To Marco

Marco

As you well know, I commit my life to you. It doesn't always turn out the way we plan but the goal is always the same. I want you to live your life, choose your path and go after it! My job is to help you find the path and to help you realize it. You always hear me talk about the rules of life. Respect your mother, do the right thing, make the hard choices etc. Every once in awhile I find new things and it's important to let you in on them. They aren't really new to the world we live in, just new to our conversations.

The picture above fittingly is one you took. My goal is to enjoy as many sunrises as possible in life and this one was spectacular. The mountains of Slovenia offered the setting but the Sun gave us the color and my gosh what color. By the way you are only 10 and you took this picture. That's a great eye for beauty and just a stunning picture.



Rules to Live by

A coach named Gordo Byrn wrote these down. The are extremely simple and good rules to follow:

1. Spend less than you make

2. Tell the Truth

3. Train Daily

4. Control your desires (Candy, TV and more as you grow)



Spend Less Than you Make

You've heard Mom and I talk about this at length. We are a bit extreme when it comes to this idea or so our financial advisor tells us, but it's really clear, if you want to reach your dreams you can't do it in heavy debt.



Tell the Truth

That one is simple and it's so much easier that trying to keep up with a lie. Let's say I told someone I did my best Ironman in Hawaii in 9:08 in 1997. It's possible because people less fit than me have gone that fast but I didn't do it. But now the lie is started and that someone told someone else. I'd have to work to remember who I told this lie to and what the lie was in the first place. It's so much easier to say my best is 9:57 and I did that in Florida where hills don't exist.



Train Daily

Because I run, bike and swim this one seems easy but it's not. Yes, I believe you and everyone else should get their body moving on a daily basis. Right now as a 10 year old kid this is not an issue. We generally have to slow you down. But, you know the world is fat and there is not enough training going on. Daily training is not just the body, you have to continue to train your mind. Just look at Papi. He's 75 years old and is in the Gym each morning, but he his a heavy reader of good stuff just like you. Reading good stuff is one of the best ways to train your brain. You can read Jarhead (when you are old enough) as long as you read mind bending good stuff too.



Control your Desire

Desire is good, too much is bad. Triathletes who live, sleep and breath triathlon have no life. Nobody including triathletes want to be around them. Too much TV will make your eye's freeze open. Too much candy will make your teeth fall out. It's simple, don't squash your desire, just control it.



Final Words



Dream - Son, Dream big dreams and keep doing it the rest of your life. Write them down and go after them.



Life is not measured in how many breaths you will take, it should be measured by how many times it takes your breath away - Don't be surprised if I ask you what you did today to take your breath away?



Marco, I love you!



It's a good life....



Dad


I must thank Gordo Byrn, Chuckie V, and Bree Wee for the content of this letter. My inspiration comes from reading what others have to say and these three tend to say a great deal.

Ranting....and....Recovering

2008 Rantings


Pork - I've made my statement. When I finally leave Germany I may never eat Pork again! My gosh do the Germans eat Pork. The Grocery store meat department is probably 70% Pork products. The Organic meat section is 90% Pork. The main meat at Stripes (adidas cafeteria), Pork. I guess when you're famous for your schnitzel and your Bratwurst you better be good at preparing Pork. Pork is everyday here.

Snow - I don't know that I really ever ranted about snow except that we don't get enough. Big snowstorm moves through Germany, it snows south of here in Munich, it snows north of here in Berlin, it rains here. Average temperature this winter season 2 degrees celcius and rain. That is not a stated average temperature, that is just what I see on the Bank more than any other temperature. Believe me, I welcome -5 and snow.

Wasp Stings - First of all they hurt. Second they really hurt when your heart is pumping from a heavy pace of running. Finally though, if you are running with someone and they get stung by a wasp or bee, interrupt your run and make sure they are o.k. Imagine the headline "Man dies from Wasp Sting - Running Buddies get their 10 mile 65 minute run in"

Mud - It's been 4 weeks now and there is no end in sight. Mud is daily. So much mud that my mtn bike gearing stops working after 20 minutes of riding. Mud on my face going to work and coming home from work. Mud on the noon run. Mud in the shower. Mud on Scout. Mud on Marco. Mud on the car. Mud in the car. Mud in my ears. Mud up my nose. A freaking wet, cold, muddy 10K race recently. 4 weeks of Mud and Counting.

Fat Men - I really have nothing against fat people. I know people who are afraid of fat people but I am not one of them. But they have not been saved by my ranting. The pool is the main area of concern for me. Skinny swimmer guy vs. large quantities of head up breast stroking fat people. Skinny guy loses every time. One note on head up breast stroke. I also see really fit, muscular men doing it and women who look good in that two piece doing it. Folks at the speed and effort you are swimming those laps you are not having a positive fitness effect. I know it's relaxing but really now, isn't there something else you could be doing. Back to Fat people. Fat men in G-String swimsuits, stay out of my pool please. Finally the good old USA. The regular shock of getting off a flight from Europe anywhere in the USA is a complete shock to the system. America is just plain fat. One last fun point. The family participated the other night in an international get together at the Bowling Alley. One big group, lot's of lanes and food for 12 Euros each. The food, Americana. Most of it deep fried. Welcome to America.

President Bush- Back in January sitting in a hotel in Panama, I watched the State of the Union speech given by George. I watched as he placed blame for the economy on congress, for the slowness of the war on congress for everything wrong with Washington on Congress. He took no credit for the ills of the day. I still believe it was the lowest point of his term in office. Recently though he made up for some of his downfall. His quick reaction to one flying shoe was amazing. It was like he practiced it but of course he didn't. Then he just carried on talking. I was also impressed with the President of Iraq for his reaction on the second shoe but that doesn't compare to the first shoe. Amazing!

Ego - I think this was my biggest topic. Clearly I'm afraid of having a big ego. Chuckie V said it best, "Wherever Ego, I go". Ego gets you knowhere. Maybe it makes you feel good for a short time but you will be a lonely person and that's not what I want to be. So I have vowed to rid myself of Ego, as well as Pork.

Leadership - Oh my what an overused term today. It's so overused some companies use it in a job title. He's my rant. Leadership is not a given title, you earn it. You earn it with your example. You earn it without your ego. Leaders make everyone else around them better. Leaders can make things seem easier. Leaders make coming to work a challenge, a joy, a mission. Leaders do not place blame. With the title you have the opportunity to be a leader but it is not given to you, you have to earn it. This does not mean leaders and whimpering ra ra let's go team people. They simply do everything with the clear indication that it's not about them. Leaders lead people. It's fairly simple.

