DANIEL

"Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few." — Sir Winston Churchill.

With boot camp, the saying "no news is good news" is true. If you get a call from your son it most likely means he is injured or washed out. And it was even more true last Thursday following the 54 hours of the Crucible. If you get a call then, your son didn't make it through.

So all day Thursday I was dreading phone calls. After swimming Thursday morning I went out to my moped, put my swimming stuff away and looked at my cell phone — two missed calls! "Oh no!" I thought. "This is it. Daniel got injured or somehow was unable to finish the course." So with dread I listened to the messages. Whew .... They were both from Karen. Safe for now. And that's pretty much was how the rest of Thursday went. Hoping the phone would not ring and if it did, that it wouldn't be Daniel. Thursday was long day.


No news on Thursday means Daniel is now officially a United States Marine. So we are preparing to fly out to San Diego for our new Marine's graduation. The emotions are strong. Pride and fear. Proud that Daniel has done something so amazing and brave, yet scared of what the future holds for him. Daniel isn't one to shy away from adversity. A couple of years ago, he and his brother, Aaron, were walking down Queen K carrying a new PS3 game system they had just bought when a vehicle pulled over and a guy twice Daniel's size jumped out with a baseball bat and took a swing, hitting Aaron and trying to steal the game system. What was Daniel's reaction? He wrestled the bat away from guy and chased him off. The guy and the driver served a year in jail.

And that's how Daniel is. He won't back down from his duty and that makes me proud and scared as well. But for now, I'm proud. WE (the family) are proud of our son and brother. He joins the ranks of an honored profession. The Few, The Proud, The Marines.

Next week we will celebrate Mike Company's graduation (Daniel's recruit company). We'll finally get to see Daniel after 3 months. Our chests will be bursting with pride. Our baby will be a man, a Marine, a hero.

CONGRATULATIONS DANIEL.

THE CRUCIBLE COMETH

Our son Daniel is enduring the Crucible at Marine boot camp right now. It started in the early morning hours on Tuesday and will go for 54 hours. He and the rest of Mike Company will get little sleep, food or rest as they march, fight and learn to work together to take up the gauntlet that is the Crucible. Here is a video of Daniel's platoon taken on Friday. Daniel is the last recruit in the last row of recruits just before they zoom out and show the platoon leader and drill sergeants. You can hit the pause button to get a better look at these boys who are in the process of becoming men and defenders of our country.



If you read this before Thursday morning, please keep Daniel and the rest of his platoon, Platoon 3275, in your prayers. This training will teach them to survive in combat. Pray that they will learn their lesson well. There is a prayer chain of parents and family for the platoon as the recruits struggle over the next 54 hours, but your prayers will be greatly appreciated.

Come Thursday morning, those who survive the Crucible will become United States Marines. Daniel will graduate boot camp Sept. 5 at Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego.

You can read more about the Crucible on Karen's blog. Just scroll down to "THE CRUCIBLE" blog entry. It will describe what the recruits are going through.

Semper Fidelis
(Always Faithful)

JUST IMAGINE

"Suppose you're in your office ... a pretty stenographer you've seen before comes into the room and you watch her ... She takes off her gloves, opens her purse and dumps it out on the table. ... She has two dimes and a nickel — and a cardboard match box. She leaves the nickel on the desk, puts the two dimes back into her purse and takes her black gloves to the stove. ... Just then your telephone rings. The girl picks it up, says hello — listens — and says deliberately into the phone, "I've never owned a pair of black gloves in my life." She hangs up ... and you glance around very suddenly and see another man in the office, watching every move the girl makes .... "
"Go on," said Boxley smiling. "What happens?"
"I don't know," said Stahr. "I was just making pictures."
— The Last Tycoon, F. Scott Fitzgerald

Don't you just love words and the power of the mind to form those words into pictures?

I've read a little about visualization as a training aid, especially for swimming. Where you visualize the perfect stroke: Long and smooth, just the right kick, gliding through the water with little drag. They say if you visualize correctly it actually trains your body to move the way your mind visualizes it. Remember the "Little Engine That Could"? "I think I can! I think I can!"


