MERRY CHRISTMAS

Merry Christmas

This morning before opening presents, Chris, me, Melissa, VictoriaSame picture with Joanne in it for equal time. Joanne, Chris, Melissa and Victoria.

My stash of gifts including a carbon bontrager bottle holder for my Trek Bike, and a small bottle of Kaluha in it. Ironman gloves, bontrager seat pack, new bike tube, Mini digital camera, DVD of the latest Stargate SG1 movie, stone pizza pan, My yearly edition of the bathroom reader book and candy. I done good!

Happy Holiday's

Happy 29th Anniversary

Joanne and i got married Dec 15 1979,

The past week

Last week was the usual training grind with swims Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and runs on Tuesday and Thursdays followed with diving for an hour. My runs are getting better, my diving is getting better and I'm losing weight to.

I got a nice surprise in the mail on Tues. Tim Weedman sent me a official Ironman Arizona license plate cover for my car to replace the one that broke off after I drove through a flying sheet of drywall on the hwy. ...Thanks Tim.

Yesterday our family with friends went on our annual x-mass tree hunt to cut our own tree at Drysdales tree farm.

The story went something like this...... ..... ....What a hunt!....I dredged through the bush peering side to side looking for just the right tree, then I snuck up behind and pounced upon the one I thought looked good enough to cut down!...... There was a huge struggle at first, then I finally got the teeth of my saw into its trunk! ...The screems and yells of anguish and hurt, not from the tree? but from my arm getting tired from sawing and burning from fatigue. I finally felled the tree to the call of my T I M B E R!!!......

Once down, there was nothing more the tree could do, but lay there ooozing sap! .......I jumped for joy! I snaged me a good one. Like a great African hunter over his kill, I stood one foot on the main trunk of the tree, and one arm in the air holding the saw that I cut down this perfect specimen of a tree, thumping my chest with my other fist and yelling! "this is the tree to be erected in my house, a superb symbol to celebrate the birth of Christ!" ......

Yes!....... This was a great take down!

There was some struggle to get the tree back to the car, first I had to drag this great specimen at least 1km to the tractor drawn wagon, to take us and the tree back to the main parking lot another 3-4km away, then pay for it, have it tied up with the automatic tree tierupper thingy then carry it another 400 or so meters to the car.

While I strapped the tree onto the roof of my car, the women went to the christmas store to look at all the christmasy things. I then went over to the bon fire and kept warm and drank hot chocolate while they did there shopping thing. Finally, after what seemed hours, the women came out of the store so we could go home and I could set up the tree.....The end!

Tri club Social

Saturday was my Tri clubs year end/Christmas social. It was a pot luck affair so I baked up a batch of Oatmeal raisin chocolate chip cookies to bring and a pot of spicy meatballs in a Chinese hoisin sauce. When we got there the house was packed already and people were already at the buffet of pot luck food stuffing themselves. Maybe it me? or I don't get out much? but the party was to start at 7pm and we got there at 7:05pm with our pot luck food. I couldn't believe people were serving themselves up and munching away already? I always thought when you go to a pot luck party you have a drink or 2 socialize a bit, then later in the evening thinking? say 8:30-9ish you serve up the food? So I placed my dish of cookies and pot of meatballs on the table with the rest of the food and grabbed a beer and started my greetings and socializing before I hit the buffet.

Most of the talk all night was about training and Triathlon. The food was good, the company was good and I had fun.

Some Diving Pictures

Here are some of the diving pictures from the pool last week.




First dive, Front 1 1/2 in Pike.

Next up Front dive half twist.

Sightly short on entree and a bit of over rotation ....

But nice save, and a pop entree ....

Front dive layout.....

Good form, but I could do with another 20 pounds less weight, but still pretty!...

Another good entree....

So far I'm only doing my basic dives and twists like front full with a full twist, back, reverse fulls with full twists, etc..... but as my weight come down more the rotations will get easier, and I'll be doing more of my advanced dives and add the extra flips or twistes like front 2 1/2 tuck, back and reverse 1 1/2 tuck/ pike, full twisting front 1 1/2 free, back 1 1/2 tuck pike, etc....

I'm not just a Triathlete!!!

I am now a QUAD ATHLETE !!!! With my other sport, the 4th discipline, being DIVING!!!


Of late, I've been doing allot of springboard diving at the new pool across town. Why diving? because if you check out my profile off to the right you will notice that Diving is the first sport listed in my interests. I was a competitive diver, instructor and coach in my youth. Diving is my thing! and will always be my number one sport. Triathlon is my now sport which I enjoy very much for the lifestyle and camaraderie, but I have always lived for diving.