Recovering
Goals are my recovery. Goals to be a better husband, father, son and Man. Goals that keep us financially secure for life. Goals to improve on my not so gifted talent to swim, ride and run and goals to relax. Goals make mud easier. Goals make living ego free easier. Goals make life good even when all around is worth ranting about.

It's a good life....

Dave

Stuff

Friday morning work. Reminds me of old times.

I just love the beer garden village. I ride through it every day and it's just a neat place.

Winter at it's best. O.K. it would be better if there was a big beautiful Mountain in the back.

The winter sky.

Random thoughts from the week.......

Boredom

I was running a fitness test yesterday. It was 6 laps all left turns in the forest. Each lap was 1.37 miles long. By lap 5 it was getting boring. I thought to myself, "that's o.k." The task itself was not boring at all. It was a field test and when I do it three weeks from now I'll know if I'm improving or not. The steady not fast, not slow pace was the boring part. So I thought more and finally determined that you have to do the boring. You have to do the head down steady pace in everything you do. The reward is that thing you're working towards. That's the really exciting thing. If you turn the boring into excititng maybe you aren't looking down the road or maybe you'll never get there.

By the way, the Test:

6 laps 1.37 miles or 8.4 miles total.

Lap's 1,2 5, 6 were on 10:15 pace. Laps 4,5 were slower.

Total Time: 61:46 or 7:21 pace.

Average HR 148 - My LT (race pace) HR is 164

I'll do the same test in 3 weeks. The first goal is to run the same 6 laps faster at the same or lower HR. Once I'm comfortable there, I'll begin to add laps with a max of 10 laps.

Remember the goal is win my age group in at least one race in 2009.

Who do you work for?

Work right now is centered around one big meeting in January with the world. Our goal at the meeting is to tell the world our story and get them to tell their world the same story. Simple right? Not when you do as much as we do. So we build this book for everyone. When they go back to their world and all the hoopla is gone they need to work and the book is there for them to reference and say "Oh Yeah". So this book is rather important. The first rough draft deadline was last Friday. We had been working on the concept since late October. We were working on the piece of the document that could be a great tool. Back in October we agreed that this part of the document was a huge effort to build and nobody in the world used it. But it was determined that the Big Boss likes it and therefore we will build it. So on Friday, the interns were working on the document and I had my part to do as well. One of our people came in and said "Dave, can we talk about this thing". I grabbed our boss (not the Big Boss) and discussion took place. We talked about the immense size of this section (216 pages) and the either really small pictures or really big pages it required. We talked about the usefulness and finally I said "It seems we are building this for the Big Boss when he's not the audience." So we worked up a solution and just then the Big Boss walked by. We told him the format was too much and that we had a suggestion. He said yes, that is the right way to go and add this stuff too! End Result, we brought 216 pages down to 11. Back to where we thought it should end up in October and the document will be highly usefull. The end result is know your audience. Heck we were building something for the Big Boss when it wasn't what he wanted in the first place. Long story there but it's usefull. Now of course not everyone was happy. One poor sap came in an argued, "It's Friday, deadline day, my people have done all the work already and now you want them to change, this is bull-shit, you don't change on the last day" I think he was missing the big picture. Besides we didn't ask "His" people to lift a finger.

It's a good life......

Dave

The Double

Little Marco Jewell decided to double up today. First of all running is not something we push marco into. We offer up events and he does or doesn't do them. Today Mary and I were planning to run a local 10K. There are always kids events so we asked Marco if he wanted to join in. He said sure and "can I do the 10K too?" So we headed to the event. You just have to love Europe. The kids events started at 11:00 there was a 5K at 1:15 and the 10K at 2:00pm. So we show up to the race site for the kids events. We find out that you must be 16 to run the 10K so Mary opted to run the 5K and Marco agreed. 11:40 and Marco was off on event #1 a 1250 meter kids event. He doesn't have that competitive spirit yet but it will come. He runs super smooth and can out kick anyone. He just doesn't feel the urge to win. That said he crossed the line in 12 or so place with a big smile on his face.
A quick snack, change of clothes (for mom and I) and it was time for the 5K. The plan for Mary was to run with him as far as he could go and walk if he needed. Not my kid, he ran the entire way. His first 5K after already running 1250. It makes a Dad proud.

My 10K was a good steady effort. I'm roughly 3 weeks into training and I'm a bit tired of the work so a 10K effort was a good change. In roughly 3 weeks I improved my average pace by 10 seconds so I'm happy with that. It's going to take time to achieve my goals and today was not a test for goal just a test for progress. All is good!

Marco getting ready for the race. Camo was the choice for the day. Number 23 is a good number. It was my football jearsey (yes, I played football - Not very well I might add) number. All smiles at 11:00am.

Here's that kick I was talking about. The kid doesn't even look like he's working it.

Dressed and ready to go for the 5K. The rain started to come just before this event. 35 degrees and raining, just beautiful. I don't have pictures of their finish because I was warming up for my event. I had a blast because during my warm-up I caught up to Mary and Marco and ran with them a bit and then managed to run the final turn on the track with them. It was a good time.

It's a good life....

Dave

It is Snowing

Finally
We've lived here for roughly 18 months and this is the first real snow. If we are going to live in Germany we should live in Germany and that should include snow and all that goes with it. Today we woke up to this. Beautiful, quiet snow. These pictures are from my commute to work on my mountain bike. It's days like this that make the commute fun.

The Tree

Obermenbach - Home to one of the best Beer Gardens in the area.

The Forest Trail

The entrance to the forest trail.

It's a good life...

Dave

The Importance of it All

As soon as you are ready, I am willing - Kevin Cronin - REO Speedwagon

It's just running shoes!
This small picture above (couldn't quite figure out how to enlarge it) is of me and my budddy and long time Asics Rep Mike Matranga. In my 12 years at Road Runner Sports Mike and I built a substantial Asics Business and RRS business. We did it through great focus on the goals and on marketing trial and sometimes error. You can't do that unless there is trust in the relationship. I always trusted Mike to represent RRS to the folks at Asics and it was my job to represent Asics back to RRS. It sounds rather simple but when millions of dollars are on the line along with pressure from individuals in each of the organizations it makes for a rather dyamic relationship. Beyond the work though Mike and I developed a friendship that will last a lifetime. Virtually every meeting and every phone call started or ended with family. Many times the subject came up but it was always there, "This is just Running Shoes." I think that perspective helped build the business to what it was. Yes, the decisions were worth money but it was really just running shoes.


