Wisconsin Here I Come!

First a quick cap of the last week of training, in which I did indeed hit my scheduled 20hr.

Mon: Work 8hr, day off of training
Tue: Day off work, 1hr run, 3hr mtn bike as mentioned earlier...severed...45min run, 1h15min kayak race, dinner and drinks
Wed: Day off work, Road Bike 1h15m to start day. Was intending to head to SQ to race the local 'toonie mtn bike race'. Stuck on hwy, turn around and ride my wind trainer while watching the NHL playoffs on t.v. 2h15m
Thur: Road ride 90km, 3hr15m, nasty headwind, work 12-8pm
Fri: Mtn bike with Roxy, 2h30m, work 12-8
Sat: Road Bike 1hr, solid pace, 30km, work 10-6, again hit up wind trainer for NHL game, only last 1h15m though. House warming party for a friend
Sun: Knee Knacker training run, 8:30am 25km 2h45min, work 12-5, dinner with a few friends, capping off a solid fun filled week!

Hours:
Biking- 14.5hr
Running- 4.5hr
Kayaking- 1.25hr
TOTAL: 20h15m

WISCONSIN, the countdown is on until I see two of my closest and dearest friends Luke and Emily Laga, and their relatively new addition to the world Spencer Gary Laga...ok, maybe, just maybe, his middle name ain't Gary...but maybe it is, you don't know the difference so I'm sticking with it!

I originally met Luke and Em while working on my P.A.D.I. Dive Master certification down in Honduras in 2003. Luke was doing customized dive videos and Em was teaching English. We hit it off immediately, and got to know each other incredibly well over the next four months. Since then we have kept close contact and in 2005, although i knew they were intending to visit, they surprised me at the finish line of the 50k Knee Knacker Trail Run. My finisher photo is one of my all time favorite pics as I am 1/2 celebrating my race and 1/2 completely shocked that they appeared out of nowhere to cheer me on! The next two weeks were jam packed with incredible experiences.

We enjoyed a road trip to the Washington Coast to do a hike-camping trip in Olympia National Park for three days, and then along with my girlfriend at the time, we competed as a team of four in the 05 Sechelt Mind Over Mountain Adventure Race. It was the first adventure race for the three of them and we spent more time collectively working on our outfits than actually training for the event...refer to pics. There was a mid course cut off time of 6hr and we were the last official team to make it, by just two and a half minutes! They all toughed it out to the finish line from there and at over 8hr we were the last people to cross the line as a ranked team. We walked away like bandits though, claiming the 'team in most need of a beer award' (a dozen beer and four t-shirts), the 'team spirit' award (a sea kayaking trip for two), and we even snagged a few draw prizes to round out the whole experience! It still stands as one of the greatest racing experiences of my life.

(Luke in Yellow, Em in Red)

Anyways, this weekend Mr. Luke Laga, always trying to one up me, will be competing in his first ever 100 mile endurance run, the Kettle Moraine 100. Hundred mile running events allow people to acquire a 'pacer' after the first 100km of running. This serves many purposes from a safety stand point on up to helping to push the competitor to the finish line as quickly as possible. Laga's goal is to finish, and I'm confident we're gonna make that happen this weekend. I am so excited to catch up with close friends, meet their son, run on some new terrain, and help punish my good buddy as he tackles 160km of non-stop running! This is one of the most exciting weekends of the entire year for me and I can't wait till I fly out tomorrow night, for the overnight flight of course. Hell, I figure if Luke is gonna run for 24+hr non stop, the least I can do is stay awake on an airplane overnight so as to maximize our time together.


I will obviously post a run report early next week. Right now I should get my ass to bed so as to concentrate on my own training hours tomorrow morning.

GR