Here's what Colin Barr and Steve Katai say in their book, "The Complete Idiot's Guide To Triathlon Training" about the power of imagining success and the power of the mind:

"PICTURE YOURSELF SUCCEEDING: Don't just think you can; KNOW you can. Believe in yourself. Have confidence in your abilities to achieve your goals and dreams. The magic behind all great accomplishments begins with this self-belief. Sometimes we feel down on ourselves and doubt our abilities, but that's normal. When it happens, take a step back and regroup by replacing the negative thoughts with positive ones and remember you can accomplish anything with the right state of mind.

"A lot of research supports the power of visualization. The general theory is that thought has the ability to create feelings and emotions that impact behavior and, ultimately, reality. In other words, when you think about success day in and day out, you eventually will create that success.

"It all begins with a single thought. If you wake up every morning, look yourself in the mirror and say, 'I'm going to ...' Eventually it will happen. The power of thought and intention is very real and can very easily be applied to triathlon. Visualize yourself in the swim: your stroke is smooth, your breathing is under control and you found a good draft off someone's feet. Imagine having a great T1, bike segment, T2, and run. Imagine crossing the finish line. Put those strong positive beliefs out there. When you do, the door to manifesting these beliefs in reality opens to you.

"If you fill your head with negative thoughts, you'll eventually make those negative thoughts your reality. Think positive. Know you can do this!" — The Complete Idiot's Guide To Triathlon Training.

It also helps to write those positive words down, maybe even in story form such as the scene at the beginning of this blog, and make positive pictures of your success in your mind. Of course, prayer works, too. "I know I can! I know I can!"

HOLD YOUR BREATH AND TAKE A RIDE

A different view of the men's 4x100 freestyle relay.

OLYMPIC WOW

Like an old pastor of ours used to say, "If you missed it, you missed it."

If you missed the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics, you really missed something historic and aw-inspiring. Not just the fact that the Olympics are taking place in China, but the scale of the ceremony was cinematic.


Pull out the adjective dictionary and start describing it. But then words wouldn't do it justice. And if you were't lucky enough to attend in person, watching it on HDTV was as close as being there as you can get.

China definitely earns the gold medal for presentation, performance, accuracy, and originality.

With that said, I just want to say ... GO USA!

USA!
USA!
USA!

TOO FUNNY

Could you imagine swimming with these guys? I'd drown laughing.

CONFESSIONS OF A DOPER

“For 50 years bike racers have been taking stimulants. Obviously we can do without them in a race, but then we will pedal 15 miles an hour (instead of 25). Since we are constantly asked to go faster and to make even greater efforts, we are obliged to take stimulants” — Jacques Anquetil, five-time winner of the Tour de France

I confess. I'm a doper and have been for years. From the first time I tried it I was hooked. I can still remember the day. How much easier riding in the Sierra Nevada was when I used it. At nearly a mile high and in 40 to 60 mile an hour winds it made riding a breeze.

It's not EPO or any other steroid. Music is my stimulant of choice. I believe music is a drug that aids in performance (at least for me). I discovered how much it really affects my riding just the other day while riding my bike and waiting at a stop light to turn onto Queen K. One of my "go-fast" songs came on my mp3 player while I was stuck at the red light. As the song built in its pounding tempo, my body literally began to shake. "Come on light, change already," I kept repeating to myself. I thought I was going to explode from the inside; my legs wanted to crank on the pedals so badly it hurt.

The lights here in Kona can last forever. Like having too much caffeine, I was nearly shaking uncontrollably. It was getting so bad that I finally had to turn off my music or else I was going to run the light and probably get hit. I knew right then I was a doper and music was my drug. If I had it during a race I would get PRs every time.

I don't know if music affects everyone like it does me. It gets in my head and in my heart. I visualize a movie with the music as the soundtrack. I forget about my pain, my fear and my limits and just go. The harder I stomp on the pedals, the better I visualize my mental movie.

