Groovin...on a Sunday afternoon

Its just so great that today is only Sunday. These few days off from work and away from Rochester have been revitalizing. The long days of Sept-Nov are over. Its now time to enjoy the holidays. Next weekend will bring me back here to Syracuse for my mom's birthday celebration. The whole family will be going to the Nutcracker Ballet, where we have the privilege of watching the production from our own private box. (These are the benefits of going with a family that has little children who would otherwise go crazy if they were in regular seating) So that will take care of next week, then the following weekend team Train-This will be having a training day session at TriSpot in Buffalo where we will be doing some performance testing and checking out the fit kits for the 2010 team uniform....very exciting. After these two weeks it will bring us to the middle of December when the holiday season is in full swing. Their will be more family gatherings on both sides of the family, less work at the office (hopefully), and overall a general time to rest and recover. This year the firm I work for has decided to extend the Christmas break a little longer than usual. Thus, I will have around a weeks worth of time off to ride my bike, run, nap, read, etc etc..This will be very much needed as the Jan-Mid April time will be extremely busy. With work and training I will definitely have a packed schedule. No complaints though, it will keep me busy and it will keep me focused. When race day comes in April that will just be icing on the cake.

On tap for today is a drive back to Rochester. I have a messy apartment with no food in the refrigerator waiting for me, back to the bachelor life for me...haha. However, I do intend on trying to search out a pair of vibrum five fingers. These are shoes the mimic barefoot running. As I have been reading "Born to Run" and conversing in some team discussions about this matter I am truly intrigued by the notion of barefoot running. What I have concluded from readings and discussions is that their is a definite school of thought that believes running barefoot is how we as humans were meant to run. This is not a flash in the pan theory, it is almost fact. History does not lie..as humans our bodies were basically made to run without big comfy support providing shoes. Our bodies already came with the necessary equipment. Simply lacing some leather around the soles of the feet gave protection against razor sharp rocks. Essentially this is what the five fingers product is.

The plan is to obtain some of these five fingers and complete part of my 50 minute run that I am planning on completing today with these finger contraptions. As these five fingers mimic barefoot running I will be looking to complete this run on grass as attempting to run almost barefoot on pavement for the first time could lead to potential disaster. Also I will restrain myself if pain does occur, there's no need to push it on Nov 29th. A break-in period will surely be needed. What I hope to gain from this is the ability to run almost barefoot about 1-2x times per week. Nothing really hard or long, just something to get the feet engaged. I look forward to giving these five fingers a try and providing a review of the experience. As of now I do not believe I would ever race in something like this but I do see them as a very beneficial training tool. Yet, I have never used anything like this before so they could be very good for me or very bad...time will tell. Either way this is a new piece of technology that I have not used yet and as such I am very excited to give them a shot.

Saturday in Syracuse

A great Saturday! Rode with fellow Train-This teammate cuse-tri today at his place. We hammered out a nice 3 hr session in front of his big screen and capped that off with a nice 40 minute run around his neighborhood. Its just sooo much better to train with another person, especially during these cold months when sitting on the indoor trainer alone can be well....a bit boring.

I am now back at my sisters place here in Baldwinsville, hanging out with my nephews and watching some football on the big screen. Staying here the past few days has been like living in a 5 star hotel that doesn't charge. I am truly blessed to have such a great family. At the moment my youngest nephew billy is playing with 4 nutcrackers and a ancient looking Santa doll. He has successfully tied the nutcrackers up with beaded necklaces and it appears that Santa is holding them hostage.

But I think the best Billy-ism of the week came when we were out on our ride on Thursday. As we were waiting at a crosswalk for my sister (billys mom) and mother I mentioned to Billy that we should count the cars until both our moms catch up with us. At this point he gives me a questioning look and says something like "what do you mean our moms? Its just grandma bee's and my mom coming." So I said, "well you see grandma bee's is my mom and your grandma', Billy comes back with this..which was priceless. In a very drawn out way he just makes the comment "verrrryyy interesting". I was laughing soooo hard. I just have no clue where he came up with that

A time for thanks...a time for family...a time for friends

Thanks - Giving... What does this mean to you?

It's meant many things to me throughout my short life. It has meant a time for making hand turkeys in grade school, a few days off during high school, a semester break during college. Even though I may have approached this holiday in this manner, the fact is that I have always been with my family for Thanksgiving. Whether I actively acknowledged it or not I was happy to be amongst my family. There is always a feeling of joy in my life when the holidays arrive. I love being around my parents, sister, brothers, nephews, grandparents. Unquestionable love is what families are all about. It doesn't matter what you've done or what your doing they will still be there for you. So this year I am truly thankful for a laundry list of things. It is amazing to think about where I was at this time last year. To put this in perspective I will flash back to exactly 1 year ago. I was in the same place, my sisters house in Syracuse. I had just found out that I had not passed my second CPA exam section. I was now 0 for 2 and I had an exam coming up the day after Thanksgiving. I wasn't that pleasant to be around. I was stressed, worried, scared, tired...and the list goes on. While my family was enjoying holiday movies and watching parades/football, I was in the basement zoned in to my computer doing review for the Audit section of the exam. It's 6:23 AM right now, last year at this time I would be up studying, this year I am up writing my blog before I hit the trails for some running...what a difference a year makes! I was truly miserable last year, the test taking process was an everest of sorts for me. It just was not easy, caused a ton of stress, and ultimately led to my body being weakened by sickness. All this test taking coupled with the life of a Public Accountant during the winter months just stunk! I literally destroyed my body during this time by not getting enough sleep, over-training in the weight room, not eating the proper food, stressing myself out to the max....

THUS, I am Thankful that I found my remedy..I have found my life source. Even before I had taken the last section of the exam last May I entered and raced in my first endurance sport (A duathlon). I loved every freaking second of it! Sadly, after I finished the race I had to go back to studying for the test at the end of the next week. This was a big one, if I passed it meant that I was done, I could take back my life and sanity and enjoy the summer...if I did not I would have to study all over again..at least a month and a half process. The good news was that I had just taken up cycling and was loving it. Cycling was giving me a good release from the confines of my desk where I racked up the massive hours of studying in front of my computer. The end result from all of this was that I passed the exam, I actually found out that I had passed after I had just finished about a 45 minute bike ride...I was kinda of in a blurred state of mind when I saw the score pop up on the computer...I couldn't believe it..the whole process, the whole long year WAS OVER..finally over. I know could devote my full attention to myself and the interest that were at my heart. It was such a great feeling.

SO I am thankful for every day that I am able to get up and swim, bike, run, mtn bike, walk, ski, play basketball, see my family..and the list could go on forever. I am extremely excited for the upcoming year and all the news challenges it will bring. I know that 2010 is going to be awesome no matter what! I can't wait to meet new friends, create new stories, see new places, take my body to new levels...its going to be an amazing ride.

For right now I am just going to take it easy. The training is done for the day. This morning presented the beautiful gift of warm weather and sunshine. Running through the Green Lakes park with my new partner in tri crime, Cuse Tri (refer to blog here --> Mike's Training Blog) Cuse Tri led me to a really nice area in Syracuse that allowed for some nice hill running, because as IMLP 2010 approaches our legs will need to be able to motor up all the hills that will be in front of us on the marathon.

