One month

One month since my last post. Yes, I'm alive.

I haven't been very inspired to blog recently. No real reason other then a lack of inspiration and interest.

But I figured a post to let people know I'm still alive would be nice. Let's see..what's going on these days:

- Still going out a lot. A few mini-black outs. But nothing too dramatic to warrant a post onto itself (not including July 4th weekend in Vegas..but I'll leave that post off here). I've got a handful of pics on my Flickr site. That's probably a better place to check on a regular basis to see what I'm up to. I recommend viewing the sets on the right to see the pics grouped into a more logical order.

- I'm not training for any marathons or triathlons right now. And it feels GREAT! I'm still keeping in decent shape, but it's nice not feeling the freakish desire/need to work out 10 times a week. Good luck to my buddy Merrill on doing Iron Man Lake Placid this weekend! His first.

- I just came back from the worst business travel trip ever. Even worst then my last trip to Jersey. My boss and I were flying from SF to San Antonio for a meeting. We had a 1 hour stop over in LAX and were scheduled to land in Texas at 11 PM. Kind of late considering we had a 7:30 am meeting the next day. Bless our luck, but a power outage causes most of the airports in So Cal to shutdown. Our 1 hr layover becomes 5. We land in San Antonio at 4:30 am. A lovely 2 hrs of sleep for an all day meeting. Wheeeeee. *whine* *whine*

- I'm flying to Bangalore, India next week for work. I am really excited about that. My first time and I'll be gone for about 10 days. I hope I don't get food poisoning and crap my pants..again.

- The day after I get back from India, I'm off to Vancouver for one my best friend's weddings. Congrats Schaubnuts!! I can't wait.

- Watched 2 Indie movies recently at my neighborhood indie theatre - Lumiere:

• Heart of The Game - One of my favorite movies of the year. A documentary that follows a high school girls basketball team for about 6 years. The natural and unforced drama in this movie put Hollywood shit like Coach Carter to shame.
• Lady Vengeance - I oddly watched this movie by myself in the theatre..completely drunk. Don't ask. It was a weird night. Here's a combo that doesn't work so well: artsy fartsy korean movie, subtitles, drinking-drowsiness. I fell asleep 3 times in the movie. I had no fucking clue what was going on. All I know is there is one mean bad ass Korean chick in this movie.
  

- Watched 2 Hollywood movies back-to-back a few Sundays ago.

• Superman - Loved it. I enjoyed Batman Begins a lot more. But I liked Superman Returns more then the first 2 X-Men movies and Spiderman 2.
• Pirates of the Caribbean 2 - Hated it. How did this crap make so much money?
  

Why are Hollywood movies so long now? I literally watched these movies right after each other..and that was pretty much 6 straight hours of screen time. I had bed sores.

- And I got a promotion at work. Mixed feelings about it..but that's a whole other story that isn't really worth blogging about..just drinking about.

Alrighty, that's my last 30 days in a nutshell. I left out a few things like almost getting blown up in Vegas, my car being broken into, my new love of mansion pool parties, retiring of my favorite t-shirt and replacing it with Long Green Love, and a few other mundane details.

Just find my anonymous blog to get all the real juicy details.

I hate America

OK, I don't really hate America. I love living in the states. It's treated me well this last 6+ years.

BUT, it's treatment of the NHL hurts my soul.

Last night, the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Edmonton Oilers in a gritty Game 7 Stanley Cup finals game. The Oilers played their hearts out..but were simply outplayed by the better Hurricanes team. Bravo to both teams.

As I leave a bar in South Bay (Bennigans) where I watched the game with some Canadian friends, I immediately turn to sports talk radio stations in my car to hear game recaps.

KNBR - has a baseball game being broadcast. The other AM sports station has a sports talk radio show on. What are they talking about? The U.S. Open of golf! The Stanley Cup finals just ended 10 minutes ago and they are talking about a golf major that ended yesterday???

This morning, I drive to work and listen to Sports Talk radio again. KNBR is talking about the NBA finals. The other station is interviewing a baseball player! What the hell..I listen to the radio for 30 more minutes switching between the 2 stations and the hockey game is not mentioned once.

