Temp: 89.3 Ave 91.4 Max
Winds: SW 15.4 Ave 18.4 Max
Total Time: 26:28
Ave Speed: 22.5
Max Speed: 25.9
Ave Pace: 2:40/mile
| Dist. | Time | A Speed | Max | A HR |
| 1 | 2:17 | 23.2 | 25.0 | 155 |
| 2 | 2:52 | 21.5 | 22.8 | 170 |
| 3 | 2:46 | 21.4 | 22.9 | 166 |
| 4 | 2:45 | 21.5 | 24.1 | 170 |
| 5 | 2:57 | 21.0 | 23.8 | 170 |
| 6 | 2:36 | 22.5 | 23.7 | 165 |
| 7 | 2:42 | 22.5 | 24.3 | 165 |
| 8 | 2:27 | 23.8 | 24.3 | 164 |
| 9 | 2:33 | 24.2 | 25.0 | 165 |
| 10 | 2:16 | 24.2 | 25.9 | 165 |
| 13-Aug | 30.64 | Training/Recreation | Meckling Loop |
| 13-Aug | 7.84 | Training/Recreation | Around Town w/Laura |
| 14-Aug | 3.54 | Commuting/Errands | |
| 15-Aug | 5.40 | Commuting/Errands | |
| 16-Aug | 4.12 | Commuting/Errands | |
| 16-Aug | 22.84 | Training/Recreation | Time Trials + extra |
| 17-Aug | 3.68 | Communtig/Errands | |
| 18-Aug | 3.64 | Communtig/Errands | |
| 19-Aug | 72.52 | Training/Recreation | Big Friend/Little Friend Ride |
You know, I'm an emotional guy...but at the same time, it takes a lot to move me to tears. A co-worker/friend from work sent me this email/article that I'm about to share. I don't receive Sports Illustrated and had never heard this story. Being a "supposed" athlete and "supposed" father, this article makes me feel highly inferior in both regards. What a story and what a father and son combo.
From Sports Illustrated's Rick Reilly
"Strongest Dad in the World"
I try to be a good father. Give my kids mulligans. Work nights to pay
for their text messaging. Take them to swimsuit shoots.
But compared with Dick Hoyt, I suck.
Eighty-five times he's pushed his disabled son, Rick, 26.2 miles in
marathons. Eight times he's not only pushed him 26.2 miles in a
wheelchair but also towed him 2.4 miles in a dinghy while swimming and pedaled him 112 miles in a seat on the handlebars -- all in the same day.
Dick's also pulled him cross-country skiing, taken him on his back
mountain climbing and once hauled him across the U.S. on a bike. Makes taking your son bowling look a little lame, right?
And what has Rick done for his father? Not much -- except save his life.
This love story began in Winchester, Mass., 43 years ago, when Rick
was strangled by the umbilical cord during birth, leaving him
brain-damaged and unable to control his limbs.
"He'll be a vegetable the rest of his life," Dick says doctors told
him and his wife, Judy, when Rick was nine months old. "Put him in an institution."
But the Hoyts weren't buying it. They noticed the way Rick's eyes followed them around the room. When Rick was 11 they took him to the engineering department at Tufts University and asked if there was anything to help the boy communicate. "No way," Dick says he was told. "There's nothing going on in his brain."
"Tell him a joke," Dick countered. They did. Rick laughed. Turns out a lot was going on in his brain.
Rigged up with a computer that allowed him to control the cursor by touching a switch with the side of his head, Rick was finally able to communicate. First words? "Go Bruins!" And after a high school classmate was paralyzed in an accident and the school organized a charity run for him, Rick pecked out, "Dad, I want to do that."
Yeah, right. How was Dick, a self-described "porker" who never ran more than a mile at a time, going to push his son five miles? Still, he tried. "Then it was me who was handicapped," Dick says. "I was sore for two weeks."
That day changed Rick's life. "Dad," he typed, "when we were running, it felt like I wasn't disabled anymore!"