Homework for the day: Enjoy the dessert today. Many of us (me included!) tend to stay away from the sweets at all costs. At least for me its something that I don't really crave. I mean don't get me wrong a nice slice of pie is delicious but its just not what I really want. I'd rather eat some more vegetables. I'm weird...but hey its what I like..But today I am going to eat a nice thanksgiving dinner..and I will probably be very full..I most likely will overeat, there will just be so much good food to go around! We wouldn't want all that to go to waste now would we? So to take my homework for the day into another context.."enjoy the dessert today"..maybe your dessert is relaxation. So enjoy it, sit on the couch and watch some tv, watch the football games, play with your kids/nephews/cousins/parents/wife/gf..etc..etc..try and make Thanksgiving 2009 one to remember. Take pictures at meal time, make memories. The times that families gather are becoming few and far between these days (at least for me). I don't live extremely close to my family, were a bit spread out. It's rare that I get to spend over 3 days at one time with them. I enjoy these times, even though they can be stressful since my nephews are young, loud, energetic, and the list continues...and I am usually tired and want to rest...funny how I actually remember when I was the energetic kid. So I keep that in mind and make sure to play with them. Make sure that when they grow up they will have a memory of their uncle playing pirates with them or racing matchboxes across the kitchen floor. Family gatherings are never perfect, they are never like the movies..unless its National Lampoons Christmas Vacation. As crazy as that movie is, its got a lot of truth to it. Family gatherings are stressful, wives are crazy over the cooking, fathers just want to sit down, kids want to go nuts. Family gatherings are a ticking time bomb. I urge you all to enjoy the chaos. Enjoy the fact that you cannot control something like that. Live every moment in practice and go with the flow....ENJOY THE DESSERT IN LIFE!

Random Thoughts on a Wednesday at Starbucks

Lately I've been thinking a lot about Zen. I really don't know much about the practice of Zen but the few concepts which I have heard have really struck a cord with me. In particular the notion of living "every moment in practice" is amazing. This concept keeps a person on track, keeps a person from being overwhelmed. We as human beings are amazing creatures. Our ability to rationalize and reason is what separates us from the animals. Yet these abilities are also our main limiters in my opinion. As humans our ability to get inside our own heads and the heads of others is what can lead to our downfalls. There is some point in every persons life when someone tells them that they can't do something. Maybe its something small like in grade school when you have to ask to go the bathroom or maybe its something big like "you're short and small without exceptional stength, you are from a small little town in the middle of nowhere...there's no way you could every play professional (insert a sport of choice here)...or "you could never be president". This makes me wonder, when President Obama was growing up I wonder what his family and friends were telling him? I must imagine that his grandmother (bc I believe that is who brought him up) fed his imagination. Allowed him to dream big. I've got to believe that he had an immense support system which allowed for this young black kid to actually believe and act on a goal as big as becoming president. With that said its not just the people around you who alter your life although it is a HUGE factor. I also feel that the people who achieve amazing things in life have an enormous belief in their own selves. This brings me to my main point. Individually we are capable of AMAZING THINGS. In reality, as cliche as it sounds "an individual alone determines their destiny". The people that succeed in life have an ability to filter out negativity. The phrases you can't, I can't, its to hard, I'll never make it do not exist in these peoples vocabulary. People that succeed in their endeavors dive in to them and do whatever it takes realize their goals. I mean would anyone in their right mind have ever thought that Lance Armstrong would win 7 Tour's IN A ROW after battling a cancer that nearly left him dead. How many people would have thrown in the towel and just been glad their survived? Not Lance, he wanted more and there was something in him that made the impossible...possible. Who know's what this something is. I believe that this something is different in every person. Each individual was created uniquely. We are each our own person, we have a unique code embedded in us. The lucky people are the people who find their passcode, who find it in themselves to unlock their true potential. And here is the kicker..I think that it just happens. People who unlock their true potential don't really know its happening because their are living in the moment, they are as the saying goes living "every moment in practice".

So who is to tell someone that they cannot achieve their goal? Why bring someone down by telling them they cannot do something? Does this makes that person feel better?..is it making up for their own lack of self-believe and internal drive? We are so quick to judge and make excuses. Instead of reasoning why we cannot...reason why we CAN! I honestly do not know where I am on my life's journey right now. I am along for the ride. When something perks up my interest I go after it..eventually things will sort themselves out, that I am confident of. Everything in my life is happening because I am living it...I do not have a set destination for my journey, my journey is constantly changing..and why shouldn't it! All I know is that yesterday when I was out for my morning run I felt different. The running was natural, I was just along for the ride. I was thinking about life, thinking about how the only way I will ever know if I can do something is if I try it. I have many goals, many dreams in my head. People that know me probably have a grasp on what they are. I am not shy about what I want in life. Why hide it? Why be ashamed of it? I want to be a triathlete, I want to make it my life, I want it to take me places far away from Rochester! I am going to strive to make this happen, yet I do not know what will actually happen down the road and nor do I care. I can tell you one thing though...I am learning all sorts of things about myself, about what I care about...I cannot be stopped because I won't let myself stop. And that's the bottom line. Each of us is unique, each of us has different talents. It's when we get caught up in "What we SHOULD be" that we get into trouble. Children don't know what they look like when their running around during Recess..they just run full bore at their maximum speed...and we as adults tell them to SLOW DOWN!...WHY? maybe we are just trying to protect them, that is a natural instinct..but that's not what I am getting at here. I am getting at the point that we need to learn from Children who run without care, who do things without thinking..they just do it..maybe its not the safest decision but heck..it makes sense to them. These children are just living their lives and letting their own emotions deviate what they do. They do not try and be someone else. Maybe the whole thing occurs when a kid starts to realize the clothing he/she is wearing. When a child begins to questions the clothing they wear..maybe that is the time that they have lost their innocence. I know that I don't remember when this occurred in my life. I just know that in all the pictures that my parents have of me when I was little I was dressed in clothing of their choice...I could care less what I was wearing. I just wanted to be able to go outside..whether that be naked or in shorts, well that was my parents decision. Ok so that was a bit of a rant but really..what I want to get out of this last thought is that when we as people let someone else dictate what we think we should do, what we look like, what we enjoy..that's when we lose our uniqueness and its that uniqueness that allows certain people to achieve amazing things! I just like many people am influenced by people and things all the time. However, in my life their have been certain milestones that have lead me to a couple key beliefs that I believe are putting me on the right track..I may not be the ipitamy of "practice what you preach"...yet and I mean YET! But one thing I will leave you with is that you should always do what you feel is right for you. Now this doesn't necessarily mean doing what you want to do all the time because their are indeed times when you would rather keep pedaling past the guy who just blew a tire..but the right thing to do is to stop and help...karma is a bitch and don't think it won't come back to bite you in the butt..So in each of your own lives strive to accomplish the things that interest you, if your friends are into it thats ok...still do what you want to do..and you'll make new friends. Don't fall into the trap of doing something just because its the norm..it everyone did this how would we grow, how would their be innovation? What if Craig Alexander (2x Ironman World Champion) believed what everyone said about him at age 30..that he was never going to be a world champion..never going to win the big one..well shoot he's over 35 years old now and has 2 titles (back to back I may add ) to his name. TRY THAT ONE on for size.

If you put thought and effort into your actions and you do what you determine is the right choice YOU WILL NEVER BE WRONG! its only that other people may see that action as wrong..but you know what WHO CARES, live your life..be happy...to my knowledge we only have a certain amount of time on earth and who knows when your times up..CARPE Diem!..(now that's cliche!)

-Matt

Big Day

I am sitting here at close to 5AM getting ready for a big day ahead. To my delight I have biking, running and swimming all on tap. I'm planning on hitting the bike in about a half an hour and then follow that with a run before work.

