Halloween!!!

Pics from tonights adventure. Jack went the normal route Ilene's house. That got him about 3 lbs of candy. Not too bad for a 2 year old. Ryan had to hang with the big kids, Cassie and Sabrina. He wound up with more than double Jack's take for the night. Much of it is candy that he will never eat, because he is kind of picky. The rejected stuff will of course wind up in my gut.

Here is Jack at a door tonight.


Here are pics of the kids, and of our pumpkins.

My New Blog

RCMT: Road/Cyclocross/Mountain/Triathlon

I decided to start a new blog so that this one could be more family oriented.

No family stuff on it for the most part. All cycling related.

http://www.rcmt.blogspot.com

Training Update

I didn't race cross this weekend. Again. Last weekend I wasn't feeling it at all and this weekend I actually got in the car and headed out there to Astoria to race. I was about 2/3 the way there and I just felt like I shouldn't race. A good part of the decision was the money. It had been a very expensive week and spending probably 30 bucks more didn't seem like a good decision. Also, I had some eerie preminition that I was going to get hurt or something. That was most likely my mind rationalizing my cheapness, but it worked. I turned around and then drove to Forest Park and tortured myself on Springville Road. I actually rode down to the very bottom and rode up to the top which is extra torture. I did this 3 times. I hated it every time the slope would steepen after a brief leveling off. Springville never actually levels off it just sort of hurts less. The upper portion that I often do is about 3/4 of a mile long and climbs about 325-350 feet. Adding the lower portion I figure I climbed about 1500 feet in during the 4 or so miles of total climbing. Ouch. But I figure I suffered close to the same amount as I would have during the race so I didn't feel too bad.

Bridget swam this morning and I ran this evening. Bridget's swim went well, but Mondays are long for her. After swimming she goes to work from 8:30AM to 7PM. She was pretty spent but was nice enough to let me go to the rec center's gym to run. I ran for about 70 minutes with an average heart rate of 141. Pretty easy workout, but my body still is not that used to running long distances again. But it was still better than last week. I ran low intensity intervals for half the time (120 HR up to 147 HR and back down and up) and then I couldn't take the 120 HR anymore, I would get bored, so I just ran with a HR of around 147 for 30 minutes followed by a cool down.

I need to get on track with a plan, but I have yet to decide what I am going to do this year. I want to do a half ironman, but haven't decided which one. The date of the triathlon will influence when the training program starts for real.

Part of me wants to go to Kona Hawaii with part of our tax return to do the half ironman out there with Fish and maybe Dave, but it is not the best use of money.

Comments

To those who are shy to make comments, please don't be. Serious and sarcastic comments are very welcome. You are welcome to make any comments you want no matter who rude. Afterall, I can delete them if I don't like them...

Cassie's Halloween Party

Here are a few pictures of Cassie's Halloween party. Cassie is a cousin of the boys.

Here is Cassie:


Here are the boys. Jack is Buzz Lightyear and Ryan is Captain Jack Sparrow.


Here are some other pics. Grandma Joan was Tigger, Bridget's sister Ilene (Cassie and Sabrina's mom) was the Queen of Hearts. Sabrina (not pictured, well she was the dead body that would answer questions that is pictured below) was dressed similarly to Cassie. There was an eerie cauldron, a corpse that would answer questions and a costume contest. It was pretty fun.





Bridget and I were a little tuckered out at the party. Neither of us dressed up. We aren't Grinches about Halloween, we just didn't want to spend any money on any costumes for us when things are so tight. Neither did we feel like putting in the energy to come up with something out of stuff here in the house. Here is Bridget at the party:

Date Night and the Aftermath

So we actually got out last night. Some friends of ours, Holly and Zack, wanted to go to the temple, their first time being their since they were married there last year. Another couple also went in our little group, Marcus and Melinda. Melinda is Bridget's triathlon training partner and she is also the person who when Patrick saw her evoked a statement that he thought she was probably "hot once". She is not that old, around 30 or so. I told Bridget that and then she of course immediately told Melinda, who thought it was funny.

