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?