My heart races. The blood jets through my veins. My lungs are near bursting, but it doesn't matter. As long as I'm being fed my drug, I can take it. I'll throw any training day out the window and go full bore if the right song comes on and feeds my habit. I'm a cold, hard junkie. Then comes the guilt. Another chance for a great training day wasted. No intervals, no cadence training, no recovery ride, just mashing pedals in a music-induced utopia mile after mile. Sure, I make myself promises. "I'll do better next time," I tell myself. "I'll leave the music at home." Or, "I can control it. Really. I'll prove it to myself next time."

But let's face it, I'm a hardcore music junkie. They say admitting you have a problem is the first step toward recovery. And see, I'm already making progress. I road Thursday morning with Bree and didn't use music. Sure I had withdrawals. I had trouble finding gears, my cadence was all over the place, my feet kept falling out of the pedals (wait, that was one of our drills, I think. Pedaling with one leg. Or maybe not.) I even lost my voice, which was embarrassing. My body was in revolt. But it is progress. One ride at a time. Baby steps.

Word of warning 1: If you let music get into your very being, your soul, you too will become a music doper. If you let it grab you, take hold of your heart and become engulfed with the lyrics and beat, there's no turning back.

Word of warning 2: It's not safe to use music where there is traffic. So don't do it!!! Stay music free. Don't make the same mistakes I did. Live a long and healthy music-free training life. Not everyone can handle this powerful stimulant. You may end up doing something crazy like riding up hill really, really fast. Or singing outloud as you zoom down the road in an out of tune screech (well, maybe that's just me).

Is it cheating? I don't know. It probably is though. It boosts me into overdrive. It gets me into my "go fast" mentality. I'm so ashamed. I'm a doper.

But on the other hand, if you have no self-control (like me) or need a little boost in your performance, here is a song that sends me flying over whatever hill I'm having trouble with. I've climbed a thousand miles worth of hills to this song.

So, if you must, turn it on. Turn it up and start riding. ONE WAY BABY!!!! YEAH! FEED ME MAMA!!!


So, if you see me riding down the highway pumping my fist in the air making the No. 1 sign every so often, you'll know what song I'm listening to.

RAINY DAYS AND MONDAYS ALWAYS GET ME DOWN

"Anyone who says sunshine brings happiness has never danced in the rain."

OK, it's really Tuesday and I actually liked riding in the rain today. It was only raining for about a half-mile before I rode out of it but it was a nice relief from the heat and typical Kona conditions.

OK times two. These photos aren't from today, they were taken just before sunset Saturday when it was raining pretty hard downtown while the sun was still shining. The light was excellent — Golden hour.

Back to today, it was a good ride. Lots of wind, a little rain, good music and a day on the bike. Have a great day.

SOME RAINY DAY QUOTES
Rain! whose soft architectural hands have power to cut stones, and chisel to shapes of grandeur the very mountains. ~Henry Ward Beecher

Many a man curses the rain that falls upon his head, and knows not that it brings abundance to drive away the hunger. ~Saint Basil

Tell me how many beads there are
In a silver chain
Of evening rain,
Unravelled from the tumbling main...
~Thomas Lovell Beddoes

Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you a lullaby. ~Langston Hughes

WANT A GOOD LAUGH?

Go to doodlebug's blog to see a way too funny photo of Rebecca, Karen and me taken a lifetime ago. Did I really have that much hair?

RING ... RING ... RING ...

Hi. This is Randy. I can't come to my blog right now. Please leave a message after the beep and I'll get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks.

TEAM WRIGHTHOUSE - THE SWIM

Today was the debut of Team Wrighthouse. We did our first triathlon team event. I did the swim, Karen did the bike and Rebecca did the swim. You can read about their adventures on their blogs (links at the bottom of this post and on the side rail)

OK, so my plan was to do the swim as fast as I could from the start for as long as I could go. A new concept for me, Mr. Pace-Yourself-So-You-Can-Finish). By the 4th buoy I was wondering about the sanity of that plan. My lats and triceps were screaming and I was sucking in about as much water as I was air on every breath.

