"My Brother Terry"

Last year we visited my brother's house for a day, with Colby in tow. He was so impressed with Terry's chickens and Terry never forgot it. This year when he found that he had a few to spare he thought of Colby and as he so often does with all those around him, he donated both the chickens and his time. Today Terry and his wonderful wife Karen made the 2 hour drive to deliver them. I'm very proud of, and very grateful to be able to call this man "brother"



We got 4 different varieties of hens and also one rooster. They are Buff Orpingtons, Rhode Island Rocks, Barred Plymouths, and Ameracaunas....I think...and the rooster is also a Buff Orpington. Aren't they pretty?



Today I swam in the lake for about 40 minutes and then spent the rest of the day more wisely....with Terry and Karen. One last tough workout tomorrow!

I wish to dedicate day 324 to the memory of Bob Russell, a cancer victim and the composer of the song, "He ain't heavy, he's my brother"

Let me be more like Terry.

"Let me be a little kinder, Let me be a little blinder
To the faults about me. Let me praise a little more,
Let me be, when I am weary; Just a little bit more cheery,
Let me serve a little better Those that I am striving for.
Let me be a little braver When temptation bids me waver,
Let me strive a little harder To be all that I should be;
Let me be a little meeker to the brother that is weaker;
Let me think more of my neighbor and a little less of me.”---Anon

“I sought my soul, but my soul I could not see. I sought my God, but my God eluded me. I sought my brother and I found all three."--- Anon

love
peter

"Education?"

Today on my bike ride I got thinking about my grandson and what a great summer he seems to be having, and it occured to me that it's unfortunate that he has to go back to school in september. Why? Well because like most every other kid there he's gonna spend about 75% of his time either daydreaming or bored out of his tree! In 12 years of elementary and secondary school I learned to read and write english, learned some basic math and a little bit of french. Everything else I know I learned somewhere else, some other time.

So here's my solution to our almost useless public education system

Step one...retrain half of the teachers to do something else, since only half of them have the aptitude in the first place. Step two...pay the other half twice as much and double the performance standards. Step three...cut the class sizes in four. Step four...have kids spend 2 hours a days in school (all year round) and the rest of the time just messing around with their grampas. I guarantee results!

You know what the problem with my solution is don't you? Us? Society. We need the schools and the teachers to babysit our kids for 7-8 hours a day. As parents we don't really want them hanging around with us all day and there's not enough grampas to go around. But I'm gonna continue to try hard to do my part. Hopefully my little bit of teaching will help offset the pain of their "formal" education.

On the training front it was a pretty quiet day. My legs felt like lead from yesterdays run, but it's the good kind of fatigue that comes from knowing you had a great workout. I did as planned today...40km bike followed by a 4.5 km run. Like I said I was tired but at peace with it.

And I think we're ready for the chickens.

Speaking of education, today I learned a new meaning for the expression, "playing chicken". To Kylie it literally means pretending you're a chicken, sound effects and all. What a joy!

I wish to dedicate day to Mr Ross Kirby, in who's employ I spent my first summer away from home.

"It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education."---Albert Einstein

"Boredom will always remain the greatest enemy of school disciplines. If we remember that children are bored, not only when they don't happen to be interested in the subject or when the teacher doesn't make it interesting, but also when certain working conditions are out of focus with their basic needs, then we can realize what a great contributor to discipline problems boredom really is. Research has shown that boredom is closely related to frustration and that the effect of too much frustration is invariably irritability, withdrawal, rebellious opposition or aggressive rejection of the whole show."---Fritz Redl

love

peter

"Fear"

Colby's feeling a little "cooped" up but not near as much as he gonna when he realizes that the whole chicken thing is a story concocted by his parents to disguise the fact that this little house is really being built for him! Wait til they put him in for the first time and throw the key into the corn field. Just kidding. If he was always locked up we would never to able to experience "uncooped" moments like this one that Claudette captured tonite....my new favorite Colby pic!



Besides, even if they did lock him up Colby is too innocent to know fear. And isn't that the way it should be.

I really felt today like I'm making progress with my own fears as relates to Ironman. Shoving them out there on the periphery where they belong. What value is their in the emotion of fear? Perhaps a little bit on the edges is not bad just to keep you motivated but that's it. But because it's an emotion it takes training (pun intended) to learn to manage it. In my case there's no question that the satisfying workouts I've had recently are what's getting me into a better place. Most recently Saturdays long bike and then again today's run. You may recall that I was very happy with my long run last week, and that I even shared my progressive improvement as the run went on. Today I completed the exact same run (4 blocks) and again I wish to show you my times., and to save you looking back to last wednesday I give you both.