Anyway, in the session last night we guys are sitting next to each other. I would occassionally whisper something to Zack so that he could be ready for what what came next. Marcus can't sit still in general. During the session his foot was either wagging faster than an excited puppy or he was noticing things about others in attendance. Toward the end of the session he whispered to me that if you looked at the back of a particular fellow's head you could see his pulse via the throbbing of some of the hair on the back of his head. Wierd but true. I wonder if the guy had high blood pressure for the back of this head to throb like that? Regardless, it was a random statement, though funny.

After the temple we went to the Cheesecake Factory. Melinda works there, but it is where Marcus wanted to go since they rarely ever go there as a family. Marcus chose because it was his birthday yesterday. We did not get out of the temple until almost 10 because we had to go to a late session because of some work schedules. So we ate dinner awefully late. I had some spicy chicken pasta dish that was very good. Oh and I had one of the better hot fudge sundaes ever. But eating that much, that late is not good for my digestive system--we didn't leave the restaurant until almost midnight. I has some seriously weird dreams that I am going to blame on that food. I was jumping over buildings while people were trying to kill me for some odd reason or another. Often these sorts of dreams involve breathing under water too. Yes, I have weird dreams. Also, I woke up with an upset stomach at around 3 and 5 and then was finally able to get some relief around 7, right before we took Bridget to work this morning.

And yes, I may be a stereotypical dad. Sometimes I let them eat things that no self-respecting mom would do. The boys expressed that they were hungry after we dropped off Bridget. I was lazy and so they ate hot dogs from 7-11. They love those things. I rationalize that this is ok by thinking that this is still better than eating junky cold cereal. They did have milk with their hot dogs...that makes it all good, right?

Future Embarrassment

I am sure that eventually this will be somewhat embarrassing for Ryan and Jack. But it is pretty cute. The first they are singing what they know of some Avril Lavigne song. The next is from the Wiggles.

Anybody want a cat?

I wrote previously about Clyde, a fine mouser and friend of the family. Then there is the bad seed, Bonnie. She must have a calm and non-disrupted home in order to not cause problems.

What problems? She doesn't wizz anywhere thankfully. She just craps on anything that strikes her fancy. Here is a list of what she has crapped on:

*On the cushions and on the top of various couches
*Wicker stool
*Carpets
*Rugs
*On top of the Microwave (at our house in Utah)
*on the wall--Twice. Once in Utah and once here in Oregon. Don't ask me how.
*Beds
*Coffee table
*Storage boxes
*On top of a surge protector for my old laptop

There may be some other things but they escape me for the time being. She has gone almost a year between poopings, but then she goes on a crazy streak or awhile. We are in the middle of one such streak. The cause is the construction going on in the home right now. Two of the three bathrooms are gutted for some serious remodelling. With workmen coming and going it probably freaks her out. Also because they are coming and going we can't keep her out during the day because she slips in very stealthily.

Anyway, we have one poop a day to clean up on average. Luckily we have become adept and cleaning. 99% of the time there isn't a stain. We have found some good cleaners. Plus she is a very stinky kitty so it is usually pretty quick that we find out that she left a mess.

Back to Running

***Note: This is an example of a post that is more for my benefit than anyone else's. Perhaps I can look back and see where I was and see some improvement.***

It has been awhile since I ran. I have been riding a fair bit and so it is not like I have been sitting back doing nothing. Nevertheless, I had a harder time running than I would have thought. My goal was to do a slow and steady run. When I last ran, back before cross season was nearing about 5 to 6 weeks ago, I was running 70 to 80 minutes at a pretty good pace--around 10 minute to 10:30 miles without killing myself. My heart rate would be in the mid to upper 150's to maybe low 160's if going uphill. I could run for what felt like all day if I kept my heart rate down around the mid 140's. My fastest mile time was close to a 7 minute flat after about 2 or 3 miles of warm up.

