With the way I've been posting, it would be reasonable if someone concluded I was in the final weeks before an Ironman. Reasonable, and wrong. While there is the Spirit of Racine half-Ironman next Sunday, it is the rest of life that has kept me hopping the past few weeks.
But first, about the photo. I am seriously contemplating buying the full size version of this race picture. It was taken at the Trinity sprint race, and is probably the best race picture I've ever seen of myself. I seen to be almost smiling, my form looks decent, and it is free from any "noise" in the background. And for once, the photography company is willing to sell individual pictures for less than $35.
I'm officially in taper for the half-IM, and it couldn't have come at a better time. Between my new role at our church's upcoming (August) Vacation Bible School, volunteering as a leader at a youth camp (next week), and a couple home projects, I've been busy.
Next Saturday, I head to Camp Onaway for a weeklong boys' camp. Given my love of endurance events, I was "volunteered" to run Military Track for the older campers and lead an off-island mountain biking trip. Add to that my role in coordinating the skits, music, and other festivities for a leader run campfire, and I've been busy with preparations. And with the Spirit of Racine race on Sunday, I'll have to leave camp early Saturday and won't get back until mid-afternoon Sunday. A lot of things have to be hammered down before I leave the island.
At church, I am in charge of the "Bible Adventure" segment. We had to build a "city," and I am altering the "out of the box" script just a bit. That requires I somehow build a "time tunnel" that will transport the kids from modern times to ancient Biblical times. Then there's the whole eccentric scientist role to create. But it's for kids. No effort is too small if it helps the kids have a great experience and learn about God.
On the home front, I spent the weekend gathering components for a battery powered back-up sump pump. We had a power outage in the middle of the night Friday. Luckily, B-Boy got scared and woke me up. After getting him back to bed (with a battery powered worklight as a nightlight) and putting Monster Girl in my bed, I checked out the sump. It hadn't overflowed, and I spent the next three hours checking and bailing it every 20 minutes.
We were blessed to have a boy that woke up because the lights went out (or whatever woke him up). I won't rely on that every time, so want to get an emergency system in place. It's one of those "should have done long ago" things that won't get me, again. All that remains at this point is to make the final connection into the discharge pipe and fill and charge the battery.
Who said 10 years of Navy experience and six months learning about submarine electrical systems would never pay off?
And things will likely stay pretty intense until October. While I have yet to sign up, I'm pretty set on the Glacial Trail 50 mile race. Training for that should keep my out of trouble for a few months.
After that? Who knows.
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