Last week/This week
41:15/40:47
39:58/ 39:29
38:57/ 37:15
37:21/ 34:25

Holy Cow! While I don't pretend that this is any kind of fast running compared to the world, it is pretty fast compared to me a year ago. And as I have probably mentioned about a million times by now, it's about fitness and endurance not about speed. Today I'm not very afraid. I know I'll still fall back at times over the next 3 1/2 weeks but just for today I'm gonna relish the feeling....I am invincible!

I have to tell you about a moment I had this evening which was a bit of an epiphany...one in which I took my own advice, or rather the advice of C S Lewis from last fridays post. Here was the situation. I was working very hard on my henhouse, trying to hurry in an effort to get to a certain point when my phone rang. It was Claudette, asking if I could bring her camera to the ball diamond because Colby was catching tonite. What immediately went through my head was, "man, I'm busy here!" followed immediately by a rememberance of the quote from Lewis, and I give it to you again in it's entirety.

“The great thing is, if one can, to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions in one's "own" or "real" life. The truth is, of course, that what one regards as interruptions are precisely one's life."---C.S. Lewis

It was an amazing moment for me. How could I possibly consider the opportunity to go see Colby play backcatcher, all the while doing a favour for my best friend as an interruption in my life???? It was with pleasure and anticipation that I grabbed the camera and Kylie, and headed out. Rather than resentment I felt priviliged. Too cool eh?

I still got everything done that I wanted to.

I promised that you would get further detail on my letter of yesterday but Im gonna beg your indulgence to leave that for another day. What with running, and chicken cooping, and playing with my grandchildern I'm tired and ready for bed. Tired but gratified.

Here's a funny thought. More than once I have almost ended a work e-mail with "love peter". Must be careful....or than again, maybe who cares?

In wish to dedicate day 322 to my high school english teacher Mrs Reinhardt who taught me not be afraid to read, and who also treated me with dignity....even when I stole her word study book!

“Many of us crucify ourselves between two thieves - regret for the past and fear of the future."---Fulton Oursler

“He who is not everyday conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life."---Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Fear has a large shadow, but he himself is small."---Ruth Gendler

love
peter

"I Got Mail"

Sometime, maybe tomorrow I'm going to try to tell you in more detail how it impacted me. Right now I'm still digesting it. For now I just want to tell you how to make someone feel very, very special. Write them a letter! Not an e-mail but a letter. You can even type it if you want, but put it in an envelope with a stamp and their name on the front. There is no gift you can think of that will mean more.

I had a tough training decision to make this morning. I had limited time since I had a dentist appointment and so I had to choose between eating and swimming. Perhpas I rationalized it but the eating won! So that's 2 swim workouts in a row I've talked myself out of. Should I worry? I think not. After the dentist I got to the track and did a nice spirited workout and that was it for today. Tomorrow will be my last long run as I start my taper immediately after my last long bike on saturday.

Then I moved on to my other full time job and actually got some things done...even if you can't see it. I finished the roof, put the window and chicken access holes in, and insulated and finished most of the inside walls.

I think Colby is seriously thinking of moving in here permanently



We debated over the size of the chicken door and in the end realized it should be ok because this "turkey" fits.



Still it seems small and so I asked Colby if he thought a chicken could duck, which earned me a shrug of the shoulders. So then I asked him if he thought a duck could chicken, which earned me a "you're an idiot look"!

I wish to dedicate day 321 to Nathan, the life guard at the pool, because after watching me for a while he told me I had nothing to worry about.

"To send a letter is a good way to go somewhere without moving anything but your heart."---Phyllis Theroux

"And none will hear the postman's knock without a quickening of the heart. For who can bear to feel himself forgotten?"---W.H. Auden

love
peter

"Four Walls and a Roof Over Your Head"

And a place to plant potatoes....or corn I suppose?

What more could anyone ask out of life.

Well maybe a little help now and then.

The thing I don't understand is how with all this help things seem to take twice as long??

Oh well, who cares. This is the kind of help I like. They don't try to tell me how to do stuff! And I'm pretty sure we created a memory today. I'm looking forward to friday when Terry will be creating the memories....he's delivering the chickens, and the rooster! Cock-a-doodle-do!

Today was bike ride day. I'm still a little tired from Saturday but overall feeling good. I went 65 kilometres at 30kms/hr. Not too bad especially since the fickle winds played tricks on me. You just can't trust mother nature. My toe didn't really hurt today, but it still tingles and feels numb. I don't know what that's about, but I don't like it.

I suppose it shouldn't come as a surprise, but speaking of memories, spending several hours on your bike can lead to some reminiscing. Today for some reason I flashed back to the first long bike ride I ever made. I must have been 16 or 17 and my friend and I rode from the farm all the way to his home in Burlington. It had to be over 80 kms and I remember it as a vast undertaking. I'm sure it took us the better part of a day on our Canadian Tire 10 speeds. I especially remember ridng down Clappison Hill going almost as fast as the cars. Anyone who knows that hill will believe that story. It drops almost 100 metres over 1 km. The next day I must have rode the hill again, except this time going up, but for some reason I don't recall it at all.....maybe I walked up it?