2009 Training

Week #1 went quite well. I executed my 5K test on Tuesday. Some Bike testing this week and my targets and training levels are set. I wasn't fast in the least on Tuesday. That doesn't mean I bagged it, it just means that the effort was hard (as hard as I could go) and the results were surprisingly slow. As I said last week I'm changing things up this winter. Typically I would have jumped into some sort of high volume low effort training to build an endurance base. With some help from the folks at Endurance Nation I am doing much less volume at a much higher effort. For instance I ran 5 times this week. Only 1 of those runs was at an "easy" pace and it was 20 minutes long. My longest run was 45 minutes and each of the runs had some sort of 5K (from the test) efforts. The reasoning behind this is rather simple now that I've had time to think about it. Time in the winter is short so it's better to use that short time to the maximum and get faster.

It's a good life.....
Dave

live with intention

The picture today comes form our trip to Bocas del Toro, Panama. We are taking a break from snorkeling in this shot. Not a bad way to spend a week.

The quote/headline for the post today comes from a little plaque sitting on our bookcase. I was looking at it yesterday and thought wow, it's been looking me right in the face.

This week marks the start of a new training chapter for me. I have my goals set and it's time to get to them. They say the measure of insanity is to do the same thing over and over expecting different results. I think that sums up the last two years of my athletic world. Other than a short stint last year with a body strength focus I've been doing just about the same things and not having many results. Now, my measure of result is to race and I haven't done much of that either but it will change. For now I focus on the training aspect. So this week I embark on something totally new to me. It goes against the conventional thinking of Long Slow Distance in the winter and focuses more on quality. I start on Tuesday with a 5K time trial and I see down the schedule that I have more of those to come. I'll report improvements or even lack of as they come. To start with I'm crushing the couch right now at a whopping 153lbs. When I was really competitive I weighed 135. Two years ago when I had a blast and lots of race success with it I was 142lbs. I have no goal where I'll end up but 153 doesn't feel right. The other benefit I see of this new training cycle is effort. I've always said the best way to clear my mind of the ills that cloud it is to run, ride or swim hard. You can't think much of anything when you go hard. The training program has enough of going hard that my mind will be clear for at least an hour a day and I'm excited by that thought.

Mom Update
A shout out to my big Sister Cyndi. As I sit here in the warmth of my home here in Germany my big sister Cyndi is living the nightmare that is taking care of a parent with Alzeimers who doesn't want any help. Not only is Cyndi taking care of Mom but this is her second stint with the disease in less than a year. She and her husband Mike went through this situation last Spring with Mike's mother. So Cyndi, I bow to you today and every day. You are stronger than I would be. You are a saint!

Until next week when I will be full of new found energy....

It's a good life.....
Dave

I love Cross Country

They are lined up and ready to go!

A fashion statement!

And they are off - Isn't that a nice tree?

Some Team Unity

Kyle - I told you I would make your feet famous. Well maybe not but that's totally cool you are wearing Matt's Shoes.

These boys are dressed or maybe partially dressed to cheer on the girls. It's 29 degrees F or -1 C. That's Kyle with Matt's shoes in the Black pants and Jacket.

Saturday was the Illinois State Cross Country Championships in Detweiller Park - Peoria Illinois. I figured since I was in town I'd go watch. This was the 63rd year of the championship and the 39th year at the park. It's a great venue to watch and a tough course. If you win here, you earned it.

Cross Country is the best High School sport there is. It's full of individual drama and team drama. Sure the winners of these races will go on to run in college but their favorite moment will most likely be winning this race. As for the team, the fifth place runner on the team is just as important as the first runner on the team. For most in the race it's the team competition that counts.

Elmwood/Brimfield
When I was in Highschool Elmwood was this 5 house town with a football team. Brimfield had 6 houses and generally had a better football team. For Cross Country they band together to create Elmwood/Brimfield. Their team colors are Elmwood colors of black and orange. The boys team had won 5 state titles and were amoung the favorites to win a 6th. Midway through the race it looks like they are in charge of their destiny when one of their runners Jared Harkness is disqualified for throwing an elbow. A coach from another team saw the incident and said there was no foul but in Cross Country a call sticks. There is no turning back. Instantly Elmwood Brimfield goes from leader to 3rd place. It's all on 6th man Doug Vrchota now. Doug guts it out for a 64th placing in the race. He out sprinted a couple guys at the finish. Remember he's sprinting for 64th place. That sprint saved the team. His 64th place put the Elmwood/Brimfield top 5 runners in first place and team title #6 was in the bag. Who's the hero on this day? A kid nobody but team and family know, Doug Vrchota.
On the girls side the race was tight. There was not a clear favorite amoung the teams and there were 6 teams who had a shot at the title. Remember Elmwood/Brimfield wears Black and Orange. The Orange is their top and it stands out. For a little trickery, the Elwood girls all agree to wear Black on Black. They did not want other runners or other teams keying on thier bright orange tops. The trickery worked. They finished a surprizing third place in the team competition.

Cross Country Rules!

It's a good life....
Dave

PS, Thanks to everyone who asked about my mother. My sister Cyndi and I got a great deal done on her behalf last week. She will be in a good happy place fairly soon.

American Duty

It's election day in America. Because of the trip we recently took, and the election I thought talking about our duty as Americans would be a good topic. The picture above is from Omaha Beach, Normandy. That tree probably wasn't there in 1944 but it sits at a rather important spot. Essentially this picture was taken from the forward German Bunker that sits on the the gradual slope that heads to the Beach. It was this bunker that according to everything I've read, caused the most problems on the Beach. It was mid afternoon when the Americans finally knocked it out. So this one tree stands alone on the bluff. To me it symbolizes our duty as Americans. To stand up and say something. To take action. It's just a tree, but in that setting on that beach with an American Cemetery not far away, it's more than just a tree.

First Thing: Vote

Fuel your American Pride
My wife Mary and I don't agree on everything. One thing we are crystal clear on is our love for the USA. We both got to it differently but we love it for the same reasons. But we are not immune to bashing the country from time to time. So we make it a point to fuel our love on a regular basis. I suggest if you are feeling down about the country especially after this long and hard election year, go learn something new about the country. Now our absolute favorite place to fuel the love is Washington DC. It is truly inspiring. It may be expensive to get there but once there, it's not expensive. Just about everything to do with being an American in D.C. is Free. The Bill of Rights, Smithsonian and so much more is Free. One of the other things we like to do is visit the US Cemeteries. The Omaha Beach Cemetery was just an incredibly moving experience. If you live in San Diego, there is one on Point Loma. You sit there for an hour with the US Navy and America's Finest City as the back drop and you can't help be proud to be American. Finally a non-military way to be wowed by the USA is visit a National Park. It's one of my goals to visit all of them. Each one it unique and each one represents what is great about the USA. We obviously did not create that beauty but we preserved it and they are just unreal.

