Re-Vision

Any triathlete with family knows. . . your journey would not be possible without significant support.

The Weez was absolutely INCREDIBLE this year. He hung with kids during long bikes and runs without complaint. He endured a wife that stumbled around in pre-dawn hours and passed out cold around 9:00 each night. He remained stoic in the face of many pre-race freak-outs or post-bad-workout meltdowns. He was my rock.

And he has informed me that in 2007? He would like to tri.

I wish I was a better person than I am, and that I immediately rejoiced at this news in the appropriate manner. But. . . I am a selfish, selfish Veeg. So, instead, I immediately started calculating what that would mean to my chances of doing Spirit of Racine HIM in July. And the followed that up with the chance of a large business opportunity taking over the Weez's training time. . . which would have come out of "MY" training time.

Like I said. . . selfish, selfish Veeg.

But.

As I've learned, progress is always possible. And given enough time, Better Veeg was able to triumph over my inner four-year-old. And I realized that a 70.3-mile race? Is not going to suddenly disappear 365 days from now. And how much better will it be to finish it, knowing that I have a partner who truly GETS it?

So, my schedule is undergoing some revision. And some re-vision. It looks like I won't be going longer. . . which means I'd really like to go BETTER. I'm thinking sub-2:50 Oly. I'm thinking BIG improvements on my bike and swim splits. I'm thinking training like I just got religion.

And I'm thinking about going through it all with my very best friend.

Yeah. The second draft is always better for a reason.

The Rotten Snugglemuffins wish you. . . .

That's My Girl

Small Child waaaaaaaaants a Barbie for Christmas. Very much. A whole lot.

The Weez and I are slightly less enthusiastic. In fact, our house rule is that Small Child is not allowed Barbies until she is five.

She asked Santa for a Barbie for Christmas. We pointed out, gently, that Santa is aware that the rule in our house is "no Barbies 'til you're five." Which sparked a discussion on an epic scale about why Barbie is GOOD! And Barbie would make the Small Child so HAPPY! And how all of the other kids have Barbies including D'Marr who is a boy and doesn't even LIKE Barbies but he has one and why are we so meeeeeeen?

The Weez calmly explained that we think Small Child is a very smart and talented and adventurous and energetic young lady. And we want her to think about and care about LOTS of different things. And that Barbie only really cares about and thinks about clothes and jewelry.

Small Child immediately rebutted: "DAAAAADDDY! Barbie doesn't just care about clothes and jewelry. She also cares about SHOES!"

Indeed.

Race Report: Jingle Bell Run 5K

Prelim results: 27:01, 8:42/mile

Pretty, pretty day. Sunny, 20-ish, slight wind out of the southwest. Slippery trail in miles 2 and 3, which was unfortunate both because it kept my pace out of where I wanted it to be, and because the area we were running in was SO beautiful, but I couldn't really appreciate it, since I needed to keep my eyes on the ground at pretty much all times.

Finished feeling great, though, and took :16/mile off of my time from last year, with having pretty much sat on my ass throughout November, in terms of training.

This was the race that started it all for me last year. I beat my Portly Training Partner, and he challenged me to a rematch at Spirit of Racine sprint tri. I looked back at that post from last December, and looked at my "proposed" race schedule for 2006. I realized that I did SO MUCH more than I had planned on, and definitely more than I thought I was capable of at the time.

Which makes me wonder. . . what will I be capable of in 2007?

Question: Who has better internet friends than me?

Answer: Absolutely nobody.

 

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Triathlon? Whatevah.

The holiday season is the ultimate in multi-tasking endurance.

I mean, check out this workout schedule:

* Wrangling two hyperactive kiddos into holiday garb and posing them to attempt to take holiday-card photos: Level 2. 50 minutes.

* Speed-assembling of Christmas tree, with going-to-store-for-more-lights intervals: Level 3. 90 minutes.

* Marathon baking session of fudge, sugar cookies, pumpkin breads for gifts: Level 2. 180 minutes.

* Resisting the fudge, sugar cookies, pumpkin breads, and other assorted goodies: Level 1. Infinity minutes.

* Wracking brain for appropriate-yet-awesome employee gifts: Level 1. Intervals, totalling 120 minutes.

* Stretching the budget to accomodate the Really Cool gift for the kiddos: Level 1. Do complete set.

* Sprinting through the mall to get to just one more store before closing: Level 4. Until exhaustion.

* Strengthening in appreciation for friends, family, and my many, many blessings: Level 10. Repeat annually.

Fear

Why am I so afraid to get back into the pool? I know it's just a big mental hurdle to overcome, and then it will be okay.

But right now. . . the hurdle is still firmly in place.

First comes love, then comes marriage. . . .

Or, in my case, first comes a plan, then comes an answer.

Apparently, I should've published my race schedule four weeks ago. I posted my race schedule on Wednesday. On Friday, we finally heard an answer from The Potential Big Client.

The answer was, "uh, no. Thanks for playing!"

Apparently, PBC had planned all along to go with a "consolidated approach" to their IT needs. Which means, "going with one monolithic company that will fail to meet their technical and specific goals across all of their functional areas, instead of just piecemeal." But, PBC had wanted our hat in the ring to force hands and bring down costs.

As one of our illustrious partners put it, "I feel dirty. Can I pull my pants back up now?"

There was about a 90-minute period Friday night where I ranted a lot, and perhaps speculated very loudly on the fact that the decision-makers of the PBC were ill-educated folk who enjoyed partaking of sweet, sweet porcine passion. (See how proper? I can walk with a book on my head, too, y'all.)

And now. . . well, there's not a whole lot of time to be wasted on being pissed. Our company has a whole bunch of folks rolling off of a big client at the end of the month. And nowhere to go with them.

What I need is some laser-like focus, some ingenuity, and some elbow grease.

And if you're in the southeastern Wisconsin area and know of companies that could use IT people that really want to HELP their clients' businesses and care more about growing your company and helping you be more efficient rather than just selling you the biggest software package? Please email me through my profile.

I'm only kind of kidding.