Jesus...it's impossible to be a hockey fan in the states.

So wrong

100_0402
Originally uploaded by whatupwilly.

It was like a car accident. I know...I'm an ass. But I couldn't help but to take this picture.

And if you think this was bad, about 15 minutes later, this old-dirty-homeless looking guy came up to her and they started making out.

The homeless guy even proceeded to rub her near-bare ass in the park.

I would have taken a picture of that, but the vomit in my mouth slowed me down.

Dragging Memorial Day

I was back home in Vancouver for Memorial Day weekend. As usual, it was great seeing all my friends and family. I'm not really inspired to write much about the weekend, but I will share an interesting recipe discovered over the weekend:

Take 3 hot girls with a mischievous streak:

(Tricia, Karen, Lyela)

Take 1 guy and add liberal amounts of vodka.

Now, SUBTRACT the will to fight back, the ability to say "No" to 3 begging girls and the very important ability to stay conscious...and you end up with:

God damn. I am one ugly drag queen. The ladyboys on Larkin St. don't have any competition from me.

Check out all the pics from that night at Evan's Flickr site.

When I grow up

I think I figured out what I want to be when I grow up.

A writer.

Writing is such a strange thing for me. In highschool, writing papers was what I hated the most. I would literally write papers where each paragraph would take me 30 minutes to an hour. I was tortured over how to word things and string together sentences. But I managed to write. And what came out was actually pretty good.

I remember I wrote a story in grade 7 (that I loosely ripped off of The Terminator plot) and my grade 7 teacher thought it was amazing. Mr. Bell actually spent 10 minutes reading it out loud to the class. I remember the surrealness of the situation like it was yesterday. My teacher and classmates laughing as he hit the funny parts. The mild and lackadaisical clapping at the end. Pretty cool..but I still hated writing.

And I continued to rock English in high school. Being a stereotypical Chinese kid, I of course did well at Math and Science. But I always looked back at my papers as my proudest accomplishments in highschool. I would proof read them and think: "wow, that's pretty good". I even won a couple of English awards. My Dad was sad I didn't win the math award. My socials and English teacher both told me I should think about going into journalism. I scoffed.

Anyone who reads this blog with any regularity (hey Schaubnuts!) knows that my writing is really not that great. It can be funny at times. But it's easy to sound funny when I'm writing about the stupid things I do when I go out.

But I think I have it in me to be a decent if not a good writer.

I'm inspired by writers like Bill Simmons of ESPN. His casual, funny, and poignant writing style is something that I feel I can relate to and perhaps emulate?

I also just got a book at the airport on my flight to JFK. Magical Thinking by Augusten Burroughs. He's the same author of Dry, Running with Scissors and Sellevision. I have no idea why I bought this book. I haven't read any of his other books. I had never even heard of Magical Thinking before. I never buy books like this. I have nearly a hundred books at home, airport souvenirs from my 100% work travel days. Easy reads: James Patterson, John Grishman, and all that other New York Times best selling, easy reading stuff.

These books are the literary equivalent of summer Hollywood movies. Entertaining, easy to digest and generally predictable. Seriously, how many CIA conspiracies or Southern lawyers with dark secrets in their past stories can I read about? Apparently...a lot.

But for some reason, while walking by the Magical Thinking book, I was compelled to pick it up. It's a collection of Augusten's own true stories. Stories about growing up. Working at an Ad Agency. His quest to become a writer. Just a bunch of odd and humerous stories from his life.

I'm inspired.

I can write like this. My life may not be as exciting as Augusten's is (I was never given a blow job by a taxi driver who used to be a cathloic priest), but as I was reading this, I couldn't help but to think I can write stories like this that will make people smile.

I know I could never be a novelist. I don't have it in me when describing a man walking into a house to note details like the creak on the 19th century floor boards, the smell of vinegar used to clean the 15th century antique table in the expansive Victorian foyer of his late mother's Georgia home that use to be one of the first cotton farms in the South that freed slaves. I don't have that level of detail or attention in me. Nor do I care to.