Fat
i'm not the ugly ameroeuro who says, 'football' and suddenly wears pointy shoes; but we americans are f-a-t fat! - Paul Astorino

I can't help to think my boss is making fun of me because I call Soccer, Football in Europe. But I don't care. The real part of the quote is the we Americans are F-A-T. Those of us who live in Europe get a unique view every time we travel back to the USA. The first real sense you get is when you head through Customs. As you know there is an American Citizen line and then an everyone else line. If you took a random sampling of 100 people from each line you would be shocked. I'm going to guess an average of 40 lbs heavier on the American Side. And that 40lbs is all Fat. You can visibly see the difference. But I'm not telling you something you don't already know. We all know it. I think it's time we all take it on as a challenge. Heck, that is what endorphin fanatics is about anyway.

My view of the weight issue we have is this: Rarely do you ever hear that someone died because they were fat. They died of Cancer, Heart Disease etc. Those are real diseases that kill millions. I'm going to go out on a limb without any medical research and say that many of the diseases can be reduced if we cut out the Fat. Heck said another way, what if they started keeping the statistics of death by Fat. We would really do something wouldn't we.

On this Election day one of the major topics is Health care. Something all of you pay into. Your premiums are high and will continue to increase because of Fat. So as healthy obsessive Triathletes, Runners etc. we have to band together to change the tide. Choose your reason, more room on the plane, smaller cars on the freeway, you actually care about the people around you or simply your health care budget.

My initial take is this, everyone in the US knows someone who is Fat. Maybe it's your brother, your neighbor, your coworker, your kids best Friend. Everyone knows someone and it's here where we need to start. We need to use all the knowledge we have about our bodies and our drive and share it with others. That doesn't mean we want to turn people into athletes. What it means is we have to start with something and using our know how, there is something we can do to support the effort. I started a short list of some things we can be involved in and I'll give some examples. The List

Reasons for Being Fat What needs to happen

No Activity More Activity

Driving Everywhere Self Powered

Fast Food Natural Food

Soft Drinks Natural Drinks

Examples

1. Work on your family members with soft drinks. You know one won't kill you but 3 or 4 in a day may. I did this with my brother. He would drink 4 Mountain Dew's a day. He switched to Diet Mountain Dew but when I told him his body does not know the difference between regular and diet he was a bit shocked. So somehow through discussions and some pleading he is down to one a day.

2. No Activity - The next time you are standing at the elevator with your co-worker challenge them in a nice non-I'll kick your ass challenge to meet you their every morning for two weeks to take the stairs. Show them some small victories. You know as well as I do after two weeks the stairs won't seem so daunting. Small victory.

Send me your ideas or success stories. I'll post them on this Blog. Again I feel it's our American Duty to change the makeup of our country. It's our duty at athletes to take a stand and show America the way.

It's a good life....

Dave

One other note, it's good to be in the USA. For some reason Google can't spell check in Germany so I know my blog is full of errors. Now that I'm back in the US for a time my spelling will improve.

Smiles

I remember when I was 10 years old I would smile when I wanted to and not smile when someone wanted me to. Karma gets back at you when your son turns 10. Marco is a great kid but all the pictures we have of him in roughly the last year are stone faced. So I took the opportunity to take some pictures when he wasn't looking. He's got a great smile and here it is.

One of my goals is to learn something totatlly new with Marco. I have some ideas but they have to wait until the Spring thaw. Those ideas are hobbie type things we can learn together and continue to do them. Recently as you know the three of us traveled to Normandy to tour the sites of the D Day invasion. For 3 full days we talked D Day. If we knew the answers to Marco's questions we would answer. If we didn't we would try to find out. Walking through museum after museum answered a number of questions. It also created a great deal more. The point is for 3 days we were totally engaged in the one topic. From learning about the role of the Canadians to the building of the Atlantic wall. We were emmersed in WWII.
Saturday Mary, Marco and one of his buddies went to the movies. On the way to the cinima (it's 25 minutes from home) Marco talked. That's not rare for him but his topic surprised us. He told his freind Patrick all about D Day. Yes the details weren't exactly right but he was animated and excited telling the story. Mary and I couldn't help but smile about it.
One thing I highly suggest to everyone is watch the movie "The Longest Day". The three of us watched it back in May. Mary and Marco watched it again just before our trip. It's a great movie to watch and it is even better to watch it then go to the actual place.

Off to Peoria Illinois. I guess one of the cool things is I'll be in the US on election day. Tomorrow we elect a new President. Finally!

It's a good life...
Dave

Normandy

This picture above comes from Omaha Beach, Normandy France.

The Trip
We had a great trip. As good Americans we drove from home to Normandy then up to Amsterdam and then home again. The Germans just laugh that we are willing to drive that far. Who knows how long it was. Anyway, the three of us had a great trip. We stayed in Nomandy in a great Bed and Breakfast for 3 nights. It was or base camp for seeing the sites. Day 1 we spent on the Canadian and Bristh side of the Invasion. You rarely hear the Canadians were even involved in WWII and here they are with a beach with their name on it. We visited a museum that is the only WWII Canadian museum. It was a great way to start our discovery. Day 2 was spent on the American side of the Invasion. As a kid, you know the names Omaha and Utah beach. You have only seen them in Black and White that helps set the tone. I think all three of us were a bit in awe of what we saw. First in Omaha with the US Cemetary and a great Cemetary Museum. In that museum they tell personal stories of men who lived and some that died on the beach below. As I told Marco, there were Heroes that day who just the day before might have been simply a face in a crowd. Just an awe inspiring experience I wish every American could see. Late in the day we went to Saint Merie Eglisse. One of the sights of the Airborne invasion. There we saw a movie that showed us the love the town has for the Soldiers that landed in thier town and kicked out the bad guys. Just an increadible story. On our third day we got back in the car and headed north. We stopped off in Southern Belgium to see a WWI trench system. Marco has this great book on WWI and II. We had been reading about the trench warfare and it was good to see one. Marco learned all the key phrases like trenchfoot and no man's land. He has a great sense of adventure with any trip we take but Normandy and the Trenches will probably stay with him forever. Finally we headed to Amsterdam for a couple nights. We stayed on a Houseboat that was a one room B & B. Crazy that Mary finds these places. She does it all with an eye on the interesting and an eye on the pocket. For instance the Houseboat saved us 30 euro a night and was just a cool experience. The highlight for sure in Amsterdam was the Van Gogh museum. We all really enjoyed the story and the paintings. We did get totally lost in the City and ended up in the Red Light district. Every corner we turned it seemed we ran into a wall of windows. Luckily we got out of there. To ground Marco back into sanity we went to the Anne Frank house. A rather sobering experience. Most people have read the book but seeing it, makes it all more real.

