49 days and $120 to go!

I actually took a bit of a vacation this week from the training. After all, I was on vacation.

Monday, Heather and I took the kayaks to the south inlet and paddled to an island about 1 mile from the shore. On the way back, we noticed that the skies were darkening quickly and we saw flashes of lightning. We started paddling harder when we noticed about 3 or 4 dolphin had joined us. They are magnificent creatures! They shadowed us for about 10 minutes, once startling me when one of them exhaled loudly through his blow hole right behind me. I almost fell out of the kayak! What an amazing experience. We made it back to shore before the dark clouds closed in.

Tuesday, I got serious (for one day) and ran around the island once more. It was a good run and I felt strong when I finished.

The rest of the week involved two more trips to the south inlet with the kayaks, numerous kayak excursions up and down the beach with Heather, and a 200-300 yard swim between two break-waters with my brother and sister - an annual ritual of ours. Saturday we drove straight home, leaving Edisto at around 7 AM and arriving back home to Mentor at around 9 PM.

This morning I went for a 6 mile run. Now starts the really serious training for the Nation's Triathlon in September. I can't wait!

56 days and $220 to go!

My first week of training on vacation went very well. On monday I ran around Edisto Island from our cottage to the south inlet, out on the beach for about a half mile, then back to the road, down Jungle Road and back up Palmetto to the cottage again. It took about an hour and a quarter, a distance of about 7-8 miles. I finished out the day's training with a one hour bike ride through the state park. Check out the cool pictures of my route.

On tuesday, I did a shortened "brick" workout riding for a half hour, then jumping off the bike for a quick half hour run. Wednesday, I hopped back on my bike for a one hour ride through the park again. Gee, I love that route!

I thought Thursday would be a good day attempt another long run. I was wrong. The humidity was up and there was no wind. So, even at 6:30 AM it was tough going. Half way through the run, I got a little worried about dehydration, so I stole a drink from the garden hose of a house I was passing. Now, Edisto water is so bad tasting that everyone who vacations here gets their water in bottles from the local firehouse, so this is decision I made out of pure desperation. Anyway, I finished the run and immediately jumped into the pool.

Friday, I went for any easy ride with my brother, sister, and my daughter, Heather. Saturday, Heather and I went kayaking up and down the beach. To finish out the week, I decided that Sunday morning would be a good time to try another long run around the island. The humidity was down and there was a little bit of a breeze. The run went well.

63 days and $950 to go!

Got in some good running on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday this week. Also, raised another $300 for the cause! I started out with about a 3 mile run on Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursday I decided to push it a little and managed about 7 miles on each day. But, I was particularly encouraged by my run on Thursday. After a 1 mile relatively easy warm up, I felt strong through the rest of the run. Maybe my "aerobic base" is really beginning to build.

My training for the rest of the week was sporidic at best since we left home on Friday morning to drive to our vacation on the South Carolina coast. I am sitting under the deck of our rented beach house at Edisto Island composing this. It is the middle of a beautiful day at the beach but I am not ready for all that sun just yet.

On friday, we drove to Hendersonville, North Carolina, to stay the night and finish our drive to Edisto on the following day. My brother and I rode our bicycles into "Historic Downtown Hendersonville" on Saturday morning. It was a beautiful place and a nice ride that took about 1 hour. After breakfast in the hotel, we decided to check out one of the local sights before heading to the beach. An easy half hour drive took us to Chimney Rock Park where a stark pillar of rock (see the first picture) offers an amazing view of the surrounding countryside including Lake Lure.

I ascended several flights of steps to get to the top of that rocky perch and be greeted by a stunning vista of the valley and the lake below (the second picture). Several more flights took my brother, sister, and I ever higher so that we could actually look down on Chimmney Rock and its flock of eager tourists (the third picture). We left the park only reluctantly, but another four and a half hours brought us safely to our vacation destination at Edisto Beach. The perfect place to train for a triathlon! (the final picture)

70 days and $1250 to go!

Another good week of training, but the fund-raising has slowed considerably. I'm guessing that with the current economic situation, it is harder for people to budget for charity. This makes me all the more grateful for the support of those of you who have already given to this cause. Thanks so much! If you have any friends or family who are able to support a worthy cause, please pass on the following website to them and ask them to consider a contribution. Thanks.

http://pages.teamintraining.org/noh/nattri09/larata

As I said, the training this has been good. After resting Sunday and Monday to recover from my 100 mile ride with my brother I ran Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday while I was in Florida on business. Tuesday's run was an easy 3 miler to start off the week. I decided to go a little farther on Wednesday and was able to cover about 6 miles. That is close to the distance of the run for the Olympic course that I will be doing in Washington, D.C. Thursday I "dialed it back" but just a little, covering 5 miles.

Friday was a rest day and a travel day since I flew back home on that day. Since it has been some time since I have run a long distance, I went for a long run on Saturday, covering about 8.5 miles. I don't want to jinx myself by saying this, but so far my legs aren't cramping up on the longer runs. That's good news! Anyway, I finished the week with a long bike ride today covering a little over 30 miles. Feeling good and ready for the next week's adventures.