'twas the night before Xmas

And all thru the house.

I am fortunate this year to spend this Christmas married to the love of my life and looking forward to growing old and spending a lifetime of Christmases together.

Merry Christmas everybody!

Run baby run

With the last race of the season on the schedule, Desiree and Kristi have been working hard to go out with a bang. To help with the motivation for Desiree's training, I've been getting up and have been doing 5 AM runs with her. She says that she was more prepared that her last 2 half marathons.

The terrain was set to be unfriendly. The stage- Lake Louisa Park with a constant rolling course for running. I had an easy job of helping out on my bike to lead the way for the lead runner. After bringing him into the finish line crossing at 1:17:43 @ a sub 6min/mile pace, I set out to find Desiree and kristi and cheer them on on course.

Both set PRs. Desiree ended up finishing at 1:54:37 with an 8:45min/mile pace and kristi coming in just a couple mins behing with a 1:56 and change. Desiree's training paid off and she has done 1 half marathon in each of the past 3 months!

I'm so proud of her and she has some well deserved time of rest!

Yay!

early christmas?

what could it be?
Openning the box can only tell. There is a remenance of a saddle, lots of protective bubble wrap...hum..?
If it looks like a bike box, feels light like a bicycle, then maybe it is.

I have a new steed to join the stable:
2010 Colnago CX-1 fully outfitted with SRAM red and DT Swiss rr1.1 wheels with 240 hubs.
The Colnago CX-1 is Colnago's first monocoque frameset. They only have the front triangle as a monocoque as the rear triangle uses their traditional lugged joints. The M10 is built off similar technology as the CX-1 however it is a full monocoque frameset.

I am more of a shimano guy, so I will be outfitting the frameset with Dura Ace 7900 and stripping the SRAM Red components. I'm looking forward to feel the characteristics that Colnago has to offer.

Welcome to the family!
More Pictures.

Lucky's

I woke up and went for a run with Desiree. Then I plan to put my new rubber to the test! Lucky's it is. Not get lucky, but Lucky's infamous swim off his dock. I finally got to use my new wetsuit. The Hurricane Cat 5 sleeveless worked like a charm.
Lucky's house is gorgeous. He has an in-door pool and his outdoor screened-in oasis- regular pool, a 1-lane lap pool, a hot tub, and a bridge crossing. Then there is the 'wall of fame.' This is the back exterior wall and ceiling of his house. After I finished a lap, I got to do the honors of signing my name as well and picking up some shwag.
I can now say that I have entered the food chain of Lucky's Lake and am a survivor!

The swim- Volker is the one who invited me to experience Lucky's as he is a member of the 100K club. We met and headed out to the dock and I was debriefed on the etiquettes of the swim. I pulled on my wetsuit, cap and goggles and off we went. The initial rush submerging yourself under cold water is invigorating. I settled in and stayed to the left of the bouyes. 500m across and I was still alive. I had to take a few breast strokes to give my shoulders a break and reorient myself. We reached the opposite side, took a little break, and off we went to back back across. Another 500m. I felt this time I was a little more relaxed, doing a little better job siting and keeping a somewhat straight course to Lucky's dock. That was it for me, 1 lap out and back. This was the furthest distance I have swam non-stop and surprisingly my shoulders held up. In a pool, you get to rest and push off the wall. Also, this was only the 2nd open-water swim I have ever done.
The wetsuit- The fit was great. I am wearing a size medium and am on the lower limit per TYR's sizing chart. M- 5'8" - 6'1", 150-188 lbs. I can't imagine somebody on the upper limits fitting into this suit! Since this was the second time only ever wearing a wetsuit, I'm pretty commenting as if it were my first time. I felt that I could move great in the suit and it was amazing how my legs stayed up. I found out that I am a chest and stomach breather and having a wetsuit on is something that I'll have to get used to as a felt alittle restricted in the chest area. Since is was a sleeveless, I obviously didn't feel any restriction in the shoulder region. The suit was very easy to put on and take off.
I'm looking forward to more time getting the suit stretched out and spending more time in H-2-O.

More Pictures- Click
More detail of Lucky's

what can it be?!

It
It finally came! I got my new wetsuit today.
Here in Florida, The water temperature doesn't get extremely cold in the open water. Therefore, I opted for a sleeveless wetsuit. The result is TYR's Cat 5. This thing looks awesome. Thanks for Koren from TYR for helping out. I can't wait to start training in the open water and to see how this suit feels.
Details of the wetsuit: TYR Hurricane Cat 5 Wetsuit

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree...

...How lovely are your branches.
Even if they are not real, they still look nice. This will be the 3rd Chirstmas we spend together and using this tree. However, obviously the 1st Christmas married. We put up our tree on black Friday evening. I worked during the day and we did pizza night for dinner. Then slowly up with the tree and decorations. We ended up putting in it in the same spot as last year as it keeps the room open. We're excited and presents are slow filling in the bottom.
Just about 1 more month!

