Duathlon...

I am proud to announce that I have signed up for my first multi-sport event. A Duathlon named 'Du the Bear', held here in Houston, in one week. It is not a triathlon because there is no swimming portion.... I'm sneaky!... Instead it consists of a 2 mile run, a 10 mile bike, then another 2 mile run.

I decided to do this to calm some nerves about performing in a multi-sport event. The transitions and getting around the other competitors will be different than what I am used to. I am nervously excited about it. My goal is to finish in 1 hour and 15 minutes... And not to puke.... Oh, and finish.

Thanks for reading. I know I haven't been to consistent with the blog but Thank you all for staying with me. I appreciate your support!!

Wade

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The Last Ten Years...

It has been 10 years: 10 years, wow, that means I have a 10 year High School reunion this year. When looking back, like all of us, I still remember the day. However, what is the Ten years without talking about some changes along the way. Some sad, some happy, some fun, some difficult. In the last 10 years I personally have experienced: 3 graduations, finding the true love of my life and getting a nod of approval from my grandfather before losing him, getting married, buying a new home and even losing a little hair. We have all expierenced advances in technology, seen the rise and fall of MySpace, the subsequent rise of Facebook and Twitter, 3D movies and TV, internet in the palm of our hands and being in contact with anyone at anytime, anywhere. We have all seen death, birth, love and hate. None of which made us stand still collectively at one time and have an affect on our lives like 9/11/01.



Me at 17.



9/11/01: I was 17 years old, a Senior at Conroe High School and probably should have been in school like many of my other classmates, I wasn't. That morning started like any other, I picked up my best friend and my then girl friend to take to school that morning. But that morning turned out a little different, I wasn't feeling good for some strange reason. I called my mom on my cell phone. Ten years ago cell phones had just became more and more popular, mainly for parents to stay in contact with their kids. These phones were built to send and receive calls, send an occasional text (sometimes for $.10 a text!) and play the game 'Snake". Unlike today where we use our phones for everything other than actual phone calls... These days we use them to take pictures, video, to tweet, check facebook or play angry birds, we were a few years away from that technology... Anyways I called my mom to ask her if it was okay for me to come home because I wasn't feeling good, she agreed. I dropped of my friends and I returned home. I snuggled up on the recliner in the living room and fell asleep....  A couple of hours earlier the ringing of the phone awakened me. My mom was on the other end. She informed me to turn on the TV, I did and we stayed on the phone speechless for what seemed like an eternity as I tried to find words for what my eyes were seeing. I had none, and neither did my mom. I don't know remember what was said, but I remember saying "I love you." to eachother before we got off of the phone, this time we didn't just say it, we said it with passion and meaning. I felt sick, now for a different reason. 

Memorial Circle on campus of Texas Tech University.

9/11/02: I was 18 years old, a Freshman at Texas Tech University... You may be wondering why I am telling the year after story. Well for me I cannot tell one without telling the other... I was on campus, and in the center of campus sits Memorial Circle. One year later Texas Tech had American flags everywhere and encouraged the students to all join in for a moment of silence. It was a scene I will never forget! A couple of thousand of students and a moment of silence that is etched into my memory.

I have friends and family that have served and are currently serving. I thank God everyday for what they and their fellow soldiers have done for me, my family and our country! And to the first responders who did not hesitate before running into the towers to save as many people they could, We will never forget!

I almost blew off my hand.... Twice!

I had a little time today so I thought I would be able to ride today. It's been a week or so and I have been pretty anxious to get back on it! What ensued almost made me lose a hand!!

I worked my legs a little on Tuesday and have been walking around like I had a prostrate exam! I hate it when my legs are sore. I'm such a baby when it comes to leg soreness. You can't stand up, walk or God forbid go to sit on a toilet!!

I get on the bike and quickly notice the tires are low, not flat, but low. Enough so that I didn't want to get to far away and have to change a tire on the side of the road. Since I am a little bit larger and the tires are a little but smaller, I have some reservations about riding with low tires. I go to air up the tires, sounds simple enough. Well the new road tires have this toothpick for a stem. No ordinary air pump will do it. But I did purchase a flat repair kit, so I look in there for some ideas. Turns out there is an adapter that goes on the stem and attaches to an Air cartridge to air up tires. Thinking about saving the cartridge I head to the local Valero. NATURALLY the Air machine wouldn't work with adapter. My naive thinking believes that I can just put a little bit of the air in tire and be on my way.
This is where it turns for the worse! I put the cartridge to the stem and the cartridge EXPLODES in my hand! I freak out. And if I didn't have my gloves on I would have for sure gotten some sort of frost bite! Ice particles were on the gloves for at least 30" to a minute, IN 100 DEGREE WEATHER! Thinking I must have done something wrong, I try again with a little more poise and control... NOPE! Thought I got shot, my heart had to stop for a moment. I put my stuff back in the little pouch and went and got on the stationary bike. Needless to say I have a lot to learn and a normal pump to purchase!

Happy college football weekend... Oh and labor day!

Wade

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