Steve in a Speedo?! Gross!

More Trinona Time Trial Photos

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stenzel) — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 20:24:00 +0000

The Winona Daily News briefly interviewed me after the Trinona Time Trial 10 days ago, but they tweeted me and said they weren't going to use any of my interview. (I suck at talking.)

But they DID put together a slide show of some photos from the Time Trial. Here are 6 I want to share:

Climbing.

More climbing, nearing the turn-off.

He's in the middle of the steepest little climb near the end of the TT...
AND he's smiling! LOVE this guy!

The short, quick little downhill to the finish.

Someone about to finish.

Andrew Dahl, racer #1 and "the rabbit," hitting the line with an epic push.
And that's my wife just to the right of his head (among the cars) looking for me just behind him!

Trinona put up a big SmugMug gallery of TT photos, and here are 6 from that album:

Rolling around with a dumb grin on my face pre-race.

Cheering with everyone else (after I finished) at the turn-off with around 0.5 miles to go.

Sweet shot of Jenn coming to the finish (just 2 seconds behind the 1st female).

Katherine, the winner (in green), and Andrew (one of the sponsors and rider #1).

Finishing for the 2nd time while holding the helmet cam in my hand (and taking video).

The 20 TTers who beat Andrew's time.

Finally, here are 2 more photos of the 2013 TT from Trinona website:

Starting.

Sweet climbing photo. Love / Hate that hill.

I'll have a few more photos from my wife's race at Trinona shortly.

- CLICK HERE for my Time Trial race report.
- CLICK HERE for a 3-minute video of everyone climbing the bluff at the TT (from my helmet cam).
- CLICK HERE for photos of Pharmie and our friends racing the Trinona Triathlon.

Runner's Trots: A True Story

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stenzel) — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 10:39:00 +0000

This post is going to get pretty "real." Prepare yourself.

Thursday afternoon, I headed out for a tempo run. The goal was to warm-up for 2 miles, hit the next 4 miles HARD, and then cool-down for 2 miles. I hit mile 1 in 6:59. "Uhh, it's a 'WARM UP' Steve... ease up!" So then I hit mile 2 in 6:43. "Wait, 6:43?!?! That's WAY to fast for a WARM UP!" So I decided to do a 3rd warm-up mile and back off the pace a bit before starting the fast miles.

I think starting off so fast was doing something to my stomach, but I wasn't aware of that yet...

So I FINALLY ran mile 3 a little slower (7:09), and then upped the pace for my hard tempo miles.

I didn't know what kind of pace I'd be holding for my "fast" miles because my warm-up miles were so fast. I hit the end of my first "fast" mile in 5:58. "Oh well... kinda slow... I guess starting out so fast is going to.... WAIT, that said FIVE fifty-eight, not SIX fifty-eight!! Holy nuts. I'm bookin' it for that being my first fast mile!"

I didn't think "Wow, I'm owning this workout." I thought "Wow, I'm going crash and burn." But I didn't know exactly HOW I was going to crash and burn at that moment...

I ran my second tempo mile in 6:04, and I knew I was fading fast. I figured I'd only run 1 more hard mile, so I did mile 3 in 5:55 for 3 tempo miles in 17:57 total. I walked for a bit, and then started jogging home on my 3 mile cool-down.

With less than 2 miles before home, my stomach started churning.

You know that feeling: it gets tighter and worse and worse and you're just waiting for it to "release"... and finally it does. It started doing that quite often. I was really clenching my sphincter tight. Best sphincter workout in a long time.

With around 1.5 miles left, I really questioned if I could make it home! "Steve, it's been less than a half mile since your stomach / intestines started acting up, and it's getting BAD. You still have more than 3x as far to go to get home!" I was running along River Road on the east side of the river, and I was about to cross from Minneapolis to St. Paul (so between Shriners Hospital and the Lake / Marshall Bridge).

I was running with my shirt in my hand, and I considered jumping into the wooded bluffs along the river, dropping trou, letting it all flow, and wiping with my shirt. I'd just leave the shirt there. It was one of my Chisago Lakes Triathlon shirts, but it WASN'T my favorite one:

Me and Pharmie in my FAVORITE Chisago Lakes Tri shirt at my first Time Trial in 2009.

I was wearing black running shorts, so if I "messed them up," it'd be hard to tell. VISUALLY. It'd be easy to tell OLFACTORYLY. (By smell.) Runners trots smell like nothing else. We all know the smell of poop, and we all know the smell of diarrhea. Runners trots is like the worst part of those smells added together, along with some hot, spoiled, wet meat. Opossum meat.

I really considered jumping into the woods because it was my last chance: when I got less than a mile from home, I'd spend 1/4 mile running along a fence next to a golf course and a busy road where there'd be NO place to duck and poo. After that (for the last 1/2 mile), I'd be running through my residential neighborhood where I'd have to crap in the alley next to someone's trash can. I figured my best bet was either NOW or pray that I could make it home!

THEN I REMEMBERED SEEING A PORTA POTTY! The city has been doing work on a culvert under River Road pretty close to my "1 mile from home" mile-marker. When I ran past on my way out, there were a few guys still around - they seemed to be packing up for the day. Maybe they'd still be around and the porta potty would be open!

When I got up the hill near the porta potty, I did NOT see any workers, but the porta potty didn't seemed to be locked! HURRAH!!!!!!

I ran across the road and spotted 2 guys down in the ditch on the other side still working. I yelled "Hi guys! I kinda have a bathroom emergency! Do you mind if I use this?"

One of them smiled and said, "Yeah, but it's gonna cost you!"

I held up my Chisago Triathlon shirt and said "OK, but this is all I haaaaaaave!" (I wasn't about to offer my Garmin.)

He laughed and said he was kidding and told me to go ahead. As I turned to open the door, I shouted back over my shoulder "THANKS GUYS!! I'll keep it tidy!"

I sat down and releaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeedddddddddddddddddddddddddd.

"Oh God... that was bad. Well, time to clean upOHNOTYETITSNOTDONE!!!!!!!....."

I was in there a while. I watched a little red and brown spider crawling near the toilet paper roll. I had to keep waiting for round after round of Golden Retriever-colored liquid to come shooting out of my ass. I'd feel fine one moment, and then it'd be raining from my butt as my stomach turned the next moment.

I finally thought it was over. So I wiped a few times and tried to drop the toilet paper on top of the mess I left so one one else had to see it. As I was wiping, I realized I didn't see the spider anymore. "I MAY have just wiped my ass with a spider, but I don't care. Things could have been MUCH worse today."

