Dick Vital says it the Best...

"... you need to get a TO (time out), Baby!!!!" That is exactly what I need for a week or so as I am physically and mentally cooked.

Since Jake's birth and even more so after Ian's arrival Deb and I have focused on a non-hectic lifestyle with ample time to simply breath in and out (and repeat) with our feet up and relaxing. We see friends and families on a constant 'stuck in full speed' gear and we do not want it nor is it good for the boys. We do (have done) a great job in managing this and often comment on the light flow we are in and how it keeps us sane. This, at least for me, has dramatically changed since Jake's cross country season started, more so with my 'cross schedule, and now throw in Ian's basketball. I have headed up a couple time and energy sapping fund raisers for BHS XC and this past weekend was the last one for some time (I hope). I refuse to give up a restful lifestyle and a couple things are going to have to give (one already dropped with the completion of the trail race and a month or two more of 'cross is all that is left) to regain this.

That being said I am mentally tired and it is dragging into my physical psyche, which is not good if you race every weekend. Breath in, breath out, and repeat...

Friday has me in the office early so I can scoot down to Sac after noon. Meet Dale around 1:30 at Sac and we finish out hanging orange tape marking the course. I am super anal about getting this thing right so we are going over and over it. A friend of ours had a du-race at Sac last winter and she reported that a ton of their taping put up on a Friday afternoon was ripped down by Saturday morning so I left the taping of intersections until the next morning. I felt really good about the course (both 1 mile and 5 mile) laid out and the diversity it offered.

Around 4:45 I cleaned up and headed into SPR. I stopped by The Starting Block to grab last minute pre-registrations and then over to meet the family at Nakato's to celebrate Jake's successful season of XC. Everyone loves this place and we usually hit it only for the boy's birthdays. Jake and I grubbed on a little sushi before loading up on the main stuff. After dinner Ian and I headed home while Deb and Jake did a little shopping. I planned to get to bed early, but ended up staying up way later than needed.

Saturday morning found me on the Sac Trails before 5am with bike light and headlamp. I was putting the finishing touches on the course layout. Coach Bandy met me around 6:30 and we set up all the start/finish line stuff along with a tent to house the timers. By 9am (start of the 1 mile fun run) the place was packed. Initially we hoped for 50 entrants, but it was apparently we exceeded it. 25 or so kids (some with parents) knocked out the 1 miler. After that we had 88 runners for the 5. Everything was flowing nicely as I checked on the lead runners at a couple points on the course. Just about the time I was going to pat myself on the back three runners came to the finish about 10 minutes or so ahead of schedule! I was thinking how I must have jacked up the course and everyone is going to be bummed until I realized the lead guy had not come through and he was way ahead of them, hummmm... 10 or so minutes later the leader comes through followed by the rest of the field over the next 30 minutes. Turns out the three 'blind mice' did not follow the course (probably so focused on speed that they weren't paying attention) and didn't do 1 1/2 miles.

Jake had a solid run as we talked prior to the event about him not 'racing' it and simply making it a training run; he was 5th overall and looked super relaxed and agile on the course. I love watching him run and especially on the trails.

Pretty much the rest of the field all gave good feedback on the course marking so I felt much MUCH better knowing 85 out of 88 got it right. So there we are with all the finishers in and I stick my head in the tent only to see sheer panic and coach telling me that everything is screwed up and it will be some time before the results are available. I am not blaming anyone at all, I just want that known, but... all week he and I talked about the keys to a successful event was a marked course where no one would get lost/confused and the timeliness of posting results/awarding prizes. I personally know the overall female winner (and had met the male) along with both the masters so we went ahead and got them their stuff and asked for patience as they continued to get age group results. A group of us (we had an awesome volunteer turnout) started breaking down the site and around 11:15 I had to hook to coach Ian's basketball game at The Courts.

Deb took E-ball and I grabbed Jake and headed across town and shifted modes to COACHING basketball. Good fan base for Ian as Deb, Jake, Grandpa and Grandma Jones, my Aunt Marti, and my Grandma all had a front row seat for the action.

Game starts and our boys are playing great and by half we have a decent lead. The lead slips as some interesting fouls are called down the stretch and this kid from the other team is knocking down his free-throws like a pro. With 14 seconds left we are down 1 and they are inbounding the ball under our goal. Jaden (best defender on the team) picks off a pass and kicks it out to Ian who hits a 10' jumper for the win!!!!!! You would have thought we won the NCAA Championship; we were all going nuts. It was probably the best game I have seen Ian play as he was dribbling through and around defenders and mostly making difficult passes to open teammates that he made look extremely easy. He has an understanding of the game that is pretty cool to watch in motion on the floor.





