Powerstroke clinic white out

We had ten athletes signed up for the 2-day clinic this weekend, but the weather had much different ideas about what we would be able to do. The pool was going out of their way to allow us to use the facility despite closing to the public, however slowly but surely our attendees opted out in order to avoid a questionable drive.

If possible we will have a makeup date soon, if not then the next planned clinic is a one-day clinic on Saturday, April 3.

I have also started finalizing open water clinic dates and sites, and will let you know when and where those are as soon as I do.

Have a nice weekend. We'll be doing a lot of indoor spinning and maybe a short run or two.

Pants on the ground

As usual I am about 2 weeks behind on pop culture (was there some football on last night?) - most of you have probably already heard and seen Pants on the Ground during American Idol by General Larry Platt - now check out what happens when a real musician takes the ball and runs with it...

Powerstroke weekend

Bri and I are hosting a Powerstroke clinic at the Huntersville Family Fitness and Aquatic Center on Sunday. One of my goals as a business-dude is to expand our reputation for swim clinic excellence beyond our local vicinity and then one day go national and then international and then take over the world. Did I just write that out loud? ;) You get the picture.

We are teaming up with Sarah from the Cool Breeze Cyclery and Kathy Goody of the HFFA to put this one on. It sold out so we will do our best to get another one in there sometime relatively soon.

In other news, if you are a member of USA Triathlon, check out page 40-41 of the USA Triathlon Life winter 2010 edition for an article on wetsuits written by yours truly.

Tomorrow I am hoping to get a nice bike ride in, nice being dependent on the weather.

want to be a swim coach?

I am looking for someone who would like to be a volunteer (unpaid) masters swim coach on a Tuesday or Thursday morning here in Cary, NC for 2010. The practice time would be 545-700AM. If you live locally and have a swimming / coaching background and are interested please contact me. I would write the workouts for a few weeks until you feel comfortable with the method behind the madness. You would need to have technical proficiency in freestyle and preferably be comfortable with the other strokes as well.

In other news, we have been given a few days of idyllic weather and it is really nice out at the moment. Tassie is refusing to come inside.

Krispy Kreme Challenge & Spring races

My next A race is the Krispy Kreme Challenge held on NC State campus on February 6th. This is a serious event for elite competitors only. It consists of a 2 mile run - eat 12 doughnuts - 2 mile run. You have to beat an hour or they drag you off the course and feed you to wild boars brought in special from the Appalachians.

After that it will be the Gasparilla 15k on February 27 during our annual Winter triathlon training camp in Florida.

March will be a quieter month as far as racing goes. I was going to run in either the Tobacco Road half marathon or Wrightsville Beach half-marathon on March 21, but have opted instead to take a vacation with my father to Atlantic City.

I will probably make up the half-marathon plan on May 16 with the Inside-Out Sports Classic Half Marathon.

March 27 is the Smithfield Sprint in Virginia, which we are probably going to do.

I am linked out for today. Have a nice weekend!

Back in NC

We had a good time in Florida catching up with everyone and it was great to watch Bri run a sub 1:26 half marathon on Saturday morning. I kept up with some training but nothing eventful.

I am looking forward to a few weeks of regular training and life until we head back down to the west coast of Florida for the annual week long triathlon training camp.

Up next we have a Powerstroke clinic in Huntersville, NC and then another here in Cary the following week.

I have some flu like symptoms and suspect the erratic sleep, lousy weather and multitude of people we hung out with over the past few days have resulted in me getting a bug of some sort.

chilling in FL

We are here in freezing cold Central Florida, enjoying some freezing cold Central Florida weather, a nice respite from the freezing cold North Carolina weather. Bri and our friends are looking forward to racing in the Disney half-marathon tomorrow morning - the weather man is calling for a low of 29, a high of 40, and 45% chance of showers. As far as running weather goes, that is about as lousy as it gets. If it was colder it would be snow, which would be much better, since it doesn't soak you to the bones. But instead we're expecting sleet and cold rain. I will be warm and toasty, waiting in the car for these intrepid souls to conquer their demons and emerge victorious from the finishing chute, proudly clutching a Donald Duck medal in their cold, trembling hands. I was just possessed by the spirit of Hemingway for a moment.

The 00s review

If you limit your reading to financial and economic news, you know that a bunch of yahoos are calling the 2000s another "lost decade" as it pertains to stock market and real estate markets. But there's certainly a lot more going on than just dollars and cents, right?

I don't know about you, but the 00s were a great decade for me. Despite losing quite a bit in the recent economic meltdown, we have been fortunate to have done well with real estate through dumb luck and a small bit of foresight.

The mid and late 90s were not great for me personally and professionally. So in comparison this decade really was a total and absolute winner.

Some decade highlights would include:

Met a nice girl, kept her and married her (that's her in the picture)
Got several good jobs
Earned two graduate degrees
Started a business and a swim race series
Did well athletically, winning several triathlons over the years
Made new friends around the world
Traveled around the world
Bought first residence (condo) and sold it for a profit 5 years later
Bought a nice house
Got a great dog
Made and stashed away a fair bit of moolah

I hope that the next decade keeps us on this path of happiness, personal development, and lifestyle success.

Remember, it's your attitude, not your aptitude, that determines your altitude.

See you in 2010.