Dear Donald Trump....

My name is Bob (Last name censored) and I am writing you with the opportunity of a life time. I am willing to give you the sultan of real estate and reality TV the privilege of sponsoring me for Ironman New Zealand.

How much would such an opportunity cost $2 Million, $1 Million, a good $500k, no for the simple price of $250k you could sleep better knowing that you were responsible for helping a young Smart Alec College kid fight a war on Lou Gehrig's disease, fly first class half way around the world, and leave his day job so he could focus all of his attentions to training for and winning IM New Zealand. Think of the Publicity Mr. Trump..could be huge..Millionaire with Heart of Gold...think about it would be good press to sink Rosie's book back into the sewer where it belongs. I hope that you take careful time to consider such a lucrative offer.

Sincerely,

Robert E. (Censored) III

This letter was not really sent to Donald Trump but if any of the fine people at Trump Inc. or the Donald himself wish to donate please click on the link above for the War on ALS. If you wish to help fund my trip to New Zealand please send a check made out to the "Send Rob D. to New Zealand Fund" c/o Webster Bank or leave a comment so I can give you the legitimate address

Enrico Rides Again! and the week or so in review....

That's right it's been a while but I've been busy ( classes, working, lifeguarding, selling some of my possessions/soul to help my sister get to college, cramming in time to train. I feel flabby I've only run once this week. and I will get in a 7 miler tomorrow to get prepped for Hammerfest and little race coming up in a week. Sunday was a good day as I blew the dust off of trusty Enrico and went on a 6 town 60 mile tour of New Haven and Hartford County.

Yes for those of you who don't know Enrico is my sisters' pet name for my road bike. I am currently in the process of debating whether or not reliable Enrico ( with it's road gearing and granny gear goodness) to power my way through a New England Pyrenees senario or if I should suffer the climbs on The Bitch Stomper to gain speed and braking confidence on the flats and suicidal decents. It's such a tough call. For my long ride on Sunday I took out old Enrico and decended down to route 69 ( using a sucidal hill that I crawled down because cars F**king fly up and down it and I don't want to be a road pizza 2 miles in.) After crossing and turning on to 322 climbing "the Hill" near Pat's IGA I was treated to car infested rolling pavement until the usual fork in the road ( where I always go left ) and decended past the golf course into Southington. If I had gone right I would be treated to a 70-80 mph descent down the 10% gradient Southington mountain... trying to stop....not my idea of fun.....any way when I reached the bottom of 322 I took a right on to Marion Rd. I followed Marion Rd. Past Ansico Farms..over a hairy stech of grooved asphalt..across route 70. Then onto Route 70 then onto route 10 staying far to the right to avoid traffic and onto 42 to Lock 12 park and the canal trail. I followed the bike trail all the way to Hamden then back to its start point in Cheshire ( about 18-20 miles) I back roaded it to route 70 before crossing back onto Marion Rd. and then when I reached 322 I crossed and followed the other half of Marion rd. into Southington. I stopped at the Dunkin Donuts on route 10 to umm well..drain mass quantities of electrolyte replacement beverage. before backtracking to the bike trail which took me to downtown Southington. I rode through down town and stopped at the CVS on route 10 for much needed H20 and Gatorade. I followed Route 10 through Plantsville back to Marion Road. I did my second fly by of the three colonial era cemeteries then got to the base of the mountain. With my legs screaming for mercy, my brain trying to get in desperately needed salt, and my ego saying "Bring it On Bitch!" I climbed the 1.25 mile 10% grade monster averaging between 6.5 and 7 mph ( what hill's my bitch? ). I rode down Meriden road through the whole confusing three towns at once section ( officially putting me in Cheshire, Waterbury and Wolcott at the same time for 2 seconds) I then turned right onto Todd Rd. ( and officially back into Wolcott) and rode through it's nice somewhat pitted rollers, finishing off with a lovely 40-45mph descent. I turned on to Wood tick road and rode past rode up boundline again getting on to route 322 before getting onto 69 and doing a lap of my old hood and riding the last quarter mile home. All in all it was about 60 miles. in 5 hours average speed was about 16.5 mph not an earth shattering record breaking pace but it wasn't supposed to be. I capped my Sunday off with a 3100 yard pool work out up at Central. Monday was a some what rest day...went to class ,lifeguarded. got in about 1000 yards in the pool trying to pace Bjoern. Tuesday I got up early and got in a 4 mile run, followed by work, class, a 3500 pool workout and collasping until 8 am this morning. Today had plans for a 6 miler between work and class but a mad scramble to help my sister get fundage for college took precsdence ( how do you measure true love your brother will cancel his work out, max out his cards, sell his old books, and offer to pawn his high school ring for you. Along with your parents and other siblings doing the same...and when we find that mortgage broker who's been jerking us around for 6 months....well...alright it's not his fault our other lender is being a dick ..it's complicated and neither here nor there.) Tonight finds me letting off good karma and bad steam into the blogosphere.I've got 12 computer science questions plus 6 hours of sleep to get in so I can cram in my 7 miler tomorrow before work, school, and flirting with the sexy chicks from my guard chair. Leave the Love, or hate, or apathy, or utter randomness. Also Please Donate to the War on ALS! Even though it might sound completely insensitive we really need to Bitch Stomp this disease!

