Fun with Mason

Here are some fun things we have done with Mason lately:

We finally had some warm weather the other day so we walked to the park near our house. Mason is still learning about parks. He was a little scared on the teeter totter. He's not sure what to think about slides. He liked the swings after a minute though and of course his favorite part was eating sticks and dirt. We tried to limit that as much as possible, but I think he still got a lot. 

I taught Mason to bang the sticks together instead of eat them. This worked for a little bit.

It looks like Mason is saying - "Mom is it ok if I climb up this?"

We have also been waiting for the weather to warm up so we could get a bike trailer and take Mason for bike rides. We got a trailer this week and went on our first bike ride today. We all really enjoyed it! It will be such a great way to get exercise and have fun with mason at the same time.

Our Little Rockstar

We got out our rock band stuff for Mason to play with. He loved it!

Help Me Make A Documentary About Training For An Ironman

As many of you may already know, I currently have a project up on the website 'Kickstarter.com.'  This is a website where people try to raise funds for creative projects they want to make.  In my case, I am trying to raise funds to be able to make a documentary about training for and competing in my fourth Ironman Triathlon.  I recently competed in my third Ironman distance Triathlon and took third in my age division; I am really excited for my fourth Ironman and I am hoping to make a documentary capturing six months of intensive training leading up to and culminating in my competition in the Expedition Man Iron distance Tri in Lake Tahoe/Reno, NV.   

Please take a moment to visit my project via the link below.  There are pictures and videos from some of my previous races, as well as a video I created explaining the documentary I hope to create. 

Here is the link to my project:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1939322499/what-it-takes-to-be-an-ironman

If you feel inclined to support my project, it only takes about 5 minutes to make a donation and if you donate even just $1.00 it will help me out tremendously! 

Ironman #3: HITS - Naples, Florida

I recently completed my third Ironman distance Triathlon.  I participated in the HITS Triathlon series race in Naples, Florida.  We were lucky enough to have friends that live in souther Florida that let us stay with them which made the trip not only fun because of the Triathlon but also like a vacation with friends.  I set a new personal best for the 140.6 mile distance Triathlon.  I finished in 11 hours and 46 minutes, two minutes faster than my previous best which I set at the Chesapeake Man in 2011.  Also noteworthy is that I finished third in my age group and got a prize.

Review of the HITS Triathlon series:

I thoroughly enjoyed my first race with this new Triathlon organization.  It was a relatively small field, which I actually prefer over the masses of the Ironman event in Coeur d'Alene.  It was much easier for family and friends to relax and enjoy the day while they weren't watching me come in or out of the transition zone.  This race is well-worth the cost.  I think the strategy is to attract racers by charging less for race entry, and I believe that this will pay off for for the HITS organization because it was a great atmosphere and worth every penny.  At this point, I could see myself doing two or even three HITS events a year before paying the cost of just one trademarked 'Ironman' event.  I had a chance to talk to the race director after the race and it made me even happier to be supporting his organization.  He was very nice to me and my family and made us feel like he really appreciated us coming out for the race.  I've never had an experience like that at any other Triathlon of any distance. 

The course:

Swimming in the Gulf of Mexico was fun.  The water was very flat, and the temperature was 70 degrees.  I can't think of anything more to ask for in terms of the swim.

The bike course was a long 56 mile trek out, and then 56 miles back.  This made it a little lonely at times since there weren't a ton of other racers or spectators during certain stretches of the bike ride.  It was also fairly humid and hot, which sapped some of my energy.  The course was flat though which helped me log a pretty good time.  One thing that could have been better was that the aid stations could have had more than just water and sports drink.  It would have been nice to get bananas or other nutritional foods during the bike ride.

The run was also flat, and there were good aid stations located throughout the course.  The run was two 13.1 mile loops, which was nice because I could see people at the halfway point as I was finishing the first loop and starting the second. 

They had pretty good food afterwards and it was overall just a great environment.  I think my friends and family had a good time being there.  I would fully recommend a HITS Triathlon race to a friend and I definitely plan on doing another one as soon as my schedule allows. 

100+ Audiobooks

Shortly after I started riding my bike to work, it dawned on me that I should try to find something productive to do during the two hours a day I was spending commuting to and from work.  When I drove to work, my options were limited basically to just listening to music or the radio.  When I rode the Metro to work, I could play games on my iPod while listening to music or whatever, or I could read the newspaper or a book.  Luckily for me I don’t get motion sick very easily so I could spend the entire time on the Metro reading, even while the train was underground.  When I switched over to biking though – something that didn’t shorten or extend the amount of time I spent commuting, it just changed my commute from stressful to satisfying and rewarding – I basically just listened to music the whole time on my iPod.  This was cool at first, but after a few weeks or maybe even a month, it just hit me: “I’m listening to the same songs on the same playlists everyday…what a waste of time!”