But I think I have short stories in me.

With the exception of blogging, and writing in journals when I traveled, I don't write recreationally. I haven't tried writing fiction since high school

But I think I'll give it a shot. Maybe start with a story loosely based on my childhood? I dunno. I'll think of something. A satirical, based on reality, memoir?

I may or may not post any of the writing here.

But if I do, it may be a nice change to read some fictional drivel I write instead of my narratives of snorting rum or eating sweaty cheese.

See Will Tri - Wildflower Half Ironman Triathlon

My first half ironman triathlon. In brief, it was awesome. I finished strong, I'm really happy with my time and as much of a cliche as this is, most importantly I had fun.

Summary

• Overall - 818th out of 1768 athletes
• Overall men - 707 out of 1264
• My division (Male 30-34) - 136 out of 224
• Total time - 6 hrs 15 min 7 seconds
  
• Swim 1.2 miles - 34:39
• Transition Swim->Bike - 5:01
• Bike 56 miles - 3:22:34
• Transition Bike->Run 3:08
• Run 13.1 miles -2:09:45
• Number of showers taken in 48 hours - 0
  

The Long
The below recap is LOOOOOOOOOOOOONG. I'm writing most of this on a flight to New Jersey so I have some time to write. I don't expect many people to read it all (hell..I couldn't even get through re-reading it after I posted it), but scroll down and see some pics as well.

Morning Prep
We camped over at Lake San Antonio on Friday night. A lot of my friends think this must have sucked because I wouldn't get a good nights rest. In fact, it was the total opposite. Camping makes you go to bed early (pretty much once it gets dark) and I slept solid from about 9:30 till 5:30 am.

At 5:30 I lied in my sleeping bag just thinking about the upcoming race. Surprisingly, I wasn't that nervous. Sure my stomach felt a bit queasy, but I didn't quite want to barf like the morning of my Alcatraz tri.

Camping with Merrill and the other people in SF Tri Club (my AWESOME tri club) actually had a calming effect on me. Everyone was pretty chill in the morning and no one was freaking out. When I prep for events by myself in the morning, my head goes a little crazy and I get a little neurotic. Not so this morning.

I ate a couple of peanut butter bagels, bananas and some coffee and I felt pretty great. Refreshed, energized and ready to go. Only one thing left to do. And that was to crap.

*too much info ahead*

Taking a shit has to be about the most important thing before an endurance sport. When you are going to be doing something for 6+ hours, not carrying around a pound of bio-waste in your gut and intestines is a good thing. I INTENTIONALLY didn't crap the night before to make sure I could poop in the morning.

As I walked over to the bathroom I was actually nervous. No joke. The following thoughts ran through my head:

"Do I have a crap in me?"
"OMG, what if I can't shit"
"Please God, loosen my stool and let me push it out"

I'm not even joking. My walk to the bathroom was the most nervous I felt all morning. I sit on the surprisingly clean campsite toilet and try and poop. *plip* *plop*. I get up to wipe my ass and what do I see? Two fucking raisin sized pieces of shit.

"That's it?" I actually say out loud in the bathroom.

F@CK. I ate 2 giant plates of pasta, 2 bagels, 4 eggs, ham and toast the previous day. How can that only result in the losing entry in a rabbit shitting contest?

I begin to feel scared for the first time all morning.

As I begin to walk back in pooping-shame back to the camp site I begin going over some of my mental mantras that will get me through the day. "THINK POSITIVE". I force myself to laugh about it and tell myself

"Shitting 2 raisins is better then nothing. That will probably shave a minute off your bike".

*end of too much info*

I get all my gear ready and like everyone is paranoid that I have forgotten something. But I'm confident that I have everything: wetsuit, cycling shoes, running shoes, runners cap, body glide, advil, power bars, gels, sunblock. I'm set!!

Merrill and I jump on our bikes and make our way down to the transition area.

On our way down, miracles of miracles happen. A rumbling stirs. And my prayers are answered. I need to poop again!