Final Thoughts
I put the Omaha beach picture at the start for a reason. Normandy and this beach in particular will forever be linked to D-Day. Any story you have heard about French people being rude, I give you Normandy. Everyone was warm and smiling. The guy on the beach walking his dog was genuinly excited that we would travel so far just to see the area. Just about every inch of the area has some reference to June 6, 1944. Every road sign, every village sign just about everything. My thoughts as we we were walking down Omaha beach were "Man, this is one great beach." The sand is just great, the beach is relatively flat and there is some surf. This would be a great beach to spend the day. So the thought occured to me, does anyone spend a day at that beach just beaching it? It's possible if you slept through the drive, you could walk that beach and never know that it was the sight of death and victory. It's just a big beach with one concrete slab (used to stop tanks) that looks like nothing. You could spend an entire day there not knowing 10,000 soldiers are burried above on the bluff. I wonder if anyone actually does that.

It's a good life....
Dave

Wherever ego, I go!

The quote in the title comes from Chuckie V. Read his Blog, it's really funny some times. More on the quote below. The picture comes from Running Central in Peoria, IL. I think I used this picture before. I post it because that is my final destination on this next trip. First up it's Mary, Marco and I heading to Normandy. I am ready to be completely humbled by that experience. From Normandy I head to NY where I will resume my on line chatter. NYC is all about running, running shoes and runners. Not in that order of course. It's always about runners first. Then finally to Peoria to visit Mom and hopefully show her some totally cool places to live.

The quote "Wherever ego, I go" is timely. If you read my 2009 goals you know ego plays a big roll. Ego as in I don't want it. That simple statement is so true and can get you in so much trouble. Chuckie refers to your ego and pacing. In generaly ego pace is much faster than your ability and eventually you fail. That is true in life. The big egos normally fail. I don't think the way of the big ego is sustainable. So why go with it in the first place. Easier said then done I know.

Normandy, here we come!

It's a good life....

Dave

It was 9 miles!

While some people go shopping when they travel (I do some of that too) I go looking for the Sunrise. Here it is in Salt Lake City. I was on some mountain trail just out of town running as the sun came out.

When people ask me how far I ran, I usually come back with an answer that sounds like around 45 minutes. It's always got something to do with time. Here in Germany hanging around all the runner's I am struck by the facination with distance. "Which loop did you do, the 12K loop?" So recently, in my own geeky way I've been running with folks and then listening (then going on google and measuring). Did you know most runners actually run less than they think. I know it probably comes as a shock to you but when you hear someone say I did my 9 mile loop, it may not really be 9 miles. Understand, it's 9 miles in their head. Now yes there are some runners that actually do measure and know that their loop is actually 9 miles. Most others are guessing based on times when they knew it was exactly 9 miles. So something like 8 years ago I had this 9 mile loop and I'd do it in 55 minutes. I ran 55 minutes today so it was 9 miles. The problem in all of that is age. Unless you are a freak of nature, you slow as you age. So 55 minutes today may only be 8.5 miles. My point is not to pick on the runners or not even care that thier 9 mile loop is 8.5. I just find it interesting the way we age. I wonder when that loop will finally become the 8 mile loop measured? When do we accept the age we are and the speed we run. Do we ever accept it?

It's a good life...

Dave

Friends

San Diego beaches. They seem so far away!

I used to marvel at my Dad. Every time I would travel somewhere with him, Bogota, Miami, Toronto and more, there would be someone who treated him like a brother. I thought he just had this huge group of friends and it was impressive to me. They always greeted hime with a warm smile and a firm hand shake. You could tell it wasn't fake buddy, buddy stuff.

Just recently I myself ran into a need and I called on Friends. Three of the most notorious guys in the crazy sport I love. An Agent, A tycoon and an inventor. Just about everyone in the sport of triathlon knows them or knows of them. So I needed some help and emailed them individually with some questions. I figured I should tap into wide knowledge so I emailed them different questions. In less then a week the three of them have answered my questions and given me more than I asked for. Sure I work for a big brand and they stand to make money if the Big Brand plays in the little sport. But I don't think they answered from their pocket. They answered because of 20 years of relationship building with them. When you have suffered on a Bike ride for hours with each of them you tend to trust each other. That trust and friendship came back 20 years later 3000 miles apart from each other.

I get now what my Dad was doing. It helps to make Friends along the way.

One other note about the three. They are really hard on the outside. They are actually individually totally cool guys. The hard exterior is all a front.

It's a good life...
Dave

Slacker

"If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried."

Not sure who said this......

Last night in conversation Mary referred to herself as a Slacker. She was comparing herself to one of her Doctoral classmates and said something like, "compared to her, I'm a slacker". If Mary is a slacker I am a slug trying to cross the street. I'm determined to get there but the road if full of dangers and my gosh it's going to take me forever. It's going to take me forever because I'm slow and because I could be distracted by something really good I see or I guess feel on the ground. Mary is a big reason why I am a humble man. Her drive to get things done is wildly impressive. A SLACKER she is not.

It's a good life....

Dave

Goal Update - October 20th

Ah, the power of the Islands. This picture is from our trip in Panama.

One thing my Dad pointed out to me in my goals is that I should use spell check. He's right, I'm a terrible speller. It's not a lack of knowlege, it's a lack of detail. I'll put that as one of my short term fix it goals. Spell Check!

The first week into goals is usually fairly easy. They were set based on things going on in my life so there should be work towards them. I'll touch on a few. Next week Mary, Marco and I are heading to Normandy. Over the weekend they watched the Longest Day in preperation for our trip. We can't wait to share that new experience together. I'll be the tag along there. Those two history buffs will be crazy excited. Straight from there, I actually leave from Amsterdam, I head to New Yor for a few days and then to Peoria. The plan in Peoria is to take my mom to a few of the nursing facilities that have open space in the near future. The ultimate goal is to show her that they are not the nursing homes she has in her mind. She can have all her stuff and live her life, just with someone close if she needs it. We'll see what happens though she may not even let me in her house after the car stealing incident.
The other goals are in progress as well but not super defined.

