits submitted for a time trial the Centenary club is putting on this February, working with our new dog so he can understand ALL of our demanding demands, and just trying to keep up with Christmas! I'm hoping to get a ride in Thursday morning but it's going to be a cold one!

Getting used to the new dog

I set another new personal best during this morning's ride: most miles in a single calendar year on the bike...5,027 miles! That's with 17 days left in the year and more miles to be added. I hope I can do another 200 miles depending on the weather and I might hitch onto a 100-miler that Mack is planning for this weekend. This morning's ride was in a low overcast, sorta foggy, mild temperature sort of event. Mike, Roland, and Dick were the only other riders to show up although conditions demanded that a larger crowd should have been there. It's just going to get colder as the week goes on.

Our friend, Jamie, came by last night to take our Christmas card picture with all the animals...ALL meaning both dogs AND the cat! That was interesting in its own way. What was nice for me was Jamie, Jonnene, and I remembering stories about Farley, talking almost as if he was still here. His drinking habits getting the most laughs since he was famous for leaving half of the water he gulped up strung out across the floor. That was really nice. Jamie is officially the first person that Coober has met since we brought him home and he was a little anxious/nervous meeting another person. He barked and backed off but in about five minutes he was getting friendly with her. We need to have him meet more people so that he doesn't become afraid of people he doesn't know. We're taking him on walks twice a day and Jonnene got this harness/lead that wraps around Coober's nose and makes him behave a bit better on these walks. So far it's working pretty good but he is challenging it, which we expected. We have to remember that Coober has spent most of his life at a shelter so walking on a leash is not natural for him (but he's doing very well considering). But we've survived our first week with him and we really like him. We'll see how it goes over the next few weeks and how he takes to training.

Tomorrow night we will be at the Downtown Christmas Run, a 3.4 mile 3-lap run in downtown Shreveport. Hope it won't be too cold! I'm going to run with Jonnene the entire way or until/if her knee starts to act up. If the latter happens I will go on and get a faster run over the remaining distance. Otherwise we'll run together and just enjoy the crowd and the evening. Maybe we'll wear Santa hats!?

Cold Outside!

We got our Christmas tree up last night! It's the best one we've done so far...of the two Jonnene and I have ever done together. Looks great!

Man, it is cold out there! Jonnene's feeling under the weather and will be taking today off from work after leaving at noon yesterday. I've got some kind of crud in my eyes the last few days...thought it was pink-eye at one point but I don't think it is...so we're doing just fine right now! I had to take the dogs out for their morning walk, one at a time, and it's really cold outside. I think it was about 29 degrees but, fortunately, there was no wind. Still spent nearly an hour total walking around the neighborhood. We decided on a name for our new pet: Coober. As in Coober Pedy, a small town in South Australia. He gets his first vet visit this Saturday and we just received his previous vet records. Looks like he's closer to three years old since it says he was neutered in April, 2007 and he'd have to be a few months old for that to happen.

Coober, myself, and Sophie get together for a team meeting.

Jonnene sent me a photo of Farley that I had taken soon after we had moved into the new house...early 2008...that I had forgotten about. He's totally laid out on his side staring at the camera with those big old brown eyes. It's not a well taken photo, some slight movement with a slow shutter speed, but it didn't matter. I realized as I was looking at it on the computer screen that I had a big smile on my face.

Blah

Man, it is dreary outside. There's been so much rain this fall...usually I like rain but I want more sun now. The ground is saturated so we're getting more puddles in yards. The gray skies don't exactly enthuse me to go run or bike. I'm wanting to do both but I'm not that hard-core and the idea of constantly cleaning my bike after nearly every ride or watching my new Asics turn a dingy brown isn't appealing. But you know what will happen...eventually we'll start getting days and days of constant sun, and the rain will start looking good again.

The dog with no name....yet...running through the backyard of our house.

We got a new dog last Sunday! Still trying to come up with a name for him. He's about two years old and we rescued him at a local shelter called Pet Savers. Visit their website and think about making a donation for the good work they do. Anyway, our guy's a lean, energetic dog, however his maturity has made it easier to deal with him...so far. In a perfect world we'd all want our dogs to start out with us as puppies but there are so many older dogs that need homes. And many of them are already house-broken or just need some love. Sure, you might have them for a shorter time but, with patience, they'll show you how much they appreciate the gift you've given them of a home, food, and that needed attention!

We're hoping to come up with a name for the fella tonight. We pulled out a few maps of Australia to see if any towns or landmarks may be good candidates for a name. We've found several that are appealing.

Last Saturday I went riding with a couple of other guys to do my first 50+ mile ride in several weeks. It was special because the temperature at the start was 21 degrees! After three-and-a-half hours the temps had risen to a balmy 42 degrees. We were rugged up fine and actually enjoyed the ride although my legs definitely felt like they haven't done this in a while. Jonnene rode later in the morning but you still had to dress for it. It helped that the sun was out.

That night we went to the annual Christmas party that our triathlon club holds and I did a mighty fine job NOT stuffing myself with all the great food that was on hand. Oh, I ate alright but managed to hold off. The food was great! During the awards ceremony and speeches later on, I scored by winning three of the door prizes that were being given out (and there were a LOT of people there). Even Jonnene won something!

Cali Thanksgiving

Yeah-huhhh, we went to California for the Thanksgiving holidays, visiting my aunt and uncle in Fresno. Got there Wednesday night after flying in from Dallas (we drove there) and spent Thanksgiving Day with some of the family up in Modesto. Ate too much, of course. Jonnene and I spent some time both Friday and Saturday mornings running to work off the calories! On Friday we went up to Sequoia National Forest to check out the giant sequoia and redwood trees, do some hiking, and experience driving at night for 6,000+ feet downhill as a storm front was moving in, turning the road into a fog bank as the clouds rolled in! We flew back on Saturday and got home very late that night.