I stood up and noticed all of the swass (sweaty ass) that I left all over the seat. After all, it WAS humid and 75 degrees and I had just run 8 miles. So staying true to my "I'll keep it tidy" promise, I wiped down the seat and dropped the TP over any remaining evidence of my runners trots in the basin. Now it was all behind me. Thank God.

I ran out of the porta potty, and the 2 guys were working with their backs to me. I just ran off across the road as fast as possible. THANK YOU KIND CITY OF ST. PAUL WORKERS!

If you're still reading, then you're as gross as I am. You'll enjoy this final part. Back in 2006 (as about the 10th blog post EVER on my blog), I wrote a poem about an incident like this. Here's the poem from that day nearly 7 years ago:

The following poem is a true story,
and I apologize if it gets a little gory.

I was happily into my 6.2 mile run.
I was having a good time; it was fast and it was fun.

At about mile 3, my stomach gave a twitch.
I shrugged it off; it was just a minor glitch.

Before mile 4, the little pain was back.
“Is this going to be a problem?” I thought as I clenched my crack.

The pain kept getting much worse,
And I was afraid that I was going to burst.

A few blocks from home, I started flipping through my keys.
I needed to get into the house fast and with great ease.

I picked up the pace; I was running with all I got!
It was either get home now, or duck into the bushes and cop a squat!

I was running so fast that I actually wheezed.
I didn’t think I was going to make it; my butt cheeks were squeezed!

Two blocks from home, my stomach really began to hurt.
And down my leg, I nearly felt a little squirt.

I got to the house just in the nick of time.
What I was about to do could probably be considered a crime.

Sprinting to the bathroom, I almost dropped to a knee.
I shouted to Sarah as I slammed the bathroom door, “Don’t stop loving me!!”

I had made it in time! I had made my goal!
And I concentrated hard as not to look down into the bowl. (gross)

It was a sad, sad sight: I had horrendous squirts!
It felt like the cast of Sesame Street was parading out of my ass, complete with Ernies and Berts.

What happened in there I can only describe as a gush.
It was such an incident that it called for a courtesy flush.

Had Sarah heard what just happened in the bathroom?
If she had, she is now reconsidering ever taking me as her groom!

But her love is unconditional, like the love a child has for her doll;
Outside the bathroom door sat a brand new bottle of Pepto Bismol.

The significance of this story holds true, whether near or far;
The moral being, “Ten minutes before a fast run, DO NOT eat a Klondike Bar!”

Editor's note: People keep asking, but it is COMPLETELY TRUE. I sprinted to the bathroom while shouting, "Don't stop loving me" to Sarah. Good times.

(And if you liked that, you might like another poem I wrote about annoying, stinky, old ladies taking over the swimming pool.)

All kidding aside, I think I learned something here. If my body's not used to the heat, I can NOT run hard. That may have been a bigger part of my failed marathon in 2008 than I originally thought. (It was warm that day, and things turned south for me after hitting double-digits.) When I went for a long run on Saturday, it was similarly warm, but I kept the effort easier (around 7:20s). My stomach still churned a bit near the end of those 11.5 miles. I think the heat does bad things to me. I'm used to running in cool weather here in Minnesota - you know, the other 10 months of the year. We had a cool spring, and now we're finally getting some days in the upper 70s. Lesson learned. The shitty way.

Impromptu Crossfit Workout

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stenzel) — Sat, 15 Jun 2013 18:43:00 +0000

Pharmie, Henry, and I should be camping this weekend. But Henry came down with "hand, foot, and mouth disease" on Tuesday (the day before his 2nd birthday). It's kinda like chicken pox. His feet, hands, butt, and INSIDE HIS MOUTH were covered with blisters and looked like this:

He hasn't wanted to eat much because he keeps saying "mouth... hurt..." Poor guy. He's finally on the up-swing, we think. He woke up a few times last night, but his spirit seems to be better. The sores are more red (like they're coming to the surface), but Pharmie thinks they're starting to run their course.

So yesterday as he was napping, I wanted to try to get in an upper-body workout. I thought I'd make up some sort of quick crossfit workout. I knew I wanted to do pushups and pull-ups (upper body stuff), but just doing those back-to-back would kill me. I tweeted for help, and someone suggested burpees. And I figured I'd add in some lunges too. So I went out to the garage (Pharmie was home too - I didn't just leave Henry in the house alone) with my workout notes:

(The pushups and pull-ups were 1/3 of my max, and I just guessed on the best numbers for
burpees and lunges. It turns out I maybe should have went for 5 or 6 pull-ups.)

The goal was to do 10 rounds as quickly as possible (but with good form) and with no breaks.

By the end of the first round, I was breathing hard. After a few more, I was dripping sweat. I was taking just over 2:00 / round, and I finished in 20:54. My garage floor was just a little dusty, but once I started getting sweaty, that dust was turning to mud. I finished with my hands looking like this:

And here's the spot were I was doing the burpees. You can see 2 wet hand marks on either side, and drips of sweat from off my face in the middle:

Not a bad way to fit in 160 pushups, 160 lunges, 100 burpees, and 40 pull-ups in 20 minutes!

Henry was still sleeping, so I snuck out for a quick and SUPER EASY 10 mile ride just to flush out my legs a bit. My legs were still a little sore from a NASTY run the day before where I went out too hard and... well... I'll let my post-run tweet do the talking:

Back with the full story on THAT on Monday....

p.s. In the meantime, my wife FINALLY blogged about her last 3 races: here's the link to her "Fast Before the Feast 10K," "Cinco DU Mayo Duathlon," and her "Minneapolis Marathon" race reports (all in one post). Check it out. Happy weekend!

Friday Funny 537: Some Funny Links

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stenzel) — Sat, 15 Jun 2013 01:06:00 +0000

Here are some of the best of the last 2 weeks from my tumblr page. I haven't posted links in a couple of weeks so feel free to check it out and keep going back in time:

Non-athletic funny things:

• Guys, if you're giving a lady a greeting card, you might as well tell her how you really feel.

• [GIF] Ladies, let this guy cook for you.

• Is she a werewolf?

• Me, flirting.

• Beauty and the Beast 2.

• Hank Hill on grilling steaks.

• Nerd humor.

• Ron Swanson on small dogs.

• Ron Swanson at the doctor.

• (Because I live in Minnesota...) The similarities between a baby and a Packer fan.

• I wish my Dad had told me this about sex.

• [GIF] This should be a thing.