*start of too much info*
I stop off at a port-o-potty (which again is..oddly spotless) and I must have lost a pound.

I walk out in victory and think: "Maybe the key to a successfully pre-race crap is to wear your helmet" (which I was).
*end of too much info*

We get to the transition area and I get all my stuff set up. I feel good about my transition area considering that this is my first tri of the year and I haven't practiced transitions at all.

(Transition area - sea of racked bikes - Lake San Antonio in the background)

I mentally tell myself:

When you come back here after the swim, take your time. You're going to be doing this for the next 6 hrs, spending an extra 30 seconds in transition to make sure you have everything is not going to kill you.

Merrill comes over to my transition area and he forgot his body glide (body glide is like a deodarant stick, but you rub it on all the parts of your body that may chaffe - it helps prevent things like bleeding nipples, wet suit rash, thigh chaffing, etc).

"Can I use some of your body glide?" asks Merrill innocently
"Sure..but..um...I need to warn you" I begin to say. "Actually, never mind, here you go"
"Um. What? Tell me" stammers Merrill, already painfully aware of what I'm about to say
"Well, that has been used very liberally on my inner thighs and balls already. And even well applied to that spot between my asshole and balls".

Merrill grimaces, but when faced with wet suit rash or the prospect of what is effectively me tea bagging most of his body, he takes the virtual tea bag. Merrill groans extra painfully when he applies the body glide to his neck.

The Swim - 1.2 miles - 34 min 39 seconds
I am waiting near the swimming area for my heat to start. It's pretty cool because I get to see the pros take off and come out of the water. I also see Nalin and Monica who made the trek down just to come and watch. You guys are awesome.

My heat - real men wear PINK!

Watching the pros come out of the water

Monica and Nalin did a great job taking pics!

I feel good. Swimming is my strongest leg. I begin to tell myself another one of my mantras:

"Swim hard, sight well, don't panic, and have fun".

I use a lot of these mantras to get me through the day. More later.

I started in the last Male 30-34 year old heat (damn it..I'm still 29). With pink swim cap on (eveyone in the same heat is given a matching cap), I jumped in the water waiting for my heat to start. I pee in my suit for good luck and warmth and I'm off!

Warming up and peeing in my suit before starting

The swim start was great. There were not that many people in my heat and it was not a chaotic mess at all. I immediately get to the edge and I don't feel anyone kicking or clawing me. I'm lined up aiming for the first buoy and my swim stroke feels good.

And we're off!!

About 5 minutes into it, I think: "Why isn't anyone trying to kick me?". I take a quick peak and realize I'm already slightly off course! What the hell? How did that happen? I look at the buoy and think I'm lined up straight for it. But everyone is to my right and there aren't many people around me. "Don't panic".

I shake it off and just start making my way for the first buoy and I get back into the mass of swimmers. The first turn feels good and I feel like I'm close to the front of the pink cap heat. Actually, I have no idea if I am. But I tell myself:

You are kicking ass, you are out ahead of these other swimmers. Nalin and Monica are going to be amazed when they see you are one of the first pink caps out of the water.

That little motivational pep talk keeps me going strong. I even begin to see some yellow caps from the swimmers in the heat before me (started 5 minutes earlier). I feel even more confident and pick up my stroke.

I think I get a little caught up in telling myself what a swimming stud I am and I realize I'm a little off course again. I'm inside the buoy line and I need to correct. "DON'T PANIC". I correct myself, but I'm a little mad that the voice in my head was too busy telling me how great I was and not reminding me to keep sighting (sighting is when you look up every few strokes to make sure you don't go off course).

I make the last turn for the final stretch back to shore and I'm feeling good. Then it happens. The first green cap passes me. This is first guy I notice who started 5 minutes after me (in the 35-40 year old heat) and has caught up to me and is now passing me! I try drafting off this obviously faster swimmer and he smokes past me. I have no hope in keeping up. I need to pull out another one of my mantras (that I was actually very pre parred to use on the bike, but not so much on the swim): "IGNORE IT WHEN PEOPLE PASS YOU, JUST RACE YOUR RACE".

