SPEED RACER REBECCA

“If God sends us on strong paths, we are provided strong shoes.” — Corrie TenBoom

Our daughter, Rebecca, is going racing. She is going to participate in the Kona Marathon 5k wheelchair fun run June 29. This will be her first "race" since she was in school and competing in Special Olympics.

Since Rebecca decided to do the race, we have been going to the walking/jogging track at Old A nearly every day so she can get in some "road time." She has also started lifting weights. Although she only has less than two weeks to get ready, I think she'll be ready. 3.1 miles may not sound far for most people, but in a wheelchair and with someone of her small stature, it's practically a marathon.


I've e-mailed the Kona Marathon folks to see if Rebecca can have some assistance along the course, but haven't heard from them yet.

My guess is she probably can't, but then again, this is only a "fun run" so maybe they will let her have some help now and then. But she is training like she will be doing the whole thing on her own. I just hope there are not any hills on her course.

If you see Rebecca out training or during the race, raise your hands up and shake them vigorously. That's how deaf people applaud and cheer others on. Yes, Rebecca is deaf. She can read your lips, see your smiles and she can see you clap your hands, but cannot hear the applause. She'll appreciate the gesture.

She's already talking about getting a hand-pedaled bicycle so she can do triathlons ... she must take after her parents.

Top photo: Rebecca takes a break during her lap at Old A's jogging path.

Bottom photo: Rebecca cranks it along the path narrowly missing her old man.

OUR FAMILY, OUR LIFE — IT'S FATHER'S DAY

"I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty." 2 Corinthians 6:18



ENJOY THE VIDEO. Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there.

EARNING MY PAIN ON A BEAUTIFUL DAY

"Who gave you the black eye, mister?"
"Nobody gave it to me, son. I fought for it." — Louis L'Amour's "Conagher"

On the schedule Friday was a two hour run. Distance didn't matter, just going for time on my feet. My only goal was to make the second hour faster pace than the first. I decided to run Queen K to the Energy Lab (the turn around for the Kona Marathon.) I've never run along Queen K, at least out in that area, so I thought it would be a good experience for my upcoming marathon.

When I run I'm like a mobile aid station. So for this run I had three water bottles, two bananas, two gels, some enduralite capsules and a very full bladder. Hey, like you've never forgot to go before you ran??? (I discovered it's hard to stay hydrated with a full bladder).

When I started running, my legs hurt so bad that I could barely muster up anything beyond a walk. After a quarter mile I nearly decided to stop and walk back to my moped and go home. But then I realized that the pain I was feeling was a "good pain." It wasn't from injured muscles or joints, it was from sore muscles. From running hard two days before and from lifting weights.

This was a good hurt I decided. I like that kind of pain. It's something I earned from hard work. Not the kind of pain I usually feel from a torn or strained calf muscle. So I just kept hobbling along and waited for my muscles to warm up and stretch out. After five minutes or so, I was feeling pretty good.

(PHOTO: The beach at the Natural Energy Lab)

I figured the turn around point at the Energy Lab was about 4 miles away according to the Marathon website map. But when I got to the Energy Lab road it didn't seem that far so I ran on up to the airport before turning around and running down the Energy Lab road.

Queen K is a lot different when you run it than when you bike it. It's hotter and longer.

After a quick rest room stop at the park, I jumped onto the trail that runs along the beach and ran along it for a while. It brought back memories of Lavaman. I made another quick stop at one of the tidal pools to cool off, take some photos and eat a banana. A perfect day. The waves were really crashing against the lava rocks. My phone's camera is a little slow so I wasn't able to capture the drama of the waves crashing, but they were wintertime big.

(PHOTO: Part of the trail at the beach)

My run back was hot but at a faster pace than my first hour. I finished off my run by running up Hina-Lani to the Cycle Station, stopping there to say hi to Oliver, grab something to drink then head down hill to my moped. My legs felt great, it was a beautiful sunny day, and once I got warmed up my run was virtually pain-free. And that's a rare day indeed.

TESTING MY LIMITS

“They will suffer, cry and feel pain in 31 flavors. They will also laugh, forge friendships and find a deeper understanding of themselves and their limits.” — Benjamin Romano

That quote is from a Seattle Times story on the Cascade Crest 100. A trail ultrarun of 100 miles through the Cascade Mountain range. You can read the complete article, which follows one of the runners throughout the race, here: Seattle Times Story you’ll feel like you have experienced the race yourself after you read the article.

