Are there sea monsters?

Saturday we planned to take off for Lucky Lake. It is a sweet little Cascade lake just a short walk in, about 1 1/2 miles on a good trail. After much ado, with errands, getting my youngest son, Ethan, to work and menu planning, we reached Lucky at about 4 pm. Well, it gets cold in these mountains and the wind comes up and I am sure the lake monsters are hungry. I, however, was very brave and dove in. Well, actually I slowly walked in, sucking in my stomach and raising my arms up, trying to avoid the cold. Not quite sure why I do that, doesn't help. My dog, S'kanna, was barking loudly, wanting to join me. He is not a straight swimmer and has a tendency to swim over the top of me. Tom kept him happy with cookies and chasing sticks.

My job for the day was an hour swim. The water was cool and very clear. The bottom was fluffy silt. If you put your feet down you would sink to mid calf. I took one circuit around, about 27 minutes, and my imagination took over on the second lap. Are there sharks in Cozumel? What if some weird worm lives in the silt and grabs my ankle? What was that shadow? Where is that rippling coming from? Is someone, thing, following me? I think I'm hypothermic now. I have no feet or fingers. Of course the monster may have eaten them, and I would not even know it. I'm really cold and I've done 57 minutes. Good enough. But I really do not want to put my frostbitten feet in the mud, something may pull me under. Luckily, I was able to dog paddle to the log and climb out, not very gracefully.

I sat in the sun for awhile trying to warm up, hoping for a memory of what it was like to be hot. I am very happy and elated that Cozumel water temperature will be close to 83 degrees. Yeah! I do not like to be cold. On the way out, I saw the "sea monsters" gliding across the lake all in a row, reflecting the setting sun. They were, I am sure laughing at me and my silly notions. They certainly were making quite a racket. The walk out was brisk. The car heater was the best invention ever. I survived.

Aloha and Mahalo

To all those who have pledged and all those who have trained with me and supported me, thank you so very much.

This crazy idea of raising funds for The Peter Emily International Veterinary Dental Foundation all started one morning when I woke up, stepped on the scale, groaned at my 164 pounds of flab and promptly announced that I wanted to regain that feeling of being fit and trim. It also serves to keep me honest with my training when I advertise to the world my intent to finish an Ironman in order to raise moneys for a worthy cause.

This will be my 6th Ironman. The race date is November 29 in Cozumel, Mexico. I will swim 2.4 miles in the pristine ocean of the Caribbean. Maybe the dolphins will show up to play. We then hop on the bikes and ride 112 miles around the island, across the island, down the coast, up the coast and back and then do it again. It's a small island. After we drop off our bikes at the transition we don our foot gear to run 26.2 miles around the island, across the island, up the coast and back and then do it again to finish at the town plaza. My goal, as always is to finish without up-chucking. Beyond that, I am striving to qualify for the Championships in Hawaii for 2010. And of course, to bring awareness to the Foundation and raise funds to purchase much needed equipment.

My training is going well. There is plenty of time on those long rides, swims and runs to perform mental gymnastics. Thoughts race, no pun intended, through, around, in and out of my brain. I can only wish that my swimming, running and biking can keep up with the head.

Thank you for your support. I hope you enjoy my thoughts "from the saddle".