Post Race Hoopla...

I have to say... Racing again felt great... nothing measures progress like competition. Long race reports are a drag so I'll keep it short...

Prerace... got to meet some fellow bloggers.. Pink Guru Gal and Kathleen... Great to finally meet you guys.. Kinda weird.. never truly met, but I know a few details of their lives and them mine.. Hopefully one day we can get together for drinks or foolishness without aerobars or goggles...

On with the show..

The swim.. my heat was huge.. Clydes, Athens, u19, and relays.. it sucked.. The first 10 seconds went well then someone turned on the washing machine, and I got beat all to hell. After the initial beating, I got a little pissed.. recovered, however the damage was done. my goal of first out of the water was a pipe dream.. ended up 5th clyde on the swim...

T1... went well... 1:33... a relay swimmer stopped directly in front of me to take off his chip and I was moving too fast to stop... I hollered, got my body around his, picked up the bike but the rear tire didn't quite clear his head... oh well, when the train is coming through get the fu*k out of the way... Riiiight?

The bike.. flat and fast... got passed by one clyde in the first 2 minutes. However I didn't let him out of my view... avg 20.6, still need to work on this... 5th in Clyde on the bike..

T2... :37 seconds.. I had a bad spot for t2 in the transition area, could have been a bit faster, but not much...

The run... had the fastest Clyde run avg 7:40 mile... Each Clyde that got ran down, I made sure when I passed them ( and they saw the "C" on my left calf) I was giving it all I had, so they wouldn't chase. At the finish line there was nothing left.. Despite my best effort I knew in my head there would be no need for waiting for the results. But I did... and... BLAM!!!






I know... its just a sprint, but its my first... 1st place... great reward for my efforts.. Now I want more...

More training... less pacing... more hammering... Maybe, I'll look into moving to Florida to train with Ryan (Mr.Caught on the Run) as he would have put me in my place...

New Objective, Train hard on the bike... Go hard on the bike... I HATE getting passed!!

Maybe lose another 5lbs???

Pace Less Hammer More...

Pre Race Morning

Today, I popped out of bed at 3:45 am feeling great and ready to race. Yesterday, at the same time I drug my ass out of bed for "baby duty" questioning our reasoning for reproduction...

Pre race rituals are interesting... Some eat a baked potato the night before, some people relax and mentally prepare themselves by getting extra sleep, and some stay up till 1am drinking Bloody Mary's and emailing blog peeps... hummm, I might need to try the Bloody Mary thing... :)

Pace Less Hammer More....

I'm still here...

Its Friday!!! Thank goodness... these last few weeks are flying by collectively... but each day I'm getting more and more behind... New baby, New job, New Schedule, Tri Training, Sleep, Life... My blog posts are hurting, not that they were all that great to begin with. Not that anyone cares or even reads this abyss of foolishness...

My training has been reduced to darkness. Most days I have two training sessions... 5am to 6:15am, then again after the 18month old goes to bed (whatever time that is)..

Racing a sprint this weekend in Sugar Land, TX. First tri this year; due to my knee taking a dump on me after the marathon...

Also, My brother signed me up for the couples triathlon in Austin next month. Team name... The Axis of Evil... hahaha... future flights will require more time after this race... It was that or Brown Eyes (My wife suggested that one)...

Pace Less Hammer More.


The "Axis of Evil" was - and is - very real, as the tyrants of Iran, Iraq, and North Korea knew full well.

Michael Ledeen

Who's Yo Daddy???

As I turn the page once again on the book of life, I look to reflect on what once was, what is, and what will be. But like hitting a brick wall my thought process comes to a screeching halt as I have a premonition while running in the dark just a few minutes ago. Running in the dark is one of the most relaxing things for me as for once my big ass in invisible to the world, well kind of.. Thus I'm able to think through what ever insanity is ailing me at the moment, as it seems to change by the minute...

So as I finish up my run, things are prioritized in my head, which basically means the really dumb things are forgotten and the logical and less dumb are numbered 1 and 2... Most everything this week revolves around the new addition. When I look at him I hope for great things, I tear up a bit at times. Then while running I had this thought...

This is me and my boy.. Notice the features have similarities. Big hands, big feet, for Gods sake his head is almost the same size as mine and he's only 18 month old... I'd like to think its pretty obvious that he's my kid. Now look at the picture below, and compare it to the first picture of the newborn above...

No one in my family has blond hair!!! My wife's blond hair, isn't really blond.. So who's kid is this?? She always said that Owen Wilson was her type... Humm.. and doesn't he live in Austin?? Well, she did spend a few night in Austin last September for a bachelorette party...

Honestly, I don't mind... Anyone know what child support is paying if the kid belongs to an A-list celebrity???

Just a thought.. maybe I should have doubled my run???

Retraction, Yes Please...

So, my last blog was posted May 17 and in it I said:

"Tomorrow is the infamous "due date" which is never really the case so I could have registered for the Silverlake Triathlon, but I didn't. Let me rephrase that, I wasn't allowed!!! All hail as the pregnant lady enters the room and blesses the masses with her presence. Then demands that thou not race on the "due date" as it is against GOD... "

Well, I was wrong.. Your saying to yourself, Mike is never wrong! but it happens from time to time... My wife got me up at 3:45am on the 18 (the due date) to tell me she was calling the hospital because her contractions were only 6 minutes apart. Since the hospital is an hour away, we were on the road by 4am. This is my second time to make that drive, and it is on my top ten list of exciting things. It makes me feel so grateful for everything I have.

As we approached the Pearland exit (where Silverlake is), and in between contractions my wife notified me that she had seen what I had posted just a few hours earlier and thought an apology was in order.

I'll skip all the details... Adrian Michael Tarabay was born on his due date. May 18th 2008. 11:52am... A beautiful baby boy weighing 9 lbs 12 Oz's, 21 1/4" long..