And that sentence changed Dick's life. He became obsessed with giving Rick that feeling as often as he could. He got into such hard-belly shape that he and Rick were ready to try the 1979 Boston Marathon.
"No way," Dick was told by a race official. The Hoyts weren't quite a single runner, and they weren't quite a wheelchair competitor. For a few years Dick and Rick just joined the massive field and ran anyway, then they found a way to get into the race officially: In 1983 they ran another marathon so fast they made the qualifying time for Boston the following year.
Then somebody said, "Hey, Dick, why not a triathlon?"
How's a guy who never learned to swim and hadn't ridden a bike since he was six going to haul his 110-pound kid through a triathlon? Still, Dick tried.
Now they've done 212 triathlons, including four grueling 15-hour Ironmans in Hawaii. It must be a buzzkill to be a 25-year-old stud getting passed by an old guy towing a grown man in a dinghy, don't you think?
Hey, Dick, why not see how you'd do on your own? "No way," he says. Dick does it purely for "the awesome feeling" he gets seeing Rick with a cantaloupe smile as they run, swim and ride together.
This year, at ages 65 and 43, Dick and Rick finished their 24th Boston Marathon, in 5,083rd place out of more than 20,000 starters. Their best time? Two hours, 40 minutes in 1992 -- only 35 minutes off the world record, which, in case you don't keep track of these things, happens to be held by a guy who was not pushing another man in a wheelchair at the time.
"No question about it," Rick types. "My dad is the Father of the Century."
And Dick got something else out of all this too. Two years ago he had a mild heart attack during a race. Doctors found that one of his arteries was 95% clogged. "If you hadn't been in such great shape," one doctor told him, "you probably would've died 15 years ago."
So, in a way, Dick and Rick saved each other's life.
Rick, who has his own apartment (he gets home care) and works in Boston, and Dick, retired from the military and living in Holland, Mass., always find ways to be together. They give speeches around the country and compete in some backbreaking race every weekend, including this Father's Day.
That night, Rick will buy his dad dinner, but the thing he really wants to give him is a gift he can never buy.
"The thing I'd most like," Rick types, "is that my dad sit in the chair and I push him once."
Check out http://www.teamhoyt.com for more info.
Still not in tears? Check the video by clicking here.
Enjoy and God Bless,
Kevin
Well, I had a brain-dead moment at the start of time trials. I was talking with the timer and when he started counting me down I forgot to start my Garmin. It wasn't until around a mile in that I remembered so I do not have the cool chart like weeks past. The abbreviated report is this:
Conditions: Windy and humid - Winds SSE 16.8 Gusting to 21.9 (thank you weather.com!)
Time: a respectable 26:16 considering the conditions
Temp: Changed considerably for a short ride - High 80.6 - Average 77.9
Footnote: Kept heart rate at a higher level than any other ride this year - Ave 163-64
Yeah, pretty weenie week, but it was a busy one in the Brady household. More details of the fun during the MS150 to follow soon!
| 6-Aug | 78.05 | Training/Recreation | MS150 Day 2 |
| 7-Aug | 2.53 | Commuting/Errands | |
| 8-Aug | 1.80 | Commuting/Errands | |
| 9-Aug | 5.54 | Commuting/Errands | |
| 10-Aug | 5.58 | Commuting/Errands | |
| 11-Aug | 4.85 | Commuting/Errands | |
| 11-Aug | 31.51 | Training/Recreation | Burbank Hill Repeats |
| 30-Jul | 20.31 | Training/Recreation | Hwy. 12 |
| 31-Jul | 5.91 | Commuting/Errands | |
| 1-Aug | 5.51 | Commuting/Errands | |
| 2-Aug | 3.48 | Commuting/Errands | |
| 2-Aug | 31.14 | Training/Recreation | Time Trials + warmup / cooldown |
| 3-Aug | 2.02 | Commuting/Errands | |
| 4-Aug | 1.81 | Commuting/Errands | |
| 5-Aug | 101.42 | Training/Recreation | MS150 Day 1 |
A week ago today (okay okay, I'm a bad blogger and need to be in a certain mood to blog) Carson turned three and I took a day off from work to just "be Dad" which was a blast. Let's recap the days events shall we? What? No? Too bad...my blog...
