Another good day .....

Woke up this AM - all ready to go for a nice bike ride. I planned to ride out to the western end of the W&OD, from my place a little under 50 miles. Had a bite to eat and while it settled decided to check my e-mail. What a pleasant surprise I had. A dear friend who I had not spoken to in over 2 years had e-mailed me. I was taken back at first but when I read her message I was pleasantly surprised that my blog was one of the things she had read. I am glad she e-mailed - it had been way too long.

So today started as a good day - and stayed that way. I did get my ride in - met some nice people from Wisconsin during it. Took some pictures - the one here is a Bridge that crosses over the path west of Leesburg. One day I will have to look into the history of it. I would imagine it has been there since the rail line was in use. Got to do some reading in the sun as well (cycling creates BAD tan lines).

Camera phones are great. I can have it with me riding and snap some photos or when the girls have an event grab some pictures or video. I can also play with it. This pic will have meaning to only one person. I hope they see it.

Anyway - a GREAT day. I hope I get to stay in touch with my friend and I hope she is able to smile every day.

cu .....

Next step .....

So I went ahead and did it - I sent in my papers for Naturalization. I have been living/working in the US as a Permanent Resident for almost 7 years, but today I sent in my paperwork to change that. Looking at the Immigration Service website - the process may take a while but it is started.

I have had a lot of time this week to think about things and my GREAT day with Sam and Kris yesterday helped me to decide to go do the things that I needed to finish - things that have been left hanging out there. A good friend made me realize that I have not been all that good at finishing what I needed to and the positive outcome with Kris and Sam helped me to motivate me just to get things done. If they all turn out as great as yesterday - BONUS. One big part of finishing things is getting my hearing scheduled to finalize things with my divorce. I wish the County clerk would give us that date before I leave for Albany the week after next to see the girls compete at Nationals - fingers crossed.

After all that is finished we will see what happens :-)

---- cu

I have GREAT kids ....

OK - I will not take all the credit for my kids being great but I know that I have great kids. I have been living apart from them now for 2-1/2 years. Their Mom and I are just now finalizing things legally and there have been struggles - both between myself and their Mom and in my relationship with my kids - especially with my oldest daughter (16). We have our ups and downs and right now it is more down but I always let her know I will be there to support her. Over the past few months my two youngest (12 & 14 - all girls) have been very open about things but today they surprised even me.

I know they love their Dad but today was the day to have a conversation with them about me and relationships. I guess the biggest surprise was that my 14 year old asked why we had not had this conversation earlier. After I picked myself up from that we had a great conversation about families and relationships; about the future and about the next few months. They really did surprise me with how open they were - both about how they felt but also about how understanding they were that people need relationships - even Dads. Sam was worried that I might date one of her teachers and she was not excited about that - LOL. It was especially nice to hear that they were first concerned with Dad being happy since they knew that I would always be there for them.

WOW - what GREAT kids - now I know why I love them so much.

---- cu

Happy Graduation Kris!

It is hard to believe that I will have two daughters in High School next September. Kristen had her graduation ceremony from middle school last Wednesday. She looked great. She was very polite, no surprise there, when she received her diploma and met her new principal. It is hard to believe that they are growing up so fast. I guess it is things like this that make a guy appreciate Father's Day so much more.

I look forward to celebrating a lot more of these special days - they make all the struggles worthwhile.

.... cu

First Triathlon Completed ....

This past weekend I completed my first Triathlon - Reston Sprint. It was a Sprint, so not long, but it was fun. I think I will do a couple a year to have goals to reach each year.

The race was a 400m swim, 20 km bike and 5 km run. My official finish time was 1:18:20. Everything worked great other than some challenges getting my clips in on my initial bike mount. I had what I felt was a GREAT bike ride (36 min for 12 miles) and the run was pretty standard (9 min mile). I passed a few people and only had two pass me. There was one guy that I frogged leaped with a few times and at the VERY end he came on me with a hundred or more yards left so I decided to turn it on. I sprinted (as best I could) for the last 100+ yards. The other guy was younger and had much longer legs and managed to keep ahead of me. I made the line but was just about ready to hurl. I held it in and was fine after an orange slice.

Again - it was fun - and I did better than I had expected - 140 of 418. Definitely will be doing it again next year - see if I can do better. To get ready - maybe some swim lessons and to keep up my routine of running and biking.

... cu

Two weeks later ....

14 days ---- that is how long I was out of training. I last ran in London and within a day of that I started what eventually became Bronchitis. I did not know that until a week later - so I had taken the week to try and get through my "cold". Well when I saw the doctor he said it was bronchitis so another week of imposed rest. Yesterday I went for a short run - a little over 3.5 miles. Felt good - no troubles. This morning I got up and decided to try out the new chain on my mountain/commuter bike by riding to work. 25 miles later the chain was great and I was doing ok. I struggled on a couple of hills but all in all felt good. Now the question is can I get back in shape for the 1st of June and the Reston Sprint? Ishi means determination - I will need all I can muster.

--- cu

The kids keep bringing it .....

Yesterday was the AAU Karate Regional Championships. It was a great day so I was kind of disappointed that I could not ride my bike to the tournament. Still getting over my bronchitis and doing some work on my road bile and I need to replace the chain on my mountain bike - todays job.So I ended up driving to see the kids compete and to cheer them on. They all did great - Sam was rocking in a tough group and came home with three silvers. Kristen competed in weapons and Kata and came home with one silver and a 4th place finish. Tika was competing and coaching and came home with one gold medal and two silver. I have some pictures in a slideshow on the right. If you click on them you will go to my Picassa album. The next tournament up for them is the National Championships in Albany the end of June.

As for myself - I am hoping to start back this week with some easy training so I can start to get ready for the June 1st race. Good news is that even though my doctor said I had bronchitis he said I was in really good shape - lower BP and resting Heart rate - guess the training is working. Now to get back at it and watch what I eat for the next couple of weeks.

---- G