It’s a little different trying to keep up with 2 kids even though one doesn’t move an awful lot. Ali is amazing and is doing the night time duty while she is off work. I tend to love this period because she allows me to sleep through the night. Things change a little once she goes back to work.

Cooper already loves being a big brother. Then again, he hasn’t had to share any toys yet.

I can still say that Boise has a large population that is into fitness but if you’re not in that community, not a lot of love exists.

I can’t count the number of times I’ve been buzzed on my bike. Keep in mind I’ve only been riding on the roads for less than a year. One example is when we were training for the Spudman Triathlon in Boise. We started down at Spring Shores and road into Boise. Sure it’s a busy highway but there is plenty of shoulder so we figured that we were pretty safe, I mean there is a passing lane for crying out loud. Even on the up hill where there is plenty of room on the shoulder, and an extra lane for passing, we had trucks pulling trailers that would hug the white line. This didn’t happen like 1 or 2 times, more like 10 to 12 on a 10 mile stretch.

It seems odd to me. When I wasn’t riding I still had a fear of hitting a cyclist and always gave them plenty of room when I passed. I grew up learning that you were supposed to ride your bike on the roads and I even learned the turn signals, AS A CHILD. Where is it that people are learning that bikes are “not” supposed to be on the road and getting as close to them as possible in an auto will teach them a lesson.

I can see where drivers get irritated with some cyclists. You have some that ride on the sidewalks, some that ride in the roads and don’t follow traffic rules and some that frankly don’t give a shit and ride like idiots. However, I would think that the fear of actually hitting one of these people would override the urge to put yourself, as a driver, in a position where you could possible injure or kill this rider.

Cyclists, you are not innocent victims here. There are those riders that fall into one of the categories I listed above and there are others that have built their own. These are the riders that feel the same way about runners and pedestrians as drivers feel about the cyclists. Now this really seems odd. Riders on the greenbelt are buzzing joggers, walkers and even those out with their children on a weekend. WTF!!!

My friends and I talk about the solution and we believe that it starts with us. We have to show the drivers respect on the roads. Follow traffic laws, try and make sure we are polite to drivers, and respect the fact that pedestrians have the right of way when we are on bikes. Then again, you buzz me and I happen to pass your house when you’re outside, don’t be surprised if I stop to discuss it.

Saturday morning I went for a six mile run followed by a 22 mile bike ride. The run started off pretty good considering we had just run a marathon the weekend before. Trina, Mark, Kerry, Trevor and myself took off from Shoreline and headed towards Barber Park.

Our plan was to run 6 to 8 miles and at mile three it was unanimous, well except for Mark but he was feeling sorry for us so he turned around too. About 2.5 miles in we all started to feel the pain in the legs. We walked it off and mile three and started heading back. At mile 4 I got my second wind and picked up the page again. Oddly enough so did everyone else. As we were finishing off our last mile I picked up the pace again and low and behold there was Trevor kicking it into another gear. I decided to keep up with him and everyone else must have too. I finished a 7:22 mile the last mile and there was everyone else right with me. It was a great way to get the marathon cob webs out.

After the run I went over to Clocktower where Jason, Ryan, Shane and Brent were doing a 1.2 mile run. I had planned on a 30 mile ride after my run and there swim. Had I known the course they were going to ride I may have caught the next bus. They took me over the Zietgeist route and we ended at 22 miles, that of course was enough after the climbs they took me over.

In general our group ran pretty well. Now we are training for a triathlon. My buddies Shane, Ryan and Brent are all doing the half iron man along with some other friends that did not run Ogden. Rick, Todd and Jason have been helping us with some training tips they’ve learned from previous triathlons and half iron mans.

I think I’m going to sign up for my first. This will be on July 11th in Boise. The Spud Man Triathlon.

Ryan and I rode 20 miles and ran 4 miles in the brick that we did last night. The run was pretty good for me at around a 8 minute pace. Last Saturday we ran 10 miles and the paces on the last four miles were 8:13, 8:03, 7:45 and 7:00. I was really happy with those last two runs. I’d love to be able to keep up an 8:30 to 8:45 pace through the marathon.

Last Sunday we did a 60 mile bike ride. This was the longest ride I’d done by 25 miles. I had done 35 the Wednesday before.

16 mile run on Saturday, wish me luck.

Keep moving!

After Shane, Brent, Lorin and I finished running our 20 we went to watch the finish of The Race to Robie Creek. Everyone in the group that ran this year did well with Ryan leading the pack with a time of 1:43. Good thing I wasn’t doing Robie this year to beat him.

Sunday we Mountain Bike Riding on Trail #6, #5 and Shane’s Loop. Brent and Shane took us on a nice rat maze again. Most of trail 5 was torn up pretty good by motor bikes which made climbing the extremely steep hills even more difficult. I found out the cure for a hangover though, mountain biking 14 miles. Ryan, Shane, Brent and I road on Sunday.

Shane decided Monday night that we hadn’t put our legs through enough punishment so we road his favorite route on our road bikes again. We put in 25 miles which felt pretty decent considering the previous two days.

I’ve been meaning to track our training but haven’t done a very good job. Shane has been documenting things pretty well on his blog at http://shaneshalfironman.blogspot.com

Until next time, keep moving.

Along with the bike ride I decide to try a new ab workout this weekend which involved the entire core including my hip flexors. I was still feeling this on Saturday.

It started out nice, weather was great and we were running at a good pace, but by mile 11 I knew I was in trouble.

But I finished and that is the main goal of any 20 miler for me. I had to do some walking that I haven’t had to do in the last 3 20 milers but I still finished in just under 3:05, which for me isn’t too bad.

Just a few more long runs before Ogden Marathon on Saturday May 16th 2009.