Once a source of "Not all you want to know about Texas Adventure Racing," but now just some "leisure" adventure through the eyes of "The K-SPoT"
Thursday, August 28, 2008
What a Difference a Couple of Days Make
A few days ago I was on a high--winning the 12hr race and feeling pretty good about our performance. I mean I was obviously pretty rusty at navving as we started off badly by following all the 24hr teams to THEIR first checkpoint, a checkpoint we didn't have to visit. Even with the ~1hr handicap, we rallied in the following bike section to be 2nd only to Run Amok. But since they were a 2-person team, we were 1st in the 4-coed division. I did have a really good nav day--I just wished I hadn't broken the #1 rule of navigation--never follow anyone.
Fast forward to Monday, I'm laying in the bed, delerious and in pain, just wishing to be in my own bed. From pushing the limits in a 12hr race to being bed-ridden for the next 24+ hours. Nice. It was pretty similar to my previous surgery experience: waking up disoriented and in pain. Thankfully Mo was there to reassure me and take care of my every need. She hates hospitals so it was a definite sacrifice for her. Although she wasn't able to be support crew for our race, she was super-support crew for my post-op. Thankfully, she kept my supply of flavored ice moving--that was the only thing I could fully enjoy since my throat was sore from the intubation.
So I'm slowly getting back to normal, trying to get used to my steri-strip necktie. Thanks for everyone who sent well-wishes--they definitely helped keep me cheery while in the hospital.
I wanted to get this blog out quick before my surgery since I might be out of commision for a short while. So our team of Me, Raymund, Lisa, and Kyle took the 12hr race in 12hrs and 12mins despite a nav blunder by me right out of the gates! This race was especially fruitful for us as HART made a clean sweep with HART Masters (Dave and Monica Ferley, Dave Tucker, and Eric Moore) taking 2nd spot and HART to Handle (Dave Peth, Danielle Trettin, Alex Joseph, and John Landram) finishing up in 3rd. I felt great throughout the race, even with the oppressive Texas heat beating down on us. As soon as I'm back up to blogging strength, I'll let you know how everything went.
Okay, just kidding! I LOVE the olympics! Especially women's beach volleyball...or is it just the uniforms Walsh and May wear...what was I talking about? Anyway, this weekend should be pretty interesting. No Sweat race is this Saturday and my surgery is on Monday. I just had my pre-op this morning and I LOVE how they try to get as much money from you beforehand--what are they implying?!? Anyway, got stuck by another needle, but this time I barely noticed it. I actually saw the magnanimous Dave Boyd last week and he aspirated the lymphatic fluid to relieve some of the pressure while I waited for Monday to come. Such a generous spirit--one of the people that you treasure to have met. Anyway, I just ask to keep me in your prayers.
Training was good this past couple of weeks. I went for a ride on my road bike a couple of times, logging about 30 miles each time. Hit training and got to see a noob almost lose his lunch this past Tuesday--good times, good times. Then I got to do a run around Memorial loop with Whit, Lauren, Mike, and Laura. Planning to hit training tonight and that will be it until race time. We had a slight change in lineup with Rick subbing in Kyle for himself. We should be fine--we will just have to convince Kyle not to go too fast too early...unless he would like to carry my lifeless body for most of the race course.
Finally, this is my dog, Rockne. Actually, Rockne Defies Gravity officially with AKC. Granted, he is a dog so he is bound to have little quirks here and there, but I'm quite perplexed by this one and it is especially frustrating at times. When it rains he doesn't like to go outside because apparently he doesn't want to get his paws wet. WTF?!? This from the dog who LOVES baths and usually can't wait to rush outside to do random laps around our tiny patch of grass (aka, backyard). I can only summize that he hates it when he gets back in and is slipping and sliding all over the wood floors because of his wet paws. So basically I have to take him out by leash and even then he only puts two paws down on the grass, just enough to pee off of the back porch stairs. Hilarious...well, not so hilarious at 6am in the morning. Needless to say, he has a bit more work before auditioning for Greatest American Dog.
I keep forgetting, but I'll put up some MRI's of my neck...you can tell me if they're useful at all. Yes, there is a back-story to this--next time.