Jonnene stands inside the "Fallen Monarch", a giant sequoia that fell over 300 years ago (estimated to have been around 1,500 years old) and was used as a shelter, a stable, and a saloon in the past 130 years.

These trees are BIG. Jonnene stands near the base of one of the "younger" trees, probably only a few hundred years old!

While we were hiking on one of the lesser traveled trails in the forest, we were treated to seeing a group of five mule deer grazing. We all watched each other for about 10 minutes before continuing to hike on and the deer went on about their business.

Just to give you an idea of size: That group of tourists is standing about 50-60 feet away from the base of that huge redwood to the left. They're checking out the fallen tree at center.

Up In The Air

While we were at DFW waiting for our flight to California, we ran into Lindsay as she was getting off a flight from Indiana! We bought our house from Lindsay and her husband, Scott, when they found out they had to move "up north". They visit Shreveport when they can and Lindsay was on her way to see family for Thanksgiving. It was a real surprise and pleasure to run into her!

Hey, I'm putting a post on my blog while riding in a MD-80 ("Super 80") at 32,000 feet somewhere over deep west Texas! Jonnene's trying to catch a few Z's while I type this. The flight's been real smooth so far and it's really dark outside. We're dropping in on my aunt and uncle in Fresno, CA for Thanksgiving. The pilot thinks we'll be 20 minutes early getting into Fresno which will be great for us. In the meantime we have a cranky baby a couple of rows ahead of us...well, I guess not everything can be perfect.

We're All Racists (again)

More insightful commentary from Greg Gutfeld:

FRIDAY'S GREGALOGUE: WE'RE ALL RACISTS (AGAIN)

So apparently Sarah Palin sold over three hundred thousand copies of her book in one day - and as you can guess - they were all purchased by racists.

At least, that's what the sociology professors over at MSNBC Community College believe. Check out Hardball guest Norah O'Donnell, impersonating a talking puffin...

"This is a largely white -- almost no minorities in this crowd. And they`re here because they love Sarah Palin. I think it`s an emotional connection, Chris because they feel, too, that they`ve been beat up on, whether it`s the economy or they feel like outcasts. They like the outsider, if you will, in Sarah Palin. And that`s why people have been willing to wait, 1,500 of them, since 7:00 AM this morning to just get a glimpse of Sarah Palin."

So let me get this straight: people appreciate Palin because they've been picked on by a big bully. It makes me wonder if Norah ever psycho-analyzed Obama supporters this closely... or called them "largely black."

But hey, I guess that's better than calling them a tribe or something. Chris?

"I think there is a tribal aspect to this thing, in other words, white vs. other people. I think she is very smart about this. Here she is on the issue of -- of what happened down at Fort Hood, obviously, an ethnic issue, as many people see it.."

So, imagine for a moment, if during an Obama rally, Matthews described it as "tribal." How fast would he be fired, and then ending up on Oprah issuing a tearful apology?

Boogla moogla, I might say.

Which is Greg-lingo, for "pretty fast."

But here's the real issue: I used to think this race-baiting tactic was a political ploy. But now I believe they mean it. They do think that if you're against the policies of Obama, you must be racist. And that's because in their profession, they don't know anyone who's against the policies of Obama! Surrounded by likeminded lackeys, they're convinced that everyone beyond the tinted windows of their black cars must be card-carrying members of the Aryan Book Club.

The real truth: Whether it's Norah O'Donnell or Chris Matthews - they're just too scared to question a black man over policy.

And that's authentic bigotry.

But what can you expect from a bunch of white people?

And if you disagree with me, then you're probably a racist.

Busy Week

Well, I should be depressed this morning...my ULM Warhawks lost a game last night that they shouldn't have and will most likely not be in any post-season bowl game. Plus the U.S. Senate voted to begin debate (with exactly the 60 votes the Democrats needed) on that stupid montrosity of a health care reform bill Congress is trying to force upon the people of the United States. Want to really screw up health care in this country? Congress will find a way to do it.

But, instead, we had our Aussie Film Fest and belated house-warming party for our friends last night at the house. We ended up with about 30-31 people dropping by to visit and watch Australian movies with us. Jonnene made a number of genuine Australian treats along with other food items that were a hit with the crowd. We started at 3 pm and by 8:30 pm everyone was gone. Jonnene and I were a tad exhausted...from thorough cleaning of the house, moving things around, getting things ready, yard work, and such. We slept great last night! We'll have to do it again sometime.

Last weekend I took a group from the Centenary College Cycling & Multi-Sport Club to Fort Worth, Texas to participate in the Bronda's Du (duathlon) that was held at the Texas Motor Speedway, one of the NASCAR venues across the country. The course was a 2-mile run, 16-mile bike, and 2-mile run with the runs entirely in the infield area and the bike portion leaving that huge stadium into a 5-mile loop outside that we had to do three times. I think everyone had a good time. We grabbed up a couple of awards as two of the kids got third place in their age groups. I picked up lunch for all of them after the race and I was proud of them. Our next race is January 2nd, another duathlon here in Shreveport.

Here we are, gathered up under the Texas Motor Speedway sign in the pit area...way too early on a Sunday morning.

Jacquelyn begins the second lap of her first run. Both 2-mile runs were on a 1-mile lap course in the infield of the auto race course. She got third in the women's 20-24 group with a 1:21:59, a 4-minute improvement on this same course in a race back in February!

While our race was going on, there were race cars doing practice laps! The bike course left and re-entered the infield through a tunnel that went under the race track.

Here's me crossing the finish line in 1:15:41, good enough for 41st overall of 226 finishers and first place in my men's 50-54 age group.

Jonathan talks over his race with Jonnene. He had the fastest time overall of the entire Centenary group. Even though he got fifth in his 20-24 age group, he had the fastest second run of the group with a 6:03/mile average. He was 33rd overall with a 1:14:01 time.