• Pub truth.

• Disney movies.

Athletic-related funny things:

• My pool needs this!

• I'll try a lot of things... but I'm not trying this.

• Gee... thanks.

• The truth about minutes.

• Me, after a good workout.

• Oh, you're not a runner??

• Some great photos of the first woman running Boston with a race number in the 60s.

• I told this to my body during the TT last weekend.

• Breaststroke / swimming humor.

• [GIF] When people ask if I do marathons.

• Squatting is like sex....

• Screw "Ridiculously Photogenic Guy." Here's Extremely Photogenic Spartan Race Girl.

• Pools.

• And if you like muscles, check out my tag for "hard bodies of the day."

Remember, check out steveinaspeedo.tumblr.com often for funny stuff. Happy weekend!!

Oh, and my lovely wife has found it so easy to burn my arch-nemesis Devon Palmer that she had to join in. This make me love her even more:

Friday Funny 536: Ironic Mugshot T-Shirts

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stenzel) — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 20:34:00 +0000

Friday Funny 535: Ways to Describe Your Motorcycle...

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stenzel) — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 16:27:00 +0000

You can always find funnies on steveinaspeedo.tumblr.com.

Friday Funny 534: Things That Were Actually Invented

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stenzel) — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 10:39:00 +0000

Some of these are horrible, horrible ideas.

Others, I would like to use.

Check out steveinaspeedo.tumblr.com for funny stuff all week long.

Pharmie's Race at the Trinona Triathlon

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stenzel) — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 09:11:00 +0000

So Saturday night, I did the Trinona Time Trial. (CLICK HERE for my race report, and CLICK HERE for a "highlight video" from that hellish climb.)

Then, on Sunday, Pharmie did the Trinona Olympic Distance Triathlon. I did this race last year, and this was going to be Pharmie's first time down there. Pharmie joined our friend Amblyn who was doing her FIRST EVER TRIATHLON!!

Pharmie and Amblyn pre-race.

The elite Oly athletes started first, then the Sprint racers, and finally the "age grouper" Oly athletes. Here are your top 3 finishers (quickly and kind of poorly) Photoshopped together in 1 shot exiting the water:

The 3 Ds: David, Dan, and (arch-nemesis) Devon - 1st, 2nd, and 3rd overall at the finish.

Suzie and Ross had itchy backs... or something.

The start of Amblyn's wave (with Sugar Loaf rock in the distance).

That's Amblyn taking our good advice in the middle (in the 2XU wetsuit).
Our advice? Start at the back and to the outside! Don't get mauled at the front!

2 of my favorite ladies at this race: Katherine (the TT race director) and Pharmie.
Did I mention it was cold and raining? It was.

Jen (announcing the start) and Trinona race director Dave!

Pharmie's Olympic wave about ready to start: she was in the 2nd-to-last wave.

Jen on the airhorn and mic as Pharmie's wave starts!

As Pharmie was swimming, I saw some of the elite athletes hitting the run. I wish every race photo of myself looked like an average race photo of Claire:

An adorable soft-shell turtle emerges from the wa... OH WAIT, THAT'S MY WIFE! Go Pharmie!

She should model wetsuits. I mean, just LOOK at this.

Still having a little trouble with her quick-release.

Back to being a turtle (head in the shell) in transition.

Starting the bike with a smile!

Around the time Pharmie started the bike, I heard Amblyn's name announced across the finish line! Jerry MacNeil said something like "Amblyn... that's a cool name!" Here she is once I found her with her bf Jed:

Congrats, Amblyn!!!

Arch-nemesis Devon and I WERE going to team up for the Time Trial and leave all "bad blood"
behind us, but since we didn't, he's still shooting me the stink eye while posing with his Mom.

Devon getting ready to nail Ross just 200 meters from the finish....

... and he's nailed.

Brian (who won the long course at Cinco DU Mayo Duathlon as I won the short course)
finished 11th overall and cheered me up the hill the night before at the TT!

The top-3 female stud-ettes coming to the finish: Cathy, Claire, and Suzie.

THERE WAS A TANDEM BIKE SOMEWHERE IN WINONA!!! WHERE WERE THESE PEOPLE
WHEN DEVON AND I NEEDED A TANDEM FOR THE TIME TRIAL?!? AARRRGGGGGHHHH!!!!

Pharmie zooming back on the bike after conquering the bluff!

I ran with Pharmie for just a bit out of T2. She said climbing the bluff was rough on her lower back, but she was feeling alright overall. I gave her a smooch and she ran off:

I planned to meet her at the turn-around, but I missed her! I tried chasing her down, but I never found her. She smiled a bit to herself when she didn't see me over there - she thought 1 of 2 things happened: either I got distracted talking to someone (nope), or she ran too fast for me. And that was it: she was really running strong!! She ended with a 50 minute 10K on a course that (if anything) is a bit long!! That's a stand-alone 10K PR for her!

Bookin' it to the finish!

Into the chute and to her 2nd fastest Oly finish EVER! On a tough course too!

Post race with a wet bike and medal.

We then hopped in the car and drove 2+ hours to find Henry - he'd spent the last few days at Grandpa and Grandma's house. We celebrated his 2nd birthday while we were there too!

Oh, and here's one final PSA: when you're loading up your bike post-race, make sure to take your shoes off the pedals. We were behind this car for a while on I-90, and his shoes were swinging and moving all over the place:

I was afraid he was going to lose one... right through our windshield.

Again, CLICK HERE for my Time Trial race report, and CLICK HERE for a 3-minute video of everyone climbing the bluff at the TT.

Trinona TT Highlight Video

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stenzel) — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 10:38:00 +0000

Here's 3 minutes of fun from my helmet-cam at the Trinona Time Trial this past weekend:

Direct link: http://youtu.be/oRWZ7r4zBgg

You should really watch this in full-screen mode because it's HD and beautiful.

Things worth noting:

- All the people cheering from 0:18 - 1:25 are at the turn near mile 2.5ish. Great people!

- I mentioned in my Trinona TT "race report" that I only had to get out of the saddle once on a final little nasty climb. I'm finishing that climb from 1:26 - 1:30, and that clip ends with me putting my head down and trying to get back up to speed....

- .... then from 1:30 - 2:10 are clips of other people climbing that hill. No fun.

- That's my lovely wife screaming "KICK IT DOWN THE HILL!! WOOOOO" at the 2:11 mark. Apparently, I married a "Woo Girl." (HIMYM reference.)