I had heard and seen countless ads on the Internet for Audible.com, a website that sells audiobooks, and I immediately knew that I should give this a try - and the rest is history.  I started listening to audiobooks and haven't ever stopped.  I got free audiobooks from lots of places: the Alexandria library, the Arlington library, both libraries' online selection of audiobooks which could be downloaded instantly, audible.com (almost always through free promotional offers), and I even bought a few.  I've learned that just about any book is out there for free through one library system or another, or through Audible’s never ending promotions. 

A few weeks ago, I hit the 100 book mark, but have already gone through another four or five since then.  It’s amazing how many books I am able to listen to by just using the time I spend commuting listening to books instead of music.  I find listening to books to be an extremely rewarding experience.  I know not everyone would benefit from listening to books as much as I do – some people can’t focus on audiobooks as well as if they were reading the physical book.  Fortunately I don’t have any issues listening to and following the books I listen to.  In some ways, it is even better than reading the physical book.  This is because there is no skimming or glossing over sections when you're listening to an unabridged audiobook, you have to hear and experience each and every word the author decided to include in the book.  Furthermore, when it is the author himself reading the book (which is rare but not unheard of), you get to experience the book with all the emotion and intonation of voice that the author himself had in mind while writing the book.  All in all, I truly love listening to audiobooks.  Deciding to get into audiobooks was almost as good of an idea as starting to bike into work was. 

More Triathlon Milestones

For the first time, I swam 6 miles this week.  That doesn't sound like very much, now that I am actually typing it out on the computer.  I went to the pool before work three times this week and swam 3,200 meters (2 miles).  I hadn't ever swam this much in one week. 

In regards to my running and biking training that I have been doing, I also recently met major milestones.  A couple weeks ago, I reached the 1,000 mile mark for miles ran this year.  Last week, I hit the 6,000 mile mark for cycling.  Since then, I have already biked another couple hundred miles. 

My motivation for my third Ironman distance Triathlon in a little over a month remains solid; although I will be glad when I don't have to worry about getting all the swimming work-outs in.  Swimming is the one aspect of Triathlon that I still struggle with.  In my swim this morning for example, I was pretty tired.  I had woken up at 4:00 am and ridden 13 miles to get to the pool with enough time to swim 32 laps (it is an Olympic distanec pool) before having to bike 5 miles to work (I will also bike 14 miles home from work today as well).   

I am not sure why I struggle finding the motivation to work hard and improve at swimming because I actually do think its fun.  My best guess is that it is because swimming is the hardest of the three sports that make up Triathlon.  This is sort of a strange phenomenon to me.  The swimming portion of an Ironman is 2.4 miles, and the time limit to be finish that leg of the race is 2 hours and 10 minutes.  This is by far the shortest part of the race, in both distance and time.  Nevertheless, I find it to be the hardest sport (out of running, biking, and swimming) to make significant improvements in.  It is not that hard to shave off a few or even a lot of minutes off of a marathon run, if you are willing to put in the effort.  In terms of biking, the time it takes to bike 112 miles will dramatically improve if you just stay consistent and train for it -- or at least this has been the case for me.  Swimming is just so technical though.  If I work my tail off, train and really push myself in the pool, I would be lucky to shave off a few minutes from my 2 mile swim workout.  I guess that's the way the sport of swimming is though; afterall, in the Olympics world records are set when swimmers make improvements of just hundreths of seconds.

Mason is Five Months Old!

Wow, I can't believe Mason is 5 months old already (as of October 30)! Time has gone so fast. He has already grown and changed so much!
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We love Mason's blue eyes!

Mason Eats 'Solids' and Other Awesomeness

The following pictures and videos are proof of how awesome Mason is:

Mason's First Halloween!

Mason had a very exciting first Halloween.  First, we went to an awesome Halloween party at our friend's house. Mason played for a few minutes and showed off his cute costume and then went to sleep in the pack and play. Next, we went to our ward trunk or treat chili-cook off and Mason went trunk or treating.  Then we took him trick or treating for a little while.  I think he enjoyed being outside, seeing all of the people who said he was cute and talked to him, and being with us.  He sure got a lot of candy! We let him play in the candy pile and he liked grabbing all the candy and hearing the crinkly sounds and trying to put it all in his mouth.  He was a fly. Chad was a spider web, and I was a spider.

Mason's not sure what to do with all of this!

He sure likes it though!

He's going to have a real sweet tooth just like his dad when he gets big!

Thanks to our friend Chance for this great picture from the trunk or treat!

I taught these 2 older girls when they were in first grade. Their family came with us to the trunk or treat.

