Are Wii having fun yet?

Yes Wii are having fun with our new Nintendo Wii! Bridget and I are getting better at some of the Wii sports like tennis, bowling, and golf....a game Bridget surprisingly likes! Although we both got up yesterday and complained that our right shoulders hurt! The kids even get in the act by cheering for either Mommy or Daddy. It is really fun to get to play with Bridget, we are really enjoying this lighter schedule that she is on. Good times, if you don't have one you should get one!

The Job

I know 90% of you already know about this job, so this post is really for those 10 percenters out there. Here's the big news....Bridget got hired by Loveland Pediatrics (Loveland, CO)!!! While she won't actually start working until July 2009, it is a very good feeling to know where we will be moving to and that we'll be so close to home. There are lots of things that she needs to do before she starts doctoring out there like get her Colorado board certificate, round up a slew of insurances, pass a background check, and all of that professional sort of stuff. Oh yeah and she also has to finish up that pesky little residency thing she is doing now here in Utah.

Loveland really offered her a "dream" opportunity. The money is great, the benefits are equally great, they offered her some student loan repayment, they pay for moving expenses, they even pay for the family to fly out a couple of time to shop for houses! Bridget fit in really well with the other doctors as well, I know that that was easily more important to her than all of the other stuff combined. She is so excited to start, that she wants me to put a countdown timer on my blog until she starts work!

The end is in sight, putting behind all of the grueling years of medical school, residency, and the moving around from state to state. We are very excited to settle in to a place where we are hopefully going to stay for the long haul. It's going to be great and another exciting chapter in the lives of us!

Olympic Expectations

Do you ever find yourself watching Michael Phelps swim, and then watch ANY other Olympic event and just assume that person should win as well? He makes it look soooo easy. Last night he swam for 2 more gold medals, 2 more world records, became the most decorated Olympian....ever, and so on and so forth. Then they cut to ladies gymnastics, and my mind just expected them to win easily, and they didn't. They had balance issues, and unfortunately they occurred on the balance beam. Oops. Maybe Michael Phelps should have competed, he probably would have won gold. Just think of it, he's got those size 14 flippers he calls feet...he could miss the beam by a foot to either side and still grab hold with those babies. They also made it a point to say that he was double jointed in his knees, that's got to help out in gymnastic flexibility!

While I'm talking Olympics, I don't understand what the fuss is over China using a stand in for a 7 year old girl who sang in the opening ceremonies. Apparently the people that decide this sort of stuff deemed she was unfit for tv viewing. The way I see it pretty much everybody I know, myself included, is unfit for tv. Have you looked at people on tv lately? They are all so fake looking! From news anchors, to sitcom stars, reality tv people, movie stars, musicians, the whole lot of 'em. I don't think I know anybody that is tv worthy, I know I wouldn't enjoy seeing myself on tv...all I know is that I look like a giant dork when I see myself on home videos. Maybe we should just clone Michael Phelps, he seems to be everywhere and on every commercial anyway. Think about it, Live with Michael and Kelly.....Good Morning America with Michael Phelps, your local evening news with Michael Phelps. Michael Phelps stars as Indiana Jones and the Slime Creatures From Outer Space. Survivor Beijing with Michael Phelps versus himself 16 times over. Biggest Loser Michael Phelps edition, he would have to lose the remaining 1/2 an ounce of body fat that he currently has or be subject to elimination. Ahhh, I could rant all day...but I think I'm done now. I feel better. Phelps as a Blogger, another way he is WAY better than me.

Back at it

Still a little gimpy (read as incapacitated and sore beyond belief) I tried the rec center on Monday. I rode the recumbent bike for 30 minutes and it was really great! My legs felt good and I even raised the resistance a bit after 15 minutes and still felt good. Then I stood up. Thought I was going to die. My legs were screaming in an octave that makes dogs howl...and me too! Anyway, a good nights rest and I was back at it today. I tried swimming today and it went great. I did 1500 yards, just to kind of loosen up. I felt so good I swam a timed 300 just to see, and I finished 40 seconds faster than my last recorded 300 on swimplan.com. Pretty good!