- From around the 2:11 mark onward are the flats turning into the final little downhill right before the finish. I love the clip of me easily riding towards the finish as someone FLYS by at the 2:23 mark.

- You can hear me building speed to the finish in the final bit of "first person" racing starting at 2:27. And that's my lovely wife in the yellow taking a photo at the 2:42 mark.

- That was the sponsor and the "rabbit" that I high-fived at the 2:58 mark. He said "Thanks for pushing me up that hill!" and I said "Nice work!" He DID check over his shoulder a number of times, so I think I really was pushing him.

- 3:05 to the end was some of the post-race festivities! What you DIDN'T see in that shot was all of the wine and pizza at the other end of the tent!

- And yes, the camera was pointed too far down during all of the "first person" riding. I find myself lifting my head as I watch it to see if I can see more of what's in front of me. Weird. My apologies. This was the first time using my Sony Action Cam, and I'll be better next time.

In case you're interested (you're not), here's all the raw footage from my TT up Garvin Heights. This doesn't include the extra clips of the other riders - it's just my TT. I haven't even watched all of this... I don't know why you would want to. It's mainly lots of sexy breathing.

Direct link: http://youtu.be/6q3pPGrhmd4

Video Timeline:
- 2:31: my start
- 6:18: turning up the hill
- 12:30: going through the cheers at the turn
- 12:50-13:20: standing for the final little hill
- 15:00: hitting the finish
- then going back to cheer for everyone else

CLICK HERE for my Trinona TT race report, and check back probably tomorrow for photos from Pharmie's race at the Trinona Triathlon!

The 2013 Trinona Time Trial: STRAIGHT UP for 3 Miles

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stenzel) — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 19:02:00 +0000

OK, so it's not ALL uphill, and it's not STRAIGHT uphill. But look at this:

But it WAS brutal. In a fun way. Athletes will understand that.

The Trinona Triathlon is in it's 5th year. And last year, they started hosting a time trial (TT) bike race the night before the triathlon. It goes for just over a mile along the flat frontage road, and then it turns up Garvin Heights: one of Bicycling Magazine's "Top 100 Climbs in the US."

Map of the 3.5 mile TT.

Sugar Loaf (the giant boulder / cliff) above the start of the TT.

Rockin' the Tutti Frutti shorts and my Sony Action Cam on my head.

I got this camera months ago, but I never really tried it out! So I played around with it a bit on Saturday morning, and then zip-tied it to my helmet. I wanted to see if it could capture the bluff really well. Here's the video from the start that I posted yesterday:

Direct link: http://youtu.be/-JAzmJWYcmo

Unfortunately, I mounted the camera a little too far forward on my helmet, and it ended up being pointed down a little too far. Most of the video looks like this:

Thrilling.

As you can tell in that video above, I was the #2 racer (just behind one of the sponsors who was #1). I headed off after him just 30 seconds back. He was my "rabbit" and the rabbit for all the other racers: if anyone beat his time, they got a special swag bag!

I rode along the flats and just pushed it hard for that section. I glanced down near the base of the hill to see a 25.6 mph average! I was thrilled with that. I hit the lap button on my watch as I turned up the hill to the roar of the crowd:

They were excited to see me. Or not.

Checking my first lap split as I started the hill.

Attacking the hill with the "rabbit" way up there (behind a pace car).

According to my Garmin, I rode the first flat segment with a 25.1 mph average!!

I had some good news and bad news when I turned onto the hill. The good news was that I thought I'd be able to stay seated for the majority of the hill - that's easier on the body and doesn't feel as bad. Last year when I rode up the hill as part of the Trinona Triathlon, I had to stand the entire way, and that was killer. The bad news is that I couldn't shift into my "granny gear!" I was one gear up from granny the entire time! Oh well... just ride.

I wasn't riding crooked - I was just rocking back and forth a lot up that hill.

Around half way up, gaining a BIT on #1 up there (at the top of the image)!

There were spectators dotting the side of the road here-and-there. A lot of people cheered for my shorts. Here's a shot as we were nearing the turn-off, and I was gaining on the #1 biker so much that I was thinking I MIGHT be able to pass him before the end:

The lead car and first biker just a few seconds in front of me.

The CLOSEST I got to the lead biker up the final, nasty little climb. (See his wheels at the top?)
This was the ONLY time I had to get out of my saddle - I was happy about that.

Cresting the top of the hill, putting my head down, and "gutting-out" some speed!

Once we got over that final steep hill, there was still about a half mile to the finish. But it's like my legs didn't work - we were on some flats, but I just couldn't churn out any speed. It was brutal.

We made one final little turn FOR A LITTLE DOWNHILL right to the finish line. Pharmie was up at the finish, and she got a photo of the lead biker coming around the corner.

I was gasping for air just a few seconds behind him:

See the camera mounted too far forward? And it was just made worse by the weight of it pulling my
helmet down even more. It got a little annoying, but if I mount it farther back, it should be fine.

Into the chute, about to cross the line.

We rode into the parking lot for the Garvin Heights Scenic Overlook and had to brake pretty quick. I looped around a few times to catch my breath, and the #1 biker and I high-fived as we were still riding around:

I took off partway down the hill to cheer and to take more video, and you'll see some of that video in the next week or so. So stop back! Pharmie spotted me coming as I easily biked back towards the finish line:

We chatted with some spectators and volunteers for a while, and then made it back to the parking lot at the very top of the hill for some post-race festivities.

Looking down over Winona and the Mississippi River. The little orange fence on the edge
of the lake to the left was the swim start for Trinona Triathlon the next day.

They had pizza and wine. Let me repeat that: PIZZA AND WINE!!

Katherine (TT director), Garrett (the winner), and Andrew (the sponsor and his girls)
all with bottles of wine for the winner! (The winner was 93 seconds faster than me.)

They do something fun at this time trial: they pick someone to be "the rabbit" as I mentioned at the start of this post, and anyone who beats that person gets some goodies. Last year, the Trinona Triathlon race director Dave was the rabbit. This year, it was Andrew Dahl: biker #1 and owner of "Dahl Toyota" in Winona. When I finished, I knew I was faster than him because I had closed the gap to under 30 seconds (he started 30 seconds in front of me, but only finished about 15 seconds in front of me). But I didn't know how fast we'd be compared to everyone else. I figured I'd be lucky to break into the top half because a lot of serious bikers are drawn to this time trial. But out of 74 racers, I actually finished 14th!! That's in the top 20%! Andrew Dahl came in 21st, so the top 20 won some extra gear. Here's the top 20 swag winners along with Andrew and his girls in the middle:

The swag bag that we're all holding had some sweet stuff in it:

- a box of 24 gels
- a Spinervals DVD
- a small Nalgene bottle
- a free oil change at Dahl Toyota
- 2 bottles of J.R. Watkins foot cream
- a sweet Trinona pint glass
- LOTS of other small items (Trinona can koozie, window cling, etc)

And all of the divisional winners got bottles of wine!