Here's the gang after the race: Chelsea, Jonathan, Jacquelyn, Bekah, and Christopher (who got third in the 16-19 age group in his first ever multi-sport race). They look pretty sharp, don't they?

New Look for the TV Room

Well, what do you think? It's finished and it's hanging up on the wall over the couch. That's Jonnene there watching the TV....she's watching NCIS and I can't blame her....good show! Since this picture was taken we've repainted that wall in a lighter color, sort of a creme d'mint or something like that. I think it's interesting and makes the room look different, matching the furniture and really setting the painting off.

The painting is based on an existing work we came across and liked. My canvas is 4x4 square as opposed to the other's rectangle format and I adjusted the work to fit. I added my own touch to it and changed some things around, especially a different look to the background which I made more mottled and textured. It's supposed to reflect the red dirt of the outback in Australia. The kangaroos are supposed to be going to the future or something like that and you can see where I put the mountains in the corners to say that the 'roos are hopping in a valley. I like how it came out and I'm going to try a few more in the months to come.

Here's a detail of one of the kangaroos:

Here Comes the Sun

After several weeks of semi-continuous rain, the sun came out over the weekend and it was definitely welcomed. Normally I like rain....it makes me sleep better, I like the look of the sky (but only as a change of pace from clear skies), and we can turn off our lawn sprinklers to help lower our water bill. But the recent downpours and storms were getting ridiculous. And last Thursday's storms with tornadoes tossed for good measure were the grand finale and frustration. A guy I know, who's also a graphic designer and artist here, was nearly killed when the 100-foot tall and 12-ton steeple on the downtown First Methodist Church was blown over by high winds onto his new Lexus, crushing it and leaving him with severe injuries. Fortunately, Michael will survive, minus an amputated (by surgery) right ring finger, but will have to deal with a couple of surguries and a body cast for a while. His sister-in-law, Paula, said that his new nickname should be "Steeplechaser" but I think it should be "Steeplecatcher". Here's a LINK to the most recent news plus you can find some links to photos of the steeple/car collision.

We got our share of water around here...literally, around here. Our carport and back patio had about 2" of water during the worst of the rains. There had been so much rainfall during the previous weeks that the ground was totally saturated and couldn't absorb any more water. Fortunately our front yard is lower and all the water could run off around the sides of the house and go to the street but I still had to put some bricks and boards out from the back door so we could get to our cars without getting our feet soaked!

What's been and going to happen

• Ran in the rain this past Monday morning. It was sprinkling a bit heavy and there was more rain coming according to the radar so I told Jonnene I better get out now since rain was predicted for the next two days. So I got in 3 miles, got a light rain in the first mile and not much at all the rest of the run. About a half hour after I finished the bottom fell out.

• We're going to Dallas and the surrounding area three times in November in a two-week period. First we have to go to the immigration offices there on the 10th so Jonnene can apply for her permanent green card...a nice day trip. Then three days later we go back to Fort Worth with some of my Centenary kids to participate in the Bronda's Duathlon at the Texas Motor Speedway. I might have as many as 8 kids racing, some doing their first ever multi-sport event. I'm doing it because I need one more race in 2009 to be ranked in my age group in the region (part of why I'm running). THEN we go back to Dallas the day before Thanksgiving so we can fly out to California to see relatives for the holidays. That's a lot of back-and-forth on I-20!

• Last Thursday we went to one of our local theaters to see "Race Across the Sky", a film about the 2009 Leadville 100. It's a 100-mile out-and-back mountain bike race in Leadville, Colorado that starts at 10,200 feet in elevation with the halfway mark at the top of Columbine Mountain at 12.500. Lance Armstrong won the race this time but the real reason we wanted to see the movie (a one-time showing, BTW) was that two of our local racers also did the event. Mat Davis finished 22nd overall (973 finishers out of 1400 starters) and David Potter got 60 miles into the race before he had to retire due to mechanical problems. We managed to catch a few glimpses of both of them in the movie where we had 150 in attendance. It was a lot of fun. Besides, it was raining outside and a movie was a good idea! There's supposed to be an encore showing on November 12th...check your local movie house for times.

Getting ready to watch the movie. Jonnene is at the far right.

Beverly, Heather, and Jason are ready for the movie to start!

That's Some High Water!

With all the rain we've had over the last month...I think I remember reading that we've had some kind of rain for 32 of the last 40 days...and now the area lakes, rivers, and other bodies of water are rising, although the local Red River is finally starting to go down a bit. Over in my hometown of Minden, about 30 miles east of Shreveport, the Dorcheat Bayou has really been on the rise.

A friend sent me these pictures, taken by Jimmy Juckett, earlier today. The building in these pictures is the Dorcheat Seafood & Grill restaurant (known as Bayou Inn to the locals) and it is totally surrounded and cut off from nearby Highway 80 at the upper right in the photo below:

I've eaten here many times and it's special to me in that it's where I introduced Jonnene to my old high school buddies, Kent and Steve, back in early 2006 before we got married. The last time we were there, Jonnene and I drove around the back of the building, now under water, to look for a parking space!

This view is looking roughly to the southwest. The bridge at the bottom was closed probably over 20 years ago and doesn't go anywhere now. The access road to the highway is at the top of the picture. It looks like some of the buildings to the south and west sides most likely have water in them but I think the main restaurant kitchen and dining room areas are okay.

Sunday and Sore Muscles

We spent some time out in the yard today and we're both sorta sore and stiff. I spent a lot of time digging and moving dirt from behind the old beat-up storage shed to around the front yard, about 5 wheelbarrows full to enrich some of the barren spots out there. Jonnene did a lot of raking leaves and cleaning up in the back yard and patio. We're trying to rake up leaves every so often so we don't have a huge pile in another month or so when the trees finally give up and let go all the leaves still clinging to the branches. Many of them are still green but they won't be for long.