Flash Foward to the present. It's around 8:30 PM, Im eating a Wegman's prepared meal of brussel sprouts and chicken with some salsa...its delicious. Today was indeed a great day. I was able to swim, bike, and run without having to take off any time from work..if only every day could be so nice! However, I am pretty tired...but a good tired. Tomorrow will be a light spin and strength workout before I head to syracuse for the holidays. If your around the Rochester area tomorrow, i will most likely be hanging out at Starbucks in the morning with my laptop. So stop by, the coffee's on me.

I must say that I have been looking forward to tomorow for a long long time. I have a bit of work to do in the morning but after that I finally will have a few days off from work...weekdays that is. I will have a chance to get all the training in that my heart desires and still have time to get loads of sleep!

Umm....You Forgot some people

"Top" Athletes according to one journalist --> Click Here for Link to Article


When are athletes like Craig Alexander, Chris Lieto, and Chrissie Wellington going to get there due? I mean all they do is go out and swim 2.4mi, bike 112, and then run a marathon...back to back to back..and these above mentioned athletes do it all in under 8 freaking hours!! Johnson wouldn't be able to make the turns on the bike, he be constantly turning left and crashing into barriers, Tigers a beast but he wouldn't last 10 seconds without his trusty caddy by his side, Brady..gimme a break if he made it out of the water and somehow made it to the run I'd have to imagine his clydesdale'ish size would be his demise in the marathon...and Kobe....well I just don't think Kobe would be that great of a swimmer or biker...but maybe he could make some time up on the run if he had any energy left...which he wouldn't. Now all my jests are in good humor...but seriously when are some triathletes going to get some global cred that they deserve...ESPN needs to get on board and realize that this sport is booming and the athletes competing are some of the top human machines in the world...

Just my two cents when I saw this article tonight...

Changing the Routine...

I began the process of changing my pre-bedtime habits last night. I had developed a bad habit of sitting at my computer screen and eating dinner/snacks before bed. This really started because of all the time I spent in front of the computer while studying for the CPA exam. After the exam was over I would do the same thing...instead of watching e-learns I was watching hulu or surfing the web....this was not good for me. For some reason when I do this I just eat and eat with a never ending hunger. Now I would not say that I am fat or anything but its just not healthy. I am not properly fueling myself by doing this. In order to accomplish my goals, my hopes and dreams in the sports of my choosing..I will need to have everything on lock. My eating, my nutrition needs to be perfect...this will take a lot of time. However, last night was a good start. So here's last night in a nutshell.
My cousin Brian made some really tasty..and hot (he used lots of chili's)turkey chili. I did some stirring, but he was the master chef. It ended up being really hot for me (I'm a wuss when it comes to this) but it was no the unbearable hot of those crazy chicken wings or something..it ended up being a good hot. I really did like the chili, especially after I made an executive decision and added some cottage cheese to 1. cool it down and 2. provide a little dairy to counteract the heat. All in all it was tasty. I ate this with a salad and some carrots and when I was full I stopped! I stopped eating so that I would not overeat and feel worse later on. Usually my downfall comes after I leave my cousins house and return to my Apt. This is when I would settle into my computer to check mail, watch hulu, or just look at the news...and I would start snacking and just not be able to stop. SOOOO last night I changed this, I lived "every moment in practice". I moved some furniture around so that I would be able to read under a light in a nice reclining chair. I grabbed a book I've been meaning to read "The Portrait of Dorian Gray" by Oscar Wilde..can't say I'm hooked yet, its not really my taste but I will give it a couple more nights of reading to see if I get interested..otherwise it will be time to finish reading my running book that I left in the car last night. I think the biggest thing about doing this is that reading takes your mind of things like food, plus I decided to incorporate a nice glass of red wine to quench the hunger and put me to sleep easily. Since I have the tolerance of a 5 year with alcohol this works...I rarely have had any alcohol since probably my jr year in college...I just grew out of that phase and realized I didn't need the stuff..as such I just don't drink anymore..I have had the occasional glass of red wine before I really want to incorporate that into my diet as a little bit of a treat. I don't need much..just a little "nib" as my grandpa would say. This will be a nice treat for me..plus it has many health benefits due to its antioxidant properties. In fact many nutritionists actually will refer to red wine and some dark chocolate as a good snack. I'm all about trying new things and I really do believe that this new habit I am trying to instill will change my nighttime habits...FOR THE BETTER..and just in case you were wondering, No I will not be consuming a bottle of wine and a bar of chocolate every night..so don't worry about me becoming some raging drunk lunatic that wanders around in search of a sugar fix.

On another note...since I am sitting here in Starbucks and this cool cup with the coolest straw in the world has been sitting in front of me...I decided to buy one and use it as a really cool water bottle since this thing is diesel and has a locking lid and everything. Check it out and if you like it head to your local 'Bucks and get em while their hot--> Also I picked up the latest holiday mug from Starbucks. Ever since I started drinking coffee about 4 years ago I get their holiday mug every year...it's kind of like the Hess Truck tradition that many people have....I never really use these mugs because I have so many others but its tradition and I love to see the collection grow. Ya know its the little things in life that make it worth living.

Training wise today was a fun day! During swim class I moved a lane to the left, which for all your non pool swimmers means that I have become a little faster in the water..or at least appeared it this morning. I was very excited about this. And tomorrow I am going to be able to go to the monday morning swim class. This is usually full but my coach invited me to come as there will be some people missing because of the holidays this week. Its going to be a good week! Three days of work (two of which will be all training, and the rest of the time will just be review work from the last 4 weeks). All that matters is that in a little over three days I will be on my way to Syracuse to relax with the family for the holidays. I will have time to think about great blog posts, time to watch movies with my two nephews ( 3 and 8) who I haven't seen in a long time, time to drink coffee in the morning and read my book, and time to meet up with my fellow teammate Mike for some triathlon training...SYRACUSE STYLE!

This is gonna be good! This is the beginning of a great holiday season...I can't wait! I am going to live in the moment as I make every moment a practice.

Namaste!

COMMUTER POWER!

I had a revelation last night. This revelation actually came to me in a dream I think and it stuck in my mind because I couldn't stop thinking about it. No, it was not of some beautiful woman on the beach....Instead it was about commuting to work by bike. I know for a fact that on Monday and Tuesday of this week that I am definitely going to be in the office for training all day. With no chance that I will have to drive anywhere I am going to do my best to secure a spot to store my bike. If I accomplish this I will be commuting to work! This is soooo cool. I know that the parking garage where I work at has these Rochester city bike lockers. I am not sure if any are open for use but I am going to call the number and see what I can do. I also just realized that this will only be the start. Since I will be doing into the tax department at the end of February to help out with the Tax busy season, it means that I will again have a desk, an actual place at work that I can call my own. I will not have to be going from client to client. This is going to have many benefits for me even though it will extend my "busy season" hours. Most beneficial is the fact that during the time I am in the tax dept I will be able to commute on a daily basis due to the fact that I will be going to the same place everyday and I will more or less know the exact times I will be going into work and leaving work. In addition to helping the environment and getting some more daily exercise, commuting to work is going to happen on a regular basis at exactly the right time. Since I will be competing in a 70.3 Ironman at the end of April the extra biking that I can get in on the morning commute will be great as I boost my training hours. The beauty about being in the tax department is that I won't ever have to leave the office for client work. This meaning that I won't have to get dressed up in a suit or a shirt and tie and really nice dress pants. Therefore, I should be able to commute relatively easily to work, albeit winter snow storms...but even then I think I can get away with some snow pants..and then just store them in the locker that I home to get. So that's what popped into my head last night. I am very excited to make this happen. I do not need to much to get commuter ready since I already have a nice commuter bike that's been sitting in my garage for a good while. I've been dying to get on it but its just hard to fit in recreational riding when there's so much other stuff going on...just not enough daylight anymore. I will probably stop by Towpath bike shop and get a few goodies to make my travels easier...this excites me. I am a gadget guy and tricking my commuter bike out will be fun. I already have fenders and a light and even a bell that came with the bike, so I am figuring some commuter style bags on the back wheel or hell even a big basket would be nice..hahaha!! If anyone has any tips/tricks for commuting please let me know...I welcome all suggestions.