Anyway, I am here to testify that cycling and running do not work the same muscles at all. I ran this afternoon for an hour. I kept my average heart rate at around the mid 140's for most of the time until I hit some hills at the end of my run. My max was still only 163 BPM, which is good considering I suppose. Overall, my average heart rate was 147. Well, aerobically I felt fine, never winded at all. But, I could feel that even after about 30 minutes I was not in the best running condition. My muscles are not used running and I felt weak even though my lungs felt great. It was kind of odd. I am sure that I should have only run for about 40 minutes, but I am an idiot in this regard and since I had a goal of running for an hour, I ran for an hour regardless of the discomfort. At least I never stopped. I wasn't even running fast. I was only doing about 12 minute miles. Sure I could have run faster, but only if I wanted to run for about half the time.

This time around I am really trying to do better with my training. Earlier this year I was way too time oriented. Meaning that I was trying to always beat my former times on my bike route to school, or at the track when running. My heart rate would be through the roof often times. This time I am trying to build a better fitness foundation, and I have read that training for triathlons is more effective if I develop a good foundation. This can be done by some long and low heart rate workouts. I have a hard time doing this on the bike, because Portland is not exactly flat and on many hill climbs near our house my heart rate will alway shoot up to the upper 160's or low 170's. But running I can chose to run at the outdoor track which is a 1/4 mile away and nice and flat. As long as I have my IPod with me with either a Podcast of CarTalk or Wait Wait don't Tell Me, or perhaps some good music I am good for a long while. Today I actually went with no Ipod because there was a light rain for much of the time I was out. And yeah, I am hardcore by running in the rain.

Triathlon Planning

So I am currently in middle of a conundrum: Knowing that life is a bit unpredictable, especially now when we are not sure where we will be once I find a long term job, what triathlons should I sign up for next year. For instance for some I have to sign up for them now or in the next couple of weeks for some events that take place next June or July. At least this is true for the higher profile events.

For example, I am thinking about doing a Half-Ironman distance Triathlon in early June. This means training for a 1.2 mile swim (which is thankfully downriver) and 56 mile bike and 13.1 mile run. I couldn't do it right now that is for sure.

I did an olympic distance one this summer (1.5k swim, 40k bike--about 24 miles--and a 10 k run) and that nearly killed me. I was sick the entire month prior to the race, only getting well just a couple of days before the race. When the race went down I had not run or even sat on a bike in 4 or 5 weeks. Not exactly a good thing. I did a sprint tri (half the distance of an olympic distance) though a few weeks later and I felt great. Anyway these events are not cheap either some are around $100 for Half-Ironmans. Ouch.

Bridget, to her frustration, is not signing up for anything because we are hoping that she is pregnant soon. Thus, she would not be up for competition next summer.

Anyway, it is hard to know what the future holds and if my aging body will hold up and perform on cue. Sometimes it seems like I am in my 20's and othertimes . . . ugh, fat and old. And balding always balding. Not bald like my brother Patrick thankfully, ha, but getting there.

Here are some events I am thinking about doing:

Vikingman Half Ironman in Burley Idaho, June 6
Hagg Lake Triathlon, Olympic distance, approximately the first weekend in July.
Spudman Olympic Triathlon, Burley Idaho, July 26th
Hulaman at Hagg Lake and Hillsboro Oregon, middle or so of August
Hood to Coast Relay (197 mile team relay), August 22 and 23

Plus there is cyclocross season in the fall and mountain biking. I would like to run a marathon next year but don't know if I could fit it in. If I could do 2 of the above triathlons I would be pretty happy.

Anyway, ambitious thoughts like this are easy when sitting in a comfy chair in the living room.

What No Rain?!?!

For the second day in a row we have had beautiful weather. Around 70-ish degrees and not a cloud in the sky. If it wasn't for the leaves on the ground I would have sworn it was late spring. I didn't race this weekend and so I haven't had any exercise for about 4 days, and so I really needed to get out. There were a few complicating factors; I needed to apply to a job and we had to get our car fixed (driver side door latch broke and we couldn't open the door either from the inside or outside--only $401.93 to fix it) and get Ryan to his preschool. Plus Bridget had dibbs on working out first. Eventually I got out the door around 2PM and rode about 26 miles.

