"West and Wewaxation...uh.uh.uh.uh."- Fudd

As promised to myself and family I've settled into the first week of a two week Rest period. This sucks! I imagine there are a lot of athletes out there feeling the way I am after finishing up the last races of the season. This is exacerbated by the fact that Normann Stadler just gave a talk/interview to the triclub on Thurs. It's like losing in the playoffs and having to watch the World Series on TV (I don't think I even made it to the playoffs). The thing that I took away from that night the most was how much fun it must be to be the "best". I am not a Normann fan at all. I think he's a big baby but it was fascinating to listen to his background and how much inate raw talent that guy has. It's both inspiring and depressing. You just have to go with what you got and make the best of it.

I've been having some brief discussion with Jim about next year and the races I will have on the schedule. This is where I have to live somewhere between fantasy and reality. There is so much I want to do but striking a realistic balance will be the difference between satisfaction and frustration. The first thing I will do is include the wife in all discussions of race planning. The more she knows and is involved, the less grief I'll get when the schedule gets tight. I'm going to plan some destination races on the B or C (if there is such a thing) level. This way we can get out, travel and have some fun while Daddy does his thing without the stress of A level racing.

XTERRA

I did my first full Xterra this year at Temecula. I love it and will hopefully be able to focus on this style of racing next year. It's gritty, wicked hard, and adds a double dose of adrenaline. There are less newberries that do this style of racing and sets itself apart from the TNT tri trend. I figure if I train for this style of racing, I can race anywhere. Maybe not as effective for dead flat courses, but where's that around here? It also puts me where I want to train. In the mountains/hills and away from the crowds. The pinnacle of the sport for me would be the World Championships in Maui. Some people dream of Kona, for me, Maui! This is a long term goal, aka pipe dream, and I am pretty honest with myself about qualifying in 35-39AG, especially when I've got the little one in diapers. The more obvious goal would be to qualify for Nationals in Tahoe, which I could pretty much do next year if all goes reasonably well. The only caviat to that is I've got a really big problem with the COLD. Not just getting cold easily but premature numbing of hands and feet associated with Raynaud's Syndrome, not good to MTB with numb hands. Feeling doesn't come back unless I've got a warm water soak or can eliminate exposure. Whether this is a complication of the Chemo is unclear but it's appearance is more than coincidental. Anyway, I deal with it and avoid the cold.

That's the update and I'm looking forward to getting back on schedule.