R.D.

As Mark Twain Put it....and the tri gods are trying to tell me something.

As Mark Twain put it , If you don't like the weather in New England, wait a minute and it'll change. Today's bitch stomping long ride was cut short and the pool work out never happended. Here's how it went down. After sleeping in until 10am...I know I'm a bum....I decided to head to my little sis's cheerleading competition..otherwise known as a football game. After showing up late...I went to my Grandfather's to stock up on drinking water..( small note about my town 90% of the population myself included have well water. My parent's house is on a a former swamp and the water is high in iron. My grandfather's ( formerly my uncle jerry's place..rest in pieces uncle jer.) is on a spring needless to say his water tastes good and ours is between slightly rusty and brown slugde.) When I got home after seeking water....I decided to scratch the pool work and just go for the ride. I got out to Lake Waramaug and conditions were good, sunny, some gathering clouds, hot and humid as hell. I got on the Bitch Stomper and began to ride the Half Iron Course. I got to Angevine rd. and saw the familar gravel on road warning signs and slowled to a grandmaesque 5mph. I wanted to shoot myself due to my low speed and the fact that I had to dismount for two major climbs ( because I didn't want to push the speed and find myself axel deep in gravel.) Also I crawled down two kick ass decents for fear of loose stones on road. Needless to say when I got to the end of this section and found most of the worry spots had been well swept I was a pissed off mofo that I had taken them like a grandma. I turned onto to Route 45 hearing rumbles of thunder and slight to moderate rain. I had just gotten out of the center of Warren and had passed a little graveyard when my hopes for a long ride were as dead as Warren's founding fathers. As I headed out toward Cornwall and got to the bottom of a slight descent, I looked at the climb ahead of me. I heard a loud thunder clap and noticed a rather large lightning bolt crashing to earth about a mile away. I immediately turned around and high tailed it for the lake, not wanting to join the souls that had been at rest in that little church yard since the late 1800's. i managed to get in a loop of the lake before the storm caught up with me. All in all I got in 30 miles and had yet another attempt to learn the course thwarted. I honestly think the tri gods are telling me I'm not supposed to know this race course...that I am fated to wander it like a blind kid in a china shop, not knowing what can screw me up. Well any hoo. I got back to the lake. I jumped in to rinse all the salt, sweat and shit off. And I managed to change and get back to my car as the storm unleashed full fury. I drove out to Winsted for dinner with dad, and have now been warned by my outback, something is amiss in the engine..yet another expense to be dealt with, needless to say it goes into the shop Monday, as I borrow my sister's car or hopefully a loaner from the dealer. Tomorrow I plan on going to mass, followed by a 50 to 60 mile ride in Middlebury ( on a course I know. Angry holler if you want it, even if it's just for one loop.) and then a work out with the tri club at CCSU. All in all I'm hopeing for more fruit for my labors. If anyone has managed to get in a loop of the Nutmeg State Half Iron Course concider yourself blessed.
R.D.