Of course, this is not the only reason we're sore this weekend. Yesterday we did the annual Autumn Breeze runs here in Shreveport. I did the 10K (6.2 miles) run again while Jonnene tested out her knee in the 5K. Her run actually went pretty good for the first two miles before her knee started flaring up to a point where she walked/hobbled the last 1/2 to 3/4 mile of the course to the finish. She ended up getting third in her age group, beaten out of second place by only two seconds! The girl passed her in the last 25 meters but there wasn't much Jonnene could do about it since she was limping along and that meant no sprint at the end! But overall her time was pretty good considering the conditions and she's happy to have been able to do the whole thing.

Like I said, I did the longer race and my plan, like last year, was to finish under 50 minutes since I hadn't done as much road work as I would like. The rains we've had the last two weeks have really put a damper in my training (I don't like running in the rain ONLY because I have one pair of running shoes and it takes quite a while to dry them afterwards). I did this course in 44:47 in 2007...different course last year at 45:13...and I thought I'd just enjoy the run and use it as a training race. There were about 250 entered in the 10K and I worked my way up to the front for the start and off we went. BTW, the weather for this run was fantastic! I felt like I was loping along but surprised I was passing as many people as I was, then I found out why. By the two mile mark I saw my time was 14:02 which works out to a 7-minute mile. I train at about 8-minute miles so I was a little concerned when I saw that time. Halfway thru I was down to a 7:18 mile average but picked it up again the next two miles. But the last mile I was having a tougher time of it and about 7-8 runners passed me during that time. Still, I ended up with a 44:53 and I was happy with that. It placed me 31st overall and 2nd in my 50-54 age group. That'll motivate me for the duathlon in Fort Worth next month.

Finishing up my race with a 44:53 over ten kilometers.

Afer the races: Jonnene holds me up before I fall over!

We went out to eat and see a movie at the Louisiana Boardwalk Saturday night. Ate at Copeland's Cheesecake Bistro and I had enough fried catfish left over for lunch today....yummmm! Then we went to see "Where the Wild Things Are" at the multi-plex there. I've never read the book but I do recall seeing the amazing illustrations that went with it so I was interested to see how the movie would treat the "monsters". Overall I liked the film, I identified with much of it, and the monsters were as amazing as the book's illustrations. I was overall pleased with the look of the film. The story drove me nuts a few times since the book is not that long at all and a storyline had to be put together. Everything is seen thru the boy's imagination and it follows the logic of a child, which can be a little infuriating for many adults. It's darker than I would have wanted the film to be and a little cruel in some places but it's still a wonder to watch and the music score is so different and attractive to listen to, fully fitting the mood of the story. You begin to see that the monsters are just extensions of Max's personality and he realizes where he has gone wrong in how he treats his family.

Max, the little boy, roams the desert with Carole during his adventure.

Work has picked up even more lately and I'm quite surprised. Everything happens in bunches! I spent time in a conference call with some folks in Wisconsin about a helicopter paint scheme they were working with. I gave advice and I think I actually sounded like I knew what I was talking about. Seriously, I wonder sometimes if I really know anything at all about this business! I also have some drawings of a surgical drape system to get out by Tuesday for a surgeon at a local hospital that he wants to manufacture. Then I've got a logo design to do and another T-shirt thing to draw up. Plus a couple of pencil illustrations for somebody. Hey, it's money but I thought my free-lance workload was going to be dwindling by now...apparently not...not yet anyway.

It's Friday, Call the Kids In!

I heard a good line on Fox and Friends this morning during an interview of Mitch Albom who had a new book coming out. I'm paraphrasing here, but Mitch was relating a story about talking to someone who was dying or dying soon, and the man said he hoped Mitch would live many more years. "Why is that?" Mitch asked him. The man said, "So that when we're both in heaven we'll have much more to talk about."

So President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize....are you kidding me? Chris Wallace of FoxNews said he was as surprised as anyone based on the Bamster's notable lack of achievement so far in office. But he stated that he could only come up with one real reason that he won: he wasn't George W. Bush. And he's right....that's the only reason that makes real sense to me, too. The Nobel Committee made it no secret that they didn't like Bush over the last 8 years, so they'd jab him by awarding the Peace Prize to people like past prez Jimmy Carter (who never has anything good to say about Israel) and Al Gore (for promoting the global warming hoax). The Nobel Peace Prize is quickly losing its credibility and stature....sometimes they get it right but more and more they're getting good at making political statements instead. And Obama is going to be on television...AGAIN!....this morning to talk about the prize he "won".

UPDATE: Found out that the deadline for nominations to this year's Nobel Peace Prize was February 1st. Obama had been in office for about 11 days at that time. Makes ya think, don't it?


Back at the homestead, Jonnene and I are talking about getting a new dog and a companion for Sophie. I think we're ready for it and Sophie looks lonely sometimes. She had Farley in her company for more than two years and she kinda got used to having another dog around. In the six months since Farley passed it's possible that Sophie doesn't remember Farley in the same way we do...she doesn't miss him but knows something is missing. I still have days when he occupies my mind and my heart, and he'll never be forgotten. I've been ready for a new dog for some time now. It won't be a replacement for Farley, it'll be a new life in the house and something to keep Sophie on her toes and active. She's getting older, 11 years now, and is starting to slow down a bit yet still chases squirrels in the back yard with reckless abandon. It'll be good for her to have another pal. We'll start looking around soon although we could get a new pet the way I've gotten ALL my animals...by accident! That wouldn't surprise me. The photo shows Jonnene being greeted by Sophie and Farley when she got home from work or from running errands, which was an everyday occurrence with great fanfare and happiness by the dogs. I think Jonnene misses that...I do, too. This is at the old house in Bossier.

Mid-Week

Yesterday I stopped by Willis-Knighton hospital to check on my step-dad, Jim, who's been having an issue with congestive heart failure. He checked in on Monday with shortness of breathe and now he's on meds to relieve the fluid buildup in his lungs. He feels much better now and hopes to be home by today. But now he and Mom have to pay attention to their diets...REAL attention this time...and get some exercise in, too. Sucks getting older, that's for sure. When you can't eat what you want, wow.....