Nats Clinch!!!

The Washington Nationals won the American League East Division on Monday night, and Michelle and I were there to be a part of this historic achievement. Some friends of ours had two extra tickets and were nice enough to invite us to go with them. The tickets were ground level, in center field, right behind Bryce Harper! As the season in MLB draws to a close, the teams that are in playoff contention start figuring out how many games they would have to win or that the closest contender for their playoff spot would have to lose. This number is called the 'magic number' in baseball. Going into Monday night's game, the Nats' magic number was down to 1. This meant that if either the Nats won or the Braves lost, the Nats would become champions of their division and clinch a playoff spot. The Nats were down most of the game, and they did in fact end up losing the game. Right at the end of the bottom of the eigth inning though, right before the Nats went out to bat to start the top of the ninth, the anouncer informed the crowd that the Pirates had just beat the Braves, and that the 'Division Champion Washington Nationals' would be going to bat. All the scoreboards and monitors throughout the stadium showed that the Nats were division champions, and the crowd basically went crazy. It was for precisely this moment that I had wanted to attend the game. It was fantastic! Of course, it would have been nice if the Nats won their game and then celebrated the division championship, but this worked too. When the game was over, and the Nats were back in the locker room, the monitors showed them celebrating (despite losing). I am looking forward to playoff baseball more this year than in any other past year that I can remember. I am even thinking about buying a Bryce Harper jersey (they're not cheap!).

50 States Bike Ride

Yesterday, September 22nd, I participated in the '50 State Ride' that went all throughout Washington D.C. In a nutshell, this bike ride was 66 miles long and took each cyclist for a ride through all 8 districts of our nation's capital and - at least briefly, but sometimes for a significant distance - on each of the 50 streets that have are named after each of the 50 states that make up the U.S.A. We literally traveled to every corner of DC, along bridges that crossed the Potomac River in a couple places, weaved our way in and out of some of the richest and poorest neighborhoods, and through many gorgeous parks and areas of our nation's capital that I otherwise probably never would have known existed.

 

My favorite places were riding along Pennsylvania Avenue and riding right in front of the White House, riding along the Potomac River and seeing all the fresh seafood vendors at the National Harbor, criss-crossing in and out of the heavily wooded national parks such as Rock Creek Park, and any time I could see one of the beautiful monuments or memorials such as the Washington Monument as a backdrop while I was riding.

 

The ride started at Adams Morgan, which is 10 miles from where we live. Thus, I had an extra 20 miles total at the beginning and end of the 66 mile bike ride. I am glad I did the whole ride and stuck it out to the end, but to be honest it was really a really gruelling bike ride. Doing this type of mileage in a busy city, with no roads closed, requires a lot more energy and fortitude than it would on a trail or traditional bike path. Specifically, the constant stopping and going at stoplights and not being able to hit a consistent speed or stride due to traffic, stop signs, and the many turns made it a challenging bike ride. I believe that this type of bike ride required just as much mental and physical fortitude than a 100 miler - if not much much more!

 

While there were hundreds of us that all started out at the same time and place, as the miles and hours passed the group of us at the front got smaller and smaller. By the very end I was one of a group of just 5 that led the way and finished first. As the ride went on - it ultimately took about five and a half hours to finish - our group started to chat less, hang our heads and pant heavier while stopped at stop lights, and became more and more anxious to just finish the ride. I never even got my fellow cyclists names, but by the end I know our small group felt a sense of comaraderie, watching out for each other on the streets and signaling to cars where we were going. When we finished at Adams Morgan where we started, 66 miles and five and a half hours later, it was kind of a strange feeling that it was all over; we had just spent so much time and energy informally working as a team and watching each others' backs, and then it was just, "well, seeya layer!" The ride officially ended with everyone going to a nearby bar and everyone celebrating, but obviously that wasn't for me. I was anxious to get home to Michelle and Mason and spend the rest of the day recovering with them.

The link below is a map of the 2011 50 State Ride, which was more or less the same as this year's, in case you are interested in seeing how we were able to navigate our way through the city and get to all 50 State streets.

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/51850216

Training and Ironman Update

I have signed up for what will be my third 'Ironman,' each in a different calendar year.  I did the Chesapeake Man in 2011, I did the Coeur d'Alene Ironman this year, and in January 2013 I will be participating in the HITS Full (Ironman) Distance Triathlon in Naples, Flordia.  I like the fact that each of the Ironmans will have been in a different year.  It is my goal to do at least one Ironman every year for...well...for forever!

