craigmwilson.net

Denali was born August 5, 1996 in Marblehead, Massachusetts.

Both of my daughters have been swimming almost as much as I have recently. I made a deal with my 6 year old to that I would let her pick her own new swim cap if she could swim a full lap unassisted. She took it on as a mission and had it done in the first 5 minutes of her next trip to the pool. I was watching 20 yards away behind a glassed wall, half cheering, half wanting to jump in and help her the last few yards. The picture is her cap of choice, cute isn’t it?

Later in the class the instructor had them working on the backstroke and the butterfly kick. I can’t do the butterfly! Perhaps I’ll ask her to teach me when she figures it out; I certainly can’t - just a big wave, tired arms and not a lot of propulsion to show for it.
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This week I signed up for this epic mountain bike race in Gunnison, CO and am very excited about it. It covers 64 miles, a lot of single track, 8K climbing, “SOME SECTIONS ARE CONSIDERED TO BE DOWNRIGHT SKETCHBALLS BY GOOD RIDERS", and all at or above 7,800′. It should take me about 7 hours to complete. Sweet! I didn’t ride my mountain bike on a trail at all in 2008, so this will bring me back to my biking roots. They also have a 25K trail run in town the day before. hmmm… The Bolder Boulder gets bumped from the schedule and the annual Trail Ridge Road Ascent will have to be rescheduled.
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Yesterday was my first pinned-on-number-event of the year, the Frozen Foot 5K run - (3.27 miles, said the Garmin). It was a hilly course that meandered through the University of Colorado campus. I felt good and think I am starting to like these short races. Just when you start thinking your heart may explode through your shirt, there is the finish line…

From Facebook…"Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you.”

1. I have 3 beautiful blonde females in my life: 4, 6 and 30-something years old.

2. as well as 2 female pets. I often take solace in the garage with the male Chinchilla and talk to him about power-tools. My mother is smiling in Florida as she had 3 boys.

3. I graduated from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst with a bunch of latin words on my diploma. Later I decided I hadn’t quite lost enough sleep so I went back and did it again.

4. I think television is the root of all evil… well much of it, anyway. The Yankees are a close second.

5. …but I do like to watch movies. My favorites are Forrest Gump, The Usual Suspects and The Village (really).

6. I have 2 regrets in my life: not playing basketball in high school and not joining the Marines after it, as I gave serious thought to.

7. …there won’t be any more.

8. There are currently 10 bicycles, a tandem and a unicycle in my garage. I can’t yet ride the unicycle - learning hurts too much down there.

9. I have participated in 5 marathons, 4 ultra-distance mountain bike races, 3 24hour races, 3 Iron distance triathlons and 150+ smaller events that involve a pinned on number, lycra and sweat. My current diversion is training for my 4th Ironman. If you are reading this on my blog, you know this.

10. I once lined up at the start of a bike race alongside Lance Armstrong. He beat me. By a lot.

11. I plan to avenge that by beating his 2008 Boston Marathon finishing time next year.

12. I am typing this on my 8th anniversary (see #1). I think August 11th, the day I proposed to her in front of 100+ people, is the more important day. She disagrees.

13. Most of the music I want to listen to comes from Mark Knopfler, Bruce Springsteen, Peter Gabriel, Neil Young, Sheryl Crowe, or John Lennon. Paul McCartney is overrated.

14. I was a middle and high school history and social studies teacher before doing what I do now. I work half as much now and earn more than twice as much. Teachers get a raw deal.

15. I think I am the most inflexible person I know. See my profile picture? that’s about as close as I get to touching my toes and my big backyard trampoline helped with that one. I need to work on this.

16. …yet I am the reigning Twister champion. …of my house.

17. My favorite quote: “May you be so busy trying to improve yourself that you have no time to find fault in others".

18. I have an unhealthy addiction to magazines. The floor next to my bed is littered with them (and no, not that kind).

19. If I had to do it all over again I would study architecture.

20. I have a white water canoe in my shed and a shelf of Mountaineering equipment in my basement. Both will see lots of use when I’m done with this Ironman thingy.

21. I have met a lot of famous people in my life. When I ask myself who I would most want to meet now, the answer I come up with is Paul Stanley of the rock band Kiss. …big fan growing up. Seems like a cool guy.

22. I think Jonathan Papelbon is a stud. The one piece of pro sports clothing I own has his mug on it. Long time Red Sox fan. My cell phone rings to “Sweet Caroline” when my wife calls.

23. coolest experience I have had is sky-diving. Everyone should do this at least once.

25. I don’t count so good.

Consider yourself “tagged".

Today is my youngest daughter's 4th Birthday. Hard for me to believe, that the picture at the bottom was that long ago. Despite looking like I aged twice the number of years I am quite a bit fitter than I was than. Although I do wish I had her energy level. She runs around the house from 7am until she finally crashes at about 8:30pm like a gerbil on a wheel. The first words out of her mouth when I return form work are, "Daddy! Lets wrestle!!".

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I have spent a lot of time the last few weeks (well, relatively a lot, anyway) swimming and putting together something resembling proper stroke technique. It seems these efforts the last few weeks are paying dividends. My left arm is actually starting to contribute to my propulsion as evidenced by the amount of scrapes I have on the right side of my body from the cheese-grater lane lines. I need to re-learn how to swim straight.

Spent the morning Saturday waiting for the night's snowfall to melt away and exchanging my techno-clothing closet. Out of storage came the neoprene socks, booties, base-layers, wool jerseys, skull caps and six pair of graduating levels of thickness cycling gloves (Yes, I need to have the just-right one's on). Into storage along side my wetsuit went my collection of sleeveless jerseys. Since I know this winter a lot of weekday mornings will be spent in the basement spinning away on my new trainer while it is still dark outside, I try to get outside on the weekends even if it is damn cold. That is what all the clothes are for, right? I decided to draw the line at the balaclava; it didn't make it's way out of storage. If I need that thing, I'm off to the basement instead.

Saturday turned out to be a slushy mess. Had to stand in the muck while changing my first flat tire in months (knock-knock). And of course, I tuned my bike Friday evening...

more pics here password: my dog's name.