One note on Global Warming. It's obviously a factor. This time of year in Germany used to bring Snow. Last year we received only two days of measurable snow and it was gone in less then one day. I bring this up because this past weekend was great in a warm way. Each day started below freezing but warmed up into the 50's. Our backyard is wide open and the Sun sits on it all day. Both Saturday and Sunday Marco and I spent at least an hour in the back passing the Soccer ball to each other. He's working on trapping and hard crisp passing. It was great to be in the back in shorts and a t-shirt and to be sweating. Seriously though I hope for Snow for Germany. It's better for the land and better for the people. They love the snow and miss it dearly.

It's a good life....
Dave

2009 Goals

The 2009 Goals are here. It's a long process that started roughly 6 weeks ago. The first 4 weeks was reflection. How did 2008 shape up. The last two weeks have been focused on 2009. Where do I want to be in October 2009. So here they are:

Family
1. Put Mom in a happy place - My mother is mentally sick. She currently lives in her own house by herself and she struggles to care for herself. That puts huge burden on my sister Cyndi. The process of getting paper in order has started. Now we have to convince Mom that it's the right thing for her. The real goal for me is to step up and take care of Mom they way she sacrificed to take care of me.
2. Marco - Marco and I are going to learn to do something new together. Maybe it will be riding BMX ramps or Quantum Physics but it will be something.
3. Mary - I want two trips to new places with her and her alone. We have so much fun when we do it.

Business
1. At the start of each quarter I will determine a relationship that needs work and I'll focus efffort to building it better.
2. I will drop the ego and get back to the basics of true leadership through Love, Energy, Audacity and Proof - Leap
3. I will ask for more responsibility when the time is right.

Financial
1. We will accept taking additional hits from our mistakes on the move.
2. I will cut frivolous spending - I will only sign up for events I know I'll do. I lost 1000 euros not doing events I signed up for. I will take my own lunch to work and more.
3. I will support Mary in her drive to get back to her passion.

Personal
1. I will win my agegroup in a triathlon
2. I will finally write that entire song
3. I will be ego free.

Spiritual
1. I will volunteer somewhere
2. I will be ego free
3. I will continue my spiritual education process through reading.

It's a good life......
Dave

Wasp Sting

This picture was taken roughly 30 minutes after I was stung by a Wasp while out running. Can everyone out there promise me that if you are with someone who gets stung by a Wasp, even if they say "I'll catch up", that you will stop to make sure they are o.k. I was running with 3 other guys. One idiot up front pushing the pace with no care about anyone else and two other fairly decent guys and none of them stopped. Even when they turned a corner on the trail and looked back, saw me walking clutching my mouth, they didn't stop.

Let me tell you what can happen if you are allergic to stings and you get stung in the lip.......Death!

Lucking for me, I'm not allergic. But damn, it was painfull!

By the way, I wrote a note to myself later that day to never run or ride with said idiot again.

The Year that Was!

Family

Grade - C+

Although in total we had a good year as a family, traveling through our part of Europe, Holidays in the Canary Islands and Summer trips to the Alps and Panama, I don't feel like I was as good with the family as I have been. Besides Panama the trips were all planned by Mary. Mostly because it wasn't easy I did not get involved in Marcos school work. I let Mary do it all. I was a good Dad and I'm sure Marco wouldn't complain but I wasn't great. I was a good husband but I wasn't great and I should be great at this. We have our challenges in the coming year and the majority of my goals will surrond one of the big family challenges but in general I want to raise my level with my immediate family. My final point on the family is the Election. I let my Dads party line politics get to me and I spit my own non-party buisness out through email. It's generally not me and I don't know what got into me.

Business

Grade - B

In genearl the work I am doing is at a high level. My business like most is a relationship business and I've worked really well on that front. I am pleased with the work in Latin America. I think our shoes are getting better and the relationship work to get the shoes better is very rewarding. What I'm not real proud of is letting the big Egos in the business get into my blood. I feel like I became one of the big brand egos. I also need to work on daily motivation. I used to manage 18 people and be one of the go to people in my old company. Now I manage one and I'm just another person on the floor. I tend to lose focus easily.

Financial

Grade - C

Almost everyone except the big time opportunists could probably rate thier Financial system a C. Few people are immune to the woes of the current market. But my average grade goes deaper. We made some errors in our move here and they are costing us. The great thing is we have been so good with our finances over the last 12 years that we could afford a subpar year. We can't afford two of them.

Spiritual

Grade - C

I'll just put it this way. Big ego and a spriritual giving soul don't mesh well. Fix the ego and work spiritually and this can be reversed.

Sport

Grade - B

Early year preperation went well. My goal was Ironman France in June so I had to get humping early. I put on 5lbs of muscle. I put in lots of hours on the bike even in the dark winter days. I had a couple days of 3 hours on the turbo trainer. My swimming was poor but I can usually make it up quickly. So my early season preperation was an A but I did nothing with it. I didn't go to France because I made the right call to take care of our dog (read past blogs). I raced in Switzerland which was a great experience but it was a flat race and I did the Berlin Marathon. That's it.

Total Personal Grade - C+

The great thing about this process is I get to do it again. I have the greatest family I guy could ask for, I try to surrond myself with good folks (thanks to Facebook I still can make this happen) and I control it all so I know it can improve.

It's a good life....

Dave

Renew

It's time again to renew. The picture of this beutiful tree is from our recent family trip to Poland. This is what Poland looks like right now. Bursting with color!

October is my month to reflect on the year and to set new targets for next year. I use October because the month starts with our wedding anniversary, the Hawaii Ironman takes place and because trees like this one also start new again. They shed the year they've had and start planning the next one. So over the next month I'll reflect a bit on the year that was and set some new targets around:

Family

Business/Career

Financial

Sport

Spiritual

Have a great week!

It's a good life....

Dave

Berlin Marathon 2008

Race Report

60 minutes before the start of the race and we are looking calm and happy. That of course is 60 minutes before the leaders go off. I soon found out what the people who pay the running bills in the industry have to endure. Painlessly Mary and I dropped off our bags and headed to the start. One mistake Mary made on the way to the start line was stopping to pee in the woods and not giving me things to hold. One of her two Power Gel packets fell out of her pocket and we were not going back into the woods to find it. There was a guy very close to the spot Mary had just departed having a problem!