Over the summer I set up with the recreation director a learn to dive basic instructors course to teach and certify some of the lifeguards to teach a basic parks and rec learn to dive program up here in Barrie, Something that has been long past due up here. I don't have the time to teach it because classes are weeknights and I work evening, plus my interest is to get a diving club going and recruit any kids from the program with potential who want to excel in the sport in which I can teach them the more advanced diving which the newly taught instructors can't. And to get kids into dive competitions in the future across Ontario and who knows? Canada and international ? ....OK I'm getting ahead of myself here. lol

A little history......

Before I moved up here to Barrie I taught and ran a diving club back in Toronto. Well that was over 25 years ago now, but when I moved up to Barrie I was hoping to get back into the diving scene and open a diving club again. It didn't happen because Barrie didn't have any diving facilities, so I gave up on that idea. Well 17 years later living in Barrie, and doing 3 Ironmans, countless 1/2 Ironmans, Olympic and sprint tri's, the city has finally built an new rec centre with 2 diving boards in the pool, One a one meter board and a three meter board. Yeah!!

For anyone who was reading my blog over the last year knows when the pool opened I was quick to get on the board and just as quick to tear my right calf muscle after getting my shock wave done on both my feet which layed me up for months, then with Disney and IMLP coming up i set my focus on my tri training and didn't want to risk anymore injury diving, so I put diving on the back burners, except to set up the dive program for the rec center until my tri season was over.

Present......

Now, since Sept. I have been diving regularly and with my weight coming down my form is looking good on the board. Most resently the rec director has approached me about setting up an adult diving program since the rec program is catered to the kids from ages 6 and up. I have also been approached by friends and some of the lifeguards at the pool to teach them because they've always wanted to learn how. But the problem is my work hours, I can't do any teaching week nights. So Now I'm in the works of setting something up? a program where I can teach them, possibly on Sat or Sunday some time which doesn't interfere with other programs going on. In the mean time I have been helping anyone who shows up at the pool during my diving sessions, usually Tues and Thurs.

This past week I was giving the head lifeguard some lessons because she asked, so I came in early to teach her during her lunch break. While I was giving her lesson the rec director came out with a camera and asked me to to do some of my dives, I said sure no problem, I charge $1,000 bucks an hour for photo shoots. lol.....So I preformed my dives and she clicked away. When the shoot was done she told me I was great, and she is going to use the photos for the next issue of the parks and rec brochure to promote the diving program here in Barrie. I said cool, I also asked her to send me copies of the photo shoot. ......When I get the shots I'll post some of them here. For now I'll just keep diving, swimming, biking and running. : )

Speaking of which I swam a 1000m today at the other rec pool which is closer to my home, ( no boards and where I do my swim training mon, weds and Fridays) and recruited another possible Triathlete who wants to learn to dive. This thing is getting big!! : )

Pond Pictures

Since it's cold and wintery outside, and snowing like a bugger, I thought this would be a good time to show off my pond and my pond fish from this past summer .

The pictures were taken from inside my living room through the front window. ENJOY! : )

And what the pond looks like today. ......


Here they are safe and sound inside the house over winter in their aquarium.

November Snow part 2, the day after.

The animals aren't complaining about the snow.




Mocha(cat) and Amber(Dog) enjoying the warmth of the fire.



View of 2 feet of fresh snow over the last 2 days from my computer room.

Back yard shots

And it's not even winter yet!

November Snow and Hot Tub

My Hot tub sprung a leak last night while I was in it, one of the connection popped apart. I fixed it today. The snow on the right melted from baling out the water from the tub. motor and connection under the hatch of the bottom corner of the decking around the tub


A view of my motor under ground.
The connection on top popped off. I fixed it by re-gluing it with pvc glue.

We had a nice blast of snow overnight so I had the ladies grab the shovels....

Melissa this morning doing her part in shoveling.
Joanne and Melissa on a gab break

Pretty...

Last night, I had to do my annual barefoot trek in the snow.

Oops! I slipped and fell.......On purpose of course, I don't fall! ...EVER!

My close up....Back up on my feet...
Hurry up my feet are getting cold.

Finally Ironman Lake Placid pictures

Well it's a long time in coming, but I finally had time to put some pictures up from IMLP

Here is my pictorial of our time there starting with when we got there looking though the expo after getting registered

Me on the beach of the swim course....

Some people I met at the IBSEX exchange form the Blue page of the chat forum..
Fleet and Bernie the attorney....
Pic's of expo area....


Me being body marked...
Mary her husband and me on the walk to the run special needs bag area before the race...
PNF and me. She was telling me she knows a little about Ironman... Ya! right!?!?
She really said to me; "Good luck and thanks for posing with me." : )
Making my way out for the swim start with 2300 of my newest best friends....
Getting ready for the cannon..
And we're off!!!....
That's me in the middle.....
That's me in the middle getting clobbered...Finished my swim in 1:10
Me coming into town after the first loop....Finished my bike in 7:07
Coming out of T2 to start my 26.2 mile walk/shuffle...
Shuffling along...

A smiling Ironman finisher ....And a third time Ironman in 15:45...

No problem!...