In just over two weeks I’ll be testing my limits by running my first marathon since high school. Back in the day, I was a runner. In my small town, my friends and I ran everywhere. We would hike up the side of a heavily forested mountain just to see who was the fastest to run, slide, and/or fall down it. That’s how we spent our Saturday mornings. On Sundays we would go for long, fast-paced runs in the country. Sometimes taking shortcuts through muddy fields just to get some off-road time and occasionally leaving a shoe or two behind in the muck. The rest of the week was practice as usual. But we loved every minute of it.

That is ancient history, though. Today, three decades later, I can hardly classify what I do as running. More like hobbling along. Maybe a jog. So why am I thinking about doing a marathon? Before Honu I was worried that 13.1 miles was way too far for me, and it was only half a marathon. But I did it.

I just looked on the Kona Marathon Web site. I haven’t signed up yet so I was seeing how much it costs, the deadlines, etc. Then I started having second thoughts. Maybe it is too far for me. I’m not ready for this yet. My leg won’t hold out. All the same thoughts I had before Lavaman and before Honu.

I started thinking up excuses why I shouldn’t run it. My leg is still hurting with every step I run. Expensive! yay. I can just tell everyone I couldn’t afford it. That way I can back out gracefully. But that was exactly why I did tell everyone I was running it, so I couldn’t back out. So once I couldn’t come up with an excuse not to run it I made a list of why I should or shouldn’t do the race:

I shouldn’t do it because
1) it’s a long way
2) I’m going to be slow
3) it’s a really, really long way
4) my calf muscle is still hurting
5) I’ll be testing my limits: what if I don’t like what I discover?


I should do the race because
1) I am healthy and able, and as the Bible says, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”
2) it’ll test my limits and I’ll like what I discover
3) I love a challenge
4) I can wear my new racing shoes
5) My high school running hero (Frank Shorter) ran in the half marathon last year. Maybe he’ll do it again this year and I’ll get to see him in person. Maybe even say “Hey, Frank! Howzit?”

26.2 miles is a long way. It’s 46,112 yards. That’s roughly the same number of running strides it’ll take to run the race. That’s a lot of strides. But you know what? Every step gets you closer to the finish line. As Bruce told me before Honu: “Just keep moving forward.” One of these days running is bound to get easier, right? Either my legs will simply fall off or they’ll loosen up and take off. Just push through the pain for now and see what happens.

“The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.” it says in Ecclesiastes. Time and chance happens to them all. Hmm. Maybe I can win this thing ...

THE LONG AND SHORT OF IT ...

As the author of the book in which one of my fave movies is based on, "Get Shorty," says about writing, "I try to leave out the parts that people skip." — Elmore Leonard

Yesterday's blog was sooo long that for this one I'm leaving out the parts that people skip ...

I biked, I swam. Good wind on the bike. Passed people. Swimming was wet. Flip turns still sucko. Karen tried 'em for first time. She is great at it. Mine are even more sucko after seeing hers ... I dropped 1 second off my hundred time. New PR even without flip turns. Who needs flip turns. You can't flip turn in the ocean during a race anyhow. Not without making the guy behind you angry at least. May work on flip turns again tomorrow.

BLOGGING TO SELF-DISCOVERY

"I write entirely to find out what I'm thinking, what I'm looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear." — Joan Didion

I'm a virtual writer. I've been a virtual writer for years. It started when I started cycling. I'd get bored on long rides, even with all the beautiful scenery, and I'd write stories in my head while I was pedaling along. Some of my stories were sure-fire best-sellers. Others were nonsense. Some were hilarious and some were real heartbreakers. But none ever made it to paper (or computer). They are forever wandering in my mind. Occasionally, they resurface while I'm biking or running and we have a rewrite session.

I've tried once or twice to pen my virtual stories, but they live deep in my mind and only surface when my heart rate is in zone 3 and my lungs are in that deep rhythmic breathing state, and the wind is rushing past my ears and all I hear is white noise. As someone once said, "If I'm trying to sleep, the ideas won't stop. If I'm trying to write, there appears a barren nothingness." For me, the stories come only when my heart is pumping at over 160 and my legs are going 90-plus rpm. Not when I sit down in front of my computer.

