Homecoming

We spent the weekend up in Gainesville visiting our son John for Homecoming. Being on both the homecoming and Gator Growl committees, John got us into several events including breakfast with the President of UF. After that, Salome & I ran with young son Alex in the 2 mile Gator Gallop, a fun run on the homecoming parade route. The picture is of us after the run in front of the D.U. house awaiting the parade. For the uninitiated, we're doing the "Gator Chomp."

Gator Growl, the homecoming show, was a fun event with 3 comedians headlining. Lots of laughs and a good time. There were some great student skits. Here's a link to one called "Facebook Down" to give you a feel for these fun student produced skits. Unfortunately, the football team just couldn't put together enough offense to win the game. Oh well, the team has had several good years under Tim Tebow. A rebuilding year should be somewhat expected.

As for preparations for Miami 70.3, I took advantage of the cooler Gainesville weather to knock out my 13.1 mile run for the weekend. I postponed my long ride until this morning, but it was a strong 58 miler. I hit a groove several times on the ride where I just felt great hitting a 21 mph average. Some days the training feels like a chore; other days you hit that groove where you happy to be training. Today's ride was the latter. Felt great. I think I'm ready for Miami.

Salome & I had lunch yesterday with our friend Ellen Itzler to review our preparations for Miami 70.3. Ellen did Escape to Miami a few weeks back and had some stomach issues during her run. Miami will be Ellen's first 70.3, so she's a bit concerned about a repeat of stomach issues. Thus, we talked about race strategy and proper hydration and nutrition during the race. I think she's going to do fine. But, as most of us know, when you step up to a new level for the first time, you're a bundle of nerves.

Miami will be my fourth half ironman and, as a local event, a sort of homecoming. Another tri buddy, Jerry Busbee is also doing Miami. Jerry is also signed up for IMCDL as part of our group tackling that event next June. He is also a pretty strong triathlete. I'm hoping he can take my picture as I cross the finish line well after him. We've coordinated bike drop off on Friday and will try to get in an open water swim workout or two before next Saturday's event. This weekend's run and today's ride were my last long workouts, so it's officially taper time. Yeah!!!