OFFICIAL RESULTS:

Steve Stenzel, #2, St. Paul, MN

12:27.40 for 3.5 miles
16.8 mph average

14 out of 74 overall (98 registered)
10 out of 32 in the "open male" division

Garmin Results:
- 25.1 mph average for the opening flat section
- 10.9 mph average for the hill section (including the final flat section and downhill to the finish)
- 28.3 mph fastest speed
- 6.8 mph slowest speed
- 15.2 mph average speed

My Garmin elevation chart: 1.5 miles flat, and then 500 feet of climbing over the next mile!

The little burst of speed around 2.5 miles is when we turned off the road and had lots of spectators.
Then then last slow down after that was the nasty little hill where I finally had to stand.

To compare that hill to Garmin data from St. Paul: Ohio Hill is 0.42 miles and climbs 150 feet, and Ramsey Hill is about 0.24 miles and climbs 120 feet. So it's steeper than Ohio, but not as steep as Ramsey, and it's over 4 times longer than Ramsey. Fun stuff. :)

3 POST-RACE NOTES:

- Notice I was 10th in the open division but 14th overall. I was beat by 2 men who were 60 and a 65 years old. Beasts. I want to be like them when I grow up.

- Months ago, there was talk that *I* might be "the rabbit" for this TT. But I didn't know how fast I'd be, and I didn't want to let the race director down. That'd be a LOT of pressure for me: "Steve, don't be too slow or we'll have to give too much stuff away!" (In the end, it made a LOT of sense to have one of the sponsors be the rabbit - the faster he is, the less stuff he has to give away! Ha!) I'm happy to see that IF I would have been the rabbit, I would have done just fine! I even had to check last years results, and I found that I was 20 seconds faster than Dave "the rabbit" last year. MAYBE next year I can be the rabbit for the Trinona TT! We'll see! :)

- All the hill riding I've been doing lately really paid off! I don't have a ton of cycling endurance right now, but I'm good with something short and hilly. There's a common saying that will reappear often in the BeginnerTriathlete forums when people ask about getting better / faster at something. The saying goes like this: "Want to get better at riding hills? Then ride more hills." Duh. And that worked well for me over the last 3 months. I think I've only had flat rides once or twice early this spring, and 95% of all other rides have had at least one monster climb. It paid off. Two weeks ago, I was climbing the hill from the Yacht Club by 35E and the Mississippi up to Hwy 13, and I thought "Hey... this seems a LOT easier today..."

Back with more video of the other Time Trial-ers along with photos from Pharmie at the Trinona Triathlon shortly! Check back!

Time Trial Start: First Person View

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stenzel) — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 17:18:00 +0000

Last night, I did the Trinona Time Trail: 3.5 miles of hell. It's about 1.5 miles of flat riding, followed by 2 miles straight up Garvin Heights.

I wore a Sony Action Cam (like a GoPro), and here's the first few seconds before and after my start. I was the 2nd rider, so you get to see the first rider go off 30 seconds before me:

Direct link: http://youtu.be/-JAzmJWYcmo

Back with more soon!!

RACE DAY!! Trinona TT, Here I Come!

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stenzel) — Sat, 08 Jun 2013 14:48:00 +0000

So Devon and I had something planned for the Time Trial tonight, but I it's looking like it's not going to happen. We were hoping to ride up Garvin Heights during the Time Trial on a tandem bike together. Devon found a tandem bike, but neither of us had a way to get it down to the race. Damn

I tweeted a photo yesterday after I got Pharmie's and my bike ready to race (she's doing the Trinona Oly tomorrow!), and I captioned it "Got our bikes all sexed up for @Trinona this weekend!"

Trinona responded on twitter:

Devon and I both put out a last-minute plea for tandems:

And my twitter friends were excited to see this happen:

But as of this moment, it doesn't look like that will happen. I'm still doing the TT by myself though! My brother-in-law recently asked if I had any goals for the race, and my only thought was "finish in the top half." I don't know if I can do that - there are some BIKER bikers that show up to do this TT!

Photo from about half-way up last year's TT. CLICK HERE for a slideshow of photos from last year.

If anyone in the Winona area has a tandem bike we can borrow, show up at the Sugar Loaf Furniture parking lot around 4:30 p.m. with your bike! If a miracle occurs, I'll be racing by myself at 5:01 (as racer #2), and then again with Devon an hour later (as the last racer). Stay tuned....

Oh, and Henry's been having a great time at Grandma's all weekend:

Driving the lawnmower!

Finding 1 of 25 new baby kitties....

.... and giving it a kiss!

I'll be updating twitter all weekend, and I hope to be posting photos on instagram too. And I may post some photos on the "Steve in a Speedo" Facebook page, so check-in over the weekend!

Friday Funny 533: Star Wars Yoga

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stenzel) — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 19:08:00 +0000

I'm great at "Reclined Jabba."

Lots of funny stuff ALWAYS on steveinaspeedo.tumblr.com.

Friday Funny 532: Modern Celebrities as Classic Paintings

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stenzel) — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 16:20:00 +0000

Worth1000 recently posted a handful of Renaissance-era paintings re-imagined with modern celebrities. Here are a few good ones:

That's about what I imagine Danny DeVito looks like naked.

And it took me a second to see what was different about American Gothic.

Friday Funny 531: Sympathy Cards for Runners

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stenzel) — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 11:36:00 +0000

A few days ago, Runner's World posted "Sympathy Cards for Runners." These are great:

THIS IS THE WORST!!!!!

Lots of "funnies" always on SteveinaSpeedo.tumblr.com.

Hills, "Pull-Up/Pushup Challenge," and More Hills

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stenzel) — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 09:18:00 +0000

The Trinona Time Trial is this weekend, and I'll be racing straight up Garvin Heights, named one of Bicycling Magazine's "Top 100 Climbs in the US." Fun, right? I've been working on some hills to prepare myself....

