My friend Charles is training for a triathlon in British Columbia next month and I'm doing a few sprint triathlons during the summer so he's been joining me now and then for my open water swims in Lake Washington at Seward Park.  There's a great cove there with several bouys and lots of people do their swim training in that area.  Most people just swim out and back to the first one but I hate it when it's crowded so I've started swimming in a triangle course around them.  Charles mentioned that he's always wanted to swim completely around the park which juts out into the lake.  It's about 2.4 miles, beach to beach which is the distance he'll have to swim in the Iron Man in BC. 

 

I was hurting from running the Seafair Torchlight 8k the night before (I bonked at the 2-mile mark, it was so warm out and I had to trudge to the finish line down a parade route lined with 300,000 people) but I thought the water might actually make my sore legs feel better.  It did!  One more note about the run.  I like to stay and cheer for the final finishers.  This year I actually knew one of them, PW, a VP with the now departed Seattle Sonics. 

 

Anyway we tried the swim and it was much easier than I thought it would be.  Granted Charles ate a pizza before the swim and didn't wear a wetsuit like I did, but I was cruising the whole time and actually kept stopping and waiting for him as the pizza thing didn't go over real well.  I had been a little nervous because two years before I couldn't complete the Fat Salmon Swim, which was over three miles between the I-90 and 520 floating bridges in Seattle.  Actually, I could have finished it but I was going too slow and everyone behind me was pulled out of the water and soon every single support boat and paddleboarder was right behind me.  That was pretty embarrassing and took the wind out of my sails.  Also very windy that day and the water was so rough.  (Tangent Man has struck again, making a short story long....but let me continue lengthening it.)

 

Anyway, I climb into one of the support boats at the 2.25 mile mark and onboard are a local news anchor, KCPQ 13's Bill Wixey and a really gorgeous female lifeguard type, oh man was she cute.   I wasn't so concerned about Wixey seeing me give up but no guy wants a really cute girl seeing him as a quitter.   To make matters worse, I was the last quitter of the day so I had to slowly ride back in the boat which was now trailing the only other guy in the swim that I could see.  It was a slow ride in.

 

So the Seward Park swim was a redemption of sorts.  I finished and felt great.  I could have swam for quite awhile longer in fact.  The one downer was that when we reached the beach, someone had stolen both of our towels and a pair of old flip flops I had borrowed from his wife.  They left Charles smelly old tennis shoes and took everything else.  Nice!

 

 

 

Well I completed another sprint triathlon, the Seafair Triathlon last Sunday in Seward Park and I was pretty happy with my results.  I set a new PR, finishing in 1:21:40, which was 53 seconds better than my previous best, set in 2003.  It was also almost seven minutes faster than last year's time so I was really happy. 

 

I did the swim in 14:40, which was also a personal best by 1:20 (also set in 2003) but had a sluggish transition to the bike, going 2:50.  It's stupid but I had a sock inside out and I actually took the time to take it off and put it on again rightside out.  Kind of stupid and I'm not sure why I couldn't wear it inside out, kind of funny.  I was really concentrating on the bike portion and I really pushed hard and missed another personal best by just 23 seconds, finishing that in 37:58 which was way faster than every other year except 2003.  I might have done better if my breaks hadn't been sticking and squealing and I've got to get a roadbike before next year.  I was kicking butt for a hybrid rider but I just couldn't stick with some of the road bikes on the downhill and long straightaways.  I flew through the bike to run transition in 1:09 which I was pretty happy with.  The run was another PR by 3 seconds, finishing in 25:02.  That time ranked 502nd overall so that was my worst segment despite being my best time ever.  I really pushed hard in the others and left the run to sort itself out.  I had some lactic acid built up at the start and managed to push through it. 

 

With the wave start, you can read people's ages on the backs of their legs and see how much time you've made up on them.  The last mile and a half I was passing back and forth with a 24-year-old woman.  She re-passed me coming down the heartbreak hill with a mile left and then I got her back when she had to stop to tie her shoe.  Coming into the finish line I wasn't kicking too hard because I didn't want to pull anything.  Suddenly I hear the crowd roaring and since I wasn't about to pass anyone, I knew someone was about to pass me.  I saw her shadow too late and she had momentum on her side to nip me at the line.  She did manage to help me fend off another guy my age by one second though.

 

I finished 333rd out 1405 finishers but 48th in my age bracket. (110 in the age bracket, 677 men overall)  Had I been two seconds faster, I would have placed second in the women's 50-54 age bracket and I would have been 4th in the men's 60-64 group.   That's inspiring that those folks are beating my butt. 

 

My swim time ranked 370th, bike time ranked 387th and run was 502nd.  I only dropped 15 places overall in the run so I hung in there.  Normally my worst leg is the bike, so there were a lot of fast runners this time.  I hit all my main goals.  Only thing I didn't do was go under 1:20:00 but that was my pipe dream goal.  I really only trained hard for 3-4 weeks and I only ran a couple of times so hopefully I can get another few races in and show more improvement.

I love the headlines on MSN today involving crappy Seattle investments....(pun intended)  First the city is trying to sell some really expensive self-cleaning public toilets which ended up being used mostly for drug deals and prostitution.  They're trying to sell on eBay but so far no takers.  This even made New York Times website.  Here's the MSN link.  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25721700/&GT1=4300

 

Speaking of New York, the Yankees are picking up some other expensive Seattle crap, the $50 million dollar flop of a first baseman known as Richie Sexson who was battling the Mendoza Line again this season.  (hey personally I have no problems with the guy but he stinks it up on the field.)  Of course the Mariners will pay the majority of his $14 million owed this season while the Yanks will kick in $390,000 as the pro-rated minimum.   He may turn it around in the Big Apple playing only part time but if he continues playing like he did for us, he will get eaten alive by the media and the fans. 

 

We sure know how to spend money wisely in this city....We just flush it down the toilet.

In news from Eastern Lewis County....

 

Over the past weekend, French president Nicolas Sarkozy along with 40 leaders launched the Union for the Mediterranean. One of its aims will be to bring fresh energy to the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations process.

 

Okay, you're asking how does this tie in to Lewis County?  Well it's a stretch but one world leader missing the Union Meetings was Jordan's King Abdullah II.  Why wasn't he attending?  Not really sure but on Sunday afternoon he may have been eating lunch in Randle, Washington, a small town on the White Pass highway.  A tipster alerted me that while she was eating lunch in a Randle Cafe (after attending her White Pass High School reunion) the place was overrun with state patrol officers and secret service agents.  The staff was tight lipped but later it leaked out that the King was passing through the area.  Did he stop to eat or was it just the staff dining?  Not really sure about that but it was exciting for the locals either way. 

 

Apparently the King was accompanied by his wife but no other details were released at this time.  Maybe they were touring Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Rainier, there really isn't much else in the way of international tourist attractions in the area.  No word on whether the King will return in August for the Morton Logger's Jubilee Lawnmower Races.