Yalaha Bakery

Today I joined Jose, Mike and Eric for a ride to Yalaha Bakery- a German Bakery tucked away in rural central Florida. We took the long way to head there from Minneola taking Cherry lake to 19 > Bible Camp to Villa City > Simon Brown to 33 and then to 48 to Yalaha. We stopped for some German bread and a little relaxation before heading back.

Link: http://www.yalahabakery.com/

19 south to 455 and then up the wall to Ferndale and Montverde to home. Crazy ride as we had head wind for abour 70% of the time. Thats the weird thing about the wind here. You right the head wind and hope that when you end up headin the opposite direction, you'll get tailwind. However, don't count your chickens before they hatch as we have circular winds here.

This was a good ride for me as I spent about 50% of the time at the front. My training has changed since my last race. My priorities have switched from just raod races to training for a 1/2 ironman triathlon. So I have now added running and swimming and back in the gym to my training. The date has been set for April 15, 2011.

Good luck! lol.

Happy gobble gobble day!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We started the day off early, Desiree and I ran six miles starting at 5:40. Afterwards I made breakfast for her- chocolate chip waffles. She had to get ready for work, a 4 hour shift in the hospital. I ended up going for a ~30mile ride with Leah, Kara, and Jose. A nice ride on a clear blue sky day with temps at 60 deg. Perfect day for a ride.

After Desiree got home for work, we got ready to head to mom and Mike's house for thanksgiving dinner. Chuckie and Corinna, Rick and Aunt Carla, and Aunt Doreen all were present for an intimate family meal.

Chuckie and I were challenged to a game of horse shoes from Rick and Mike. Needless to say, the jr varsity team got beat twice by the seasoned veterans 21-4, 21-7.

Happy thanksgiving as I am blessed to be married to the love of my life, for all the people in my life, and for the love and support of family and friends. Thank you God for the many blessings that I have!

sneak peek

We received a sneak peek of our wedding picture from Pilster Photography. What an awesome job James and Aldrin did capturing the beautiful day. And when its all sail and done, all we have are the memories and the pictures and videos that have captured those moments.

Additional pictures can be found here: click

Awesome race

Yesterday Desiree and Anna raced the Women's Health Half Marathon in St. Pete.  We stayed at my dad's place Saturday night.  Desiree and I had our usual pre race meal- Publix dough homemade pizzas.  We woke up early in the AM Sunday to head out the door by 06:00.  We parked a couple blocks away from the port-a-jons which was real close to the start/finish line.  After we all did a pre-race bowel unload, i joined Desiree and Anna for a warmup.  I ended up breaking off and doing a 5K on my own at a 7:30 pace!  I guess some of my training is paying off.
The start of their race was 07:00 and they were off.  I changed into my cycling kit and unloaded my bike that we brought down and I joined a small group to do the 07:00 ride from USF St. Pete campus.  An hour easy ride with an old familiar route before heading back to the race area to find out where Desiree and Anna were on the course.  The time was now about 08:25 and I knew Anna should be finishing up soon so I waited right before the finish line.  Anna ended up finishing sub 1hour 30mins at about a 06:50min/mile pace.
I back tracked the course to find where Desiree was.  I ended up waiting around a turn just before mile 12 and was looking for blue shirt/ green shorts runner - Desiree.  Ends up she turns the corner without me noticing and actually calls out my name.  I followed her on my bike for a couple hundred feet before heading back to the car to change and drop my bike off to catch up with her at the finish line.  As I'm heading back to the car, I pass Anna and she backs track towards Desiree and turned out encouraging her to push it to the finish.  I could find Desiree after I got back to the finish line but ended up finding then in the finish zone.  It turned out Anna was able to light a fire under Desiree's but and she finished with a time of 1:59:58.  Just squeezing in 2 seconds under 2 hours with a pace of 09:10.  She ended up only finishing 1 1/2 min slower than her Disney Half Marathon over a month ago.  I was so proud of her as she didn't have the most ideal training for this race.  little detail like a wedding and honeymoon got in the way!
Desiree's next event- Lake Louisa 1/2 marathon on Dec 17. 

training tools- Garmin Forerunner 310XT

Thanks to my brother, Darcey and Desiree for my birthday gift.  I received a Garmin Forerunner 310XT GPS multisport watch.  This thing is awesome.  I have been using it to track my workouts including running and cycling.  It has all the vitals that I need to make sure training is going well and letting me track the data. 

In running mode, I have an automatic lap set every mile and it tracks pace, distance, total time and HR.

In cycling mode, I have it track speed, power, HR, distance, elevation, and gradient.