I guess it feels good to get back into the swing of things, although I think I'll wait a few more days to try running. Maybe Friday? As for my foot, it feels great. I think the 13 miles of pain must have either fixed the problem or tricked my pain receptacles. But I think it will be back, I just like to be hopeful!

Now What? (half ironman recap)

Well the Utah Half Ironman has been and gone, and I survived...sort of! So the day started off as usual, I slept like crud the night before and woke up feeling semi groggy at 4:30 AM. We went to the start line and got attacked by MILLIONS of mosquitoes in the transition area. The people who put on the race were fairly discombobulated, disorganized, and what ever adjective you would like to use that starts with dis. Anyway, my sister in law Melissa drove out from Colorado to race with me, so I had a partner in crime for all of this. They told us we were going to have wave starts, well if waves mean guys and girls then I guess they did that....would have been nice to do waves of 50 or 100 or something. Instead I started in the middle of the pack, got frustrated when I kept getting kicked and elbowed. I finally found a decent spot and swam most of the race on the sides of the crowds. I used 90% all arms, no kicking and still finished in the middle of the pack in my age division....what would have happened if I kicked, I might have been in the top 3! So after the swim there was a long run to the transition area, was especially bad for me and my bum foot. I gimped my way to the bike and off I went. My goal on the bike was to keep it at 21 MPH average. I know it sounds funny to limit how fast you go in a RACE, but I was trying to save some juice for the run. The bike was 56 miles, and at the halfway turnaround point I was averaging 22 miles an hour, so I slowed down a bit on the way back and finished at 21.5 MPH, pretty good considering I think I could have averaged 24 considering the wind was at my back for the return trip! Anyway, I got off my bike and I was more tired than I thought but still doing pretty good. I stole one of Melissa's 32 ounce Poweraids and chugged it (I ran out of drink with about 15 miles left on the bike) and off I went on the run. The run was surprisingly good...for about 1/4 mile. My foot felt OK, not 100% but still runable. Then at 1/4 mile the course had a hairpin turn and when I made it BOTH of my legs cramped at the SAME TIME! I tried to walk it off, no luck. I had to sit down and stretch out my cramping quads. They stopped and I took off slowly and tried to resume. Every 1/2 mile or so, or everytime the course had a turn in it they would both seize up. At 4 miles into the run a found Bridget on the sidelines and asked her what I should do. I was looking for her to tell me it was OK to quit or that it wasn't worth hurting myself. Um no. She told me to get out there and keep running. During our little pep talk I was sitting stretching my quads. So I tried running again, feeling a little dejected that my wife, the love of my life, wanted to KILL me on the run! About a tenth of a mile later both legs seized up again. I slowly chugged my way to the 1/2 way point and again I had the perfect chance to quit but passed it up thinking that if I returned to the transition area without crossing the line I'd be divorced before we returned to SLC! The final 6.5 miles were nothing short of brutal. My legs hurt so much, I had to sit and stretch...sometimes just sit and ponder life and curse at my hurting legs. But I am proud to report that I did make it, although I was no where near where I thought I would finish, and the time was horrible. I made it, I suffered, I got a cool medal, in retrospect I am glad I finished....don't think I had a good enough time to do another half ironman again anytime soon.

As for Melissa, my sister in law, she finished the swim 16 seconds faster than me and finished the entire bike course and then decided that she had enough. Melissa also admittingly didn't train at all for this race. She rode her bike twice and swam once, and that was it except for her soccer leagues. She had a good time, and she looks a lot happier than me today as she can move around freely and appears pain free. I on the other hand say "oh shit" every time I stand up and start moving!

Above, me approaching the finish line...the pain is about to stop.

Above, I grabbed the kids at the finish...they crossed with me!

Finally, the finisher medal. I did it, don't think I'll do that again...so this one is special!