That mantra calms me down a bit and I swim hard for the finish.

I swim all the way until my hand hits the ground and I launch out of the water. I feel great! The arms are a little tired, but I feel pumped. I hear the cheer of the crowd and as I peel off my wet suit to show my SF Tri Club racing jersey, I hear "Go SF Tri!" from some of the other athletes.

Coming out of the water

Stripping off my wet suit - you can see my SF Tri Club jersey on underneath

Transition 1 - Swim to Bike - 5 min 1 sec
This is the first tri I have done where I wore my tri shorts and tri top under my wet suit. The first few I did, I just went commando and put on my clothes at the transitions. Not only does this slow your transition time, during Escape from the Rock I think a good 50 or so spectators got a good view of my junk (it was COLD WATER!) as my towel fell off.

The transition goes well and I'm on my bike pretty quickly. The only thing I forgot to pack was some advil. But I didn't really feel the need for it on the bike anyway.

The Bike - 56 miles - 3 hrs 22 min
Biking is by FAR my worst event. I haven't been cycling very long and I just don't know what my body is and isn't capable of on the bike. But I have my game plan in place and I just tell myself some more mantras:

"IGNORE IT WHEN PEOPLE PASS YOU, JUST RACE YOUR RACE"
"CYCLE CAREFULLY, DON'T GET A FLAT"
"DON'T BE DISCOURAGED IF YOU GET A FLAT, JUST SUCK IT UP AND FIX IT. DON'T CRY YOU BITCH"
"EAT, DRINK, EAT, DRINK, EAT, DRINK"
"SAVE YOUR LEGS FOR THE RUN"

I'm hoping for just finishing the bike in under 4 hours. This is ridiculously slow, but that's my goal. I want to make sure I save enough leg strength for the run.

I start my ride around 9:40 am.

The 56 mile bike course

My nutrition plan is simple and I stay on track with it:

• Drink every 10 minutes
• Eat a power gel 10 minutes after each hour (10:10, 11:10, 12:10, etc)
• Eat a whole power bar at 40 minutes after each hour (10:40, 11:40, etc).

I end up eating and drinking a lot and it worked great. I had energy the entire ride and I never cramped up or bonked. I ended up eating 4 whole power bars, 4 gels, a banana and probably 4 bottles of Gatorade on the ride. I didn't even need to pee once on the bike!

The bike felt really good. I let people pass and I kept on what was probably a 17 mph pace. Not fast, but I was happy with it. I remember reaching the 1/2 way point and thinking: "I feel great, 1/2 way done and I feel fresh and energized".

I keep cycling, literally having hundreds of people pass me. On the entire bike course, I probably only passed about 10 people. I was fully prepared for this to happen, so I just don't care. I feel good and I'm just hoping to finish without a flat.

At about mile 41, we hit Nasty Grade. It's the "famous" part of the bike long course. It's about a 2-3 mile stretch where you climb about 1000 feet. I calm myself down and just power up it. I actually manage to pass a few people on the ascent and I continue to feel good.

Check out the climb at Mile 41

After I made it up the grade, I was pumped. I knew the bike was mostly downhill from here . My main concern right now was: "Don't kill yourself or get a flat".

I whip down the hill of Nasty Grade and almost hit 50 mph. Frightening. Someone actually took a very ugly spill going down the hill and I felt for the guy and wished he was ok.

I start pumping my way towards the end of the bike and I realize that I am going to finish the bike in about 3 hrs and 30 minutes. I'm ecstatic. I never thought I would finish that quickly and I begin to think "Wow, I might break 6 hours and 30 minutes".

Yes...I was flexing for the camera. :)

Going into Wildflower, my main goal was just to finish. I also would have been happy with finishing in under 7 hours. My streeeeeeeeetch goal was to break 6 hours and 30 minutes. When I finished the swim and bike in about 4 hrs and 5 minutes, I realized I was probably going to hit my stretch goal!