Where did all the sunshine go?

I hate how short the sun is out these days. I looked on weather.com and saw that today their would only be about 9 hours of daylight. 9 freaking hours, that means even someone working a standard 8 hr job would only have 1 hour to go outdoors when the sun is shining. I don't know about you but sunshine makes me feel better..its also a scientific fact..but I'm not going to get into that. I guess I just hate how I know that after work my day is shot...there's really no chance I am going to get a killer workout in at night...its just not me...and when its pitch black out at 5:00pm...might as well call it a day. Which when I can I do..As such, its 6:50PM, my stomach's full, and I'm going to bed...might as well take advantage of how dark it is

g'night

Homestretch

The past 4 weeks have been absolutely brutal. Trying to lead a normal life with the work load I've given has not been easy. There have been many many early mornings, not that I really mind that but I would like a little more sleep here and there. However, I accomplished a lot at work today. Their will be review and correcting of the work but the bulk of it is done and for this I am very glad. I just can't wait for this weekend to get here. Thanksgiving is around the corner and I am extremely thankful for that! I am really looking forward to spending a few days out of town.

For now I am going to hit the sack, im fighting a cold and I need all the rest and recovery I can get.

Until next time...

It's always better together

Thanksgiving is almost upon us. This is good, very good! Family, Food, Fun..and TRIATHLON! Yes, you heard me correctly. Turkey Day 2009 is going to be a weekend chock full of triathlon fun. As family tradition dictates I will be in Syracuse for the holiday weekend. Since one of my teammates and blog follower, Cusetri, lives in the Syracuse area I thought it would be nice to get some training in together...because like Jack Johnson says "its always better together".

The game plan as of now and which will be finalized later this week is:
1. An early Thanksgiving morning run - stoking the appetite for the feast later that day
2. On Friday a swim at the Y is a possibility, one that I hope works out.
3. If all goes well a nice long ride in the great outdoors. Hopefully the Syracuse 70.3 course! That would rock. But if mother nature decides to rear her nasty side we will settle for some good indoor trainer work, which won't be that bad since we will have someone to talk to instead of staring at a tv screen or listening to an iPod.

today was brutal and tomorrows not looking fun either...im out for now. Once this week is over I promise my posting will be better....

I've seen the Light

I was driving home from work today listening to a podcast when I heard what was one of the most profound things. It was a four word sentence that has truly hit home with me. "Every Moment In Practice" that was it..simple and to the point. The depth of this Zen based phrase is deeper than the deepest ocean times 2. I can't stop thinking about it now. I am sure I will be writing about this for days, weeks, months, and years to come...its just such an amazing concept.

I am not thinking about any races in 2010, all the work busy season in accounting brings...I'm thinking about how am I going to eat a great meal right now, how will I clean my bike thats in front of me, how am I going to figure out this accounting problem you just gave me...I'M GOING TO LIVE IN THE NOW..I'm going to take a step back and go around the anxiety, go around the stress and get right to the root of the situation. I am going to Practice in Moments because every moment I have is another chance I have to become a better person. I will break my life into moments. Moments that will collectively build and build and build...Every Moment in Practice....this is my mantra, this is what I want to attain. Its really an easy concept but it will be harder than climbing mount everest (twice, with no oxygen and only 2 snickers bars) to achieve.

Every Moment in Practice......

Live your diet..become your diet...meal by meal
Run your race...become your race...step by step
So start out small...live moment by moment...big things will happen...better yet..big things will become you and you'll hardly even know it. Because a zen masters ultimate dream is for their to be no such thing as Zen.

ZASKAR - FASTKAR

Today is going to be GREAT! First thing this morning at 7am I am going to meet up with a bunch of guys to do some road riding. I am looking forward to seeing this group because they were my inagural sunday roadie group this summer. I rode with them for probably about 6 sunday this summer but once the fall got here the end of the season races I had took over all my sundays and then all of october and so far this month I've just been so busy on Sundays with my other training that I just have not been able to get out with them. However, yesterday was a nice training ride on the tri bike with some speedwork that raised my HR for a few intervals..followed by a 30 min run off the bike. Overall I rode for 1:45 yesterday and a good clip so this mornings road ride will be a nice endurance ride of about an hour...BUT thats not it! As soon as I get off the road I am going to head to Bristol Mountain- and Ontario Park more specifically to ride Mtn Bikes again! Once again my buddy Scott has graciously invited me to the group, along with another new buddy of mine JB. I guess I will kinda of earn the invite this week since we are going to be doing work on the trails before we ride. This will be cool, I will get to see the trails I am going to ride and help out with everyone..and start to meet some new people that are in the mtn bike scene. The more connections I can make the better! Who knows who wants to offer me a job! haha. So after we work on the trails till 11, then were gonna start rolling around the paths. And this week I get to rock and roll on my newly acquired GT Zaskar...YES 1996 STYLE BABY! This bike freaking rocks! It's got so much biker cool on it that its just insane. I was so lucky to be able to swap a pair of skis I don't use to a great guy named Mike who has another kick ass Mtn Bike and as such this Zaskar was just laying around...CHECK IT OUT!

It's got Chris King hub's which I am told are awesome...and I do concur because when your ride and the wheels spin forward it makes this clicking or whizzing sound...however you want to imagine it..its a sound and its freaking cool. When you show up with a rig set up with CK hubs...they know your a biker guy...I may not be a biker guy yet but I will at least look like one when I show up with a sick retro GT Zaskar running updated wheels and a carbon handlebar, plus Chris King hubs....SICK!

A WTF Moment

Here's one for ya...So I go to Wegmans tonight and get some pasta, sauce and a pre-cooked chicken breast for dinner. As I am preparing the meal I go to cut into the chicken and slice it up before I put it onto the pasta. Sure glad I did this. It turns out that the nice people at the Wegman's kitchen decided to not cook the entire chicken breast...just the outside so it looks nice. The inside was raw...I'm no food expert but unlike Steak its my understanding that people don't order their chicken....still bloody..or really rare...and this was no ahi tuna platter for the sushi bar...so I was most certainly like WTF...I proceeded to putting it onto the stove and recooking it because going back to wegmans would have been way to much of a hassle. Anyway, that was a weird occurence. So if I can give you one tip today, its that you should always check your food if you did not prepare it....

im out, big day tomorrow..today was big to, details to come later.

night,

mjc

Hey Mary...This one's for you!

I know you've been in the game a heck of a lot longer than I have but if there's one thing I know we have the same opinion on its this...Why do we do Triathlons? Why do we wake up at 4:30AM on a regular basis when most people are in a deep sleep? Why do we go and swim instead of nursing a hangover from the night before? Why do we travel across the country to take part in a race? Why do we spend obscene amounts of money just to put bodies through the torture of an Ironman?....