This morning's ride was similar to Tuesday's: lots of fog but not as much this time. Still foggy enough to cut the ride short again though we used a different route this time. We all have lights (Jonnene debuted her new front light this morning...it's bright!) but this fog really cuts down on the effectiveness. There were nine of us out there and it was a good ride.

Free-lance work really has increased the last couple of weeks. Finished up a couple of jobs this week but still have about four others to work on. The most interesting is doing the layout for the menu board on the drive-thru for a locally owned chicken dinner place. The job started out slow but it's picking up now and I might have a rendering to look at by this afternoon. I also have a logo, a T-shirt design, and some helicopter stuff going on, too.

I haven't had much of a chance in the last week or so to do more on the "aboriginal" painting I started a few weeks ago. It's coming along pretty good...maybe I'll make some progress on it today?

...dot....dot....dot.....dot.....dot....

Still Cloudy

This morning I went out for the weekly Wednesday Run at 5:45 am. It's a small group that I joined up with last year with just four of us running about 4 miles from a tennis club near my house. The group has been doing this for years and it always seems to consist of four people because some drop out and others come in...I think Matt and Jeff are original members. When I joined in, Rex had been doing this for a couple of years but had to drop out due to a recurring knee problem and we hope he'll rejoin us someday. Mike is the newest guy to run with us, joining in last spring. It's more social than training and our pace hovers in the 9:30/mile range where we catch up on city politics, youth soccer, and things in general. It was just Jeff, Mike, and I out there today since Matt is dealing with some plantar fasciitis and may be able to join us in a few weeks.

Jonnene and I stayed home last night instead of venturing out to ride. It wasn't raining but the possibility existed. Besides, I didn't really want to go out for a ride and have to clean the bikes afterward. Yeah, it's easy to tell the season is winding down although I still have some goals to look forward to. We got something to eat and watched NCIS and Dancing With The Stars...during commercials I would switch over to watch a bit of the Troy-Middle Tennessee football game on ESPN. ULM has to play those schools later and I wanted to get a look at them.

Lite Tuesday

It's been hard to get motivated to update my blog the last couple of months. When something interesting has or had happened, I've allowed a few days to pass before I even think about writing about in the blog. By then I've lost interest or forgotten certain details that make it hard to take the time to enter a story. So I'm going to try to write something every morning soon after I get up about the day before. I'm not doing that right now because it's Tuesday evening and I must procrastinate no longer.

I haven't gone over to the new laptop yet, still cranking out work and such on the old Mac Gee-fur (G4). I'm going to take a weekend...maybe one of the next two...and move everything over to the new machine and put the old one away, probably to be sold on eBay although I could use it as an internet server to host websites that I might create. But that's dumb because I don't do anything on the web except surf it. I haven't made the first website but I'm not adverse to giving it a go someday soon. I'll most likely donate it or sell it. I'll take the LCD monitor that's connected to it and make it part of the new setup...having two screens to work off of is COOL. The big deal will be getting my email and such transferred over, and that'll require connecting the two computers directly via FireWire cable. Might get my computer guy to do that if I don't/can't figure it out.

It's rained a bit today and has been overall dreary outside. There were a few spits of sunshine around noon but that's gone now. Rode with the 5:50 group this morning and there was fog everywhere. We ended up cutting the ride short...I got 17 miles instead of 21...and taking a few side roads so we wouldn't be dealing with traffic. You just couldn't see that much beyond 150 meters even with our blinky lights.

The Wife's birthday was Sunday but we did most of our celebrating the day before. Took her out to dinner, got her a nice present...yeah, it was expensive. She's worth every penny. I appreciate so much that she has let me be a part of her life for another year. I love you, Jonnene.

Painting again

Here's my reintroduction to painting...I've only just started it....a reproduction of another painting featuring Aboriginal themes on a 4x4 piece of masonite that's going to hang in our TV room over the couch. It's based on another painting but I'll be adding my own style to it. There's already about 650 "dots" painted on the opposing corners and I've got lots more to add. When it's done, I'll post the finished product. I need to add another layer of reddish glaze over the center part and some texture, then I'll add some symbols. Should look good when I'm done. Then it's on to some other works.

I'm kinda proud of the photo because I took it with my cell phone. Then I paired up the phone to my laptop via Bluetooth and successfully transmitted the image to the computer!

Tomorrow Jonnene and I will be riding in the Seize The Road bike tour promoted by the Epilepsy Foundation here in Shreveport. I haven't been riding much the last couple of weeks due to rain and a lack of enthusiasm on my part. I might do the long ride of 60 miles but I'll make that final decision at the start line. I don't have a lot of endurance in my legs right now....I could do the 60 miles but it'll most likely be slower than I'm used to. Might ride with Jonnene and just enjoy the scenery if we go shorter.

You're a Racist! Maybe.....

I lifted the following from the commentary by Greg Gutfeld, his "Gregalogue" as he calls it. He hosts a VERY late night talk show called Redeye on FoxNews and a website called The Dailey Gut ("a handkerchief of hard news soaked in a sneeze of hard thought snot"). Both feature comedy with a political edge that hits the truth more often than most think. He just about always ends his rants with "And if you disagree with me...." with the appropriate finish. So enjoy. Thank me later.

MONDAY'S GREGALOGUE: AVERSIVE RACISM

So after witnessing the waves of antipathy across the country toward President Obama`s policies, New York Times writer Charles Blow introduces his readers to the term, "aversive racism." It`s a sinister kind of prejudice, Charles explains, that reveals itself in disagreements based on factors "other than race."

A simpler definition of aversive racism?

If you say it`s not about race, then it's really about race.