I thought my next Ironman was going to be the NYC U.S. Championship in 2013, but after I volunteered at it this year and signed up for it for next year, they sent out an email saying that they rushed into opening registration for next year's event and that they had to work out some logistics as well as how much it would need to cost before opening registration up for the event.  They sent out full refunds to all who had registered for next year's race, and to be honest, I am really glad I got my refund.  The race was extremely expensive, way more than I ever thought I would pay just to sign up for the race, not even counting transportation costs or anything else.  I had signed up for the race because I felt it would have been silly to have gone all the way up to NYC and volunteered at the race with the intent to sign up for next year's race and not go through with signing up, even though I felt sick when they told me how much it was going to cost.  After reflecting on the whole experience and the cost of the race, it was welcome news when I got the email saying they were suspending registration and all would receive full refunds.

This experience led me to reflect on my future in the sport of Triathlon and the potential costs involved with it.  As I have grown and progressed as a Triathlete, the sport has become more and more expensive.  I do not plan on slowing down, but I do plan on choosing races more strategically; otherwise I don't know how I would afford to do at least one ultra distance Triathlon a year for the rest of my life.  At the same time that I learned I would be getting a refund for the 2013 NYC Ironman, I got an email from a new Triathlon company called 'HITS.'  They sent out an email saying that while some companies that put on Triathlons were starting to take advantage of the growing demand and charging more for registration, they would conversely be making their events affordable and more open to all athletes by offering an extremely low price for the Full Triathlon distance if you signed up over 4 months in advance.  This price is a mind-bendingly low $150!  It may not sound like it, but that is unheard of cheap for a 140.6 mile Iron distance Triathlon.  It took me all of about 0 seconds to get over not doing the 2013 NYC Ironman and instead sign up for the HITS race in Florida in 2013.  Furthermore, the course in Florida is 'flat and fast,' as they say, and will be conducive to me reaching my goal of finishing the race in under 11 hours.  This is a goal I am taking very seriously.  I have incorporated lower body weight training to give my legs the extra strength to keep going towards the end of the race that you can't get from just logging tons of miles on the bike and running.  I have also started doing interval training while running to also help build more strength for ultra endurance events in my legs.  I consider this to be part of a more advanced, technical training that I was not ready for earlier in my career as a Triathlete.

Having said that, let me bring you up to date on my mileage for the year in training:

Running: 784.9 miles

Biking: 4,498.65 miles

Andrew's Wedding in Nauvoo

 

 

It was our good fortune to spend the last week of summer break in Nauvoo, Illinois and then Indianapolis, Indiana, attending my brother Andrew's wedding and spending time with our new extended family.  Seeing my little brother Andrew get married to his beautiful wife Lauren in the Nauvoo temple was undoubtedly the highlite of the trip, it was even one of the proudest and happiest moments of my life.  Congratualtions Lauren and Andrew!

Spending time in Nauvoo was incredible!  We lived near Palmyra, New York, for a year and got to visit all the Church history around there many times.  I thought Nauvoo would be more of the same type of Church history -- not that that would be in any way bad, I just thought I would be seeing the type of stuff I had already seen before.  I was totally wrong.  Nauvoo is such a special, unique place.  One thing I certainly didn't realize going into the trip was that Nauvoo is still a very very small city, and the layout of the city that the early Church members created is still completely intact.  You can walk down all the same roads they did, and visit many of the shops and buildings they created (either the actual origianl building or restorations).  Nauvoo was different than any other Church history we've done (Missouri, Ohio, New York) because the history is the entire city; you don't have to drive from point A and then drive to point B, you are literally experiencing Church history the entire time you are in the city.  It made the sacrifice of the early Saints so much more real to be in the city they built, but had to abandon. 

Visiting Carthage Jail was an amazing but heart-breaking experience.  Carthage jail, being the place where Jospeh Smith and his older brother Hyrum were encarcerated when a mob stormed the jail and murdered them both, holds a lot of emotion.  It was sureal standing next to and looking out the window Joseph tried to escape out of when he was shot twice in the back and twice in the chest and then collapsed through the window.  It was similarly sureal looking at and touching the door that the mob shot down and broke through to get to them.  The bullet whole is still in the door where a member of the mob shot Hyrum in the face, killing him nearly immediately.  Visiting Carthage Jail was an unforgettable experience; my admiration for Jospeh and Hyrum was great but grew even more after seeing and envisioning the way they boldly and fearlessly left this world, standing by everything they had preached that led to their deaths. 

Masons' First Baseball Game

Last Friday we went to the Nationals baseball game with our good friends Chance and Jenny. It was Mason's first baseball game.  He had a lot of fun, but was pretty worn out. He slept almost all day the next day. :)  We had a lot of fun too! The Nats won the game in a great comeback in the 8th inning.

Mason's Favorite Toy

Here is Mason playing with his favorite toy.