Take that mapquest! Eagleman Status update.

Well in my efforts to avoid a route that would put me on the West Side of Manhattan and cause me to sell my first born for toll money. I have finally mapped out a route that will get me around NYC and probably still cost me an arm and a leg in tolls but at least I won't have to worry about mid-morning traffic on the West Side. To answer Angry " why not just reverse your route?" I did and that 's how I ended up on the West Side Highway on a completely different route from the one I had taken down there. So I decided to let the wheels turn a little bit and mapped my way to Tarrytown, NY and the Tappan Zee and then the Tappan Zee to CT. ( Sadly Fordham closed the All Girls' University Marymount @ Tarrytown Last year...darn...no desperate college girls for Bob-O.) there are still Tolls involved but I'm assuming the NY State Thruway is a little more reasonable than the Holland Tunnel. So that's that.



Upon looking at the stack of emails I recieved last night one of them was from xterra Wetsuits and the race organizers stating they are paying Swim Primes to the best Male and Female pros and Male and Female age groupers, and also doing a contest if you can guess the swim split. Now $250 ain't much but I'll take it. I now know what I must gun for, First wave pros prepare to meet the wrath of Bob-O. Let's see I did the Ironman swim in 55 so that's roughly 22:30 for a half split so subtract the fatigue factor a 21:45 -22:15 looks possible. If I break the 22 barrier I think I might be able to get that prime . Worst case I'm entering the free raffle: Brain Rhodes with a swim time of 21:05.

My parents said they'll toss me some cash. Granted I hate having to borrow money, when that stimulus check comes in it is definitely going to be a big help. Having to borrow from friends and relatives always makes me feel terrible, selfish, "un-manly". I'm 23 I'm still in college but still it's the principle I feel like bum. I should be able to take care of myself, granted I have helpped out at the homestead in the past month. In either case I should have enough to get my butt down there and back. If I qualify for Kona, there might be some desperate phone calls being made, various non-essential organs will be dealt over the black market, first born children will be sold off...in essence I'll do what ever it takes to get there. I might be making some calls to one of my friends going to the U of Hawaii at Hilo asking for a place to Crash, and a ride to Kona...but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

Right now it's all about getting to Maryland and back and hauling major ass in 90 degree weather. Rold Gold Pretzels and GU2O are good sources of salt, other wise I will be raiding Wendy's for Salt packets. Low tech...yes but it's cheap and it works. I have gotten surprisingly good at racing in adverse weather, granted Hot and Humid sucks. I'll never forget my first marathon and the horror show that ensued the last 13 miles when the sun broke, hopefully I'll be able to take what I learned from that experience and put it to good use.

Last night I managed to get in a 3300 yard pool fest. I'm averaging about 1:18 per 100 yds. which isn't bad considering my last two weeks of training have kind of sucked due to my home situation. I'm still staying at Grandpa's until the basement fully dries out which could take a while then there is the clean up and de- molding and de-mildewing my room and furniture. He likes the company and I like being able to wake up in a dry enviroment so it washes out...no pun intended. I'm really think of holding a garage sale because I've got a lot of stuff I don't really use or need. Some of it is novelty items like mugs, prom favors, matchbox cars I have sitting in some bin in a remote corner of the basement that I haven't touched since 8th grade. I might take some of my baseball cards in but I doubt most of them are worth anything. ( Although I do have Ken Griffey Jr's Rookie Card.) Regardless if this whole month from Hell has taught me anything it is I need to reduce the clutter in my life, physical as well as emotional.
R.D.