See: if you're against socialized medicine, it's really because our President, who's for it, is black. If you're against the redistribution of wealth because it goes against your own beliefs in free markets and individual achievement - it's because Obama is black. If you've done a lot of research on global warming, and decided it's hypothetical hooey - that belief is now racist, since Obama buys into climate change hysteria.

Isn`t it awesome how everything you believe in, is now just proof you`re a bigot!

That`s why aversive racism might be the greatest invention ever for the left, because it exempts them defending their own screwy beliefs. If you disagree with any worn out or destructive progressive idea - then you must be a hood-wearing hater. It`s the low-down trick to end all low-down tricks, and it gives the left what it so desperately needs: immunity for their reviled beliefs.

As a rightie, I don`t see color – a black liberal and a white liberal are all just liberals. But it's different on the left. Progressives hate conservatives, but they hate black conservatives more. They hate right wingers, but they hate Hispanic right wingers more. They hate Republicans, but they hate female Republicans more. This intolerance is directed purely at people different from themselves, reflecting the reverse of aversive racism: real racism.

And if you disagree with me, then you`re most definitely a racist.

Rain...rain....rain.....

Okay, so I'm over at one of our local bike shops this afternoon getting some chain lube and a couple of those oh-so-tasty PowerBar smoothie-style energy bars (I just love 'em). I'm talking to mechanic Andy about having to get a crown put on one of my molars next week (remember that?). Somehow the conversation morphed over to tattoos and piercings with Andy talking about how he got his nipples pierced....how the second one isn't as bad as the first one but you still lift up out of the chair noticeably holding your breath as you contemplate whether to pass out or not. He's got ear and tongue piercings, too, but refuses to get his privates pierced. "That's crazy," he says. Shop owner Ian says, "Yeah, when you pee it goes all over the place thru all those holes." "No, it doesn't. Don't talk like that," Andy answers back with a grimace. Andy also boasts that he's never cried due to the pain while getting his tattoos but he has thought about it more than once. Andy's a character...he's weird but you can't help but like him. He's fun to talk to and is a good bike mechanic, too.

Yesterday was my Mom's and step-father Jim's 25th wedding anniversary. I forgot all about it even though it was on the calendar. Maybe I should look at the calendar more often? Congrats, folks...Jonnene and I only have 21 1/2 years to catch up to ya.

Last night was the usual Tuesday Night Worlds and I thought that maybe the pace would be easy since most of the guys had done the district road race championships in Natchez over the weekend. I didn't go because I wasn't trained up enough for it...it would have been a waste of time for me. I was hoping to hang in for a while, expect to get dropped and go on with my own ride. We zoomed down Ellerbe Road and my thighs were screaming at me since I didn't get any kind of chance to warm up. Down the big hill we go and onto the flat lands. Finally I have to take my turn at the front and I moved up the right side at an unexpected 33 mph, pulled for about 20 seconds and move over to let the next guy through. The pain in my thighs didn't allow me to catch on to the back of the pack and the group pulled away from me. I'm still going 30 mph and I can't hang on! Okay, I'll just do the ride route, get the miles in....but I was still going around 25-26 mph by myself so I decided to keep that up as long as I could. In about 4 miles I caught up to Joe and Seth who had also fallen off but they weren't going slow by any stretch. It took me a while to catch on after I first saw them, then the three of us team-trialed for the next 12 miles, finally catching Tim who had been worked over by the rest of the group far ahead. Including the slow cool-down I still averaged about 21 mph for the 30 miles we rode. I'm always getting surprised about myself on these rides.....

I got my laptop improved over the weekend. A guy I know in the local computing circles loaded my baby with the latest graphics software and updates to existing software. I'm still working with it and actually uploaded video from our video camera last night! Now I've got to figure out the program that lets me edit the footage and make it easier to view and dub onto a DVD disc. This is going to be fun.

September 11th

I had Fox and Friends on as was (is) my habit and was shaving when I heard something about a plane hitting one of the towers and thought, "Somebody's going to be in trouble", already sure there had been some deaths. Then, all shaved and clean, I came into the living room to see what was going on when I saw the second plane shoot in from the right side of the screen into the other tower. I thought, "That was on purpose." And I sat on my coffee table staring at the TV for the next two hours. I work at home and I never made it to my drawing table all day because I felt sick.

Hard to believe it's been eight years. I've never forgotten.

I took my shiny new MacBook Pro laptop over to Dan this morning to get it formatted and loaded with new software, to make it the working and pleasure machine I want it to be. Should get it back Monday. Then I have to think about getting an external hard drive to put extra files like photos and video, plus as a backup to my work files. Right now I put things on thumb-drives or a CD, which is nice but puts my files all over the place. I'd like to get a much larger flat-screen monitor, too, but that won't happen soon.

I started running a little more than two weeks ago and have piled up about 28 miles so far with a 5-miler being the longest. I might be getting back into it a little too quick but I'll keep an eye on the miles and bring it back a bit. I'm trying to prep myself for a duathlon in Fort Worth in mid-November so I have plenty of time to get back into the groove. I might even take some time off the bike in mid-October. The legs have been tired lately and I'm skipping the district road races in Natchez this weekend. It would have been a waste of time and an unnecessary self-beatdown which I don't need.

Things Going On

There won't be that much to say here...just trying to post something!

We took my niece Holley out to eat tonight to get her out of the dorm. Went over to Burger King, the first time I've been to one in forever, same for Jonnene (she's not a big fan of the fast food hamburger places, especially McDonald's). It was okay but not enough to make me come back on my own...as Jonnene said, my tastes have "matured" and I've gotten used to a higher quality of food stuff. Plus, it took so long for BK to prepare that we would have gotten our food faster at most higher-end restaurants!