I know this could be answered in MANY MANY ways but I thought I could sum it up with 1 photo...1 picture that explains it all! I am not quite sure how my mom caught this on the camera but you'll see....

Do you see that? Do you see that smile on my face? We do this because we love it! We do this because we are the ones smiling, were the ones that finish a race near tears because it feels so damn good! I haven't raced with you yet but I can say with certainty that you agree....With that said ROCK AND ROLL THIS WEEKEND!!! Kick butt and take names down their...all while doing it with a giant smile... sooo GOOD LUCK!!! We will all be cheering you own from afar.

Her number is 1049. Go onto Ironman Florida 70.3 or Universal Sports and track her!!

There's a light at the end of the tunnel

It's thursday and I couldn't be happier. Thursday morning have become my mornings to catch some extra sleep since my main training for the day is swim which is at 6:30 tonight. Normally I would be up early anyways but since I've been working out of town this week and will be next week as well every bit of extra sleep I can get is important. I know that next week the hours will get very long and I won't be getting home until very late...hopefully I will have rested up enough to allow me to get my training in...I am so adamant about being able to run and bike because this is what releases my endorphins and keeps me happy, its what gets me through those long days of work. If I don't even have the chance to exercise for 1 hr a day I am miserable and my work/life will suffer..and we all don't want that to happen.

There's lots of things I am looking forward to doing this weekend. If the weather permits I am going to ride and run outside! I am hopefully going to mtn bike on Sunday with my new (its an old bike) but new to me mtn bike that i traded my skiis for. I will get to track my coach as she tackles the Florida 70.3 in Clearwater..athlete tracker is cool!..plus to my knowledge it will be covered on UniversalSports.com..maybe some air time??? who knows...

In the nature of being scatterbrained...I am sitting here at my desk looking at my Leonardo Action Figure, from the Ninja Turtles..It makes me think about Saturday mornings during my younger years (ok last week...) when I would get up to watch all the awesome cartoons that were on. My cousin and I would play with the action figures, making forts for them, or ziplines for them to fly down on...the possibilities were endless...those were good time! Maybe I'll just have to break out all the old turtle stuff at my home in PY this weekend and play with them for an entire afternoon...

With that said its time to come back to reality and get in the shower. I will be driving down to glorious Restof NY to the salt mines for work...but I have Masters at 630 and I am bound and determined to get out of work at 530 and make it to class! I will not be deterred!

-MjC

Question of the Day?
What was your favorite cartoon growing up?
Extra Credit? Do you still have the action figures to that show?

ummm.....

going to bed early again...so no long post but I will say this yogurt, peanut butter, ezekiel cereal, and some raisins are really tasty and addictive!

Almost Bedtime

Its Tuesday..another long day that started at 4am has ended. Instead of trying to write a blog right now I am going to go to sleep and try to get as many hours in the sack as I can..I have about 2hrs of training I want to do before I leave for work at 730 tomorrow morning....lets do this!

I hope you'll understand my lack of correspondence...

Another Monday...down the drain. Is it Friday yet?

Today was a bit of a whirl wind. My monday sleeping in day was rudely interrupted at 6am in order to get ready and head to the salt mines of geneseo to begin an audit. The trip is about 45 minutes but I had to get coffee, get food, shower, shave, etc.. etc...But I am glad that it only takes 45 minutes to get there. This means that I should be able to get all my workouts in before I have to leave for work without a problem..

With that said I am going to hit the sack..I need all the sleep I can get.

I will post more and better things when time permits..my apologies for the brevity.

oh yeah...just wanted to let ya'll know where you can find me next November. Panama City ....Ironman Florida here I come! yyeeeeeee

Your Body is A Temple

Call me conceded, call me a narcissist, but I love my body. By body I am not referring to the outside physical appearance. Instead to me my body represents an engine. An engine that I am constantly tweaking and working to improve. I can say this was always the case. I must confess that for a time I was indeed consumed with the quest towards outwards physical appearance. As with anything that intrigues me, I throw my whole self into that world. As such I developed a love for weightlifting in College. I lifted all the time, and loved it. I loved how I held the proverbial sculptors chisel. I alone determined my size, my shape, my weight, etc..etc...This was all and good but it's just not me. It took me away from my friends, my family..it made me someone who I didn't like. Not that I was doing anything bad...quite the contrary, it has led me to a healthy diet and even led to some new friendships. It's just that that sort of thing isn't what I am about. What I truly love is being outdoors..engaging in all kinds of athletic endeavors. I was not created for short bursts of insane speed, instead I was built to endure. I was built, both in body and mind to outlast. That is why Triathlon appeals to me. It's not really about how fast you can swim a lap..its about how fast you can swim 100 laps...many things in both sport and life equalize over time...think about that the next time you feel your world crashing in upon you. Sure at the moment things go wrong it can look REALLY BAD, but give it some time, an overwhelming majority of the time, balance will be achieved. I believe that I am living proof of this. I was neither a saint nor a devil during my teenage years. I never went insanely nuts and I never was Mr perfect. However, this ended up providing balance in my life. I truly believe that if I had been on either spectrum of good vs bad that I would not be where I am today...at 23. At 23 I feel that I have achieved a level of knowledge that is allowing me to see my path much more clearly. By no means do I have 20/20 but I know can understand how I can someday get there. Life has taught me a few really important things..I am going to try and list them..(this is a working draft..as it always should be )
1. Do What you want to do!
If your not doing what makes you happy then you need to re-asses your decision making. Life is way to short to be unhappy. There are just to many options out there, don't box yourself in.
2. Be your own person!
Don't just try to fill in the box in regards to your personality. Be you and no one can hold that against you. Eventually you will fall into line with people that you mesh with..then you won't even feel weird..because you'll realize that your not weird, your just you. You were born a certain way and no one can take that away from you. For better or worse. Use the skill sets that you were build with. It's when someone finally discovers what they were made for when BIG THINGS can happen. I mean not every car is build for the same purpose..their mini-vans, sub compacts, sports cars, SUV's, dump trucks. Each serves their own purpose. Within each excellence can be found. Some people are lucky and they find out what they were built for at a young age. Some people find out later in life. In my opinion it doesnt really matter. You might say that well Matt..it would be better to start out young. But I would say to you..but even if your older and you discover your calling you are going to be just as driven, possibly even fresher than someone who has been on their path all along..so who knows maybe this could be a good thing

3. Remain tight with your family!
These are the people who will stand by your side no matter what. They love you for you and will do anything for you. Treat your family like gold. No matter what I know that when I see my family, I am going to feel welcomed. It does not matter how much time has passed since we last saw each other. Whenever we re-connect we go on as if we have seen each other every day. I did not have the opportunity to grow up with my brothers and sister since they were from my moms first marriage and are a lot older than me. However, growing up I was lucky enough to travel with my mom and see them wherever they were...I have had the opportunity to visit may countries and many places in the US because of this. I am extremely lucky! Its also must be said that whenever I have spent time with these half siblings I have been treated as if we grew up together. They truly love and care for me. They did not need to grow up with me to feel these things. They feel these things because we share a common bond...were blood..my mom is there mom, and my dad helped raise them. Idk, I just feel lucky that I know my family cares about me, they care about what I am doing. My parents constantly are making the trip to Rochester just to have dinner, or bring me something I left at home, or bring me medicine, or stopping to see me if I am sick, or coming to some race I am doing...My family is unconditional..I hope that everyone reading this feels the same way about their family. If you don't then I really would suggest making it a point to connect with your mom, dad, sisters, brothers..cousins...might just be me..but FAMILY is huge! Don't take them for granted.
4. Keep in touch with your close friends!
Friends make everyday life easier. Friends are my favorite drug. No matter how crappy or how tired I am, whenever I am around people who I consider my friends I get a high. I love being around my friends. I have developed some great friendships over the last 6 months. Friendships that I can honestly say are mutual. It couldn't be more exciting. With each passing day I am finding more and more things to do. I am seeing more and more paths opening up to me. I may not have a million friends, thats just not me..but the friends I do have really mean something to me. I would do anything for my friends. That's how much friendship means to me. It can be lonely living alone, I can attest to that. I work all day and workout and all this stuff and then I don't really have people to share that with. But that's begun to change, I know have developed friends who are into the same thing as I am. I know how a circle of people that I can talk with, hang out with, go mountain biking with, go road riding with, go running with...its amazing! I wouldn't trade them for all the tea in China. (Idk if China still has a lot of tea but back Im guessing they used to because thats a pretty old saying)

