PFunk's Travels

With my travels having taken me the last two weekends to Austin to compete in over 12 hours of racing, I feel like I should have something bigger to do this weekend. Alas, my next event isn't until January, the Houston Marathon. Here are some thoughts on my latest adventures though...

The fact that I am alive is good. Check off priority Number #1 on the list.

The fact that the day after the 70.3 race I went online to see when the next available race at that distance is, is scary.

Equally scary, is me shaving my legs for the race.

The 70.3 was a perfect distance. It is definitely not something to just sign up for on a whim, but with training, a great feat. The day before the race I was at a sports bar and told a guy about the race I was doing and the distances involved. You could see in his eyes his brain doing math, computing what he had just heard and translating it into how long that would actually take. His response came with slight bewildered, "Man, I think I am just going to grill and watch the Cowboys game tomorrow." We had different Sundays.

There is now a strange calm I have about the Ironman. The distances, the times, they don't scare me as they once did. I know one thing about the Ironman I didn't before, I need to go faster. The longer you are out there, the more slowly you break.

Adventure races are not what I thought they were. I thought there were more activities to do involving my skills. Nunchaku skills, bow hunting skills, computer hacking skills... In this adventure race it was basically location hunting by means of running, biking and roller blading/scootering, though one part you did kayak.

I really did my best to put the economy back on track this week. The race required a number of items I did not have. I bought roller blades, rather mountain skates that are on and off road capable, a full set of pads, (the mountain skates do not have any kind of brake on them), and a scooter capable of "scooting" without having to push off the ground with your foot.

Katherine did an amazing job filling in on team Rad Racing with tax man Jeff ("Hollywood" Mike Miranda) bailing the week before we went to Helltrack. And D (Cru Jones) did a good job of costing us the race well within the first hour, biking ahead after completing our second task, getting lost, and not making it back to transition for a good 20 minutes.

Is it still considered last place if you were the last team to finish the race, without getting scratched from the course? If so, put us down for that one. Here are the results.

There were two really interesting tasks in the Oyster Race. One task your team had to locate a specific building and get to the 19 floor. When we found the building, you could only use the stairwell. In another task you had to get to this frisbee disc course, by means of roller blades/scooter/skateboard and play hole 17 or 18 and complete the hole in under four shots/throws. If after two attempts your team failed to received a four or less, the representative would punch your passport and you could continue to your next challenge. Here's the trick, this task is one that is not skill related, but strategy related. I just wanted to play frisbee golf, I'll let you figure it out.