HILLS:

Last Wednesday morning (when I saw the turkey on my ride), I did some hill repeats. I only did 3 with an extra hill after that, but I had hoped to do 5+1. However, near the middle of the ride, I wasn't sure if I'd have enough time, so I had to cut it short. Here's what it looked like biking up Ohio Hill 3 times followed by heading up Ramsey Hill to get home:

Speed: the first 3 red areas are going up Ohio, and the final one is going up Ramsey.
The extra speed before the final hill is from going down across the Smith High Bridge.

Elevation chart: Ohio, Ohio, Ohio, and Ramsey.

So my splits from my 3 trips up Ohio looked like this (0.41 miles each):

2:19.3, 10.5 mph
2:20.8, 10.5 mph
2:31.1, 9.7 mph

And then I made it up Ramsey in 1:40.5 (for 0.24 mile) which is 8.5 mph

Pull-Up / Pushup Challenge:

On Saturday, Henry and I stopped by the Y for a quick workout. (Pharmie stayed home because she was doing the MPLS Marathon the next day.) I saw someone I knew counting pushups for someone else. I had stumbled across the "Pull-Up / Pushup Challenge" that they do every 3 months. It's a competition only with yourself - they will keep track of your numbers for as long as you do it. The guy who I saw doing his pushups had done this for years, and they had it all written down right there in front of him.

The person I knew asked "Steve, wanna try this?" That was all the convincing I needed.

I jumped up to the pull-up bar and went to town. I remember doing 10 in college about 11 years ago, but that was the last time I went for QUANTITY over QUALITY. (I'll do pull-ups about once a month during a workout, but I'll do them a bit slower with decent form - during this challenge, I just unleashed to do as many as possible without worrying about how fast I was doing them or how much I was swaying.) I managed to do 12.

After a few minute break, I hit the floor for some pushups. I did these similarly: FAST, but still with the full range. My chest either hit or nearly-hit the floor every time, and my elbows nearly locked at the top every time. I was shooting for 50 but got stuck at 48. I'll take it. So my June 1st pull-up / pushup numbers are 12 / 48. We'll see if I can improve that in 3 months. (Don't hold your breath.)

MORE HILLS:

Finally, on Monday I went out for a longer ride that ended with some hill repeats. Last Wednesday's hilly ride was just 11 miles before the hills (19.4 miles total), but this ride was a bit more endurance-based nearly hitting 30 miles. After holding a 19.6 mph average over the first 20 miles riding every other hill in St. Paul, I rolled up to the base of Ramsey Hill.

Speed: 3 trips up Ramsey in the red, then taking "the back way" down to the bottom via Irvine / Pleasant.
The "randomness" before the hills was due to riding through the edge of downtown.

Ramsey x3.

The 0.22 mile trip up Ramsey 3 times looked like this:

1:25.2, 9.2 mph
1:24.7, 9.4 mph
1:27.4, 9.2 mph

BRING ON THE TIME TRIAL THIS WEEKEND!!! Pro triathlete arch-nemesis Devon Palmer and I have something special planned for the TT. Stay tuned for updates over the weekend to see what happens. And Pharmie's doing the Trinona Triathlon, so look for awesome photos of her racing, too!

On the Local News to Talk About CVA's Closing

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stenzel) — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 10:30:00 +0000

Short story: I was on the news for 11 seconds on Friday night:

Link on Kare11's website here.

As I noted on my photo blog, I should have shaved. And combed my hair. And just stayed out of the camera's view altogether. This is why I prefer to be BEHIND the camera.

Long story: I got a tweet from Kare11 reporter Dave Berggren asking for an interview on Friday (my last day at CVA). I tweeted him back, we talked over the phone, and 30 minutes later he was in the parking lot of CVA's Western Building ready for a quick tour of our emptied out photo facilities.

I asked how he found me. I wondered if he searched for tweets about CVA (I've been Instagramming a number of depressing photos over the last few weeks.) He smiled and told me that one of his producers is an endurance athlete and is a fan of my blog. Ha! Too funny!

Then I asked Dave if he remembered OUR history. He kinda felt bad and said "Oh shoot... have we met before?" I said "Yep: the summer of 2004. State Fair. The 'Channel 45 Ultimate Extreme Challenge.' Remember that?" His eyes got wide: "You were everyone's favorite!! Oh God Steve! How are you?!?" We shared a few old stories that made us laugh from that summer 9 years ago.

I posted about about the "45 Ultimate Extreme Challenge" on my blog 5 years ago:

In the summer of 04, I was chosen as a contestant for the “Channel 45 Ultimate Extreme Challenge” where the winner received a new SUV. Twelve strangers were locked into a 12x12 plexiglass box (with no roof) at the Minnesota State Fair for up to 10 days. We competed in 4-5 challenges each day that were a mix between gross and extreme. Then, at the end of each day, we voted one person out (if you won a challenge, you might be immune to getting voted out). It was much like “Survivor” meets “Fear Factor.”

The only thing we were fed was microwave popcorn and Kool-Aid. My normal 4-5 poops per day dropped 10 fold quickly (really - I only pooped once every-other day). We were not allowed to bring in any personal hygiene items: no chapstick, deodorant, toothbrush, Q-tips, sunscreen, etc.

I was voted out on the morning of 6th day in the first “big twist” of the competition. The twist was that the individual winner of the first challenge that day was able to vote one person out of their choosing, and Anthony (the winner) picked me. Damn it Anthony. My prize? Fuzzy teeth, stinky pits, and wax-encrusted ears.

Dave Berggren (the Kare11 reporter) was just out of college at that time, and he was working for Channel 45. He was one of the main people around helping to "host" the Challenge at the State Fair. Here are 3 photos from our old photo album from that Challenge:

Just locked in "the box" with my wife's family in front. And that's Dave on the far right.
You can see the entree "box" here - with no roof. I lived in there for SIX DAYS.

In our orange jumpsuits with Dave. I'm the lowest one near the left.

Back on the last (wet) day to vote for the winner.
That's Dave 2nd from the left and me 5th from the left in the back.

Some of the kinds of challenges we did were things like:

- who can eat a raw red onion like an apple the fastest (no toothbrushes!!)
- who can transfer the most goldfish with his/her mouth from one bowl to another
- who can stand on a pail with 20 clothespins attached to their face for the longest time
- who can "bob for trout filets" (and get the most) in milk while avoiding the pickled fish
- who can get the biggest cheers after a 2 minute stand-up routine

I knew I was in trouble when I did really good on the 5th day. I won a few of the challenges that day, and at the end of that day, I won the "stand up comedy" challenge. Doing well that day put a target on my back. So when we had the "big twist" the next morning where Anthony got to vote one person out of his choosing, I knew I was in danger. Sure enough, out I went. My wife found out right away from a lot of her friends who were watching the live feed online of the challenge. (I distracted a LOT of people from their jobs during that summer - and remember, this was streaming video in 2004 which was kinda rare.)

