Friday, September 19, 2008

More photos from the summer

Before Taylor's mullet
After
Kelowna race site
Mark pre race
Hill elite have to climb before we got through with it
I still have more photos that i will post,
So until later
CH

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Just out for a ride in Hamilton

Slim being slim

Ladies and geltleman, jason wilson, andrew yorke and karsten madsen

Andrew waxing his legs


If only Taylor had kept this haircut for more than a day
I will post more pictures tommorow
So until later,
CH

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Update

Well I guess that this is long overdue, long overdue. A lot of people have been telling me to update my blog, so I finally will. So where did I leave off, oh ya over 2 months ago. Lets start from the beginning, I will try and give as much detail as possible, but some things area a little hazy as they were so long ago. this is going to be a long one so if you have to go to the bathroom, go now.

Late July I did the Burlington 5km. It went alright, I had an 6 second personal best and the first road race win of the year.

Next was the PEI junior series race. We decided to drive out, what a mistake. This was the ride of death. Never again, longest drive ever. Before I decided to drive there I didnt relize that it was the same distance to PEI as it is to Florida. So Next time i'm deinately flying. Ok back to the race. I felt a little tired going in because we had been logging some big miles. The Summerside race committee put on a top notch race. They built a pontoon start and a ramp from the pontoon to the peir that shifted with the tide. So race day came and I was ready to let loose. I did a little warm up in each disipline. I was ranked pretty low going in so I did't know what kind of a starting position I was going to get, but as luck would have it, I ended up getting a spot between a couple of weaker swimmers on the left side. So the gun went off and had no trouble getting clear water. I was first to the first bouy a couple hundred metres out, and led the rest of the swim. Six or seven of us got out of the water together, but in the first few km's it split with Sharpe, Philips, Thomas and me in the lead pack and the other chasing. We worked together really well and kept our 45 second gap. The run came and i felt awful, Jeff passed me in the first 500m and kept pulling away. I stayed in second until 2 km to go where Matt passes me, and with a few hundred to go Ian passed me. This race didnt go as i planned, but it showed me that we can stay away on the bike in North America.

So back to Hamilton after a 18 hour drive. Im definately flying next time. Everything went well leading into nationals. So I stayed in hamilton for a week before heading home for for 2 days.

Ok now Kelowna. I left on the Thursday from London and had a pretty sweet flight the whole way out. I sat in the front row with a blind lady and her seeing eye dog so I had lots of space. I arrived in Kelowna and went to get my bagage and what do I see, the whole Hamilton gang waiting to get there bags. So we go to our hotel and made a quick bike down to the beach. I thought it was a nice beach, but we found a better one, more to come on that later. I felt very good going into the race and the training that I had done since december was going to prove it. Race day came and it was going to be a hot one. I was ranked number 1 so I got the best swim spot. The gun went off and I just went as hard as I could for the first 200 metres. I was all by myself and I couldnt feel anyone behind me so I just kept a nice steady pace for the next 2oom before Cole, Matt and someone else came by me and I hopped on the back of that train. The 4 of us exited the water together with Aaron a few seconds back. On the bike Aaron caught us and the four of us worked well to stay away. With one lap to go we had 35 seconds on the chase pack, but in the last lap they pulled back 10 seconds on us. We started the run and I went to the front, but it was not to be. I had gotten pretty dehydrated and didnt notice it until the run, and there was no way to recover from it in 5 km. The run just kept getting uglier and uglier. I don't know how i got across the line but it could not have come soon enough. My head hurt and i was starting to get pretty dizzy. After the race i had a searing headache for a couple hours, but nothing that a trip to the beach couldn't fix(along with a few aspirin). Now this is the beach i was talking about. One of the nicest i have ever been to.

The next day was the elites. Although not everyone had the race they wanted too, they never gave up and everyone finished, despite one person having an infected vertebrea, another with a concussion, and another with a broken elbow.

After this i stayed in Kelowna for a few days before taking the greyhound to Penticton (I did arrive alive with my head still attached to my body) to watch the ironman. I worked at the Ironman for the week, and it remember why i hated working there. Race day consisted of a 5am-1pm shift, then 10pm-5 am. Although work sucked, Penticton was a pretty nice town. So after being away from home since late June, i was finally home for good.

Right now I am in just starting the high school cross season (thats right, im one of those guys who for some reason comes back for a fifth year, my advice, DO NOT COME BACK, even if it means going to the University of Yellowknife or something). I am just getting over a pretty bad sickness so today was the first day back since monday, and it was pretty ugly. Thats basically it for now, ill post some photos later.

So until later, but hopefully not too long.

CH