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My training has been going well.  If you haven’t noticed, I’ve been logging my progress in the side-bar.  Not so much because I think you care.  More because I have a website and I can.  I’ve been seeing actual improvements and decided to hit some mid-term goals before the July 20th Xterra at West Branch.

At the suggestion of Jess’s family, I registered for the Bedford Auto Mile 5 Mile Run.  In its 18th year, not one portion of this race was had on the Bedford Auto Mile, but I suppose that didn’t bother most, since that would involve some hill climbing.  Entering in the 25-29 year old age group, I thought it would be a good way to see where my skills were and get the experience of a race (which I have never done).

It was a little bit of a toughy for me.  Within the first 1/4 mile I had a little cramp, something I had never gotten in my training up to this point. I chalked it up to being anxious.  Secondly, my heart rate was crazy!  The good thing was it didn’t really feel that bad, but my monitor told differently.  There were definitely a few times during the race where I tried to take it down a little.  My interest was to to leave a little bit to get me across the finish line, but I was able to handle a “race day” pace, taking my performance up a notch or two for the long haul.

I finished the race in 42 minutes 41 seconds according to my watch.  I was pretty happy with myself, considering my goal was to maintain a 10-minute mile.  After the race we grabbed our included pancakes and chatted for bit.  On the way out, we stopped back at registration to see the results.  It turned out that I finished first in my age bracket!  I got a little 1st Place plaque and everything.  How’s that for a motivator?  Granted, I didn’t seem to have much competition (most of the runners seemed to be males age 40-55), but I must be doing something right.

After to race, Alan and I talked about hitting a short, road triathlon at Clay’s Park on June 8th.  This would give me an opportunity to get some more race experience under my belt before the big one in July.  It’ll allow me to practice transitions, getting my nutrition right, and running off the bike.  I think I’m going to do it.

As I worked at my kitchen table this afternoon, I received three separate emails from supervisors and higher ups saying “pack up and get out of Dodge ASAP”. Okay, it may not have been that immediate (or informal) but everybody is noticing the blizzard headed our way.

The weather people are calling for 9-14 inches by tomorrow. Right now it doesn’t seem to be as bad as it was earlier this afternoon, but the snow and wind have been consistent. I’m not sure why old man winter rears his ugly head in March, but I’m thinking he should take an early vacation until next year.

I left the office at about 11:30AM to finish my day of work at home. Needless to say, having such a flexible schedule is a pretty nice benefit of my job, especially on days like these. And to think, just yesterday I was out for a bike ride on the country roads. What a difference a day makes. With any luck this will be the last big snow storm of the season and we’ll kick into the 60s in no time.

Edit: Holy cannolli!  Did you see how much snow we got!?  I guess those weather people know what they are talking about.

Back in October I traveled with Jess’s family to Lake Tahoe, NV, to see Alan, Jess’s step-father, participate in the Xterra US Championship race.  Four months later, I have begun training for my very first.

The Xterra is an off-road triathlon - open water swim, mountain bike, and a trail run.  Alan is helping to bring the first Xterra to Northeast Ohio, and I figured there was no better time than the present to begin training.

Now, that is a little misleading.  Jess has been egging me on for a little while, dropping hints “I’m thinking about doing the Xterra,” waiting for a reaction from me.  Any logical person does not think the idea of a .5 mile swim, 10 mile mountain bike, followed by a 4 mile trail run is an attractive item.  But, after further thought and an increase in my physical activity, I took the bait.

So, now Jess and I are training for the Xterra One race on July 20, 2008, at West Branch State Park in Ravenna, OH.  My goal is to finish, but I feel that if I keep up with my training, I should be able to exceed that goal.  I began swimming last week, which was the most foreign activity for me.  I’ve picked up running pretty well and just invested in my first properly fitted running shoes.  As for the biking - I’m looking forward for the snow to stop so I can get spinning.

I wouldn’t expect this to become a training log, but don’t be surprised if you see some posts here and there about my progress.  Jess has already starting posting some of her own thoughts and experiences of training.  Tomorrow morning it’s off to the gym to get a swim in before work.  Only 20 weeks left until the big day.

Since I’ve begun cycling, all I’ve heard is was horror stories of bicycles being ignored by cars, being doored and generally run off the road. In my four years on the saddle I have had one (1) negative experience of the sort, where a person in a car blatantly missed the fact that I was oncoming traffic and nearly hit me coming out of a shopping center. Otherwise, my experience has been positive…except for those people who hold up traffic and treat bicycles like a special case, going against normal traffic flow to let the bicycle through. In my opinion, these situations are almost worse than not seeing a cyclist. It creates unnecessary confusion on the road - a confusion that would not be there if everybody just moved along like we were all vehicles, sharing a road, under the same rules and regulations.

