Utah Half Ironman-Flesh Colored Speedos & Such

Goats have one hoof filled with removable lead. They like to keep the lead in the hoof for driving purposes. I am a back seat police woman. Lead hoof or no lead hoof, the speed limit shall be followed! The Goat is always pushing the bar to see what he can get away with or how high or fast or strong he can go. He can’t help it. It’s a result of the machine in him.

The car was loaded with bags of Hammer Gel, pretzels, bagels, salty water, and his bike graced the entire back and one folded down seat of my Honda Pilot, except for one large comfy car seat with one adorable boy in it. The Goat made it to packet pick up in time and headed straight for a pasta dinner. He went straight to sleep after that. It was pretty exciting.

He left the hotel in the wee hours of the morning to set up for the race. He came back and picked us up a little while later. Dawn was still attempting to awaken the day. We quickly realized that this was no normal summer morning. The freezing wind was blowing the buoys over in the water, and drops of rain and hail fell randomly in between rumbles of thunder. I was freezing just standing there watching the water without any intention of getting in it! It felt like winter.

After a delay to make sure there was no lightening close by, the officials decided to let the race begin in spite of the inclement weather. Since an even bigger storm was on the way, they figured the sooner the race began the better. The swim was cut in half from 1.2 to .6 miles to save time as well as to keep things safe. In years prior athletes drowned in the lake when the wind came up and created enormous waves. This time, they held the swim portion of the race in the harbor with some protection from the ravages of the open water waves, but there were definitely still waves from the wind. http://archive.deseretnews.com/archive/918699/Death-mars-triathlon.html

I could see the huge waves outside the harbor crashing over the protective wall and knew it had to be bad even though it wasn’t in the roughest or open water. There were still pretty big waves crashing in the faces of the swimmers as they struggled to keep swimming and catch air instead of an inhalation of water.

The flesh colored Speedo can be viewed in this video below!! :)

The Goat prevailed. He came out of the slippery ramp just fine and was so fast in transition to his bike that all I got was a tail shot as he left on his bike. Back to the car I went to get warm. It was so cold, and it started to down pour! A 56 mile bike ride in the rain did not sound appealing to me. I tried not to think of the slippery road or how cold it had to be out there.
Soon my sister and nephew came to help paparazzi the Goat. We waited until cyclists starting coming through transition, and we headed over hoping the rain would take a break or better yet a vacation. A few snap shots in action, and the Goat was on his way to the 13.1 mile run, looking up beat and ready to seal the deal.
My sister and I hung out and waited a while longer then took our place by the finish line to wait for the Goat. I told my sister he would probably come across while we were distracted. Right after I said that the comical relief character pranced across the finish line in what appeared to be his birthday suit! Yes, we got a bit distracted trying to make sight of fabric that was indeed there, just hard to see. Just as we turned to check for Goat, there he was! We hurried and practiced our best paparazzi moves as he proudly crossed the finish line after 5 hours 32 minutes.
During his post race interview, he, or course, critiqued his performance, but soulfully said, “I FINISHED!” And we were all very proud! Good job, Goat! http://www.active.com/page/Event_Details.htm?event_id=1489310&assetId=f04be0c7-183f-48b2-8ecd-e73adf01447c

Tropical Training

Most people go to a tropical paradise to relax but not the Goat. Sandy soft beaches, blue ocean waters, majestic view points, and vividly colored tropical flowers might be enough to fully captivate most travelers. But for the Goat, these are simply perks that embrace his addiction for sweat and muscle pain brought on by pushing his body to do things some motorized vehicles cannot do. The Goat is 75% machine and 25% goat-man.

It was a bit painful and choking hazard to swallow the Goat’s justification for his month in the tropics. Two of it with “his” and two of it with “mine” and “ours” seemed to make some sense at the same time as being senseless. It was his plan, and although I had some “issues” with all the arrangements, I coped to the best of my abilities. Unlike the Goat, I am 100% woman and 0% machine or goat-man. This can result in polar opposite perspectives. My weeks taking care of kids and dogs on the mainland while he was across the Pacific enjoying the tropics were “strange.”

He, of course, developed a dedicated workout routine consisting of daily runs between 5-18 miles, strenuous hikes from 4-8 miles, and he did the Bay Swim with his 17 year old son, who got a medal for his age division. By the time “his” left the island and “mine” and “ours” arrived the Goat was quite established in his sweating routine. I started washing his socks immediately! White had been replaced with red dyed dirt socks. Sexy. We added the regular push the stroller walk 2-3 miles a day to what he was already doing. It was nice to leave reality and go on island time for a while.

We took the girls and baby boy on a couple pretty tough hikes. http://www.dayhiker.com/directory/hawaii_nopali.htm One was 4 miles round trip and the other 8 miles round trip, both on steep, rocky trails on the Na Pali Coast. The shorter of the hikes ended at the beach, and on a different day the longer hike ended at a beautiful waterfall in the jungle. I packed our 15 month old baby boy on my back for all the hikes in an Ergo Baby Carrier I bought in Hanalei @ Kokonut Kids. http://kokonutkidskauai.com/home.html It worked like a charm! Comfortable and functional, and even if the Goat was a non believer in the beginning by the end of both hikes he was sold on it! http://www.ergobabycarrier.com/ The Goat was quite the excellent scout on these hikes! He was patient and nice to all of us and helped us all through the steep and slippery places. Occasionally grumpy/opinionated daughter #1 age fourteen even got too far ahead once, and we thought she was lost in the jungle! The Goat had to go running the trails searching for her. All turned out just fine in the end.The trip was a lot of fun, and once again I do not know how he wriggled his way shifting gears through all the obstacles, but he somehow did and always does using approved and/or unapproved methods. Bahhhhh. Mahalo Goat.