A half-hour of my life that I can not get back.

Yes, that's right I went up to Central for what was supposed to be a mandatory inservice and got stood up. Maybe it's because Iam the only person who doesn't use the crappy state issued email address we've been given, but I didn't even get a warning that this was cancelled. I was the only guard that showed up, and I stuck around for half and hour ( bs-ing with some chick (Kim)I met when I was on duty.) now normally sitting around for half an hour doesn't usually upset me ( afterall I do it for 6.5 hours at the bank and 3-4 hours at the pool and get paid for it.) But damn it this was valuable training time being eaten away. Pissed off as All hell I went to the weight room and cranked out a half hour of curls, leg press, extentions, over head presses, and other various crap in my bad ass Fordham swimming Tee and cargo shorts. ( before driving home and gorging on high fat, high sodium, high colesterol artery clogging finger foods ( it was movie night.)) Tomorrow I will punish my self for thoses mozzerella sticks, the pigs in a blanket and popcorn chicken. A 3000 yard pool workout, the second half of my little sis's football game ( she's a cheerleader) and then a quad killing painfull 50 mile hill climb in Washington is sounding in order. So all in all the rage of high fat snacking, inservices that I don't recieve cancelation notices for , and the fact that classes are eating into valuable ride time, will fuel me on my mission of fire. I cannot fail.
So until next time I remain the time strapped triathlete.
R.D.

Wake up, Workout, work, class, work repeat...

Well that's right for the last three days I've been juggling early mornings and late nights to accomodate my training. classes have been going well ( granted it's only the first week.) I got my lifeguarding job back so I will have some extra cash flow...plus and excuse to cram in late night swim workouts when it's completely dead. Tomorrow night I have a lifeguarding in-service..ie they want to make sure we can still do the backboarding and all the rescue shit, like the run in a skin fitting bathing suit and strike a dramatic pose to the sound of the Baywatch theme. Today I was a bum I slept in until 7:30am So now I have to cram in a nice easy 4 miler before taking off to class and work. And hopefully an empty swimming pool so I can cram in about 2000 yards. Yes my taper is semi started until I can adapt to my schedule which is becoming more full by the day. IM Kentucky is on the back burner until I get my student loan check....Wisconsin and Florida are looking more and more tempting.....Well daylight is burning rush hour traffic is backing up and my professor likes to start promptly at 6:45PM ....Time to hit the road so ...shit I can't steal Angry's phrase without paying royalties....well Holla at the comment board.
R.D.

School Daze......

Yep, that's right my ass is back in college at good ol' CCSU (Central Connecticut State University: ie UCONN's RedHaired step sister), where you start with a dream finish two semesters late. The day began with a 2000 yard pool workout at 6 am followed by work, then my plauges and people's class. And Yes discussing disease and its effects on society with Prof. Warren is fun especially over food....next class someone's bringing brownies....mmm...good... Computer Science was taught by a former programer who defected from Russia, really knows what he's doing ..but we the students don't ...It'll work out.... Discussed Beer Pong, Relationships, Make out sessions and global politics with Jean and Sarah, also the fact that I am completely insane signing up for an Ironman ( although they were both pretty impressed....are they girls that get it...Idon't know? Jean sort of does (ex-XC girl,) Sarah well she's ditched sports for tounge ring, a pack of camel lights, and beer pong glory....so I don't think she does.but she's still cute....) G-ma still in the hospital but the good news is it wasn't a stroke..( release sigh of relief...) but rather she was hypoxic ( layman's terms, years of cigarettes have taken their toll and her blood cells aren't getting enough O2 to her brain. So she can seem a little groggy , tired..un responsive.) Please if you are a smoker and you value your life please quit...ok that was my desperate appeal...but G-ma is starting to improve, no serious damage so once again ...big sigh of relief. My foot still torn up from Sat's "Zen Out " session . so I probably won't run tomorrow night...well maybe I will that's what blister block is for. Well training for IM NZ will be a little bit harder. Early morning swim/run /bike sessions are looking to be the order. My lifeguarding job won' t allow me much time in the pool or on the track after class, but if it's a slow night I could probably cram a couple hundred yards in. ( and hey the pay will help get my but on an air kiwi flight.) So all in all school and a study friendly training plan are starting to develop. Well I've got to get some sleep afterall it's a school night.
R.D.

