This blog always had a loyal blip following it from Slovenia. Without fail there would be a happy comment on the blog from Izidor (Easy) for a birthday, an accomplishment, anything. They were always encouraging comments, in Slovenian and English.
Sometimes I would comment back using Google Translator to provide me with the Slovenian equivalent.
It was the main way I got to know Easy.
We had the opportunity to meet up when we were in Slovenia a few years back, but it didn't work out.
We did however got to meet stric Carlo, who left this world a week ago.
From the news we've received from family of friends in Slovenia. Easy and his family were among the unfortunate on that fateful balloon.
Peace out Easy.
It was the Sun Rype Kids Triathlon in Bracebridge. The kids race was afternoon, so after my race down by the river, we had to go to the Sportsplex for the kids race. I was hoping the rains would go away, but it was more of the same. It wasn't until after Kieran's race did the rains finally give way to sun and blue sky with white clouds.
There were some challenges. Like how do I ride my bike when it's up in the air?
Ah, he's a montessori kid, he'll figure it out.
Luckily for Kieran he only had to do 1 length of the pool. With the practices and swim meets, this should be a piece of cake. There's no chance of him bumping head first with the other swimmer in his lane.
As long as he doesn't hit both sides of the lane.
Wasn't sure if he was going to do front crawl or backstroke. He did front crawl. GO! Kieran was drafting off of his lane companion. So much so he was almost interfering with him and pushing him into the lane rope. That's competition!
Ah it was okay. He was fourth out of the water. Good for him! Then it was on to the next event. More water! Except on the bike. It was pouring outside. But that didn't deter his spirit.
Off he went. I just hope he doesn't crash. But he came back in one piece.
The run was long. I could see his little form in the distance going around the track. He didn't stop, but the gap between him and the two boys in front was getting larger. What a trooper. Running isn't his thing. But no complaints, no whining. He did it.
We really have to get him to practice putting his clothes on right. The bib # goes on the front. That's how they announce their name when they approach the finish.
Oh well...they'll announce his name when he passes the MC, on his way to get his treats, since it's on his backside.
Then it was off to support his friends.
We caught up to Xander just approaching the finish line, cheering him on. And letting him know that he it's great that he wears a speedo. It makes him faster in the water!
Admiring their medals and then goofing around before getting more cookies.
And Rachel was second out of the swim and booting it into the finish!
It was amazing what we saw in Bracebrige. The Sportplex is right in this new subdivision, and we ran into our old workout friends from Beresford there. Alicia and Lisa and their kids.
I had forgotten they had moved up here 3 years ago. And lived around the corner. This Sportsplex is nice. Rockclimbing wall, indoor track, water slide. So cool.
There were timing chips floating in the pool, and snorkel divers in the pool as well.
In spite of the rains, there were portable tents with people selling sports stuff.
Even in Bracebridge you will find asians selling t-shirts, egg rolls and dim sum out of the back of a van. Canada is such an amazing multicultural place.
You can see the chinese bags in the back. They had white rice to go!
It's also amazing to see what bikes these kids have.
An 8-9 year old, with a FELT bike. Pretty serious. I didn't get my FELT until I was 38. The kid better be good.
Or it's a 5 ft adult wanting to try a tri, posing as a kid.
The food at the finish looked pretty good.
My race had HERO burgers and pop, and of course chocolate milk.
It made my race worthwhile downing that loaded burger.
I don't know if we would do this race again. The results aren't split into the Swim-Bike-Run like other tri's. Plus it was so far out of the way. We may just stick to the ones closer to TO.
I'm glad that I got to race again with my brother. It was stressful, but fun and gave me a sense of purpose. I had always wanted to share these experiences with family and I didn't want my fear of the water to deter me from that. Glad I faced the swim and Mother Nature. Plus that burger was good!
It was a lot of fun having all the little kids around. The paddle boat became a water battleship patrolling Party Island in the distance.
