Step Away From the Cake

September 16, 2006 Dear Ford Ironman Kokua Crew Volunteer, Let me first personally thank you for volunteering for the Transition Area at this year's Ford Ironman World Championship. It's people like you who make the Ford Ironman the world-class event that it is! You have signed up online and we are currently making assignments. There is nothing more for you to do except to arrive safely in Kona (if you aren't here already) and pick up your volunteer packet at the Expo on Wednesday, October 18th or Thursday, October 19th between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. You will receive your assignments then. Be sure to pick up your packet on one of those days, or ask a friend to do it for you. If you should have any questions, please e-mail Mike McCurdy at kona-transition@imhawaii.com or during race week please stop by the race office in King Kamehameha's Kona Beach Hotel or call the race office anytime at (808) 329-0063. Aloha, Steve Troute Transition Director I'll be volunteering in the

It's a good rut, but a rut nonetheless. I get up in the morning, workout, go to work, come home, go to sleep. Repeat as necessary. Unfortunately, as necessary is becoming more and more often. I need to do something to shake things up but I'm not sure what. As I said, it's a good rut, things are getting done, I just need a little excitement. Tomorrow is my race. I was so looking forward to this race since I conquered the swim on my last one, that I am depressed that it's a run-bike-run. I don't want to swim with box jelly but I don't want to run that much either. Oh well, get over it. My next tri is in 3 weeks and that swim will definitely happen as it's in semi-sheltered lagoons. There are 4 lagoons like this one. So you run into the lagoon, swim 3 strokes, run out to the next one. It's hard but it's quite fun. Also, you go off in age groups because the lagoons are too small to hold many people at once. So there is only 5-10 people at a time swimming

I think it's really important for all bloggers to read this .

They have changed Sunday's tri from a tri to a run-bike-run. That's good, I was not looking forward to swimming with the box jelly. That's bad because for my running sucks. Running was always my thing. In jr. high I was breaking school records. I love to run. After my knee surgery and once I reached adulthood, I was never that fast again but I still love it and it's my favorite part of the tri. Early last year I was racing almost every weekend and really doing good. In April '05 I did a 10k on Sat. at 1:10 and a 10k on Sun at 1:08. I was doing well. Then I went through my twisting both ankles thing and was off running for quite awhile. BUT, my running lately really, really sucked. It was hard and painful and incredibly tiring and I dreaded it. Because of that I haven't run as much as I should. So Sunday as I was doing my brick I realized that I'm not as light on my feet as I used to be. So I started working on lifting my foot before it hit the ground. I was

This beginning has nothing to do with triathlon or training or anything like that so you may want to skip down. I just need to get some of this stuff out of my head. The Path to 9/11: I watched this show and really enjoyed it. It laid out events in such a clear timeline it all made sense. When you are living through these things you don't always see the big picture. A classic case of not being able to see the forest for the trees. I did come away with a couple of things resounding in my brain. First, if there is anyone who thinks we can negotiate with Al-Qeada or any of the Islamofacists you're freaking crazy. Those people want us dead or Muslim and there is no middle ground. From their point of view, it's us or them. Second, if you don't think we are already in World War III, you're freaking crazy. These people are not going to stop until the entire world is on fire. Their stated goal is to create a situation where the famed 12th Imam will return and the Caliphate

September 11, 2001. As with most people, this is a day that changed my life. I remember I had gotten up early to do something that seemed important at the time. I walked out and turned on the news as I do every morning. There were images of the 2 towers burning on the TV and I thought to myself, "Jeez, they are playing Die Hard awfully early." I then proceeded to change the channel and could not understand why Die Hard was playing on every channel, huh??? Finally I hit CNN and realized this was not a movie. I stood there listening to the news folks with my mouth hanging open. Then of course, all the other info came in, the Pentagon, Flight 93, etc. Wow!! I remember waking my husband up saying we'd been attacked. In stunned silence and disbelief I got ready for work and headed off. When I got to work we all sat around talking and listening to the radio. Our lab was located near Honolulu Airport and it was bizarre how quiet the skies were. It would be like that for a couple