Zen: the art of long Distance Running.

Well Today was bittersweet on many levels. Yesterday I got in a 25 mile ride, ( didn't do the full distance I wanted and took a few wrong turns but eh whatever.) I did it at a spin lovely, where the hell am I going, watching out for gravel and grooved pavement sort of pace. I actually did but into some grooved pavement once again DOT is on my hitlist. Today started off good, crawled out of bed went to early Mass, got home ate mowed the lawn, got set to go out for a run, when the phone rang. My grandmother ( my mother's mother not the one with Alzheimer's ) has had a stroke. My mother bolted to the hospital to make sure she was alright ( alright being a relative term.) I took my youngest sister to her girl scout function, got home got a call from my pops, told him we'd call him at work if we got any more info. on how the G-ma was doing. I decided to continue with my plan for a long run. My family's been under a lot of stress lately and this healthcare crisis was like launching gasoline on a raging inferno. I decided I needed to get away for a couple of hours and let my thoughts fly ( granted I'm always off doing something anyway), ( so I prepped for a longer run..I decided on a 15-20 miler instead of my usual 10-15 miler, because starting next week begins my pre-half iron, pre-IM New Zealand transition to full IM training taper.) So I took off from my house trusty fuel belt on my hips, and made my way to Rte. 322, then shot past the golf course down the back half on Southington Mountain and then down Marion Rd./Ave. I ran past the cemeteries and I-84 merges to the Plantsville Dunkin Donuts, used the washroom and topped off the water bottles, and took off on the reverse route back to Wolcott. When I got to Southington Mountain, I decided to be cliche and resurrect a commercial form a long since retired local attorney's office and run up the mountain. Let me tell you 1.25 miles at 10% gradient is enough climbing for a month. I ran down Meriden Rd. my feet now starting to blister from a combo of no socks, shoe stiches, and road sand. I went down past the resivior I normally run by on my 7 miler and ran out of water as I passed the police sation. I made the familiar turn on to Woodtick and then Wolf Hill Rd. and then onto Brooks Hill and Hillside. I darted across 69 and up Potoccous ring rd. then on to Lyman and then took the familar turn on to Chesnut. all in all it was somewhere between 18-20 miles and a total time of 3:08.49. on the grand scale it was my first long run since the Country Music Marathon. My legs held up pretty well, I need to remember to use socks for my long runs, and I somehow have the closing scene from Rocky II when the Italian Stallion lays the smack down on Apollo Creed stuck in my head. ( seriously if they play the fight celebration song from any of the Rocky movies when I cross the line in Taupo I'm going to start a psychic friends network.) All the way when I ran I caught flashbacks of the Marathon in Nashville, The going out too fast, the bands playing and giving encouragement, Feeling good for the first 18 miles then falling on my ass for the next 5 before getting a second wind. I kept remebering the mistakes and how on this training run I was trying to avoid them ( accept I didn't bring enough fluids, next time all four bottles are getting a top off at D&D.) I kept imagining the finish line in Taupo, of my goal of trying to finish before sunset, I kept getting images of the future and started to think about crap from work, my grandmother, financial crap...then I brought myself out of it. As I ran I focused on the portion of road I was currently on. I tried to push out any thoughts that could bring me down..future races...family issues...my foot blistering up and blood staining my shoe....it worked for the first 16 miles until I ran out of water, and my heel started to tear up. But for 16 miles I was in running nirvana, before going through the last 3 trying to manage pain and dehydration. So all in all my run ws the best part of the day. I got in some mental clarity, LD training, and Rocky fight montages...for the price of a little dehydration and some blood stains on my old New Balances. ( which hey I need new shoes anyway.) It was worth it.

R.D.