Transition 2 - Bike to Run - 3 min 8 seconds
Transition #2 was pretty simple. Rack my bike, get off my cycling shoes, put on the running shoes, drink, eat a gel, eat a banana, apply sunblock, pop some advil, pack some gels for the run, throw on my hat and start running (I forgot to put my running # on!)

As I said in a previous post, I haven't run in 2 weeks becomes of shin pain. So I was a little nervous about how my legs might hold up. But they felt GREAT! I didn't even have that jelloy feeling of switching from cycling to running.

My legs felt fresh and my body felt energized, even after 4 hours of activity.

The Run - 13.1 miles - 2 hrs 9 min
I'm running out of the transition area and I see Nalin taking my picture. It totally lifted my spirits. I also see Monica and I give her a high five and I think I had a banana in my hand at the time. Sorry Mon :)

Yo Nalin!! I feel pumped!

I've run a couple of races in about 8 min/mile paces before. But I knew not to try and push it that hard for this run course. It's very hilly and my legs weren't in top shape. I told myself just to run at whatever I was comfortable with. And this turned out to be about 9.5-10 min miles.

The first few miles of the run are normally the worst for me. It's when your legs are just getting used to running instead of cycling and there is normally a lot of discomfort. However, my legs felt great! They felt better then they have in months and I felt extremely lucky. I couldn't help but to run with a smile on. There is no doubt in my mind that I am going to finish this race. And that was a great feeling.

Me in all my spandex glory - I swear, I hate the fact that my top is a belly shirt. For real...it's a LARGE!! I don't know why they make them like that...

At about mile 2 I stop to piss. I have probably finished drinking 72 oz of fluids in the last 4+ hours but I have not pissed once. I brace myself for what I know is going to be a painful piss.

OK, I don't know the science behind this, but whenever I go on long rides and don't pee, that first pee I take after a couple of hours screams with pain. Is my urethra dehydrate and the warm-flow of urine is a shock to it? I don't know. Doctors?

We hit some pretty rough trail hills on the run. My plan was to just keep running, even on the hills. I try running up one of the hills and realize I'm barely moving. I see people around me doing the same. Lots of arm swinging and leg moving, but we are moving at a craaawwwwwwwl. So I figured I might as well just walk up the steep hills and use the opportunity to stretch my legs.

Running the hilly trails

I think this was a great plan, because I wasn't really that much slower then the people "running" up the hills. I was a bit afraid I would lose any momentum I had and just want to keep walking, but that wasn't the case.

My nutrition plan was to eat a gel about every 40 minutes and drink Gatorade at every mile. I stuck to the plan and again I remained cramp and bonk free. Oddly, sticking to my nutrition plan is one of the things I'm proudest of this weekend.

I kept expecting to hit the wall during my run. I felt that during my first SF 1/2 marathon around mile 10. The last 3 miles were incredibly painful. I felt that during the Vancouver Marathon. My legs were in a ton of pain the last 2 miles.

But it never came. I just kept on running.

I felt like Forrest Gump. "Run Will Run" I could almost hear Jenny saying in my head.

I hit the 7 mile mark, where I was definitely expecting to feel bad. But I didn't! I only had 6 miles left. I told myself: "You run 6 miles all the time. This is just another 6 mile training run."

I look at my watch. Oh my god. If my math is right, I am going to break 6 hrs and 30 minutes! In fact, i might even hit 6:15! It's weird. When I realized this, I think I might have even slowed down a bit. I knew I was about to beat all my goals, so I told myself just to keep a steady pace, enjoy the scenery, smile and thank all the volunteers and great spectators shouting words of encouragement to me and not push it.

As I started running through the campgrounds with all the campers, triathletes and other people cheering I feel amazing. I'm smiling, my arms are pumping in the air and I literally feel the best I have running in months. No real pain or discomfort. Just a big fat stupid grin on my face. Special thanks to the amazing SF Tri Club group who cheered me on loudly as I raced by our camp site. More cowbell!!

I reached mile 12, and with only a downhill mile left, I'm not just grinning. I'm all out smiling. I have a huge shit-eating-teeth-bearing smile on. Patented rectangle smile and all.