We were in Bracebridge this weekend. Doing the tri races for kids and adults. The adults race was at 8:30am in the river at Annie Williams Park.
We drove up to the cottage on Fri in the middle of severe thunderstorms. It was beautiful the weekend before. Why couldn't it be like last weekend. I don't understand why whenever I do a triathlon, which is already stressful for me with the swim, Mother Nature seems to think I am not stressed enough.
Severe thundershowers flooded the roads, and were delaying the start of the race. I was soaked. I didn't even take my bike down from my roof rack. I didn't bother until I knew what was going on. Even the race organizers weren't sure. There were dark clouds coming in and out of the area that would dump globs of water. I felt pretty calm. Watching the waterfall coming down around the gazebo with all the other competitors. The info was coming over the loudspeaker on the race. The bike segment was cancelled, due to the flooded roads. It was unsafe. So it was now a Swim-Run race. They still hadn't setup the swim, because of lightning. So it could come down to a Run race. But then the rains let up. Enough to setup the course and get people out racing. There weren't any refunds due to weather. This is what outdoor racing is about. Weather plays a factor.
I was seeing people walking back from the transition area with their bikes. Was the race cancelled? No. They were giving people the option to come back Sunday to do the Olympic distance. Which is double the Sprint distance. Some people left, not wanting to race in the rain and not wanting to do the Olympic distance.
The SWIM-BIKE-RUN turned into a SWIM-RUN. I had come all this way to race. So whatever it was going to be, I was going to do it. I wanted to do the SWIM. I wanted another swim race under my belt to get used to it, to know what to expect, to prepare for it.
The swim distance of 750m is not difficult for me to swim continuously. I've done it many times in the pool (without touching the ends), and in the lake. But race conditions are always more nervous. I was trying to think about it as a regular cottage swim. I was looking forward to it, I wanted to beat it. It looked easy from the dock as I was waiting for my turn to go.
I began my swim, I was a bit nervous, but ok. I was not breathing right. And struggled right away. But after I got past the first buoys and turning upstream I felt a little better. But I just felt slow. I also saw a lot of swimmers pass by. I was even swimming off line a bit. I saw I was close to weeds. But I rounded the last buoy and heading to T1. I had made it. Slow, but hey, the race isn't won in the swim. I'll do better next time.
I felt a little light headed and I'm thinking that it was because my breathing was not very calm in the swim. I did manage to get my wetsuit off quicker than I had done in previous races. I practiced that. Getting out on the run after the swim was tough. It took a long time to get my legs. By the time I had picked up my pace I was already more than half way.
I was able to check my results after I got home from the cottage. Not sure why they put 715m, because they didn't say they shortened it. And surprisingly, I wasn't last out of the water. I beat 1 guy by 2 mins. But he was much faster than me on the run. But it doesn't matter, I wasn't the slowest in the swim. There was someone worse than me. HA HA! Made my day.
I'll try again next year, and do better. I did my ONE race for the year. And I did it in brutal weather conditions. I'll have to make sure that guy is in the swim again. Gonna have to do more running to get my time to where it should be. That time is slow as mud.
This was like the best photo of me. LOL. All the other ones just showed me grimacing. I should have worn my glasses and hat. But it was wet. So I didn't bother. I forgot about the photographers.
Good thing Lou wore his hat, he was starting to look like one of those Orc things from Lord of the Rings. It was much easier to find Lou's photo, since he was on page 6, I was way at the back in the 34 or 36 or something.
This blog always had a loyal blip following it from Slovenia. Without fail there would be a happy comment on the blog from Izidor (Easy) for a birthday, an accomplishment, anything. They were always encouraging comments, in Slovenian and English.
We had the opportunity to meet up when we were in Slovenia a few years back, but it didn't work out.
A funeral was held last week for Izidor and his wife and daughter as they were laid to rest.
Wed Sep 05, 02:09:00 PM EDT
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