Since I started blogging, that's how it is as well. Every day I train, whether I'm swimming, riding or running, I'm constantly composing what I'm going to write in my blog that night. Some days it's a play-by-play of my ride, race or run. Other days it may be something I've learned while training. Oh how the sentences sing, and the adjectives flow. The insight is deep and sometimes very poignant and I can't wait to get to my computer.

Some days I'll spend the entire training session on a single subject. Virtual writing and rewriting my blog until it is perfect. Then, once I turn on my computer ... blankness! A barren nothingness. Sure, a few times I've managed to scrape up something from my training sessions, but it never comes close to my virtual prose.

But maybe it doesn't have to. Maybe that's the point. The fact that we take the time to write on our blogs, to attempt to put down what we are feeling, thinking or doing. Our fears, hopes and challenges. That's what is important. Maybe it's our therapy, our stress relief. My virtual blogging serves as a distraction from pain when I run, from boredom and discomfort on the bike and some days it keeps me from giving up. It gives me a reason to go that extra mile per hour or run that extra mile, just so I can write about it.

Even while participating at Honu I was composing my blog. During the swim I was mentally writing about how the morning sun glinted off the water, "like moonlight off broken glass." How I was blindly following the feet in front of me, hoping they were leading me in the shortest route to the swim finish. How elbows and feet were flying everywhere. Water churning. The pushing, shoving, jostling for position that was laughable and at the same time frightening. A full-contact sport. But none of that made it to my blog. Out of frustration in failing to "recompose" my virtual story, I decided to just forgo much description.

Triathlon is leading me on a road to self-discovery. It is teaching me what I can handle physically and mentally. What I can expect at my age, what I can exceed in spite of my age. Blogging provides an outlet for me to explain to myself and to those who read it what I'm going through. What I dream of and what I succeed and even fail at. It's a place to vent frustration. Even to brag occasionally.

Most of my entries are public. A few I write only for me. Sometimes I'll publish something very personal. Sometimes I water it down just enough. But most of the personal ones I just delete when I'm finished writing them. I write thousands of words almost daily about what I am going through. What I am feeling while I'm training. But most of the time it gets deleted either because I can't compose it like I did while I was running or biking. Or because it is too personal. Like the post I wrote on why I listen to sad, heartbreaking music when I run, but fast upbeat music when I bike. It was a very long post, but I deleted it as soon as I was finished with it. That was a day of discovery for me. What was left over from that post was the one titled "The Wall." One of my favorite days of training and one of my favorite posts.

So, when you are reading someone's blog, I encourage you to take the time to leave a comment. Some of the writers pour their hearts and souls into the brief words on your computer screen and it's nice to know what others think, or at least that it is read. I also encourage you to start a blog if you haven't yet. It's a great way to express what you are going through. I've never kept a diary, but I imagine keeping a diary and keeping a blog are pretty similar. Blogs are a bit more public so you may want to keep the personal stuff in your diary. Blogging also is a great way to keep track of your training. It's also not a bad way to fuel your imagination.

So if you want to hear stories about treachery, or facing monsters, or love gone wrong, catch me when I'm in zone 3 on my bike along Queen K or running up Hualalai sometime. If I'm not composing my next blog I'll tell you a virtual tale.

THE FEW, THE PROUD, THE GRADUATE

Well done. Our youngest son, Daniel, graduated tonight (Saturday). Finally, he is done with school. Now comes the hard part. Tomorrow (Sunday) at 2:30 p.m. our baby boy flies off to San Diego and heads to Camp Pendleton to become a United States Marine.


Yep, the day following his high school graduation, Big D is off to boot camp. He'll be there for three months, then gets only 10 days off before he heads back for a month or so for SOI (School of Infantry) training.



It's our hope and prayer that we will be out of this conflict in the Middle East before he will be combat ready. So if you vote, please vote for whomever you think will get us out of there the fastest.

Anyhow, It was a grand night at Kealakehe High School. It started raining just before the commencement, but stopped right on time. Lots of long speeches as usual. Lots of inside jokes that only the students and faculty were privy to and lots of pomp and circumstance, just as graduation should be.