So we lined up in H Block, the last block on the starting grid. It was roughly 15 minutes prior to start. We didn't want to be the last people on the line. The gun goes off promply at 9:00 for Haile and his group. Nobody in front of us moves. We stand and wait. 10 minutes later they start the next group. Nobody in front of us moves. We stand and wait. 5 minutes later they start the next group. Nobody in front of us moves. We stand and wait. Finally some 25 minutes after Haile goes, they releas the hounds. Our group begins to move. From the time our group started it still took Mary and I 6 minutes to cross the starting line. The orignal goal for Mary and I was to get Mary across the finish line. It had been a few years, before the Doctorate, since she had run a marathon. So just running it was the goal. My job was to coach her and since she said I couldn't run with her it was to keep her motivated at the start. At the start line we parted ways. I to run my pace and she to run hers.

For the next 21 killometers I weaved around, side stepped, ran on the sidewalk, ran on the trolly tracks, ran on the ever so narrow curb and even sometimes had an open space on the road. By the way, I like running killometers so much better than miles. More time to adjust pace in my book. My pace for killometer looked something like this: 5:30, 4:15, 4:30, 4:45, 5:30, 4:45, 4:05. At the 1/2 way or 21 K mark I was only 6 minutes off my goal pace. My goal pace was 4:30K or 3:10 for the entire race. That pace during training was comfortable. I figured I could run 4:15 for the next 1/2 and easily make up the ground. I also figured that the 1/2 way mark would be the point where the streets thinned out. So Killometer 22 was an easy (feeling) 4:15 and I was on my way. I turned a corner and saw down the road for roughly 3K that there was nothing but people. The weaving would have to continue. My body was ready to do it but My head was dissy. I decided right then and there that I could not hold my pace and tactics any longer. I moved into the crowd and began running their pace. Well that was worse because now it was going to take me longer and for me running slow hurts more. So by the 35 K point I was really hurting. At the 37K point a girl in front of me was tripped up. She took a long slow motion stumble then splat on the pavement. 3 guys passed her by before I got there. Me and another guy stopped and picked her up. We made sure she was ok before we continued on. Finally at the 40 k point you could see the Brandenburg Gate. The most beautiful sight in running. Well at least for that day it was. The last 2K flew by as they always do and boom I was across the fininsh line. 3:40:27

Some Reflections along the way.
- If you have a goal time start in the block with the rest of people aiming for that goal. Running a 3:10 marathon surrounded by people running 4:30 marathon pace is not the best.
- Aide Stations - Pay attention before the race to where the aide stations will be an have a plan. Of the first 6 aid stations I managed to hit one. If you are on the other side of the street as an aid station comes up and there are 500 people between you and the station you are not going to get water.
- Aide Stations - Hit table 3. Most people for some reason go to table 1. By the way, for all of you that run the front of the race, you pick your water up off the table in the back. They do not hand it to you. Anyway, while a crowd gathers around table 1 you can easily get to the open table 3.
- Help Someone - If you you see someone who needs help, Help them. Your race is not that important.
- Spectators - Stay off the course. Yes, I should stay off the curb you are standing on but please do not try to cross the street in the middle of the mass of runners. I know it doesn't look like they are running all that fast but they are still moving.
- Shit happens - Mary by the way finished her marathon. As usual she hit her goal. She did have something totally freaky happen though. There was a guy at some point of the race, on a bike with some kind of pain relieving heat spray. He would ride up to a runner ask if you wanted a spray and then oblige your wishes. Kind of weird if you ask me. Well this guy, on his bike, ducks behind Mary as she is running by. His front wheel and her foot (as it was coming off the ground behind her)hit the same air space at the same time. The tire catches her shoe just right, pulls it off her foot and flings it. Over the guys head it goes and lands under an aide station table. Mary one shoe on and one off stops, freaking out of course, goes to the table, gets down on her hands and knees (you try that in the middle of a marathon next time and see if you can get up) to retrieve her shoe. The guy did say he was sorry but can we please keep the bikes off the course next time.

Finally, the Berlin Marathon is big. They say something close to 41,000 ran it this year. If you get the chance, run it. Berlin is one of the coolest historical and otherwise cities in the world. Getting the chance to run on the roads through all those historical areas is really fun.

It's a good life....

Dave

The Countdown

The countdown to Berlin begins. Exactly two weeks from now we'll be done and thoughts of the next adventure will be creeping in. Both Mary and I have had those thoughts of what's next. For Mary at least now, it's building running speed through some shorter events. For me it's a week of rest and then another 8 week focus on core strength. Although my running feels ok right now my overall body feels weak. No swimming and only riding the bike to work make me feel this way.

I wish I had another three week block like I just had before the marathon. I think I've gotten myself to a respectable place but not where I think I can ultimately go. It felt really good to have a true training focus for 3 weeks. My sleep was better, my nutrition (it's just food anyway) was much better. It's those things that make me want to have another 3 week focus. I hit my goal of 50 plus miles this week. I did that by running faster not just running a super long run. This week my tempo will stay up buy I'll come back down to 45 miles or so. There is no room for a taper nor did I do the volume that deserves a taper. I think it's just going to be consistency into the event and then I'll use experience and my ability to block pain for a long time. Those two things should get me accross the line in one piece.

There is always room to learn or relearn. Yesterday I did my long run a bit differently. I ran out at a comfortable long run pace for 1 hour. I turned around and gradually upped the effort on the way back. It took me 53 minutes to get back which essentially ended up being roughly a minute per mile faster. At about the half way mark on the way back, I had a choice. Shut it down and make it an even 2 hour run or continue to push the tempo. I chose to push the tempo. I was hurting like I haven't hurt in awhile but I kept my head down a pushed. It felt really good. Although I'm very under trained for the up coming marathon, that one run was a huge confidence booster. I'm alive today and feel I could have tacked on more mileage on my day off. As they say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger and I think I'm stronger from pushing it yesterday.

It's a good life....
Dave

Berlin Update!

This is Mary on her way out the door for a 3 hour run. That's right, she's doing the program I gave her and crazy as it is it called for a 3 hour run on Sunday. It's her longest run of the training program and she did it with gusto and grace. Now it's a slow 3 week taper. I'm on week #3 of my focused training. I'm sick of it already. This is why I'm not a runner by nature. I would go absolutely crazy if all I did was run. My 3 week plan when something like this: Week #1 was 37 miles with a 4 mile tempo and a 120 minute long run. Week #2 was 44 miles with a 6 mile tempo and a 150 minute long run in shoes that absolutely killed my feet. This week will be 50 plus miles with an 8 mile tempo and a 120 minute run. I'll back it down next week and the following week with the Marathon the last weekend of the month. This is not the best way to do it but again, I couldn't seriously do an 18 week training program.