It was a pretty good ride but not as long as I had planned. I had planned to add a climb at the end so that I could ride on Skyline Drive, which has some great views, and would have put it at about 32 miles or so total. But, I got a couple of flats and I would have had to call the pit-crew (Bridget and the boys) for the second one except for a nice cyclist that happened upon me at the right time. He had a spare tube and gave it to me. Whoever you are, thanks man. I carry one tube with me but never two. I figure if I am going to have two flats it is time to call the pit-crew.

I had brought my little Topeak Micro Rocket Master Blaster hand pump with me, and it is a sweet little pump. It fits in one of my rear cycling jersey pockets. It is light, made of mostly carbon fiber and weighs next to nothing, only 55 grams (about 2 ounces). It is only about 6 inches long. It took a bit to pump the tire up to around 120 PSI, but it did it pretty easily. I was very impressed. I have used it before but not on the side of the road. It is about as sexy as a pump can get.


In the end, it was probably good that the ride was shortened. I didn't eat enough for lunch--just some tomato soup--and if it wasn't for a pack of Clif Shot Bloks in another jersey pocket I might have called it a day even sooner. As it was, according to my Heart Rate Monitor I burned around 1650 calories. Most of that was probably on a couple of longer climbs. I burn about 900 to 1000 calories an hour on a good ride. Bridget for comparison only burns about 600 to 650 calories an hour on the same ride. But she weighs about 55 lbs less than me.

And one more thing about Bridget--she had on some size 6 pants yesterday. When we were married she was a 10 or 12. I hope she doesn't mind me outing her, but she is pretty open with things like this regardless of present size. The combination of the exercise and the glucophage has made a big difference. Her PCOS, without the meds, makes her slowly gain weight if she is not exercising. And yes she looks amazing, but then she always did.

Aeronautical Museum Adventure

Bridget works on Mondays and I am solo with Ryan and Jack. We usually don't do a heck of a lot, and sometimes it is just about survival. But today we went out for probably our grandest adventure without Bridget. We went to the Evergreen Aviation Museum. It is the present home of the Spruce Goose/Flying Boat. I took lots of pics so I will let them do most of the talking.


Below is a Russian/Soviet space capsule. It was actually used in the early 1990's.


Ryan and Jack in front of a lunar landing module replica.


The next several pics are of the boys in front of a scale model used in the filming of the Aviator movie about Howard Hughes. Above them is part of the Spruce Goose's wing. Next are the boys in the belly of the Spruse Goose (sorry not sure why it is out of focus, perhaps it was the glass right behind them messing things up). There is at least one level above where they are standing in the plane. Then is a picture of the Spruce Goose from up on an observation deck.




Below is a P40. "Pretty cool plane" said Ryan.



Here the boys are checking out my favorite plane as a kid--the SR-71 Blackbird.


They had an area for kids to play and have some hands-on experiences flying or rather pretending to fly planes and helicopters. The last picture of this series was of Ryan learning how the controls of an airplane made an airplane rise, dive and turn. Fun stuff.






I like this old plane. Check out the sweet machine guns


The boys are standing in front of a retired Blue Angel airplane and one of several tanks they had outside the museum.



Finally here is a pic of us in front of a F14 Tomcat.


Afterwards we stopped at a McDonalds with a cool playground. Lots of fun, and I even got to read the newspaper.

Oregon Coast

Bridget and I went on an overnight trip to Lincoln City, which is on the Oregon Coast. I wish it were for a vacation, but it was part of a Yound Womens Activity. Bridget is the Laurel Advisor and so she was supposed to go, and I was one of the members of the Priesthood that went, as is manditory I found out on these type of overnight trips.

