Random pix from the road trip

random Pix from the trip.

Vegas...  nice starbucks and a nice car...

The one picture I missed from my first road trip to Cali:

Remember this bar?  I met up with Tony and some friends.  I've been here before!

Nice view of the sun set from the hotel...

Breakfast with Sperry, I did get the Chili Cheese Omelet.

The Lyon Air museum.  I've always wanted to stop in here.  This is on the other side of the runway from the John Wayne terminal.  I've seen the signs many times...

Words of wisdom

Words of wisdom from my brother...

The Goldwing rides to California

The trip was planned.  The room was reserved in Las Vegas at the Aria hotel Saturday November 28th...

But then the weather comes in.... Forecast snow on I-70 Friday the 27th. 

 

Just over 1000 miles to Las Vegas.  Via Las Vegas NM.  And Winslow AZ which was worth a picture.

The Hoover Dam

Of course once checked in I got a cocktail 

 Followed by Dogfishead on tap...

The crazy things you see on the street in Las Vegas.

 After riding through Las Vegas on motorcycles 4 times.  I guess the 5th time is the charm.  I found the fabulous Las Vegas sign...

Chicago for a little Ironman (and diabetes) training

Last weekend I hung out with my friends that are doing Ironman Arizona with me.  Lorrie, Susie, Nancy, Lyndsay, Sally, Tommy, Chris, Kathleen, etc.....   Unfortunately for me most of them live in the midwest and/or Chicago, specifically.   Lorrie found a 1/2 marathon for us to run on Saturday and a 100 mile bike ride on Sunday!  I was in!  It was also Lorrie's 50th birthday on Friday!

Katie made cupcakes!

 

Lorrie and her brother Frank enjoying drinks together on her birthday - this was before the entire bar sang Happy Birthday to her!

 

Up bright and early to run a 1/2 marathon.....

Next on the plan was a swim in Lake Michigan but the water was rough so we bailed and went to the gym instead.   This was the view from the parking garage at the gym.   Beautiful sky!

After our swim we met with the TriMonster group for some post-exercise recovery food/beverage!

Sunday morning?  Up bright and early for a 100 mile bicycle ride.....   we rode to Wisconsin and back... and it was 105 miles not 100 miles!

 Great weekend and sad to go home on Monday but got in some good workouts to prepare me for Ironman and some tips from my diabetics teammates!

Harvest Moon 70.3 (Half Ironman)

So, the Harvest Moon 70.3 mile triathlon is a half iron distance race ('IRONMAN' is a brand name and it is NOT a brand name race) that is the 2nd weekend in September and I thought it would be cooler than the Boulder 70.3 the first weekend in August... I was WRONG.  89 degrees for a high for the Boulder race and 95 for the Harvest Moon.  Ugh.  I don't race well in heat.  At least there was a slip-n-slide finish!!!

My finish for the Boulder 70.3 in 2011 was 7:59.  My finish time for the Harvest Moon, in spite of the heat, was 7:25!   An improvement of 35 minutes!  The general rule of thumb for estimating your Ironman finish time is to double your half iron time and add one hour.   Going into Wisconsin that put me at 17 hours - the cutoff is 17 hours and I ended up completing the race in 16:47.   With 7:25 I am looking at an estimated finish time of 15:50.   I am actually estimating 16:11 in my mind, for some reason.... but we'll find out on November 17th!

Tony and his relay team had a great race, placing 3rd overall and each getting an award with a bottle of wine!

I had a great race, overall, and am looking forward to Ironman Arizona in 9 weeks (not that I'm counting).

Did I mention that the slip-n-slide finish felt soooooooooo good?  It did.   Every summer race should have one.

Weather in Colorado.... (our house, anyway)

This was at our house..... no flooding but plenty of rain and hail!

some extra pix I picked up

 Tour de Cure

Tour de Cure

Copper Triangle

Copper Triangle