"Just to see"

It was a solid training weekend being a holiday weekend and very busy busy busy. Saturday Aunt Katie watched the kids so Amanda and Scott went running with me. We met at the Saratoga entrance and it was an hour run in the woods (5-6 miles) followed by a 15 Kilometer bike ride. I am using Kilometers because the cool gadget on my bike that list how far I have come is only in kilometers.


Being the smart guy that I am I threw out the instructions (instructions? who needs instructions) so now I can't figure out how to switch it to miles. I am remembering now that I am not so much the smart guy as much as the smart-ass guy. Doh! Anyway if you want to convert it to miles it's like multiply it by .6. That is more math stuff, that us smartass guys usually leave to the smart guys when we can. It's not that I can't do math in my head, I could. It is more that I am saving my brain pathways that would be doing that for more important stuff that might be coming soon. I am a planner, and I plan on using my brain later. So I have plenty of free pathways without traffic jams.

On Sunday the 4th it was too busy to get any exercise in, unless I count the 45 times little man rode his bike up and down shore ave. My 4 year old, well I have two now so I better clarify. My youngest or newest 4 year old is totally in love with his new bike. So in love with it he rides down the street mumbling or whispering" me love my new bike" or "me love my blue bike" it is hard to tell. If you have ever seen the sitcom "on ABC called "The Middle" he reminds me of brick the youngest son when he repeats himself. I think he is trying to put more milage on that thing than most Tour De France racers do. He went for a ride with me and then with his cousin Ally and then his cousin Brian and then his Uncle Andrew and then with Grandma and then his mom and then back to Daddy some more. He would probably still be riding if we had let him.



So Monday (thanks to more family babysitting) we swam Goss the lake at the coldest part of the day. This was not suppossed to be a "just to see" what it would be like to walk around with numb feet for awhile. This was a make the most of having a babysitter. That is why we had to swim without waiting to see if the day would get better. Or in my case to for a mile in 30 minutes and then ran the 4 miles of what will be the tri's running course. Amanda and talked about what a benefit we normnally get because we usually run a 5 mile loop by our house. Our loop includes either a half mile horrible hill called Heggenes Hill or a long slow mile climb on Dear Lake road. The Triathlon course is a lot easier because after you get off the bike and up the first hill it is either level or gradual the rest of the way. So it was during this run that we were talking about Amanda competing in a half Iron Man this fall. This is when the subject of "Just to see" came up. Which is this nefarious answer to the question which sometimes you ask yourself. "Why am I wanting to do this" It may range anywhere betweeen an internally whispered dialoge or all the way to an external exclamation in rage, "why am I doing this?"

The nefarious answer is: "Just to see" if I can do it.

What? Oh okay.

Now wait a second. When you think a little farther along that question you begin to comtemplate the horrible truth. This leads to much self doubt about if you love yourself or not because the idea you would accept that answer so readliy is proof you need therapy.

Nefarious defined is "utterly immoral or wicked" for us here in this rant it is enough to say NOT GOOD.

"Just to see" If I can do the race leads to much suffering and toil.

Think if we used same logic with what we eat? "I am not sure if this plant will make me puke or give me frequent and excessive discharging of the bowels producing thin watery feces, usually as a symptom of gastrointestinal upset or infection." But I am going to eat it "Just to see". Would our friends really let us continue on that path? The next time you are hanging out with people whom you consider your friends ask them "just to see" if they would punch you in the neck because you want to find out if you can take a punch like that and still breath normally? I mean is that not the same thing as someone saying I am going to do a half Iron Man "just to see" if I can. Consider for a moment if you can't do the event. Your bound for a nefarious destination then. At the bottom of a lake? , or on the side of the road in a ditch mangled together with a heap of metal? Or stumbling and blithering along like an idiot savant on the side of a highway somewhere reminding people why it is not safe to pick up hitchhikers.

Ask me again why I am doing the Triathlon and I will smile and say "Just to See"