It was ok, except that the when there are so many teenage girls running around on one place--a beach house--it was rather loud. Frankly, I let Bridget do her thing with the girls and I just sort of sat back for the most part. Teenage girls are entirely too goofy for me to relate to, especially when there are so many of them in one spot. I think that their individual IQ levels go down when they are all together, they were more than a little bit silly. They were up, some of them, until 5 in the morning. We could not go to sleep until around 2 AM because of they were so loud. I didn't mind, it was kind of funny to see them being weird. But I can honestly say that I have seen enough Hannah Montana to last me a couple of years. Apparently there was some sort of Hannah Montana Marathon going on the Disney Channel.

Here are some pics though.




After driving back we took the boys to our Rec Center where was a Fall Festival going on. About a third of the kids were dressed up in Halloween costumes, but our boys weren't. There were lots of fun activities for them. Afterward I let Jack jump into some puddles in the parking lot. That was as much fun for him as anything else.

Clyde: The Great Hunter

Clyde is a great cat. He will usually let the boys maul him without complaining--at least for a while. Bonnie normally runs when they come with 20 feet of her. Of course she is not built like a dog, Clyde is.

For the first couple years we had them they were not allowed outside. That was part of deal when we adopted them--that they be inside cats. When we moved out to Oregon that was the case for about a year also. Then for some reason or another we started letting them go outside. Come to think of it we probably started doing that when Bonnie started having issues with one particular couch--she was confusing it with a litter box. She still occasionally does that with one particular rug when she gets scared . . . but this story is about Clyde.

It seems like it took awhile but Clyde's inner hunter gradually came out. First there were things like bugs and worms and baby birds that would end up on the doorstep. Then the birds started to show up on the doorstep full grown. Not large birds, sparrow size mostly. Then came the mice soon after.

Clyde in case you can't tell is a rather large cat. He seems pretty lazy and so we had kind of assumed that Bonnie, who seems a bit feral, was the hunter. Then I saw Clyde hunt a dragonfly this summer. He was sitting watching it fly back and forth and then without running, he leaped about 4 feet in the air while performing a flip, grabbing the dragonfly with his claws. It was spectacular. It was akin to Charles Barkley, the rolly-polly former NBA player doing a gymnastic floor routine--meaning that it seemed unlikely to occur. Anyway, it was then that I was figured that Clyde was at least partially to blame for the deaths at our doorstep. One night soon after I came home from studying late at the law library and found Bonnie and Clyde playing with a mouse in the driveway. They had maimed it, but it was still alive. That were taking turns pouncing on it and batting it around. The poor mouse.

Last night was another hunting night. I was a rather rainy miserable night and I guess that was perfect for hunting. At about 11:30 PM he was pawing at the sliding glass door in the back with a mouse--still twitching--in his mouth.



As I came to let him in he dropped it near the door and came in meowing to brag about what he had done. I told him he was a great cat, petted him and gave him some fresh food. He was then quiet and settled on to our bed content.

Well done might hunter, well done.

Ryan and his Preschool

Ryan goes to preschool 3 days a week. This is his second year and he really enjoys it. He has made some good friends. It was kind of sad this year because none of his best friends from last year were in this preschool time this year. He has made a couple of good new friends though, one if which is Ash who is standing behind Ryan and to the right (he has redish hair).

Anyway, everyday they have some projects, usually dealing with letters or numbers. I scanned today's work with the letter "D". The writing on the bottom is all Ryan's work. You can see that he wrote "dog" and "drum". Ryan said that the bear pictured was the best bear ever.


Below is some drawings from this afternoon. I see to remember that is was truck of some sort and that it was carrying something but I forget what.




I figure that my mom might be interested in this stuff since she is a school teacher.

More Video Snipets

We were trying to get jack to do something cute, but Ryan can never resist the camera.



Ryan really gets into his Thomas trains. Before the video started it was much better.


Ryan describing how the trains stop when they go too fast . . .

Figured it out: Video

Photobucket was the key to getting the video up. For whatever reason I could upload directly. Not that this video is anything super-special, I was just wanting to try and figure out how to do it.

Jack reading a book

I tried to upload a video of this, but for some reason I couldn't it to upload. If anyone has any tips that would be great. Anyway, I figure pics are good to make a blog interesting so . . .