Since I received it before going on our honeymoon, it was a helpful companion along the trip.  I was able to track our route around Costa Rica.  I even was able to get a signal for a couple satellites while on the plane.  I was fun to see the steep gradients in Costa Rica while we were hiking or ATVing. 

Some intense gradients when walking or hiking:

 The GPS map of our water rafting adventure.

On the plane in the air (463 mph):

This thing is awesome!

the sweat shop AKA the Sewing Studio

Last weekend we finally made it out to Ikea to by some shelves to get Desiree's domain set up.  We ended up buying a 2x2 shelf that would compliment the 2x4 that we got from Ikea a while ago.  We set the glass as her work surface, and the finish product is a nice place for her projects.

Sweat shop or Sewing Studio.... all depends on what she's making.

Special surprise

Mary with Key Moments Productions was able to put together a quick video edit for us:


27 Miracles - Groom's Surprise from Key Moment Films on Vimeo.

Day 7- ultimo Dias- to town, farmer's market, siesta, beach and dinner!

  

Without fail, 05:30 wake up however we were threatened with a rainy start to the day. Therefore breakfast was inside again in Le Jacques Cousteau restaurant. We set to plan a trip to Quepos and luckily nobody else was looking  to ride the 09:00 hotel shuttle and Wilmar agreed to take us into town. We were told that there was a farmer's market and it was just as described. Similar to ours in the states, local farmers selling their fresh produce and some crafts. We got a fresh cold coconut and drank the juice as Desiree finished it off by eating the coconut. Some really great prices and exotic fruits.

We headed to the local grocery store, same as last time, to pick a few items up and stopped at the same cafe where for Desiree to pick up some pan con queso. I grabbed some arroz con pollo for lunch and we headed back to Manuel Antonio via public bus. Back to the hotel for siesta and then walking down the the playa for sun and relaxing. While relaxing we saw a couple guys looked as though they were filming a rap video. While we were walking back, a truck almost past us before I stuck my hand out with the thumb up and we hitch a ride up the steep climb to the road. All we had left waste walk about 500m to the hotel.

Back to the hotel to clean up and have out last dinner back at Kapi Kapi where we loved. If we have decided to eat at the same place twice, it's bc everything else was really bad, or it was really that good. Fortunately for us, the latter. What a beautiful restaurant. Also how crazy it is to be the only ones again.   In a couple weeks, this would never be the case where you would be solo at any restaurant in Manuel Antonio during season.  We started with the Thai chicken lettuce wraps and split the mahi mahi with jasmine rice and stir fried vegetables. The dinner culminated with a chocolate souffle with ice cream. What a great meal to finish our last night in Costa Rica. The weather held up for us to have our last time waking home. Bitter sweet the night was as we have had an amazing time with the beauty of the last, exquisite food, and wonderful people.

Buenos Noches.  Pura Vida!

Click for pics!

Day 6- breakfast company, the beach, siesta, fooood

The rain stopped sometime in the middle of the night as last night was intense win strong rain and wind and thunder. Desiree went out to walk/run the crazy steep streets before breakfast while I remained in bed. We went down to breakfast at 07:00 and we joined by a titi monkey. We could hear him call up his buddy as 1 soon became 2. The 2 entertained us while we ate. They were not scared at all and actually played to the camera. Who needs to go down to Le Parque as these were the closest ones yet.

After breakfast we relaxed before taking the 09:00 hotel shuttle down to the beach and spent time relaxing. We rented a beach umbrella and 2 chairs and a surf board for only $20 for half the day. Not too bad. I attempted my feets on the boards however the jostelling of the water and board was a little too much for my shoulder as it is still trying to scar and heal. Desiree however was more successful and was able to get some air time. We grabbed some lunch at a re restaurant that was on the second floor overlooking the beach before catching the hotel shuttle back for a siesta.

We sry out for dinner at 17:00 but met a couple staying at the hotel who was also celebrating their honeymoon and was married in California on the 29th. They ended up going to Salsipuedes- the first restaurant we ate out at while we headed to Karolas, a restaurant of Los Altos beach resort. Yet again we were VIPs as we were the only ones eating at the restaurant. Very nice and upscale.  It was all open and you could even see bats flying thru.  We wanted to try something different and ordered drink for happy hour 2-4-1. I got a mango daiquiri and Desiree a piña colada. For dinner I had a carribean sea bass dish with a sweet curry sauce and Desiree had the 'casado' lunch dish with mahi mahi filet. Muy buenos!  Yet again we had no room for a dessert. His ended up being the latest night we were out as we asked out server to call a taxi bc of the rain or else we would have walked home. We got in at 19:14 with a 5 minute drive rather than a 15 minute walk. Late night

Pura Vida!

More Pictures just click!