But to backup for a moment: The swim course was two laps to the sixth buoy and back with a run up to the sea wall in between each lap. Today's race was a pretty small event, there were only 13 of us in the water which meant there wasn't going to really be a pack to gage my progress. And judging by who all was there I knew I was one of the slowest swimmers.

My start wasn't as good as I was hoping for. Team Mango always does a running beach start and although my knee is on the mend I didn't want to chance popping it out running into the water. So I walked/jogged into about knee-deep water then swam from there, which put me in last place at the start.

But I was determined to swim as hard as I could, so off I went. By the first buoy I was passing people. By the third I could see a small group of swimmers just in front of me. By the fourth I was hoping to make it to the next buoy without my arms falling off. And by the time I reached the sixth buoy on the first lap I was in survival mode. But there were a couple of swimmers right in front of me that I just had to try to catch.

All the way back I kept having negative thoughts about how I wasn't going to be able to swim another lap. About how tired I was, about how dumb it was to go that hard at the beginning. I began to slow down. All those negative thoughts were really getting to me.


(The video of the finish of lap 1 of the swim race.)
But my goal for the race was to not hold back at all. To try to go 100 percent at all times. My stroke had shortened because I was tired so I made my arms extend on the reach and forced them to extend on the push which made them really burn. There was one swimmer just ahead of me and I made it my goal on lap one to catch that swimmer before the beach run up. I think I caught the swimmer just before the beach. I was exhausted as you can see in the video. She passed me as we went around the cone marker by the sea wall shouting out a good-natured "Ha, I beat you." comment as she went by me. It's all for the fun, right?

My first lap time was 11 minutes and something. Slow for most swimmers, but hey, I've only been swimming for what, 9 months?

So back in the water my first goal was to over take her again which I think I did by the second buoy. I then spotted another swimmer about a buoy ahead of me and made it my next goal to catch him. My arms were like rubber. I was drinking so much water I think the water level dropped a few feet. My head was swimming (figuratively and literally - I was dizzy)

By the fifth buoy I was about 20 feet behind him but gaining slowly. I crossed over the rope so I could make the turn faster. (we had to make a counter-clockwise turn around the buoy, which meant we had to swim over the rope)

After I made the turn I saw that he had gained a little distance on me so I pushed a little more. I was surprised at my resolve to go so hard when my body was screaming to stop. By the fifth buoy I was gaining on him. Only 10 feet in front of me.

My arms were dead. I stretched out my stroke and slowed a bit. I started using my legs more trying to give any kind of relief to my upper body. I was on the verge of throwing up but I told myself "Do not slow down. Keep swimming even if you throw up!" A quote popped into my head that I thought I read once. Something about if you're not swimming in your own puke you're not swimming hard enough. It was a gross thought, but I was not going to slow down.

By the third buoy I was right behind him. I didn't want to draft him because I knew I would slow down and just hang on his feet. Two swimmers came at us head on about then. He pulled up to a stop and then went to the right around them. I had to put on the brakes as well and took an emergency turn to the left. He managed to gain a few feet on me.

By the last buoy I was just to the right of his feet. With every stroke I was gaining inches. Then I was by his knees, then by his waist. Finally, we were side by side.

Either he bumped me or I bumped him I'm not sure. We bumped again just before shore. In the video you can see him stand up and look at me. Hey, bumping is racing, right?


(In this video I'm the swimmer on the left as we come up to the finish of the swim race.)

He stopped in waist-deep water to run up. I kept swimming until my hand hit the sand. I knew he was going to out run me from the beach but I had made my goal to catch him. I was dead tired but happy. My overall time was 21 minutes, which meant my second lap was a minute faster than my first. Wow. That was a miracle. I walked/staggered up the beach to where Karen was waiting on her bike. Off she went. You can read about her great bike race on her blog here: Havin'fun in Hawaii.

You can read about Rebecca's awesome run on her blog at Rebecca's Page.

It was a great day and a we all had fun. It was fun watching Karen learn a couple of transition lessons and to see Rebecca push her way around the course. We did help Rebecca some, but that's OK, it was a family effort. And thanks to Karen for taking the time to take video of my swim just before her bike race.