By the way, he has blue lips because of some blue Gatorage that he had.

Job Search

I am a little down in the dumps about the whole job thing. There really aren't a whole lot of jobs around here for newbie lawyers. Money is getting thin and working at the bike shop is not exactly paying the bills. I called on the jobs that I applied to and they still haven't made any decisions, but neither have any of them called for an interview. Most place want at least two or three years experience. Right. I will get right on that . . . as soon as I can get a freaking job.

Pereira Cycles

If you have a love of bicycles this is not be missed. What follows is the process of hand building a bike frame. This particular one is a steel single speed mountain bike frame.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/79122810@N00/sets/72157602227635440/show/

There are many many pictures, you will need some time for this.

Movie Review: Fantastic Four, Rise of the Silver Surfer

Talk about suspension of disbelief . . . I needed to suspend the laws of physics to get past much of this movie. Better than the first one though. As far as the comic book movie genre goes, this is mediocre at best. Still, Ryan seemed to enjoy it. Acting is so-so. Plot has holes of course in both the story line and in logic, but again it is just supposed to be a light-hearted comic book type movie. I don't expect too much. If you don't either, it is not bad.

Grade: C

Napping and Wussing Out

Why is it that kids hate napping so much? I love them, as do most adults probably. But if I take one I can't fall asleep at night usually. Jack throws the biggest crying fits when we tell him it is nap time. He sometimes says things like "I don't want you!" as the tears come down his little face. I don't take offense to it or anything.

I went riding today, for like 10 minutes. Then the rain really started coming down. I had forgotten my rain-proof jacket and I started getting wet pretty fast. For a couple of minutes I tried to pretend it was like a cyclocross race where the weather is foul. Even though the terrain was sort of cross-like (I was in Forest Park going to do hill repeats up and down one of the fireroads) neither my brain nor my body was having it. My legs were still utterly dead from the last cyclocross race and I didn't feel like getting soaked when there wasn't anyone else out there getting soaked with me. So I turned around and went back up the road, packed up the bike on the rack and hustled to the nearest 7-11, grabbed a diet coke and called it a day.

Potty Training

Jack has actually pooped on the big toilet a couple of times. He doesn't mind it so much--sitting on the toilet--but it isn't something that he thinks about doing unless someone prompts him. Today it was my day to be solo with the boys. We took Mom to work and then we hung out at the McDonalds with an indoor playground. I had a little extra cash so we had breakfast, pancakes and sausage for the boys and I had the cheap sausage McMuffin. They ate great, as they usually do there, and I got to read the paper--something that never happens except when I take them to McDonalds with the Playground. Anyway, long story short, we stayed for awhile until Ryan said Jack was letting "stinkers". When we got home Ryan bolts for the bathroom and drops off his morning baggage and then immediately afterwards, so did I. Jack knew that both of us were taking care of that particular sort of business and wanted to check out the fruits of our efforts each time for some reason or another. Gross I know, but hey, he is a boy and he is only 2. After I was done, he wanted to take his turn on the toilet. Sure enough he started pushing and farting and soon there was a little splash. Jack was so proud. I guess that happened a couple of times when I was in Utah as well last weekend. I made a big deal of it and it was kinda cool.

When we actually try to sit him on his training potty to go pee, he won't sit or he won't go pee on it. In fact, he usually goes in his pants immediately afterwards. Yep, potty training is so much fun.

Ryan was a tough nut to crack too. But it will be so nice when we don't have diapers to change.

Cyclocross = Pain

You'll have today's multiple posting. I figured this was better than one long post.