It's nice to have good memories like this, the trick is not to let it get to you when you realize that it was 36 years ago!!! Time never stops eh? Another 36 years fron now I'm pretty sure I'll be dead, or at the very least unable to ride 80 kms. Better enjoy today eh? And I can't rightly think of a reason not to. After all I have a roof over my head, and a place to plant potatoes.

I wish to dedicate day 320 to Rodney Shantz, my friend of 36 years ago who took that ride with me.

"Whenever I think of the past, it brings back so many memories."---Steven Wright

Long ago, it must be, I have a photograph
Preserve your memories, they're all that's left you"---Paul Simon

love

peter

"Looks Like an Outhouse!"

And it could easy sit yourself and at least 5 friends!



And one on the roof!

No real training today. I went for a little jog early this evening but even that seemed like work.

More importantly I am glad to say that I'm all done using that old lumber. It took me about 5 hours to put that roof on. Looks nice though eh?

I wish to dedicate day 319 to my old friend Roger Lamoureux. A crazy guy, but a man who would have shared his outhouse.

“A true friend should be like a privy, open in necessity."---Anon

love
peter

"Jesus Said"

"I Will Come Again"

Are You Ready?

I passed those words on a bill board 4 times today. I wonder what it means? It sounds like some kind of a threat doesn't it? As if Jesus is coming back to wreak some kind of vengeance on anyone who's pissed him off! I don't buy it however. The only Jesus that I could believe in would be the kind of guy that would come back to give a helping hand...the kind of guy who might help you get through a tough training day. Maybe favorable winds or something. Alas, my Jesus didn't show up today and I had to do my workout by myself.

Besides, maybe Jesus just wants to know if I'm ready? Yes me. Maybe he wants to know if I'm ready for my Ironman? What would I tell him? Honestly? I would say "I think so". But thinking is not knowing is it?

Regardless, my attitude from here on is is "BRING IT ON!" Bring on the water, bring on the hills, bring on the heat (38 deg in Penticton today) and bring on the whole freakin world. One thing I'm sure of is that I have the guts, the mental strength, the intestinal fortitude to do this. If I've trained hard enough and if I'm very, very smart on race day then my odds of success are good....and if not.... "Lord help me Jesus"

So on to my workout report. There were a few complications the least of which occured before I even got out of the driveway. I was carrying a plastic bag full of water bottles in one hand and a bag of bananas in the other (to put in the mailbox) when the bananas somehow got wrapped in the spokes of my front wheel! What a mess that was! So back to the house for more bananas and to fix my computer sensor which got turned around backwards by the bananas. The next complication was at about 40 kms. Thank goodness there was a corn field nearby and I had a bit of paper towel that I used to wrap my phone. The one drawback to this cool triathlon suit is getting in and out of it quickly...it's just not possible. I had the same problem again at 100 kms but fortunately that was right near home. I'm pretty sure that the whole problem was caused by the Kraft dinner I had at 9:30 last night. I guess they call it "crap" dinner for a reason eh?
The last complication I don't quite understand and it was stressful. For the last 3 hours the big toe on my left foot just throbbed. It's the toe that I dropped my pump on some weeks ago, but I thought it was all better. It was bad enough that I considered stopping and pulling my shoe off, and if I hadn't already spent so much time in the corn field I would have done so. It felt much better on my run but remains sore now. I hope it feels better tomorrow.

Anyway, other than those few problems I had quite a good day. Two hundred kilometres in 6:36 for an average speed of over 30 kms/hr. (that's traveeling time) And after a quick transition, since I was trying to simulate race day, I had a very good 10 km run in a time of 48:48. I still can't call it easy, but other than the tedium and the mental battle of such a long workout, I was never in any trouble. That, despite a warm day, high humidity and steady winds.

Music on such long workouts really helps and today I found a new favorite riding song. Perhaps you know Queens, Fat Bottomed Girls? I remember thinking that my all time favorite driving song is Golden Earrings 'Radar Love', and now how cool to have a favorite riding song as well. Of course it's the beat that inspired me, even though I kind of like the lyrics as well, but what's really neat and which I had forgotten is that there's a line in the song that says "get on your bikes and ride". Too much!

For obvious reasons no chicken house update today. Other than to tell you that I've changed the plans a little again. Windows were out because I couldn't find something cheap to fit, but now they're back in....I'll just build my own.

I wish to dedicate day 318 to the memory of Freddie Mercury.

"I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride it where I like"---Freddie Mercury

"Why me, Lord?
What have I ever done
to deserve even one
Of the pleasures I've known"---Kris Kristofferson

love
peter