<p>This place has been nothing but race updates this summer. It’s pretty much all I’ve been up to, but there have been a few other things…</p>
<p><strong>Mom</strong><br/>
Has been doing really well. She’s now a 7-month survivor with little to no sign that she’s slowing down. Her last MRI (maybe six weeks ago) showed no progression and possibly even some remission. That’s all we can hope for. I don’t know if there are any cases of someone actually beating this damned disease, but if there was to be a first, it’d be her. Not only is she fighting, but you may remember that my niece, Emily, had cancer in the womb, at birth, but then when they went to remove it, they found she had killed it completely. Here’s to hoping we’re some missing link/genetic freaks!</p>
<p><strong>Alaska and Seattle<br/>
</strong>Mom, Dad, my sister, and I went to the NW for a cruise on <a href=”http://www.hollandamerica.com/”>Holland America Lines</a>. I am due a full trip posting, but just haven’t gotten around to it. Fear not, it will not go the way of my Japan trip write-up (still incomplete ~6 years later)… It’s a much easier report to write. All had a good time.</p>
<p><strong>Miss Heather</strong><br/>
We’ve now been together about ten months and things getting better every day. Longest honeymoon phase ever? Nah, we’re just money 😛 She actually met me out in Seattle following the cruise and we had an amazing time in what turned out to be a not-as-amazing-as-expected city and only three days.</p>
<p>Her niece, Addie, continues to bring smiles to everyone’s faces. <a href=”http://www.littlepumpkint.blogspot.com/”>She’s a great little pumpkin</a>… Always smiling, never sad, never mad… Fun fun.</p>
<p><strong>IT Work<br/>
</strong>Just before that vacation, which came at a perfect time, I did a very, very, very significant bit of work for one of my clients. I worked approximately 40 hours on the project, which may not seem like much, but it was fraught with one-of-a-kind pitfalls, slowdowns, errors, and more due to their infrastructure being so poorly maintained by other IT folks over the past decade. I was completely burnt out by the project and even questioned the whole IT thing, but the vacation was good (and paid for by that damned project) so I’m just about ready for more. We’re not in the clear yet as we’re trying to tack even more onto the project, which is all sorts of extra fun, but we’re getting there.</p>
<p><strong>Day Job<br/>
</strong>Going very well. <a href=”http://www.grouplogic.com/enterprise-file-sharing/ipad-file-system/”>We recently launched an iPad app</a>, which has garnered great press and has a very promising future. We were first to market with such a solution, which is a great place to be. While others are trying to mimic what we’ve already done, we’re moving forward with the technology. It’s similar to where Apple is with the iPad in the tablet world.</p>
<p><strong>Athletics</strong><br/>
Proving to be one of my best summers ever. I’m still barely running, but that’s more a result of all the other training I’m doing. As you’ve seen over the past months, my times are improving greatly and my legs have been feeling near perfect… I just need to get around to adding the miles in.</p>
<p>I ran <a href=”http://www.dcroadrunners.org/races/race-results/2011-results/1236-2011-paul-thurston-45-miler.html”>a 4.5 mile offroad race last week</a> in a time faster than I ran it in in 2009 (just before I stopped running and was in “my prime”). I was approximately 10th place… “The best of above-average” is my new motto… I finished 1:30 behind the pack ahead of me, which comprised of folks I consider “quick,” and 30 seconds ahead of anyone else… As usual, no man’s land. The placing clinched the seasonal racing series for me, which I have won I think four out of the last five times (I got 2nd last year due to “the injury). I will also be shooting for the winter series victory, but following that I’ll be bumped to the 30-34 category, which will prove FAR more competitive. With the clinch, I’m able to forego the final race of the series, an 8K, which is a touch farther than I’m comfortable running at this time… so that’s good.</p>
<p>I’m currently training for <a href=”http://www.setupevents.com/?fuseaction=event_detail&amp;eventID=1668″>the Wilmington YMCA Triathlon</a> in ~4 weeks. I had predicted a pretty solid age-group finish, but in my first practice this weekend, I was humbled. I don’t know if it was the combination of all the sorts taking a toll on me, if it was the fact I hadn’t really slept all week, or the fact that I did it in the middle of a summer day without planning to do it all day (wasn’t hydrated or rested), but it wasn’t particularly pretty. I did a 20-minute swim, a 12-mile ride at 19mph (I was thinking I could do this at 21mph… I may have an easier time on raceday when I don’t have a dozen street crossings to slow and stop for), and finally a 5k in 7:54 pace (24:30). The swim I’m not fretting; it is what it is. The ride was slower than expected, but I was slowed A TON by street crossings. The run was awful… massive stomach cramp from all the water consumed during the ride. I won’t do that again, but I don’t expect to shed much more than two minutes off that time… I was beat. Over the next few weeks I’ll do a couple more trials and really work on my transitions. I plan to pick up a set of aerobars and a seatpost that gives an approriate angle for triathlons since I won’t actually be riding a tri bike. Hopefully they’ll make a decent difference for both the ride and run (the idea is you work your running muscles less).</p>
<p>I paid a visit to one of my old haunts, <a href=”http://www.nvrpa.org/park/fountainhead”>Fountainhead Park</a> yesterday. I have a mountain bike race there this coming weekend so I figured I ought to get out to learn the course a bit. The last time I had been to this trail was probably a decade ago, when it was still pretty new and lots of fun. Unfortunately, the course was not designed particularly well and the sandy soil only compounded the problem, but the entire place is one giant mess of erosion. The riding surface is nothing but rocks and roots, which make for a ride that is not fun whatsoever. I’ve unforutnately already paid for the race, but if there’s any reason to not go… any reason at all, I’m gonna bail. At a slow pace, it was a trial of merely surviving. Trying to go fast is fraught with peril.</p>
<p>My weight has dropped significantly (to 174 from 184 following the cruise) over the past couple of weeks. The loss has coincided with some horrendous sleep so I’m not sure what’s going on. I haven’t been to the gym in nearly a month so the entire loss might be attributable to lost muscle mass, which I hope not is not the case, but unfortunately highly likely, as I wasn’t dropping any weight while working out all year… I think that’s OK though… Less weight is better for this racing I have coming up. I can get back into the gym routine when it gets cold out again, which if this morning is any indication, is not too far off.</p>
<p><strong>Harry Potter</strong><br/>
I am done. I crushed the final three books over the past two months and went to see the final movie in IMAX 3D last night. As Heather put it, <a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_potter”>this</a> is our generation’s <a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chronicles_of_Narnia”>Chronicles of Narnia</a>, despite it not actually being for our generation 😛 I’d highly recommend the books to anyone. The movies? Not so much, and unfrotunately, I find folks not familiar with the series will all too often watch a random movie from the series and call it garbage because there is little to no background given in them… If you don’t know the preceding story, the movie will be utterly terrible.</p>
<p>Up next in my reading life is a book called <a href=”http://www.amazon.com/Raingun-ebook/dp/B005HQ4JAO”>Raingun</a>, which was written by an online friend. It’s not my style whatsoever, but I’ve never had a friend write a book so I’m going to give it a go anyway. Following that, I’m eying <a href=”http://www.amazon.com/The-Hunger-Games-ebook/dp/B002MQYOFW/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1314024351&amp;sr=1-1″>The Hunger Games</a>… I’ve found I thoroughly enjoy fiction written for younger adults, which brings me to a nifty point I realized this weekend… What may have been too embarassing for an adult male to read in a traditional book is enitely fair game on an e-reader. Kindle rocks.</p>
<p>So that’s all I’ve got for now. Thanks for reading!</p>