When Carson woke up and I finished my morning Latte (NOTHING happens before the morning Latte!) we hooked up the bike trailer and biked out to Hy-Vee for a killer breakfast of French Toast and a big iced cinnamon roll. Carson was a sticky mess, but he was having the time of his life. We came back and opened up one present which was a t-ball set. He was in heaven for the next hour swinging away. Then we went downtown with Austin and Marissa to Vermillion's Crazy Day's which never really materialized. It basically ended up being the Vermillion Theatre having a sale of old movies and games. Austin got a game and then we went for lunch at McDonalds with all four of us. Happy meals all the way around! After a long, relaxing lunch, it was off to the park and the new playground equipment. By now, the temperature was getting pretty balmy and the swimming pool was looking like a MUCH better idea than the playground equipment, but this was Carson's day and HE wanted the PLAYGROUND. We played and played until it was quite obvious that Carson was beyond need of a nap, so we went home.
While Carson got a nap, I got a quick 30 mile bike ride in with some of the club riders. When we got back, we all went out to Dairy Queen to top off Carson's big day with some ice cream. Then, after playing until well after dark, it was off to bed for Carson. I must say, there was no argument from Carson and he was asleep in no time. Below are some pictures of the day!
Temp: 82 Ave 82.4 Max
Winds: ENE 7.8 Ave 10.4 Max
Total Time: 25:13
Ave Speed: 23.5
Max Speed: 28.7
Ave Pace: 2:33/mile
| Dist. | Time | A Speed | Max | A HR |
| 1 | 2:27 | 24.4 | 28.7 | 157 |
| 2 | 2:22 | 24.8 | 25.3 | 165 |
| 3 | 2:31 | 23.7 | 25.1 | 156 |
| 4 | 2:35 | 23.3 | 24.5 | 166 |
| 5 | 2:40 | 22.1 | 23.7 | 160 |
| 6 | 2:48 | 22.2 | 25.0 | 157 |
| 7 | 2:26 | 24.6 | 25.7 | 165 |
| 8 | 2:35 | 23.4 | 25.3 | 164 |
| 9 | 2:34 | 23.3 | 25.0 | 164 |
| 10 | 2:17 | 25.0 | 25.8 | 156 |
Okay, this was BY FAR the most bizarre thing that has happened to me in my 9 plus years on the job. I had a very nice sweet lady who has been having troubles with her mouse. I had cleaned it a few different times, but it was simply giving up the ghost so I brought her a new one.
This is where the story takes a BIZARRE turn....They had received nice new office furniture last year and it is heavy, high quality stuff. Well, this is a "section" off a much bigger desk and doesn't have a hole for all the computer cords to go through so I had to put the cords behind and run them underneath the desk. PROBLEM: The desk goes all the way to the ground so you have to "lift" it ever so slightly to get the PS/2 cord of the mouse under the desk.
As mentioned, this is a HEAVY desk WITH a book case on top that isn't fastened on. Yeah, you are beginning to get the picture. I lifted, she got underneath the desk to grab the cord and lift slightly as well. All of a sudden I heard a movement and realized that the bookcase was about to come crashing to the ground. I grabbed with all my might and all I could see was her legs sticking out. I yelled, and instinctively stuck my leg out to "buffer" the blow that was about to happen. NOT TO MENTION, there was somebody else in the direct path of this falling monstrosity.
Apparently between me grabbing what I could and pushing it out of the way, it hitting my leg instead of crushing hers, and some awesome quick movement from her office mate, we ALL SURVIVED with no injuries. Let's just say that HE was looking out for all of us yesterday as there is no feasible way that all of us simply walked away from that uninjured. I thank my friends for their great sense of humor/relief and I thank God for watching out for us!
Good month with all things considered. It was hot and busy for me, but still found SOME time to ride!July Commuting/ Errand Training/ Recreation Total Miles % Commuting/ Errand % Training 73.17 716.17 789.34 9.27% 90.73%
