Bike ride in the June morning sun + wife-beat - sunblock = ugliness.


So Wendy's triathlon day came up on me real quick (along with a whole bunch of other things; final exams - both my own and the one I gave my students - and all the work that brings along with it, along with readying for my trip to Germany and the presentation I'm giving there.) It's 3:15 on Saturday afternoon now - only a little more than 12 hours until I'll be squeezing into that rubber wetsuit and giving this thing a go. So I'm taking a quick break from the quite excellent Argentina-Ivory Coast match to leave a quick note before I head on up to Columbus for the evening. Early night for me up there tonight, since I've got to be on site at 5:30. If you wanted to take me out for beers in Columbus, let's make it another weekend, k?

Right now, I'm doing my last bit of frantic running around here at home, getting everything together before heading up to Columbus for a team pasta party, an early bedtime, and then jumping into the water around 7 AM or so...and away we go. It's a long way from the wet, snowy February morning that saw me signing up for this, yet doesn't really feel like very long at all (I tried to avoid the cliche, but just couldn't). I'm feeling both extremely excited and pretty ready for it.

On the physical side, I'm happy to say that things have come along nicely; without even realizing it was happening, I'm up to 3-5 miles jogging, 20 miles+ biking, and a half-mile or so swimming comfortably. No, not all on the same day, not typically anyway. On the mental side...well...there's nothing quite like learning to push and discipline yourself in order to help others, and to know that somehow, in some small way, you're doing that. In a lot of ways I can't really put into words, taking part in this - the race itself, and Team in Training - has been really, really good for me.

And the biggest part of that, on the personal side, is that I'm really thankful to those out there - some of whom I know well, some of whom I don't - who have sent money, good luck wishes and prayers over the past few months. It's terrific to realize just how good and giving others can be. You'll just have to try it yourself to find out....

Together, we've raised over $1050 so far: there's still a way to go before I reach my goal of $1600, so I'll be collecting for another few weeks to get all the way to the finish line (and I do encourage you to donate if you've wanted to, but haven't done it yet; also, do feel free to pass a link along to anyone who might want to donate.) That's over 1000 more steps towards saving a lot of lives, and I'm so grateful to anyone that's taking part with donations, thoughts and prayers for those in the fight.

The goal of raising money to combat and cure leukemia and lymphoma has been a tremendous motivation for me, not least because my own personal inspiration in this still But I've also been inspired and pushed along by all of you who have given, and am going out tomorrow with all of you in mind as well. Thanks!