5. Find what makes you comfortable and strive to live in the comfort zone.
This goes along with the post I wrote earlier this week. If your living within your comfort zone...your inner circle if you will, you will not only achieve your own true potential but you will be helping those around you achieve your own true potential. Why? Because, if hang around people that make you feel good, that make you better, and those people keep coming back to hang out with you...then something has clicked...some universal connection has been made! Do not let this go! Together people achieve more. 2 is greater than 1. I will not guarantee that if you find a training partner in your discipline of choice that you will become faster just because. However at the same time I do believe that finding a training partner will makes you faster. Wait MATT! Didn't you just contradict yourself? Yep, I sure did. I say this because just by training with someone you might not get faster...I think that by training with someone you will develop a bond, something that makes you want to ride a little longer, a little harder. You may get up in the morning and get that extra workout in when you don't feel like it because you want to be accountable to your partner. Even when your not training with your partner on a certain day, you still want to hit your training goals so that they don't jump ahead of you. Thus, running with another person might not make you faster just because, it might make you faster because of the happiness you develop, the accountability you feel...those sort of things. So in a round about way..2 is greater than 1. Together everyone certainly achieves more. It's just finding the right people that's the hard part. Its like finding the damn center puzzle pieces that fit together...that's why you start on the edges...build your foundation, discover what drives you, what makes you, YOU!...then you can customize..then you deck yourself out.

With that said I also would like to note that going out of your comfort zone every once and a while is important too! As person we grow through adversity. We learn from mistakes. Trying new things can open up whole new worlds, whole new perspectives. So even though the ultimate goal is to be comfortable in your own skin, you need to make yourself uncomfortable every once in a while in order to maintain some type of balance..the yin and yang if you will...because I guess overall....How would you know if your truly comfortable if you never make yourself uncomfortable? Try that one on for size!

Getting back to why I love my engine. Because even though I or anyone else can buy all the gadgets, and latest technology there is...there is still no substitute for getting yourself into shape. Its the person on the bike that makes the bike fast...NEVER the other way around, unless you have an actual engine on the bike that is run by either battery or gasoline..but that doesn't count. Plus how cool is it to look unassuming at a race..not mr ripped or anything..but just kinda avg...and then go out in the race and kick ass! Flying under the radar...but flying a light speed...This has stopped me from wanting all the newest and coolest all the time. Obviously I am not a walking billboard for that statement since I have a couple top notch bikes IMO...but like do I really need a carbon fiber aero bar set? No..and how much more kick ass is it going to be if I pass someone that does...ok that's conceded but whatever its getting me out the door to ride again this afternoon.

Later peeps....

MjC

11.7.09

My real post that I was working on today will make it up tomorrow. I had wanted to put it up tonight but instead I decided to take some much needed time to relax and watch a movie with my cousin. We watched The Wrestler..a pretty good flick, very interesting indeed.

Overall, I had a great day today. Master's in the AM, then I got a chance to bike with Jochen, a train-this teammate, and even ran for a while in mendon ponds..

Tomorrow I am going to have my first real mtn bike experience..I'll be heading out to dryer road in the AM to tear up the trails, CAN'T WAIT

Alight..until tomorrow morning when I am sitting in Starbucks working on the post...

GOTTA GET MY SLEEP..NIGHT

Whoaaa...Whoaaaa...This is what I wanna Do...Lets have some Fun!

BOOM BOOM BOOM...I wanna swim..bike...run!

what a great song..hahaha

This is what it has come to I guess. I've officially lost my mind. I've seen to many numbers this week, done to much auditing...all thats rattling around in the empty expanse that is my head is the thought of going outside to run in a few minutes...oh wow..iTunes genius is on a roll this morning, MMMMmmmBop just came on...do I really still have these on my iTunes? Who am I kidding I just bought it last week.

It's 5:52 AM..lets hope this run help my brain get rejuvenated.

It's 7:24PM..i just got home from my haircut..it looks great in case you were wondering. I am completely and utterly exhausted. My brain can't even function enough to write a decent blog...I am going to retire for the evening and start up fresh tomorrow before swim..

Goodnight All

Discovering Rochester's Hidden Gems

My work as a public accountant has lead me to a new section of Rochester that I have never before visited. It just so happens that then Eastman School of Music is located on the opposite end of East Avenue from where I reside. This unique section of Rochester is located right before the city turns into the truly dumpiness that is "downtown Rochester". This street is called Gibbs street and it is where the Eastman School of Music Students spend their time. It is a really lovely place, reminiscent of an actual nice City. It has a couple cafe's and a really nice Coffee shop called Java, which currently sitting in because the clients have yet to come into work. Java is a really cool place! It has a lot of comfy chairs and has a really "old time" feel to it. Almost like an old soda shop that has had a bit of an urban renewal that better suits a laid back and mellow coffee crowd. They seem to use many local producers to make their various bakeshop goodies, which look amazing. I may have to pick up a few of their organic granola bars and the like before I head to masters swim tonight (I am hoping and praying work does not preclude me from getting to practice) I am going to make every effort to leave work at 6. Luckily the clients here at Eastman kick us out at 5, so i figure no matter what I can just slip out then and disappear only to re-appear around 8:15 after my 3000-3500 yards have been completed.

Overall I would have to say that Java will become an occasional stop for me to make on my bike or on a run...maybe even meeting someone to chat. Starbucks, the coffee giant, mainstream to the max is still #1 in my books, and they just recently brought out their holiday cups (which I am very excited to see, I have been collecting them ever since I began my journey into the realm of coffee 4 years ago). With that said I will still be a Starbucks regular...its comfortable, I know the people, etc.. etc..but its nice to know that Rochester actually has some nice areas. I see people riding commuter bikes, opening their macs, studying, doing homework, fathers with their kids...its just like a different world..a world which I am desperate to immerse myself into. I want to be in a place like Boulder, like Austin, like Denver...like Lake Placid...these are the places that make me feel comfortable. Isn't that what its all about? To feel comfortable in the life we live. I really believe that when a person is comfortable in their own skin that they can then unlock their true potential. When a person stops worrying about pleasing others, looking like others, acting "in the normal, accepted away",..this is when they evolve and attain their true potential.

Movember!!