I got voted out, grabbed a slice of pizza at the State Fair, and walked home. After eating just popcorn and Kool-Aid for 6 days, I'd lost TEN POUNDS. Here's a photo when I was leaving home just before getting locked in "the box:"

And here I am, 6 days later, and 10 pounds lighter:

It looks like I lost all 10 pounds from my neck and face. I look like an elf or pixie...

So Dave and I both had to laugh about being reunited 9 years later for this story. When he started at Kare11 a few years ago, my wife and I would both point out "It's DAVE!" whenever we saw him on the weekend news.

Nice to see you again, Dave, and thanks for putting us back in touch, Jen!! Too bad it was under such sad circumstances.... #RIPCVA

Mama Running at the Minneapolis Marathon: NUMBER 15!

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stenzel) — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 12:07:00 +0000

It's been awhile since Henry's had his voice heard here on my blog. So it's time. Henry, take over for the day and tell everyone about Mama's 15th marathon: the Minneapolis Marathon!

Thanks Dad. Go shave your back or something. I got this.

When Dad and I woke up yesterday, Mama was gone. We ate breakfast and played, and then Dad loaded me into the stroller on a cool, breezy, 50 degree morning:

ISN'T THIS SUPPOSED TO BE JUNE?!?!?

Dad stopped a mile from home and snapped this photo to put on Instagram (AKA "Mainly-a-ton-of-photos-of-Henry"):

"Crossing the Mississippi with Henry on our way to cheer at the marathon. #NoFilter"

Shortly after crossing into Suck-eapolis, I saw a TON of runners around mile 15!

Mama and Laura in the distance! (I like Laura too - I give her hugs.)

Mama coming at me!

Dad couldn't hold me back! I smiled and ran out in the middle of the race to find Mama!! A cheering section of a dozen people across the road said "Aaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwww!"

Running back to Dad to let Mama keep racing!

Mama and Laura (blue) running off, along with their new friend Kate (#9)!

I didn't really want to get back in the stroller, but then Dad asked "Do you want to the playground?" I said "YAY! PAYGOWNED! PAYGOWNED!" And I practically climbed into the stroller and buckled myself in! Let's get to the damn playground, Dad!

We ran to the start of the Greenway Trail and hopped on that for just a few blocks. Then we turned off to Brackett Park - neither Dad or I had been there before, but it looked awesome.

Am I doing this right?

This slide looked kinda steep...

... turns out it was a little TOO steep. I bonked my head.

Dad took me on the swing as I was still crying to try to get me to calm down.
He knew I was just pouting for attention at this point. He's got me figured out.

I went back and had a good time on the other (more "Henry-friendly") slide.
I hit this at least a dozen times.

Why did Dad keep calling me "cousin Eddie?!?"

... oh... I see it now.

Wait, am I getting ANY closer to doing this right?

Teeter-Totter with Dad!!!

AIRPLANE!

Don't worry Dad. I'm at the wheel. You sit back and relax.

Another one of Dad's Instagrams: "Having a snack at the park
while waiting to see Mama again at the #MinneapolisMarathon"

After playing hard for an hour, Dad threw me back in the stroller, and we got back to River Road. We ran on the trail against the runners until we spotted someone familiar in the distance:

Yay! Laura and Mama are still together!!!

Mama running up to say hi!

Dad and I kept up to the fast-racing team of Mama and Laura for about a mile (roughly mile 23-24).

Laura's Hubby Jared joined in on his bike for a bit too. With just over
700 marathon runners, it wasn't crowded. (The half marathon had nearly 2500 runners.)

Laura and Mama!

Running off towards the finish!! That's the mile 24 "flag" just a block in front of them.

We cheered for another minute, and then Dad and I headed for home. Dad was smart enough to strap my "munch cup" into the stroller, because he knew that THIS was going to happen:

I partied hard all morning... cut me some slack.

Mama post-race wearing her race shirt, race medal, and compression tights! CONGRATS MAMA!!

Dad and I were at home eating a snack of ham and pears when Mama made it back home. We also had some shredded BBQ chicken started in the crockpot so Mama would have a good recovery meal later that day - I helped cut up (and munch on) the onion! Mama and Laura both finished the the exact same time: 4:24:48. Mama called that a "very average finishing time" for herself. She did great! Shortly after Mama got home, Dad put me down for a nap, and I bet Mama took a nap too. It was a fun morning for all of us!

OK Dad, I'm done. This blog is yours again. I'll be over here with my blocks.

Thanks Henry. And CONGRATS Pharmie and Laura on a great marathon!! (Pharmie's 15th and Laura's 2nd - both with Pharmie!) Hope you 2 are feeling OK today!

A Quick Hug at Mile 15

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stenzel) — Sun, 02 Jun 2013 20:02:00 +0000

My wife became a 15-time marathon finisher today! Here's Henry running out to get a hug from her around mile 15:

All the spectators across the street went "aaaawwwwwwwWWWWWW!"

Running back to Daddy!

I'll post more photos of Pharmie at the Minneapolis Marathon tomorrow!

Instagrams of the Day: An Early Ride

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stenzel) — Sat, 01 Jun 2013 21:30:00 +0000

I'm trying to get in an early morning ride once each week this summer. My ride this past week didn't disappoint:

"Rode right past a turkey on my morning ride."

"Sunrise through the fog along Shepard Rd at 5:30 this morning. #BikeRide"

I rode Ohio Hill a few times (to try to get ready for the Trinona Time Trial NEXT WEEKEND!), but I haven't downloaded my Garmin data yet - maybe I'll post that once I have it on my computer.

Good luck to my wife running the Minneapolis Marathon tomorrow!! Look for updates here or on my twitter page!

Friday Funny 530: The Beginning of Summer

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stenzel) — Fri, 31 May 2013 18:03:00 +0000

BuzzFeed recently posted a very true list called 14 Things You Always Say You’ll Do At The Beginning Of Every Summer:

1. Explore and do everything!!!

Reality: Spend all day on the internet.

2. Have a summer fling.

Reality: Forever alone…and sweaty.

3. Be adventurous; explore the outdoors.

Reality: Remember that there are bugs and things waiting to devour your flesh.

4. Go to the beach more.

Reality: Remember you are lazy.