It's a good life....
Dave

I think I hate Running.........Not

You may recognize your face in this picture. It's a fun picture from Road Runner Sports and the recent world tour of running. This was a good time.

A few months ago my wife Mary asked me to sign her up for the Berlin Marathon. We can do it through work (why not, we sponsor the darn thing). I was out of town, Panama of course, when the entry went live on our intranet. So I emailed Sasha in the BU and asked him to sign my wife up. I gave him my employee number and all the right information. He emailed back confirming that he had done it. Well weeks later emails starting coming my way about the Berlin preperations. I would just forward them to Mary. One day though I noticed I received two of the same email. I opened one up and to my surprise my name was listed as an entrant. No, there must be an error. I walked down to talk to Sasha asked "Sasha, by chance did you sign me up too?" "But of course Dave, how could you ask your wife run and you not run."

Well gosh darn it, I didn't really want to run a marathon this year. In fact unless it's at the end of 112 miles of cycling I don't really want to run a marathon. But a marathon I am going to run. So the next thought was Train for it or run it. I in my sound mind and sound body (thanks Asics) I decided to just run it. Why train for something I wasn't planning on? But I'm no dope and for those of you I have occassionaly given running advice to I can't possibly in good faith jump into an event unprepared to at least run the distance. So with that I've chosen simply to run at every opportunity I have which at this point is every day. In a normal week or month I might run to or from work once. I've done it twice this week. Yesterday was with a guy in the BU that has run under 2:30 for a marathon many times. We talked the entire way. He kept looking at me with the "Are you o.k.?" look. I was laboring. Today, thanks to Trigger Point and sleep I ran again. My goal is essentially to run every day until I break down or the race comes along. Throw in a couple long runs and then bank experience. This is what I'll tell you, running a marathon hurts me worse than doing an Ironman. There is probably a preperation thing but a 3:20 marathon off the bike is so much easier than a 3:00 hour plain marathon. That 20 minutes is huge and I like the warm-up.

Back to the post title. Yesterday after my running buddy peeled off to his house, I slowed to a crawl. I told myself right then and there, "I hate running". But today I ran 45 minutes at my pace with big hills and sunshine and I had a great run. So what's to hate about that?

It's a good life.....

Dave

Leave Like Neptune

I was reminded recently of how Neptune our favored Black Lab left this world. He knew he was dying. He was a dog and they know when it's their time. He told us it was his time. The day we took him to the vet to end his life was one of the happiest days he had in a long time. He walked from the car to the vet office wagging his tail. He barked at and chased the birds. He had a big chocolate cookie. On the vet table knowing this was it, he gave our son Marco a huge lick across the face. When I looked into his eyes there was a calm to him. Those eyes told me it was a good life.

We should all be able to leave this world wagging our tail.

It's a good life.....

Dave

Karma

I'm a big believer in Karma, the good kind. Do something good for something and it comes back to you. It works with money, and good attitude. The more you give away, the more you get in return. I know there are some who will think of the money thing as "yeah right" but it's true. There are countless enormously successful people who put all there money in to start a charity and it all came back to them and more. But this post is not about that Karma.

Today my big sister and I did something we should have done a couple years ago. Our mother is diagnosed with mental inllness and 4 years ago the Doctors said she shouldn't be driving. Today we finally got the nerve up to steal her car and her license. It was not an easy thing to do. In fact it was one of the sadder moments of my life. Car travel was part of her life. It was how she got out of the house. We took it away. In the long run it was the right thing to do but Karma will strike back. Somewhere down the road probably when I'm 70 years old Karma will strike. Maybe if I can I'll write about it.

Passion

Marco and I talk regulary about Passion for life. He is at a stage in his life where he is trying just about everything but not really doing any of it passionately. That's not totally true. One of the the things he is really passionate about is reading and that's really cool. Obviously that passion comes from his mother because it takes me about 2 years to finish a page in a book. Anyway he's taking a shot at Soccer, Track, Basketball, and Skateboarding right now. Can you guess where the above pictures are from? No, it's not track. It's Skateboarding. I have yet to see this up close because this happened while I was on the plane. It looks awfully painfull but his mother tells me he is really proud of the wound. That smells like a bit of passion. For his recent birthday all he wanted was a grinding rail. So on Saturday he and I went to the local Hornbach (Home Depot in German) and purchased the makings of a griding rail. Total bill was 8 euro. We then went home to build it. I'm sure the above wounds were caused by a grinding attemp on the new rail.

On this same day clear across the world, Marco's cousin Elliot was on his skateboard, fell off as often happens and broke his arm.

I've heard somewhere that if you really want something, want it really bad, you do what it takes to get there. I recently read "We might as Well Win" by Johan Bruyneel the team director of the teams Lance was on. The book is all about the thoght if if you're going to do it, you might as well go after it and win! Marco and I'm sure Elliot were all over it. Both were probably trying some trick they had never done before. Trying to win over gravity while keeping a board between their feet and the pavement with nothing but great balance. The pavement won this round but based on their current attitudes, they will win the overall.

It's a good life...

Dave

Panama Again

I know, it's been awhile since I last posted. When the tour is on priorities change. What a Tour de France it was! The best team won. Carlos Sastre, rider for rider probably wasn't the best in the field but he had the best team that surronded him and protected him the entire tour and that's why he was fresh on the big days. Cycling is such a team sport in that way. When Lance was winning he had both going for him. He was the best rider in the bunch and he had the strongest team every year. That's a combination that will win every tour. Not really easy to do though.

So yes, I'm back in Panama. The third time this year. I'm really getting used to the city and of course I love all the people I work with. They just have a passion and energy for what they do. The big difference this trip is Marco and Mary are joining me and we are going on vacation in Panama. I know it sounds crazy. We live half way around the world and choose Panama but there are huge benefits. The Euro is really strong and we get paid in Euros. Panama other than that really big ditch called the Canal is not really on the map of heavy tourism. So we are heading to some little known Islands in the Carribean for sun, warm water and fun. It has all the things we love, Spanish Language, great food and the above necesities. Germany was just plain ugly the last two weeks. For more than a week it seemed we were heading to a really early Fall. The temperature dropped 10-15 degrees Centigrade (that's a huge jump for you Americans), the wind picked up and lots of rain. The two big Ironman distance races in the area were raced in poor conditions. Athletes in both races complained about being cold. Anyway it's hot here in Panama and we like Hot.

I'll post some pictures from Panama and other adventures on this 4 week trip for me.

It's a good life...

Dave