Completed the Race

This has really been a goal of mine since college. The Sri Chinmoy 1 mile swim, 10k run in the La Jolla Cove and Shores beach. Never got to it in college, but last Sunday I did it.

The swim was good. I had confidence I could swim the mile and the La Jolla cove is a nice place to swim. Only problem with the swim was swimming in a straight line, which I found hard to do.

I'd swim for a while, then look and find myself away from the other racers.

I looked for a black line to follow like in a pool, but didn't see one.

The run itself was actually nice too. Thought I would suffer, but didn't at all, just motored right through.

Took about 31 minutes to complete the swim, 50 minutes to complete the run, for an overall time of about 84 minutes. I was a little slow in the transistion.

The kids and wife were there as I finished, so it was a fun time and another goal accomplished.

Currently looking for another race. My goal now is to maintain 1 mile/10k run fitness.

Big Race Sunday

MY big race is coming up this Sunday. 1 mile swim and a 10K run. The swim is in La Jolla Cove, a truely nice place to swim, lot of ocean without the waves and lots of fish. The run is 5 loops around La Jolla Shores beach. Not crazy about loop races, but I should make it.

Been doing a lot of training and I'm currently exhausted which isn't good for racing. So I'll shut it down here for a few days and rest.

I'm a little nervous about the swim. I think anytime you are in the middle of the ocean you'd feel a little nervious. There are plenty of SD City lifeguard patrolling in kayaks, I should be ok.

The run will be a slog, by which I mean, I'll complete it but none too fast.

I've been swimming up to a mile and beyond in training for three weeks now. But my run is a little behind. I got up to 6 miles on Tuesday but probably should get in another 6 miler to improve my confidence.

The rule for this race is slow and steady. If I'm slow and steady, I'll finish.

Goal all along with these races has been to improve my health and I do feel a lot better. I'm drinking a lot less, eating better, and looking slimmer. I've lost at least a size and half on my waist.

As they say in baseball, it's a nice problem to have.

So goodluck and catch the results next week.

My Son and the Piano

First off, we really don't have a piano, only a organ or electronic keyboard. We will get a piano someday and one main reason is because my son really seems to be interested.

This is every parents dream, to find something that your child is interested in. It's only been about 5 months so his interest may wan (and this is one reason we don't have a paino). But for now, its fun to watch him learn and play.

I play the guitar and am a pretty decent hack, but I don't read music and that fact has brought me to a plateau that I have never gotten past with my playing.

So, with my son, I wanted his to learn to read music even if piano is not the his instrument of choice. And over the last 5 months, he is learning to read music and liking it too.

As parents, I think we secretly observe our children for signs of things they are good at. We want to help them find a place in the world. It's part of raising them.

Often, we wish they where good at something, but we know they are not.

The success with the piano and out son is a great surprise. Lets hope he sticks with it.

Gay Marriage and Sex

My wife, always astute and succinct, said that the ban on gay marriage comes down to sex, really the fear of gay sex.

People think that even though gays would be married, they would still be having sex with others, thus eroding the great tradition of heterosexual marriage and fidelity.

Hmmm. This idea relies on the heterosexual misunderstanding of gay life. Are they having sex all the time with many different partners? I don't know. The gay friends I have don't appear to be having sex all the time with many partners, but I'm not around all the time.

Can we possibly make a constitutional amendment based on heterosexual ignorance of gay life?

I say let gays marry and let them have all the legal protections that come with marriage.

I'm sorry to see the Senate tied up on this issue. I hoped they would pass the amendment and send it to the states. That would really freak out a lot of people about the direction the country is heading (read, far religious right) and get them to vote Bush out.

Angry at Bush and Co.

I'm reading Snow Falling on Cedars (listening actually). Bout Jap/Amer during ww2. Lovely book, really, a little slow. They had a nasty scene where Marines try to get a beach head on some Pacific Atoll during the War. Lot of guys killed in terrible ways and there was such a wasting of men. Main character gets arm shot off.

Anyway, made me very angry at Bush for wasting our boys/girls in Iraq, this guy who never saw combat because he was on the Champagne Tour in the TANG. Cheney got his deferment from Nam, and I bet Rumsfield and Wolfy dodged Nam as well. They never went into combat, yet have no problem sending the sons and daughters of other people to fight an urban war in a country that posed no threat, had no WMD, and no links to AQ/911.

Christ, these men are true blowhards. Political survivors offering the arms and legs of our children to fill their tough guy/tough country fantasies.

That is a story idea I have:
Navy Seals trained to defend the US are wasted by political idiots-all except one.