5. Get a nice sun kissed glow.

6. Reality: Come out of the sun looking like uncooked meat with a side of mayonaise.

7. Catch up on all those books everyone’s talking about.

Reality: Get a lot of books. Read one or two. Spend the rest of your money on drinks.

8. Go to a summer festival.

Reality: Spend hundreds of dollars to sweat in a giant ball of humans five million feet away from the band you actually came to see. With this guy.

9. Get away from work. Go on a real vacation.

Reality: “Let me just check my email....”

Also, if that “vacation” is with your family...

10. Go on a summer road trip.

Reality: Realize that all this summer fun requires some sort of planning. And money.

11. Complain about how long winter/spring-that-was-basically-winter lasted.

Reality: Find yourself fondly remembering the majestic beauty that is winter.

12. Scope out babes by the pool.

Reality: Realize you have the sex appeal and grace of a giant bear.

Also, FACT: If you try to look sexy by the beach, nature will troll you.

You’ve been warned.

13. Party all summer!

Reality: Too hot to leave the house. Too hot to move.

Too hot to breathe. Brb dying.

14. Convince yourself you’ll be fine with just the fans in your apartment.

Reality: Die.

Find funnies all the time on steveinaspeedo.tumblr.com.

Friday Funny 529: Fossils of a Forgotten Era

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stenzel) — Fri, 31 May 2013 16:28:00 +0000

More funnies here: http://steveinaspeedo.tumblr.com

Friday Funny 528: Famous Movie Lines Spoken as a Proper Englishman

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stenzel) — Fri, 31 May 2013 10:39:00 +0000

Heston should have said it that way.

Check out lots of funnies all week long on steveinaspeedo.tumblr.com.

Personal Job Search News

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stenzel) — Wed, 29 May 2013 19:40:00 +0000

I share a lot on this blog, but it's not all *personal* personal. It's stuff about my pre-race bowel habits, close-ups of what racing hard does to my feet, etc, etc. But I don't post a ton of my "work life."

A lot of you know that the College of Visual Arts (my alma mater and where I've been teaching for 8 years) announced it was closing in January. (I've been posting about it now-and-then on my Photo Blog, and here's the link to my first post about this where I had to first address the students and their parents at an all-school assembly.) My last day is Friday. After that, there are really only 2 or 3 staff members still on the payroll to wrap up loose ends and finalize the sale of the buildings and any remain assets.

I started looking for a job right away in January. I'm still in the adjunct pool at the University of Minnesota, so I hope I can get a class or 2 there in the near future, but it's hard to "get back in" once they've found new professors. I applied for a few full-time technical school teaching positions, but never heard anything back. I just turned in 2 more adjunct applications to local colleges. I had a nice lead on a possible position at an ACTC college, but that fell through when they didn't budget for ventilation for the new darkroom they wanted to set up.

My best lead was a Photo Tech position at a great local private college. I had my second-round interview last week, and it went pretty well. It was going to be a good fit - my CVA paycheck stops on Friday, and this job would start RIGHT AWAY on Monday. I'd officially be jobless for the weekend. Sweet.

But I wasn't picked for that position.

After Friday, I'm unemployed for the first time.

I've taught 58 college-level courses over the last 8 years, as well as countless workshops for adults, college students, and high schoolers. And it's scary for me to say that I don't know the next time I'll see the inside of a classroom.

The good news is that Pharmie is the major bread winner, so we can afford to have me be a stay-at-home Dad for a while. And that IS the good news: I get to spend the summer with my favorite little guy.

In the meantime, I'll be looking and applying for every local photo-related teaching position I can. It was fitting that early this morning, I ran into this image on a friend's Instagram:

I'm hippie enough to like this, but I'm not waiting on "the universe" - I'll get my resume out there as much as possible. But I'm hoping this is all part of Someone's master plan...

One Final Post of New Gear West Duathlon Photos

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stenzel) — Tue, 28 May 2013 02:06:00 +0000

I think this will FINALLY be my last post about the Gear West Duathlon. Drew from Gear West Bike and Tri was out there with a camera all day, he posted over 500 photos in an album on the Gear West Bike and Tri Facebook page. Here are a few I'd like to share:

Teammate Pete trying to stay dry pre-race.

I think this was the first "official" photo of team "Itchy & Scratchy."

After a change-of-shorts after the first run, I tried to stay loose as Pete was biking.
I look like a princess. (Not in a good way.)

Pete looked like a bad ass (in bright shorts) hammering it home on the bike!

More bad-assery.

You all know Jeremy. He's the former student who's been racing with me since the start of the MDRA Grand Prix last year. I teased him in this post from over a year ago that he looked too photogenic at the finish of the 2012 New Prague Half Marathon where he had a big PR.

Well look at how freakin' photogenic he looked a mile into the 2nd run at the GW Du:

IT'S NOT FAIR, JEREMY!

He looks majestic, graceful, and floating on air.... and here's me at the same point:

I look like a hot, wet, horse fart.

I was trying to catch Jeremy who was also on a team. I was about 2 minutes back and TRYING to close the gap. But I didn't even get close.

Another unflattering photo.

Jenny with my camera - she's the one who took all the great photos in my race report!!

Local rockstar Dan Hedgecock took the win by 3 minutes, and that was after crashing on the bike and then taking it a little easy on the final run. When you're that fast, the race can get a little lonely:

You can see a little spray above/behind him - it wasn't SOAKING on the ride, but it was wet.

A lonely ride. #FastAthleteProblems

Jeremy's biker coming back into T2 (just as Jeremy was preparing his photogenic self).

Even though Jeremy looked pretty good in that photo of him running, I teasingly commented on the Facebook album that Kortney should be named "most photogenic" at the race. Here she is GETTING READY TO TAKE 3RD IN A SOLID FIELD on the final run:

Smiling with good form on her way to take 3rd? I don't know how she does it.

And I joked that "least photogenic" should be Jared from GWB&T. A mixture of his paleness, sweatiness, black socks, and the slightly mis-matched reds on his top and shorts makes for a slightly-less-than-sexy photo:

Jared, I love ya, but this is gross. (This coming from the man who just described
himself as a "hot, wet, horse fart," so take it with a grain of salt....)

Here's a final rundown of links from this race:

- My Gear West Duathlon race report
- "Crowning Ceremony" after the GW Du
- Photos from Devon's Mom
- Devon's Gear West Duathlon race report < see his take on the race

And here are 2 recent Examiner articles of mine:

- Photo Gallery from the GW Duathlon
- A local mountain bike time trial series is starting soon