If a cyclist is doing their job, they should blend into traffic and be as predictable (or more so) than any other vehicle on the road. They should be treated as cars or any other legal vehicle and should not be treated as a charity case. Case and point - this morning I just got back from a quick ride and was waiting to make a left hand turn at a light. Two separate cars, in the oncoming lane, making a right where I wanted to make a left (see picture), stopped and waited for me to make my turn. Would they do such a thing for a car? Probably not. Not to mention, there was a left lane of traffic from their direction that was still moving. There’s no way I’m taking the bait and getting crushed my a car in the takeover lane. I waived both of these cars through, receiving looks of “I was just trying to be nice - GOSH!” in return.

So what’s my point? I just want non-cyclists to be aware that cyclists are just like cars, well, except for they are much smaller and have nicer calves. But seriously, they should be obeying the same rules of the road - riding with traffic, stopping at lights and stop signs, signaling their intent, etc. If they do not, you have every right to tell them what for (and I encourage you to do so). Yes, bicycles are vehicles too, so pass it on.

My praise and photo made Genuine Scooters’ new website. See…I’m not the only crazy person riding a 125cc scooter in the US.

While doing some home improvements, I decided to install some hangers gifted to me a few holidays back. It’s a little odd. I seem to have an “M” left over. Quality control these days…

On Wednesday of last week, WKSU aired a radio story about CAMBA. Jess even got a sound bite because she’s intelligent and awesome (but probably because she was the only girl). Have a listen and take a look at the photos.

Update: Shortly after posting this story, The Medina Sun newspaper did a story on us. Here’s a link to that one.

After a day in Gent, I took it upon myself to travel into the center of Brussels on Sunday.  After breakfast and a bit of relaxation, I made it to the center of town around noon.  I took a walk through Brussels Park (map), and saw Parliment and the Royal Palace on either side.  It was really a very nice park.  There was even a violin concert going on at the time, which made for some enjoyable music to travel by. 

I made my way out and on to see the rest of the city.  Just down the street I found the Musical Instrument Museum.  At a cost of 5 Euros, I figured it was a good way to pass some time.  The museum consisted of three floors.  You were given a set of headphones and you walked around, standing in front of numbers on the floor.  The numbers were placed in front of the instruments, and when you stood in the area you would hear traditional museum played by that type of instrument.  It was an interesting concept and pretty cool to see all of the old, strange looking instruments.  My only complaint was that my OCD made me follow the numbers in order and they weren’t very well layed out.  I often had to backtrack to stay in sequence.  Additionally, they were missing some numbers, which was really playing tricks with me.

The museum took about an hour and then I headed down to Grand Place and walked the streets and squares.  It was pretty busy.  The weather was very cooperative and people were out enjoying themselves.  I walked all over the Grand Place area, making sure to visit the Manneken Pis, and grab myself a small bit to eat.  All said and done I spent about four hours in the city before heading back to the hotel to rest a bit.  Brussels center was nice, but it was a little bit “too much” for me after having visited Gent - a city in which I enjoyed the feel of greatly.

After a few hours I received a call from my co-worker Lars, from Hamburg, Germany.  He had just gotten in and wanted to grab a bite to eat.  We walked around the area a bit, trying to find an open restaurant on a Sunday night.  We finally settled for a restaurant about 10 minutes walk from the hotel.  Lars and I had good conversation - he even allowed me to butcher his mother tongue a bit with my lack of German vocabulary.  It was fun to finally - after a week of being in international presence - speak a little bit of another language.  It actually made me feel more comfortable, even if mein Deutsch ist nicht so gut.  Monday it will be back to the office for three more days of work in Brussels before heading home. 

In the morning I grabbed a quick breakfast in the hotel and made a stop at the nearest grocery for some bottled water and a couple of apples.  I got back to the Hotel about 10:00AM and gave Paul a call.  He gave me direction to take the subway to the Central Station and jump on a train to Gent.  If all works out I should make it there by 11:30AM.

So, I head down the street to the nearest metro.  I bought a card, figuring I would use it for transportation the rest of the week and headed towards the center.  After a few transfers I made it to Central Station and boarded a train to Gent.  Unknowingly, I took a seat in the First Class cabin and made myself comfortable.  Shortly after the ticket taker walked through announcing, “This is a First Class cabin.  Those without First Class tickets should make there way to the back where they have better luck of finding a seat.”  Good to know.  About half a dozen cars back I found a seat and took a 20 minute break to look out the window at the scenery

At 11:30AM I arrived in Gent.  I gave Paul a call and he and his 15 month old daughter (Catie) had just arrived as well.  We met up and grabbed a bus to the center of town.  Paul, originally from Sri Lanka, knows a few languages, but he is most comfortable with English.  He has been in Belgium for 5 years and has become fluent in Flemish, but with me (obviously) he spoke English.  The moment he opened his mouth, speaking clear, fluent English, we had a number of people coming up asking questions - “Is this the bus to Gent center?”, “Which way to the shopping district?”, etc.  I suppose I would take advantge of an English speaking resident if I needed to as well.