I'm running into the chute before the finish and I see and hear a bunch of SF Tri Club people cheering me on. It feels amazing. I don't even really bother sprinting to the finish line like I normally do. I continue to just run my pace and enjoy the experience. The cheers, the sun, the crowd and the announcer: "And crossing the finish line, William Young from San Francisco".

I finish. I'm a 1/2 Ironman. Months of training, fear, doubt, angst are behind me.

I jump up and click my heels at the finish and I'm done (I think I got more air then I did at Alcatraz).

My Best Matrix imitation

I hi-five a bunch of my other Tri Club members who finished before me. They all look great and I'm happy to share my accomplishment with them.

I also see Nalin and Monica at the finish. These 2 were amazing. They drove all this way, spent the night at a hotel on Friday night just to see me race. They probably saw me a total of 4 times for about 2 minutes total. But the smiles on their faces when I finished meant the world to me. Thanks again guys. You're the best. I have much love for you both

Aftermath
I finished the race with no cramping and no real pain. I'm obviously tired, but I continue to feel great. I saw a lot of people cross the finish line and just collapse. Or at least completely cramp up and need to be assisted to the medical tent.

5% of me wishes I picked up my running pace to about 9 min/mile and finished the race about 10 minutes faster. But 95% of me is glad I raced the way I did and enjoyed every moment of it.

My good friend and training partner Merrill finished in 6:13:40. He beat me by just over a minute. This is pretty amazing considering we started at different times and never saw each other once. So it was not like we were pacing off each other and he just sprinted past me in the end.

As we recounted our races, we realized how he was able to beat me. Merrill pissed multiple times while riding. Literally. He didn't even whip it out. Just pissed in his shorts while riding. Barely slowing down. Merrill has a 9 year old kids bladder and he pee'd 4-5 times on the bike. If he stopped to pee each time, that would have probably added 2 minutes to his time and I would have beaten him. Hahahaha. Great job Merrill. We did awesome. Good luck at Lake Placid for your first Ironman.

Even as I write this 4 days later, I still feel euphoric about the whole experience. It was amazing and something I will always remember.

I don't really know what is next. Maybe Vineman. Or Escape from the Rock again. Or surf more. Or hit the gym more and put on some weight. Whatever. It doesn't matter right now. I'll figure it out.

Shout Outs
I wanted to really thank the many people who have supported me leading up to the tri.

SF Tri Club - You guys are the best. The training weekend at Lake San Antonio we had gave me all new levels of confidence, and the long weekend ride/run bricks did as well. Janelle and Richard going a couple of days early to set up ALL of our tents was even more amazing.

Merrill - my most regular training partner. Our emails on "I ran 8 miles yesterday, what did you do?" were a great constant motivator.

Nalin and Monica - again..thank you.

And all my friends who encouraged me along the way or checked in on me after the race: Schaubnuts, Aileen, Tushman, Eva, Alice, Doug T, Pat, Erica, Brandee, Vanessa, Shannph, Evan, Nik, Aaron, Lisa (thanks for an AWESOME pre-race care package), Grace, Elena (who even while chillin in India remembered to email me the day after to see how i did), V, Jason E, Doug, Sarah, Lynda and I'm sure a few other.

To my family..who didn't call or write before the race, and still has not called or emailed to see how I did...oh well. I'm too happy to be bitter.

Woo hoo! One 1/2 Ironman in the bag. Ironman Canada next year?

Finished my first Wildflower 1/2 Ironman triathlon!!

Wooo hoo! Finished my first 1/2 Ironman Triathlon yesterday.

I finished with a time of 6 hrs, 15 min and 7 seconds.

As this was my first 1/2 Ironman, I didn't really know what my time would be. I would have been happy with sub 7 hrs and I would have been ecstatic if I brok 6 hrs and 30 mins. So finishing at 6 hrs and 15 min...wow.

Relatively, I finished 816 out of 1257 male athletes. Not a great percentile..but who cares! I finished! Wooo hooo!!

I'll post a full race report soon, but I wanted to let my friends know I'm alive and well and feeling great.