So congratulations to Daniel. And to Ariel Henbest, Daniel's friend and our fellow triathlete, and congratulations to the rest of the class of 2008 at Kealakehe High School. Your future is bright and full of hope. Live long, love hard and laugh often ...

FLIPPED OUT ... OR OVER ... OR SOMETHING

If I don't embarrass myself at least once a day, it's not a normal day for me. Here's my embarrassing moment for Thursday.

I was at the pool today, working on flip turns after being prodded by Bree Wee yesterday to learn to do the graceful, and more importantly, speedy maneuvers. So, after making sure no one was around, I would swim a hundred yards and do "a turn" — they were definately not a "flip" and definately not graceful or speedy — after each 25 yards (the length of the pool).

So after a few hundred yards of this, who do I see walking over but Bree and Giovani. We are all in Masters 101 together. Just so Bree doesn't think I'm a slacker, I tell her and Giovanni that I'm working on my flip turns. I regretted it right when I said it, cause I knew what was coming next. Bree insisted on seeing my progress, and not only that, she was going to video tape me as well. GREAT! Now I'm going to have an audience and evidence on how bad my turns are.

Anyhow, here's the result. Complete with commentary and analysis.


You may as well share my embarrassing moment for Thursday. But don't worry, if you missed this one, I'll have another one on Friday, and Saturday, and Sunday, and ...

I'll also post my progress — if any — in the future. Thanks Bree for all the encouragement, advice and the video. I'm sure if I can ever stop laughing long enough to study it I'll learn from it. Now, about my swim stroke. What's up wit dat, brah?

THE SUN HAS SET ...

I kinda got tired of looking at my sunset photo and since I changed this blog to more of a triathlon blog once I got started in triathlon, from just a general rambling blog, I thought it was time for a name and image change. I also like the quote by Dinesen, which seems to be quite true. By the way, Isak Dinesen is actually a woman whose real name was Karen Blixen born in 1885. She was an author. You probably know at least one of her works and not even know it was hers. She died in 1962 from malnutrition. Uh, if anyone is interested.

Oh, I also had my best run, timewise, today. It was also my hardest workout yet. Not fast by most people's standards, but I'm getting there. It was mostly an up hill run, which is always fun. It basically was a figure 8 that involved parts of Hualalai, Kuakini, Henry Street and Queen K. My HR ranged from high 140s to a max of 171. On the steeper hills I kept it in the low to mid 160s, which is close to my bonk rate. But I was able to keep it up most of the way and still feel good at the end. If you can feel good climbing Hualalai at the end of a run ...

OF HORSES, NEW SHOES AND ONE CRAZY ANDY BALDWIN GROUPIE — ALL IN A DAY'S RUN

Today was my first day of refocus. I began training specifically for the Kona Marathon. So with my legs still sore from the half Ironman, I went out for a short run starting at the pool and running along Alii Drive and back. Although my legs were sore, they felt strong and pain-free and I realized that I had gained something from Honu that I hadn't expected — confidence! I had gained a little speed, a little strength and a lot of confidence.


Back in my cowboy days we used to teach horses to "free up their legs." We would say a horse's legs "were bound up" if they weren't taught correctly. If you taught a horse to free up his legs, he'd be faster, more relaxed and more obedient. (In this photo that's me on our Tennessee Walking Horse, Jasper. One of his first rides.)
To do this you would teach a horse to disengage his hind quarters or cross one leg over the other as you asked him to move in a tight circle. Once a horse learns this, you can see a difference in his handling, his performance and his attitude. He learns to trust himself, to have a little more confidence in his abilities.

A few months ago, I was telling Karen that I wish my legs would free up the way I used to teach horses to do. I just couldn't get any speed out of them. They were constantly tight and sluggish. On occasion when I would do fartleks they would, for a moment, free up and I could feel the speed in them.

Well, today, although I'm sore, my legs felt as if they were finally freed up. They were relaxed, and I felt faster. Maybe Honu helped me turn a corner on my running. Maybe it gave me the needed confidence to achieve my next goal, the Kona Marathon.

NEW SHOES
“I still have my feet on the ground, I just wear better shoes.” — OPRAH WINFREY

I finally got to try out my Zoots today. My employer bought them for me to race in at Honu, but since I was fighting an injury I didn't have time to break them in. They are great. I'm nearly a forefoot runner in them. I've never paid that much for shoes before in my life ... wait a minute, I didn't pay for them — sweet!