Gent is significantly more Flemish than French.  Nearly everybody spoke Flemish Dutch and only a few people we came across spoke French.  We walked about the city a bit (it was a beautiful day, by the way), and the pace was still very comfortable - the streets weren’t too crowded and people were moving casually.  We grabbed lunch at Vier Tafels (map), where I had traditional Belgian cuisine in Gentse Waterzooi met Vis.  Honestly, it wasn’t my thing - the heavy cream based sauce was a little too rich for my taste - but I really appreciated Paul introducing me to something truly Belgian.

We saw just about every corner of Gent.  We went down nearly every street and saw all of the buildings.  We visited the Graventeen (map), which had some great views of Gent from the top.  Its really a fantastic city.  Paul got me some local chocolates, which were really great and we made our way to the grocery for a few items, as he and his wife were having Carl and I over for dinner in the evening.

We hopped on the bus out of town and relaxed for the thirty minute ride.  We were tired from walking all day and had a well deserved rest.  I could have easily napped it up, but I held off.  We arrived at his home in a residential area where I met his wife Kathleen.  We socialized for a bit and watched some of Live Earth on television.  Carl made it over about 7:00PM and we sat down for some pasta and conversation.  The sun stays up until about 10:00PM here, so it is easy to lose track of time.  We eventually called it an evening and Carl very nicely gave me a ride back to my hotel.

Friday was kind of long.  Greet and I headed in to the office as usual.  I had a nice little meeting with Scott and Suzanne, showing them a few more things about SMS, which will hopefully help them out in the long run.  Greet left at 11 to catch her plane.  I stuck around through lunch, with a taxi picking me up at 1:45PM.

I said my good byes and made my way out to the front gate.  I jump in the taxi, preparing for a ninety minute ride to Manchester Airport (map).  The ride from Hazelwood was a scenic one - it took us way up into the hills and through the country side.  But remember those curvy roads I was telling you about?  Well, mix that with a taxi driver who lacked smooth brake and accelerator work and you get Brett’s stomach all in a bind.  No, mind you, in the States, about the only driving that gets my stomach going is my fathers (sorry Dad), but otherwise I’m good.  I felt like I was on a rollercoaster in this little Ford van of ours.  When he dropped me off, I was just so happy to be on solid ground again.  It didn’t take but 10 minutes to cure my nausea.

Manchester Airport.  What can I say about Manchester Airport?  Well, it isn’t quite as clear as I’d like it to be, but maybe I’m picky.  I had a ticket from British Airways, operated by Flybe.  Both had check-in counters, so I had to make a decision.  I figured I would go with the parent company and stood in line for British Airways.  *BUZZER*  Sorry, try again.  They sent me over to the Flybe queue.  I guess this is why you get to the airport two hours early.  After check-in I breezed through security (I didn’t even have to take off my shoes!).  I took a look at the terminal screens and it was showing a Brussels flight at Gate 52.  I headed over, sat down, threw on some This American Life and got ready to wait for a bit.  All of a sudden “Boarding for flight to Brussels…”  This was about an hour earlier than I had expected it to be, but stranger things have happened to me.  I spoke to the woman taking boarding passes and she said “You are on a Flybe flight.  You have to ask them when your flight goes out.”  Flybe strikes again!  In all fairness, if I had paid a little more attention to the terminal screens I probably would have caught this error.  

So, I made my way back out to the lobby in front of the gates.  My flight to Brussels did not have a gate yet, and had a waiting time of 40 minutes.  It sounded like it was time to make myself comfortable.  $0 minutes later I took a look at the screen and it said 30 minutes.  Hmmm…either time moves really slowly in Manchester or something isn’t quite right here.  Understanding that travel isn’t perfect, I trusted the screen and sat down for another 20, and watch the minutes tick off the screen.  I now had a gate - and it was Gate 52 (fancy that).

The plane took off an hour later than scheduled, but only arrive 10 minutes later (whatever).  The taxi driver picked me up in Brussels (with his cab smelling of vomit) and took me to the Hotel Manos (map).  Fortunately, it was only a 15 minute ride.  I checked in about 9:15PM (I had to move my clock ahead yet another hour), dropped off my bags and went out to the streets to have a look around and have a bite to eat. 

Brussels is a very French city.  I don’t say that with any contempt - I’m simply stating the fact.  I knew this going in and I felt a little embarrassed not having brushed up on at least a little French before going out.  I strolled around a bit and finally grabbed some spaghetti bolognese at a small restaurant down the street.  They didn’t speak a word of English to me, but it was okay - they were nice enough otherwise and the food was good - no worries.

Afterwards, I felt like walking off my meal a bit and headed toward the center of town.  I wanted to get my bearings in the city a bit and find my subway station for the next day.  The Louise/Louiza station was a ten minute walk and it gave me the opportunity to see the town a bit.  Things were nicely lit up for the evening, though things did seem a bit quiet.  I noticed there were a ton of scooters around - more than I’ve probably seen in the States total.  I guess it’s just a way of living a congested city.  I didn’t see as many bicycles as I expected (but that will change when I hit Gent on Saturday).

I finally made it back to the hotel for some well deserver rest.  The next morning I would be connecting with my co-worker Paul for a day-trip into Gent.