As the month of November begins, let us take a moment to reflect on the beauty that is "Movember." I am extremely jealous of the people who can observe Movember. I did not take the opportunity in college to do this and I seriously regret it. If you are not familiar with Movember let me clue you in on what its all about. First of all check out the main Movember website http://ex.movember.com/. Basically Movember is a month to grow out a mustache and raise money for charity. How cool is that. I would be looked down upon at my job if I decided to do this at my level..I could probably get away with it since its for charity and everything but I just don't want to deal with the comments and everything from co-workers, it would be REALLY annoying..so I will hold off for now..but one of these years I am going to begin the tradition of Movember and rock my mustache for charity with some serious pride and who knows the mustache might just remain on me for good...I mean just look at some of the best mustache's their have ever been...these guys really knew how to rock them with style! As a note I must say that by no means am I advocating what these men did in their lives (i.e. Adolf) I am purely displaying various men who wore mustache's and wore them quite well...whether they looked hideous or extremely manly.

In no particular order..feel free to comment on their overall ranking or included ones that I missed because there are a ton and I just don't have the time to think of all of them:




1. Steve Prefontaine - It's been said that Pre's Mustache had aerodynamic qualities that allowed him to run at the speed he did. His stache also made a great place to hide a little snack so during his run he wouldn't even have to reach into his pocket for nutrition. Pre was certainly ahead of his time in many many ways!





2. Mark Spitz








3. Michael Phelps







4. Rollie Fingers - What can you say? Rollie's mustache is a piece of artwork. How intimidating of a pitched must he have been..I mean to stroll out to the mound, knowing you were rocking the coolest facial hair in the stadium..HUGE confidence booster IMO.






5. Tom Sellek - Can't knock it...




6. Hitler -Bad dude with a weird stache. He rocked it with confidence....even though he had issues.








7. Matthew McConaughey - Umm...McConaughey, he's buddies with Lance so that makes him cool in my book, even though he has a tendancy to not on t-shirts and never leave the beach...wait a minute, thats freaking awesome. And he lives out of a airstream trailer! I take back anything bad I ever said, the dudes living an awesome life and making big bucks doing it...im jealous! He should grow this stache back!










8. The Beetles - The Beetles were gods. Still today they take on the giant that is Apple, still demonstrating that they have the type of mojo that comes along with sporting a mustache.











9. Ron Burgandy - Burgandy had to be in here...how could you leave him out? A man that can tell a whole city to 4 letter word itself should definitely be wearing a mustache.





10. Mel Gibson - No Mel!! Absolutely NOT!




New Additions: Thanks to CJ

Bert Reynolds:



The Hulkster aka Thunderlips if your familiar with Rocky III, which I just happened to watch yesterday.



It's A me...Mario!

11.3.09

Today's been an absolute blur. I was up at 4:30 to get my work on the Trainer in as well as some Functional Strength at the gym. This was without a doubt the best part of the day. I guess the good thing about my work this week is that its very tedious and time-consuming but it makes the day go by very quickly..plus the client kicks us out at 5pm...gotta love that! Even though I will still have to complete some work at home later tonight...its still home and not at a clients site.

I have one suggestion for everyone that rides an indoor trainer during the winter. If you watch Rocky 4 and start watching it for like 10 minutes before you start a 60 minute spin..and your plan is a 15 min warm up and then 4 - 5 min big gear spins...it ends up working out perfectly that the last 5 minute interval is the training montage when Rocky is in the Russian Wilderness..moving cars off the road, lifting sleighs with entire family's on them and doing insanely crazy ab workouts...

Well its 8pm already..today has come and gone. The blog has suffered today because of it..my apologies. I have a really good topic up my sleeve..now I just need to find some time..Tomorrow will be another wicked early morning in order to get my training in before work. PRIORITIES!!!!

When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. ~H.G. Wells

This story begins in the shower, but don't get your hopes up, there is nothing "fishy" going on here. Like I said, as I was showering after my morning swim today and a fascinating thought popped into my head as I was looking at my bottle of Pert Plus shampoo. Before you write me off as a complete lunatic (if you haven't already), hear me out. What popped into my brain was the saying that Pert has on their bottle "For all types of hair"..Since I rarely remember to bring soap to the pool, but I always have my Pert which says is for "all types of hair', and a human body is essentially covered totally in hair (for the most part)..am I covered here? Can I say with a clear conscious that I indeed washed my whole body? I am not concerned with the cleanliness aspect as I ended up showering upon returning home..but I just wonder...is using Pert on your 2001 body parts the same thing, minus the nice moisturizers as a bottle of shower gel? It's these type of thing that I really wonder about. So if one day you see me looking very intent as I stare into the oblivion...you can with good faith know that I am not trying to solve the great mysteries of life. Most likely I am thinking about shampoo, or why my ears keep getting plugged with water at the pool, or how ear wax come to be? This is in case you might ever avoid talking to me for fear of interrupting something important...so if our paths should cross please smack me on the head and say "what's up".

Getting somewhat back on topic I figure I will let you know a little about my second cyclocross race that I took part in today. First things first...the parking for this little even was probably a good 1.5 miles from registration. Now I am all about getting some warm up time on the bike...but c'mon this was a long ways away. Since I would need to use my wallet to register and need water to fill my bottle and other various things..this meant that I would need to traverse the path from my car to registration not once, BUT twice! But seriously I am not complaining I just thought it was funny that it was so far away. I guess the only thing I am kinda ticked about is that I put my wallet into my bike bag after I got back from registration. Since the bike bag was placed in my apartment upon arrival home after the event, the wallet was carried along with the bag...and not returned to its proper resting place in my pocket or car glove box. Needless to say I happened upon Starbucks later in the evening, walked right up to the counter and suddenly realized I had no form of currency or plastic to cover my bill...a dilemma indeed...(Apparently Starbucks does not currently take personal checks...figure that!) I'd like to say that I sweet talked my way out of my bill..but that would be lying..and slimy. Instead I scoured my solo coin cup that I keep in my car...buried in the bottom were the treasures I like to call quarters...you will never see the quarters on top because I have used all those up and I have not had the urge to dump everything out and re-sort...Anyways after some nifty spinning of the solo cup I extracted numerous quarters which to my jubilation covered my bill for the Starbucks Via Instant Coffee that I so crave at the wee hours of the morning when I awaken from my slumber..on another note...it's nice to see the sun during my morning workouts again..I wonder how long that will last? I can wait for December 21st or thereabout when the days finally start going the other way and daylight lasts longer and longer..until finally its light out until like 9PM...that's such a nice thing...it means that if I can sneak out of work at like 5:30 I can still ride from 6-9pm in very bright daylight...that ranks as very nifty in Matt Curbeau's world, in case you wanted to know.

Geez, I got off topic. Back to the race. All in all it was a very good race. Extremely fun indeed! The field was packed with all the big guns in the area since it was the final race of a three race series put on by local bike shop, Full Moon Vista. So the big guns were out in full force to try and lay claim to the top prizes..plus their was free beer after (or before) the race..so I am guessing that enticed a few more people to show their faces. Anyway, in my opinion the race was more physically grueling than last weeks race. There was a lot more climbing involved and a lot more high speed descents. I feel that these high speed descents and technical cornering are where I seriously lack, and lose A TON of time. The good guys can absolute haul serious booty in these sections..and they are not expending much effort doing so..as for me I am using every ounce of concentration and willpower not to crash..as luck would have it I did not take any spills this week! Quite an improvement over the 8-10 I took last week. (I think I exaggerate the amount of times I crashed last week every time I talk about it...just sounds cooler I guess..kinda like that 20 foot bass I caught when I was 10 years old..or was it 20 inches..either way I'm lying my ass off...I grew up on a lake and the only fish I have managed to wrangle in have been insanely brain cell deficient sunfish that live to eat the most delicious of people food...burnt hot dogs and moldy bread...I swear the best fishing day I ever had was when I caught the same dumb fish about 3 times in the matter of 10 minutes...needless to say I am no bass master and I will not be competing in any "Fish Derby's" in the near future..even though sitting in the freezing morning air, alone, with your line in the water sounds like a hoot and holler of a time...but I can't really say anything..I am up at the same time planning ways to make my body say "What the heck matt! Didn't we do enough yesterday?"..so I do not mean to de-grade fishermen or fisher-women in any way..instead I look at them with awe in how they have the patience that they do..