My legs are sorta tired. After having such a great ride on Tuesday night....felt strong, went fast...the ride last night was a chore for me. Team LaS'port had shown up en masse to do a ride from a bike shop in Bossier City as a show of support for a ride the shop sponsors. Actually, it was a lot of fun. Russ told me the details of his 3rd place finish at the Hotter'n'Hell Pro-Cat.1-2 100-mile road race last weekend and the reaction of the pack to his silver-studded racing shorts. His wife had attached the shiny studs to the shorts the week before. The ride was all flat with a stout wind in our face in both directions...really! It was only 28 miles or so but my legs felt tired and I had to push them at the fast pace we were going. It wasn't a problem to keep up but I wasn't cruising like I wanted to. This morning I woke up with the intention of getting a run in but the legs didn't share that thought at all. I skipped the run and decided to let the legs have a rest day. I'll do a 4-5 mile run Saturday morning without a bike ride, just to change up the routine a bit.

The Labor Day holiday is coming up and I'm going to try to get a few things done. One is figure out how to load footage from our video camera to my new laptop and edit it. There may be a long learning curve here...or not...but I need to see how I can put all our video on DVD's. It would be nice to finally figure that out. The software on the MacBook should be up to the task, it all depends on the operator. I hope to paint the closet in the bike room and, speaking of painting, I might actually begin that big painting for the den. It's supposed to be a reproduction of an aboriginal work (haven't really worked that out yet). Lots of orange, yellow, and black with some other colors worked in, and I hope I can finish it in a couple of weeks once I start!

Happenings

Well, I have to get a crown put on a molar later this month. Yesterday at lunch I was chomping down on a pepperoni calzone and I felt this "crack" in the backside of my mouth, kinda like when you bite down on something hard and it jars you a bit when it happens. Only this time, I felt something give and realized part of a tooth was missing. I spit out the food I had in my mouth because I didn't want to swallow anything I shouldn't and found the piece....yeah, it was a piece of tooth alright. In a calm panic, I found the number for my dentist and called, asking if I could get in for a quick look-see. After some insistence, the girl on the phone said to come on by and Suzanne, my dentist, will take a look. I've known Suzanne on a social level before she became my dentist a few years ago so, yeah, I hoped that would get me in quicker! I felt no pain...a good sign...and she took a look. The tooth was in sorry shape to make any repairs (brush your teeth when you're young, boys and girls!) and a crown was the only way to fix things. So she put a temporary patch on the tooth and I'll come back in three weeks to get this crown thing started. Oh, joy.

Sad news from my connections with Centenary College. David Womack collapsed and died on Saturday while playing golf. He was Dean of Students at Centenary and 49 years old. I had gotten to know him thru a few meetings regarding our cycling club and I can tell you that I liked the man right off the bat. He loved to laugh and cared very much about the students at Centenary. When I first met him last May, he told me he was going to Australia and New Zealand with the Centenary Choir. Of course, I had to tell him that my wife was Australian and I gave him a lot of tips for the trip (at this link you'll see a few shots of David on the slide show), the biggest one being that he bring a jacket since it was almost winter down there (he was glad he did!). I saw him after he got back at a student gathering in June and he said he loved the trip and thanked me for the advice. He also asked how Jonnene was doing and that he would love to meet her sometime and learn more about Oz. That was the last time I actually saw him although we did exchange some emails on items about the cycling club and students. The last time we had contact was August 20th when he sent me an email about something I had asked him to do for me:

Hi Alan!

No problem, consider it done.

David

Pretty simple message but it said a lot about him in five words. It's a big loss for Centenary College and a lot of people will miss him and his smiling face. This LINK goes to a video Christmas message he gave to the students and you can see how he liked having fun and enjoying life.

Saturday....again

Jonnene and I with my Grandma!

Jonnene has to work this weekend so it's up to me to have all the fun. Highlight of the day was having lunch with my grandmother at a Chinese buffet restaurant she likes so that we could celebrate her birthday (which was Thursday). We had a card for her and I think I can say that she enjoyed seeing us. Mom and Jim were there as well and it looks like we all pretty well stuffed ourselves! Jonnene's work day ended very early so she could join us.

Earlier I had gone riding with Mack's group into the country north of town. Mack's rides are these little informal affairs that usually have anywhere from 6 to 10 people show up (although he's had up to 25 before) and we roughly follow whatever route he's come up with. His Saturday rides are the harder ones with a lot of distance thrown in, followed by his Sunday rides that are very easy paced but last 3-4 hours. Some of the hard-core racers will sometimes show up for the good company and the relaxed pace. I guess it reminds them of why it's fun to ride a bike. So, anyway, we rode this morning in good temps and virtually no wind, and there were only seven of us including a guy who was in town from New Orleans. Warren and I had to turn back early...he had to go to work and I had the lunch with my grandma, so we got in a bit over 50 miles. The rest of the group most likely did 60-70 when it was all said and done. My legs are really sore and achy right now so I don't know if I'll get out to ride Sunday or not. All my time trial training over the last two months consisted of shorter rides so going fifty was a stretch. But I had fun so it's all good.

I guarantee I'll sleep very soundly tonight......

The Office

Here's the improved layout of my working space. I'm going to try to keep it neater from now on and keep all the paper that's more than 6 months old filed away or thrown out!

And my new graphics and internet tool: the MacBook Pro 13! It's shown with some extras, the wireless mouse and the extra keyboard. The keyboard is for here at home and will be left here if I take the laptop with me anywhere. The mouse will go with the computer on trips 'cause I don't always want to use the track pad to make the cursor dance around. Can't wait to start using it on a regular basis....only need to get some software loaded and get the wireless internet access set up.

This is really cool...the keyboard lights up in low light!

I got in my second run this week, just an easy 2-miler at barely a 8:30 pace. The legs feel it but I'm not surprised at all. Tomorrow is a long bike ride then home again to treat Grandma to lunch for her birthday. We're taking her to a Chinese buffet-style restaurant she likes.

It's Thursday

Today is my grandmother's 97th birthday! You go, Grandma! Looking forward to your 98th...might as well see 2010, right?