Yesterday was my second cyclocross race of the season. The first was in Utah with Fish, Dave and my brother Patrick. The first was slightly miserable, but in a fun and muddy way. I liked that race quite a bit. The fact that I thought I rode well was another bonus. For instance, I had been battling a couple of guys in who were also in the middle of the field. Most of the time they were ahead of me. However, one guy I could tell just sort of popped--meaning that he could no longer sustain the effort he had been putting out and he started to fade and I passed him around the second to last lap. The other guy I didn't think I could catch at first, it wasn't like I had much of a reserve left either. I started to ride a little harder with the goal of trying to catch him near the end of the final lap, during the section that was on asphalt. Long story short--I passed him at the end of the last asphalt section and barely held a lead going into the last muddy turn and 50 yard dash to the finish. I didn't have the right gear selected after the asphalt section and could get to speed as well as I would have liked but I managed to beat him by half a wheel.

I about puked from the effort. Seriously.

The first guy I passed of the two was very nice and we talked for a second. The second guy would not respond when I asked how he was doing. It could be that he didn't hear me, but I doubt it. Maybe he didn't appreciate my going all-out to get my precious 14th place, but seriously it is a race after all. What a weenie.

The races in Utah have a participation of around 150 people. Really, a pretty good amount of people. In our C class race there were about 26 people.

Fast forward to this weekend's race here in Oregon. It was at a private ranch named Horning's Hideout. It was like a short mountain bike race. Up and down and with some really choppy stuff that was miserable to ride through. The Utah race was pancake flat with some deep mud, this race was the opposite, up and down with no mud at all--odd for one of our races here.

I was feeling pretty good before the race. I felt pretty good during the first half of the first lap. Then the second half of the lap came up--uhgh, it was steep and I didn't have the correct gearing to spin up some of the hills without some supreme amounts of effort. I considered dropping out of the race after the first lap. I even started to think of excuses to explain my bailing out. But I kept going and somehow I finished 5 laps. the 4th and 5th laps were miserable. My back was killing me from having to push too hard a gear and from the choppy grassy areas. I had long given any idea of running up either of the two run-ups. The 5th lap was horrible because I had hoped that I would be pulled for time after the forth. But nope. I did manage to pass a couple of guys that were hurting as much as I, but that was small consolation. When the results were posted today I was relieved that I finished 91st. That was out of 126 that started in my class, Master C (those who are 35 years old or older and in class C). 116 finished, I am not sure what happened to the 10 that DNF'd. I know that a few people got hurt pretty bad. One guy ended up with 12 stitches in his face along with swollen lips and an eye that was swollen shut as well. A woman went to the hopital because it was thought that she broke her knee cap (she didn't but she reported on the website that she will be on crutches for a few days). There were other injuries as well. It was a difficult course, especially with all of the people racing at the same time--250 in our time slot alone. There were 906 total participants for the day.

One fellow posted a video of the race this weekend. This was the B race I think. While this was the venue that the race was at, MY race occurred an hour earlier on the same course and so I am not in the video at all. Try not to get seasick.

A Few Pictures

My computer crashed recently, taking with it quite a few pictures from the past 6 months. Luckily I had emailed some to my mom so some of the best are saved in my email account. Here are a few pics:

The first is of me last year at the Barton Flats cyclocross race. It was sloppy muddy fun. I am sure there will be more posts about cross coming up. I have done two races so far this year, one in Utah and here in Oregon.

Next is Ryan during Jack's birthday party this August. Then comes Mom and Jack at the party. We have definitely lost any tans that we might have had this summer.

Origin of the Fantastic Flynns

A few people have been bugging us to start a blog. I have been hestitant to start one because it is a commitment that I am likely to break in the near future leaving this blog just sort of hanging out there abandoned--pretty much like all of my journals in the past. I told Bridget that she should be the one to do it since she actually does keep a journal fairly regularly. But she has refused for some reason or another. Anyway, the dirty deed is left to me I guess.

Our family is composed of the two of us and our two boys and two cats. Anyone who is reading this should know about our boys and how much fun they can be. I am sure that there will be plenty of material that stems from them in this blog.

Bridget and I did a couple of triathlons this year, and that has been a fun thing for us to train for together. In the past it was just me riding bikes and Bridget occassionally golfing. Not a big deal that our hobbies didn't intertwine previously, but this is better. We can compare our training and since both of us have been occasionally miserable it is nice to have someone who understands.

Stay tuned for more posts.