After the game we shifted to FAN mode and sprinted back to Bolivar to watch our football team get destroyed by Webb City. Bolivar had a good run, but Webb City is a football machine and for the second year in a row they beat us in the playoffs (similar to running against West Plains - hope for the best, but understand it is what it is...).

After the game Deb and Marla got in some fitness while Ian and I played some basketball then whipped up some steaks on the grill for dinner. After filling up the bellies we watched G.I. JOE, which Ian really liked (if that tells you anything) and Deb and I suffered through. Got some last minute things organized for Saturday's race and dropped in bed around 10:30pm.

Sunday morning slept in a little before ScottyD and I hit the pavement to the KC area (our routine Sunday morning drive). Temps were dropping some while loading and it didn't take long before the rain started falling and continued to whole way to Leavenworth.

Arrived at race site to 39* and raining. 3rd time for St. Mary's this year, but each time a different course set up; great venue and a great place to hold 'cross races. A couple of races had run and in the rain the course was getting sloppier and sloppier as the day progressed. Scotty hopped out and quickly suited up for the task at hand. I took a walk around the course and the theme for the day was ride solid, but most importantly stay upright and outlast others. The only place on the entire course not slick was the brick road sections toward the end of each lap, the rest was a slip-n-slide.

Scott got a solid start (2nd week in a row), rode smart, and nabbed some greenbacks for the 1st time this year with a 4th. 32 Griffos with around 22lbs worked for him. Good to see a solid finish as he puts in his time every free weekend and is a much better racer than prior results had shown.

While Scott was doing what he does I kitted up (BTW fleece-lined ls skinsuit is one of the best purchases, outside the Blue, this year), embro'ed up. and spent more time running as a warmup than riding (trainer was left behind - poor choice). I have no 'mud tires' and that is a choice I made some time back as the budget is always a tight thing and it isn't (wasn't) a priority. I ran some clinchers with low pressure (as low as clinchers can get) with sealant inside the tubes (Conti removable cores - a ScottyD recommendation) and hoped for the best knowing I would have limited 'hook ups' in the slop.

Lined up against a solid field (all the players were there) and got a horrible start. How bad???? Guys I have never seen before in our race were in front of me and entering the grass I was maybe in the top 20, maybe. I didn't panic and simply rode safe and stayed upright (I listen sometimes Scotty) and sure enough I move through riders quickly. Apparently I gave Crusty a little more than a 'love tap' as I went around him on the first lap (which he let me know about later), but with my lack of skills in the slop he is lucky I didn't take us both down. Guess next time I'll give him a smooch while I nudge him so he 'feels the love'.

Each lap had 4 dismount points (1 barriers, 1 short climb, 1 long climb, 1 mud section on a pond bank) and I was making up most of my time on these sections. Half way through I was sitting 8th with 6th and 7th within reach. Bad news for me was the guy in 6th in the series (right behind me) was killing the race and I was dropping out of the prizes. Focus, back to the task at hand... with 2 to go I passed 7th and was moving toward 6th (now with 5th not too far in front). On the last lap Scotty yelled at me to stay under control and not press too much, but what did I do????? That's right - let's turn it up and go after these guys in front of me. So quickly I found myself on the ground at least 4 times riding like I had lost my freaking mind. 8th place passes me (now he's 7th) and I stay with him for a bit until I make an aggressive move and found myself sprawled out in the mud (again) and there he rides off... I gather myself and ride easy to finish 8th and loss my 5th place hold on the series. By far the most fun race of the year (although I have like every race so far in '09) and a race not so much of fitness (although you had to have it) as it was of handling skills and riding within the limits of what the course offered (as evident in my moving thru the ranks when in control and floundering miserably when riding aggressively.



I was looking obviously to hold my series spot, but it wasn't to happen. The way I look at it is I gave solid efforts every race, never had a bad day, and ended up pretty much where I deserve - 6th. My series finishes were 7th, 7th, 6th, 7th, and 8th so as you can see that is where I belong. In looking over the 3's final rankings in this series everyone seems to be accurately placed with Doug Stone, Dan O, and others riding consistently well; for the most part a good group of guys.

Showered and cleaned up on site (that was awesome), warmed up, and hit the road (added 40 minutes to the trip due to my forgetting my shoes at the gym - go ahead Crusty, post your comments now...). Skipped the bacteria factory due to time issues and got home in time for Deb's homemade chicken enchiladas - super YUM. Have I mentioned lately how much she spoils us? Ian asked several time where was his 'hot pickle' from the CDC's top 10 list (OK, he didn't reference the CDC, that was my interpretation)... I hosed off my race gear outside and ran everything thru the washer twice.

The rest of the evening was laid back as we caught Amazing Race, got Ian to bed, a little Napoleon D with Jake (for the 1,000th time), then I finished up the Colts vs NE (great finish) before shutting the body down.