My MacBook Pro came in yesterday and it is AWESOME!! I spent the day getting my work area reorganized to make it easier to work in and make it just a little neater. Today I got the MacBook set up to use the wireless mouse I got along with the separate keyboard for desk work. It has its own cooling stand with a little fan that blows against the bottom of it. I even have a cover over it to keep the dust off, at least for now. It looks so nice. Now I have to get some graphics software added, learn all the little tricks (the tracking pad can do a lot of things according to the manual), and get it hooked up to the internet. I'll still use the G4 for a while, maybe a long while, and eventually donate it or find another use for it. Later I'll post pictures of the little fella and the new work area.

Tonight's ride went much better than Tuesday's. On Tuesday my legs weren't up to snuff, still feeling the efforts from Sunday's time trial. Our team started out and soon Stan rode up alongside, telling me how I kicked butt at the ride on Thursday the week before (and I did pretty good that evening). I told him, thanks, but I didn't think that was going to happen tonight...and it didn't. About four miles in, while cruising at 28 mph, my legs were hurting and I pulled out of the pack and eeked it down to the crossroads with Elka at a much slower pace. Then I turned around to go back to the parking lot and home. Only put in 12 miles but I've done this enough to know that if it's not working then don't push it. It wasn't working....

But tonight I did way better, pretty much normal, real fast but staying with the pack. There was a crash when one of the triathletes touched wheels with another rider and hit the pavement pretty hard. The lucky thing was that a car had just passed us a couple of seconds earlier right where Seth hit the deck. If we had been going just a smidgen faster he could have landed in the path of that car! He got up, dusted himself off, and we headed back down the road. He's going to be quite sore tomorrow but, hey, at least his bike's okay!

In between these two days I did my first run since July 4th at FireCracker. I rejoined the weekly Wednesday morning run with Matt, Jeff, and Mike, and doesn't it make sense that my first run in seven weeks should go for four-and-a-half miles? Thank goodness these guys go at an easy pace but an easy pace also pounds your joints more, and I felt those joints getting out of bed this morning! My run tomorrow will be a lot shorter and a lot faster. I'm going to be working to get back in shape for one or two duathlons late this fall.

Dreams and Time Trials

Saturday night I had a dream about Farley. Every few months I have what I call a super-realistic "hi-definition" dream...one that is so real and so defined that it becomes as good as a memory of a real event. The thing is that I know it's a dream when it's happening and I allow myself to let it go on. I know what it feels like to lift up off the ground and fly. I remember the last time I saw my first cat, Toulouse, about 6 years after I really last saw him in 2001. I can describe details, conversations, and what I saw as if it really happened. It's weird but it doesn't happen often. Well, anyway, I saw Farley and we were in the kitchen of my other house in Bossier City. I could see the cabinets, the brown floor, and the table. It was night so the lights were on. Farley was walking around the floor, wagging his tail, and he looked like he had just had a bath. His fur was shiny and clean, and it felt good to pet him and run my hands thru his coat. He was walking around like he always did in the last years of his life but you could tell there was no burden in his gait. He was sauntering because he wanted to. He was happy. Early on I noticed that he didn't have his red collar on and I commented to him that, oh, yeah, your collar's at the other house hanging up in the laundry room with the green leash. But this dream only lasted a couple of minutes in dream-time, not as long as my usual "real" dreams last. But I got to see him again and I woke up in the dark with tears in my eyes. I still and will always miss him.

Anyway, we were in LaPlace, Louisiana...just a few miles west of New Orleans for the LA/MISS Time Trial Championships. Jonnene and I were participating. It was my last chance this year to either break an hour or set a personal best for the 40 kilometer distance. I could tell that I wasn't really sure I could do it. I was starting to feel the wear and tear of riding a bike all year and wondering if I was at the brink of burn-out. But I was still interested in doing this race so maybe....

Jonnene had a good ride, finishing second in the Women's Cat. 4's and getting a medal. She averaged 21 mph for the whole distance and getting a 1:10:56 time which was only 24 seconds slower than her best time in Texas just two weeks ago.

The problem this day was a 5-10 mph wind coming out of the NNE and the outbound part of the course just happened to go north and slowly curve to the northeast. Now this means a nice tailwind on the way back but you can only take advantage of that if you haven't worn yourself out on the way to the turn-around fighting that wind. So I started off after an inadequate 25-minute warmup. I wasn't 300 meters down the road when I saw Jonnene coming back in (she had started 70 minutes before I did) and I gave her a shout to keep it up. Then I got back to trying to go 12.4 miles down the road into the wind as fast as I could. I averaged about 22 mph the whole way and reached the turn-around at the 33:37 mark...way slow for my tastes but I couldn't do anything about it. I was amazed at how many of the guys working the turn knew my name as they shouted it out when I came by them. That was nice! But I was too busy riding my race to really look at them and see who they were.

The tailwind was sweet though. I averaged 26 mph and should have been faster but I was tired. I finished the second half in 28:49, my fastest 20K ever. I didn't break an hour but I did come within 25 seconds of my record with a 1:02:26 time (a 23.83 mph average) and a fourth place in the Men's Category 3 group. I was fairly happy with the effort and it actually energizes me for next year. The bike worked well but I'm going to make a few improvements over the winter, mostly in the gearing and maybe the aerobars. We'll see.

So here's some pictures of our race and other stuff. Enjoy.

Jonnene warms up before her start at 8:32 am.

Books are good for many things, especially holding up front wheels when the bike's on a trainer.
The medical books are the best, I hear.

These two dogs spent a lot of time playing and running. We had to make sure that no alligators would jump up and get them! We were also told to watch for gators on the road when we were riding! Doesn't happen often but it could.

Here's Jonnene in the start house getting ready to go be a bike racer.

With only a few more meters to go, I'm trying to go as fast as I can. But I was very tired and crossed the line at only 25 mph.

One of my teammates, Don Young, and I discuss our rides after we finished. Generally we weren't that happy with our efforts but there was some good we could find to apply to next year.