THE BACHELOR, THE GROUPIE AND THE RUNNER
While I was running today past the King Kam, this woman comes running up beside me. She asks me if I have ever done the Ironman. I tell her no, but I did just do the Half Ironman.

She then asks me if I know who Andy Baldwin is. I say yes. She asks, "would you take a picture of me? It's for Andy." She shoves a camera into my hand. I stop running. She jumps in front of the King Kam sign and strikes a pose. I click off a shot. She changes poses. I click off another shot, all the while I'm thinking, "this is really killing my average per mile time."

A guy walks by. He asks if we want him to take a picture of the two of us. I say that we are not together, but thanks.

She spots the hat I'm wearing. "OMG, your hat says Ironman on it!" She grabs my hat and runs to the King Kam sign again. "Take my picture again, make sure you can read the Ironman hat."

She asks me, "So this says Kona, right?" pointing to the King Kam. Stupid me, I say, "Well actually, no. Most people recognize the sea wall and the church steeple as Kona."

"Well, let's go for a run then," she says, and off she goes toward the sea wall with my hat, which is actually a Honu Half Ironman hat. The one I got for finishing the Honu Saturday, so it means a lot to me.

We get to the sea wall with her blabbering the whole way about how she knows Andy. I click off another photo or two with her standing there in my hat with the sea wall and church steeple in the background. Nice composition. Years of being a professional photog is paying off. I'm tempted to ask her for a copy, but then think better of it. I'd rather have one of Karen, anyhow.

She hands me my hat, I hand her the camera and I take off running. Smiling, I think "T.I.K. This Is Kona!"

HALF AN IRONMAN

Well, I did it. I finished Honu, the Ironman 70.3 Hawaii. It was a fun, scary, exciting, painful, exhausting, energizing, wonderful adventure. On one hand I'm glad it's over, but on the other, I'm sad my big race of the year has come and gone. Here are a few photos that Karen took from yesterday's event. They haven't posted the official race photos yet.

The first photo is as I cross the finish line. 70.3 miles in 6 hours, 29 minutes and 36 seconds. Not fast by any means, but this was all abut finishing. I had no idea what I was doing as far as pacing. If I would have enough left to finish or what.

The next photo is me sitting down and relaxing after six and a half hours on the road.

Karen was a volunteer this year. She was a penalty tent referee. Anyone caught drafting or breaking the rules on the bike would have to report to here to serve their time penalty. One cyclist told me that he just looked at her wrong and she made him stand with his nose in the corner during his time out ... She's one tough ref. I guess all those years as a daycare provider kicked in ...

That's me way in the back with my bike. I couldn't believe how windy it was on race day. I've never seen it that windy so early. It was a great experience though. I almost wrecked three times on my bike because of the wind. It's the closest I've come to coming off the bike and it happened three times. Scary!

The last photo is taken just before the swim. I was hiding how nervous I was. On the verge of throwing up, I walked out into the water, nearly puking. Sorry to be so graphic.

I was surprised when I finished Honu that I didn't feel more of a sense of accomplishment. It was over, I was tired. The end. But after thinking about it over night and most of today. The sense of accomplishment comes not from finishing Honu, but for me it comes from starting the event. Having the nerve to get into the water with 1,200 other insane individuals. I was so close to calling it quits before the canon went off. Even asking Karen to take me home. Fortunately, she thought I was just kidding. I wasn't, but I'm more proud of the fact that I had the courage to start the race than I am of the strength I had to finish it.

Thanks to everyone who sent me good thoughts yesterday and to everyone who was there to cheer me on. Thanks Karen for telling me "Randy Wrighthouse, you are half an Ironman!" when I crossed the finish line. Thanks Bree for the on-course encouragement and cheer. Thanks to all the other Big Island athletes. We all kept encouraging each other as we passed each other along the way. Thanks Bruce for your advice and encouragement. Thanks Debbie and Marilyn for your encouragement as well.

Way to go Ariel for getting your Ironman slot.

WHAT'S NEXT?
The Kona Marathon is June 29. That's my next race, other than the local Peaman and Team Mango events. In July is the King's swim (a 1.2 mile ocean swim) and I think the Hapuna Rough Water Swim is in July as well. In the long run, no pun intended, the Honolulu Marathon is Dec. 14.