This epic photo of us on Lone Mountain by Will Ramos makes it onto another publication! Maybe this will make us look legit. :) I'm heading out right now to buy out the stands!
Well its about time I caught up again. The last couple weeks were pretty good, training-wise...they were exeptional Cus, XBOX 360 and Wii-wise as well, but I digress. I made it to both HART training sesssions a couple of weeks ago, but last week I had skipped both. Tuesday was skipped due to my doctors appointment (more on that later) and Thursday due to an art exhibit at which Weihan was to be the photographer. We didn't make it to the exhibit because Audi decided to lose another ignition coil--she's falling apart. I love Audi, but I think its time for her to move on and "explore other opportunities."
Swimming has been a once a week affair. Since I haven't been going as frequently as before, I've been trying to go for longer sets. That's when I realized my endurance is a bit better than I thought it was...but not by much. I'm not setting any speed records (e.g., the olympians are done with their 100m by the time I make it half way!), but I'm feeling a lot more comfortable going longer distances. I took Rockne on another run. Since it wasn't as hot, we went a little further, about 3 miles. Again, he would plop down as soon as we stopped for a break, but when we got back to the house he was still full of energy--bastard! Apparently he's sandbagging while running with me.
This past Sunday was HART training at Double Lake. It was in preparation for No Sweat, and boy conditions were just right--heat index was over 100 degrees! I trained with my team: Rick, Lisa, and Raymund. We started out with a short orienteering section inside of Double Lake Rec Area and then a hike over to the Ferley's lakehouse. Once we got out of the park and on the bare roads of Coldspring, the tarmac was just blazing! We kept an honest pace and we at the Ferleys in about 2hrs. Next was paddling Lake Livingston to the island and back. This lake is always choppy and yesterday was no different. Of course no one brought a bilge in their boat. It was a pretty good paddle despite taking on some water on the way back into the wind.
Finally, it was on the bike back to Double Lake. Once we got to Lake Lake, we hit the trails. They had added on a few more miles, so I was a bit disoriented at times. Still, the trails were perfect and we did one loop and decided to end training there since it was about 8hrs at that point. Jackie's team had made the smart move of heading to the lake to take a little swim and cool off, so we rode over to join them. So that was pretty much it--we headed back to the Ferleys to pack up and we were outta there--I was sooo hungry! After experiencing that furnace, I'm not looking forward to midday during No Sweat. Hopefully we visit the water holes frequently!
So, for those who don't know yet, I'm planning to have neck surgery...the Monday after No Sweat, nonetheless. Apparently I have some kind of "lymphatic malformation" that is causing lyphatic fluid to build in my neck and I have to get it excised. As you can guess, I'm not too excited about going under the knife, but after draining it a couple times now, it keeps coming back. I've actually been dealing with it since before Primal Quest because I didn't want it to affect the race, but now its just getting huge. On a lighter note, I just got an email from Phil saying that our GoPro video is on YouTube! Okay, so its not so exciting unless you enjoy staring at the back of Wendy's head, but if you guys watch it enough times we can win something from GoPro, so check it out!
A few days ago I was on a high--winning the 12hr race and feeling pretty good about our performance. I mean I was obviously pretty rusty at navving as we started off badly by following all the 24hr teams to THEIR first checkpoint, a checkpoint we didn't have to visit. Even with the ~1hr handicap, we rallied in the following bike section to be 2nd only to Run Amok. But since they were a 2-person team, we were 1st in the 4-coed division. I did have a really good nav day--I just wished I hadn't broken the #1 rule of navigation--never follow anyone. 
Fast forward to Monday, I'm laying in the bed, delerious and in pain, just wishing to be in my own bed. From pushing the limits in a 12hr race to being bed-ridden for the next 24+ hours. Nice. It was pretty similar to my previous surgery experience: waking up disoriented and in pain. Thankfully Mo was there to reassure me and take care of my every need. She hates hospitals so it was a definite sacrifice for her. Although she wasn't able to be support crew for our race, she was super-support crew for my post-op. Thankfully, she kept my supply of flavored ice moving--that was the only thing I could fully enjoy since my throat was sore from the intubation.