Sooo...the race was awesome indeed...I actually managed to complete 10 laps in 1:07. This put me in 30th place out of 71 finishers (I think)...so its a little better than middle of the pack...I'll take it! I still want to be fast...no better yet I am dying to be fast..I say "I'll take it!" but deep down what I really mean is..gosh darn it (im trying to keep this family friendly, insert any explicit's you deem necessary, if you deem them necessary at all) I want to be in the top 10, I don't care if I don't have much experience I wanna be with the big guys! Moving on...There really was not enough OMG moments for me to narrate the entire race...but overall it went like this...starts out kinda flat, immediately goes into climb mt everest mode, followed by a hold on tight downhill, which leads into two hairpin turns, then a 20 foot maybe, 90 degree hill..ok it wasn't a 90 degree angle..but it was steep...however it was short and I was able to get up it every time without a problem..most people were able to as well...at the least the ones I saw, this was then followed by a short uphill and another good length descent. After this came a bit of paved road where I could mash on the pedals...but don't worry there was trouble up ahead..a nicely placed run up that included a hurdle and a good bit of mud too! I guess this section is what you could call "The Beginning of the End for Matt Curbeau"...I had made it 8 out of the first 10 times very nicely through this section. However on the last two laps...where it was important for me to finish strong because that's where I could make some time up with the juice I still had in my legs...the bad news was that the mud from the run-up section had clogged both my shoes and pedals...lacking knowledge of how to extract the mud and lacking the experience with these types of pedals and shoes...I proceed to race the next section of the course..which is all uphill on a little bit of pavement and then a lot of grass..with 1 freaking legged..my right leg would clip in and for the life of me I could not get the left clipped in! I was literally inching my way forward with my right leg...(so to compensate for this exertion I will only be lifting weights with my left leg this week...you know.... to compensate :)..lol in reality I am just saying this because I found it funny..I don't really think it had any bearing on my race...maybe I would have finished a couple spots higher..oooo yey 28th instead of 30th....the fact of the matter is that it didn't matter and I wouldn't even talk about it because I DO NOT want to make excuses..but it was funny and I needed something for you guys to laugh at and make fun of me for.

So...with that said...the good guys did 11 laps, some mediocre fellas including myself did 10, and a few more did 9...The only bad thing is that I think the cyclocross race season is coming to a close shortly..I am not really sure if their are any more races going on...but if you know of any I am all ears!!! Let me know!

To read of not to read?

Wow, isn't it nice to look outside at 6:35AM and see light, gotta love daylight savings time! (That is if you are a morning person)

Last night I finish Dan Browns book "The Lost Symbol". A very entertaining read and really makes you think...also it makes you want to head to Washington DC and check out everything he is writing about.

With that book complete I think I have finally found my "reading legs" again. I say this because during down times in college, summers, and trips I can absolutely demolish books. I will chew them up and spit them out without batting an eyelash. Mind you these are all not brain mangling theory journals (more like Bill Bryson's latest comedic historical account, or the latest Sports best seller, or anything relating to Mr Harry Potter), but anyways reading is reading in my mind. Reading is something that I wish I had taken a liking to a lot sooner in life. Why? Well for various reasons but I'll condense them into a few major points: 1. Reading would have made middle school and high school classes a lot easier, instead of speed summarizing a book 10 min before a test/quiz or frantically searching spark notes, or seeking out someone who had actually read the book...I could have just read the book and easily managed my way through the examination..actually writing about how I felt not just BS'ing my way through it (although I must say I could usually BS my way to a good grade, lets not kid ourselves, this was a public highschool), with that said I somehow made an amazing grade on my 11th grade English Regents, you know the one in NY State that you have to write like 4 essays in 2 days and if you fail you can't go on to 12th grade english and you can only take the exam in December or June..well anyways without any prep work (my 11th grade teacher was awesome, all the other classes were writing like 40 essays in 40 days to prepare, well we didn't do any of that, instead out teacher gave us a few tips. The graders just want to see that you can string a few words together, so write something that makes logical sense, use good grammar and the key words that they are looking for based on the question asked, and keep it short...these people have a lot of papers to get through.) Needless to say I received a 98 on that exam, one of my proudest accomplishments in highschool. Reason 2. I've now read almost all the books that I "ignored" in high school, and here's the best part..I actually enjoyed them...I have even re-read many...if that's not a kick in the pants idk what is. Reason 3: I would have realized that I really like to write (maybe this post isn't a great example of my proper english/grammar/whatever conventions you are thinking about) but I really do like to write, take notes, etc...I keep a moleskin journal with me at all times now..you just never know when something cool is going to happen in life..and when it does I want to WRITE it down. Take for example the other morning at the diner...as I was ordering my breakfast the eldest waitress was ringing some people out at the register. Well let me tell you, she said the word "Honey" to these people, I kid you not 15 times in the matter of 1 minute. How do I know this? I started a tally in my moleskin..it was ridiculous, every sentence she said ended with a "Honey". Even if it didn't fit..she still said it..I think their might have been a time when she has asked someone "with your toast, would you like Honey?...Honey" now if I heard that I might have to excuse myself from the diner because of the fit of laughter I would be having...anyways I was alone so I didn't have anyone to laugh with...but on the inside this kind of stuff just gets me..BACK MY 3rd reason...I would have realized that I love to write and that I should go to college for journalism or something like that...something where I would be doing things that really interest me and things that I would not mind pouring my heart and soul into...i mean agreeing a companies financial records to their support just doesn't really do it for me..don't get me wrong its a great learning experience, everyone should understand the business world that we live in...but really I can't honestly say that I am driven to tie and agree.

So! Onto the next book in my que. "Born to Run" I have read a couple chapters but I am not going to dive deep into the book and get it done. I will report back when I am finished with it..I want all you followers to bug me and make sure I am keeping up. I have lots of books that I want to get through and now I have the motivation again, my brain has recovered from last years menacing CPA exams. All during the time I was taking the CPA Exams..I would think..boy I can't wait until I can just read whatever I want to.."I'm gonna read all the time"...well after the exams were over I wanted nothing to do with books..I wanted to sit in front of my computer, search the web, and watch tv shows on hulu that I missed during the week...but I think I am through that now. Yes, I will still catch up on my favorite tv shows on hulu while eating breakfast..BUT..now I am back in reading mode...its a nice place...gets me to bed earlier to!

In the book que:
Born to Run and Chi Running (1/2 way through)

PS: It's now 7:15 and the sun is shining brightly outside...wooohooo!

Alright, it's time for me to get going to swim class. It's another great Sunday before my 3 weeks of hell due to work begin. Cycloross racing at noon today at Ellison Park. I'm really looking forward to this, no matter how I do its a hell of a time and a great bit of exercise. Maybe if I have enough energy I'll get a race report in this afternoon..time will tell.

Have a great Sunday!

-MjC