Willie & IM NYC

So much to write down, but so little time (I am at work and have a busy day ahead of me).  I supposed I will start with the good stuff.

The Good Stuff
This past Saturday was Ironman NYC, or Ironman New Jersey as it has been more commonly knows.  I watch it off and on throughout the day via IronmanLive and tracked a few people that I knew were doing it.  I couldn't believe how fast the swim times were; I don't think anyone swam slower than 1:15:00, which is absolutely incredible.  I am thinking that this might be the race for me to do in the future considering swimming is by far my weakest discipline.  Hell, I could probably post a 55 minute swim and cut a minimum of 25 - 30 minutes off of my overall time. 

So there were two people that I was tracking throughout the day.  On is a friend of mines husband (they live in the UK), and he was shooting for a Kona spot.  He had a killer race, finishing in just over 10 hours and ended up 8th in his Age Group, no knowing if he had gotten the golden ticket to the IM World Championships.  The other is a fellow Blogger and now kick ass "Ironman" Yaz (NJ Training), who was doing her first Ironman and ended up 4th in her Age Group (11:37:?? or something like that).  WTF?  How awesome is that?  The big questions for Yaz are: Did you qualify for Kona?  If so, are you going?

So as I was sitting there watching the numbers change on IronmanLive and their finishing times become reality, of course I got the itch back.  I had a talk with my wife last night about my desire to do another Ironman race again soon and we semi-agreed that 2013 is too soon (baby is too young, finances, etc.), but 2014 is a good year to target.  So it looks like 2013 is going to be get my ass in shape year (sprint, olympic and Half Iron distance tri's) and then plan for a return to IM and hopefully a Kona spot in 2014.  Thank you to Scott and Yaz for the inspiration!

The Bad Stuff
Last week just sucked.  That is all I can say.  In brief here is what my week looked like:

• Tuesday – My birthday….had to take my nine month old little girl to get blood tests; which mean I had to physically restrain her so the tech could take blood. She cried hysterically BOTH TIMES the tech tried; the second attempt (in her other arm) was successful.
• Wednesday –
• I found out that the job I had been counting on getting, well I got a call from the hiring manager telling me that they have two other candidates that they are going to focus on.  In short, I am out.  F**K!!!!!!!
• My wife took our dog (Willie) for a routine vet appointment only to find out he has a couple months to live. Then when they got home, it turns out he has internal bleeding from “mass” in his abdomen; I rushed him to the animal hospital and after some x-rays and a draw from his abdomen, then a conversation with the doctor I had to make the horrendous decision to have him put “to sleep”. Sitting there with him on the floor as he passed away in front of me was one of the worst experiences of my life. Then, upon arriving home, I have to explain why Willie isn't with me to my two young daughters. The 30 minutes that followed were filled with all of us crying and trying to comprehend what the hell just happened.
  
  
  
The last pic of Willie and I, just before...

One of my favorite pictures of Willie
• Thursday – I spend most of the morning trying to console my distraught children (and wife). I took the day off from work because I could barely hold it together myself.  Then throughout the day I had to collect every dog thing from around the house and hide them in our garage until we can figure out what to do with all of it. 
• Friday – I had a bi-weekly conference call for work, during which I was singled out on for sucking and for not being able to use our internal system properly (I am actually very good using the tool).  Then I am sent an email from our National Sales Manager reiterating that I suck and there is a ":)" at the end of his comment.  Really? 
• Saturday – IM NYC and also check out the Olympics.
• Sunday – I woke up with a sore lower back, no big deal. So then I decide to play soccer and my back is much tighter than normal.  I soldier on and it never loosens up.  I spend the rest of the day walking around like a decrepit old man, taking Advil and suffering.  (I had a doctors appointment today to try and fix it).

So that just about sums up last week; maybe I am being overly dramatic, but then again I live in a house with four females (it is bound to rub off on me).