THE HINTERLANDS, CT– This week was just a whirlwind. Honest, it’s been the kinda week that makes me wonder if I took my meds, and then I remember; I’m not on any meds… aside from vodka. During the week, I wake up at 4:30AM for triathlon training. And the weekends are for RESTING. Ahhhh. Let me recap:
Saturday: My week starts off on Saturday. I like to call it Sabado Gigante. Saturdays I sleep in until 5:30a. That’s right: 5:30A. The mini-Cookies start bouncing around soon thereafter and then it’s Little League Baseball, followed by a brief ‘rest‘ (READ: sports attire change, random tantrums by one or both mini Cookies, fifty-five snacks and me mainlining coffee). After this, we pile in the family truckster for the next sport… soccer, at high noon. After an hour of theatrics and SOME play that looks remarkably like soccer – my kid has scored five goals in the past two games, BTW – we move on to the next activity. That usually involves lunch, a carnival, two birthday parties, dinner out… that kind of thing. The other weekend? It involved ALL OF THE ABOVE. (No. I swear I don’t do speed.)
Yea. I go the distance. I’m an endurance athlete. And speaking of, last weekend me and the Cookies watched the Preakness and the littlest Cookie won our penny betting pool with I’ll Have Another’s win, cementing the 2nd jewel in the Triple Crown. Will we FINALLY have a Triple Crown winner after a thirty-four year drought (the last being Affirmed in 1978)? I hope so… as does the larger, mini Cookie as he’s insisted he’s betting on I’ll Have Another and that no one else in our house can. Ahhh… my six-year-old bets. Another proud parenting moment.
Sunday comes… and I sleep in again. 6AM and up to eat, put all sorts of lycra on my body (for cycling, not kink), mainline some more coffee. (Really, you can never have enough coffee). This Sunday, I took a bit of a break and did a scant 48-miler (75K) as part of something called the Bloomin’ Metric Ride, here in CT. The maximum length ride was a 62-miler (100k), but I couldn’t partake as I was working against the clock. We had tickets to our first Yankee game of the season… a 1:05 start – and we were taking the train. (YES. A three-year old, a six-year old, and the Metro North. Sans the Natty Lights, sadly, to Yankee Stadium.
So at 7AM… I fold into the parking lot at the start, walk over towards registration, realizing the line is WAY too long to wait on when I hear, ‘Hey there!‘ It’s my friend (and fellow triathlete), Travis is sitting on a bench with his bike. Travis is a little worse for the wear, having placed THIRD in his Age Group at a half IronMan event in Harriman – the DAY before. He talks me into just riding with him, without numbers, meaning we’ll be ‘unsupported… (READ: able to stop for food, drink and porta-potties).
Rolling up on the first rest stop at 20-miles, I look at my watch and NOPE. No time to stop. Travis is COOL with this because he’s a crazy CYBORG. He’s trying to KQ – Kona Qualify – as in IronMan WORLD Championships. Yeah. THAT Kona. And we motor on… I’m fueled by two bottles of electrolyte drink.. TODO. Well, there’s that mystery solved. I can ride nearly fifty miles without a Fig Newton break after all.
Forty-eight miles later and… parking lot, car, floor it home, freshen up and get the train with five-minutes to spare. I’m a rock star.
And how WAS the Yankee Game? GREAT. They lost (to the Reds). I had the WORST hamburger of my life (that Sh*tiField Shake Shack is REALLY misplaced) and I bought $15 sunblock (NOT even Yankee branded) because Mr. Cookie forgot to apply it to himself and the kids. Me? I don’t burn. I’m ‘Rican. My mini Cookies held up. NO ONE had a tantrum, NO ONE was covered in ice cream or ketchup, and NO ONE had the bandwidth enough to listen to my answer to ‘What is that man doing?‘ when questioned about a homeless dude begging on the platform. It was ALL GOOD. And I got the heads up on the upcoming fashion trend of Yankee hoochy mammas (Yankee espadrilles!) and realized that Reds fans look exactly as I pictured Reds fans.
All in all it was a great weekend. Hope yours is just as banner and relaxing. Come back tomorrow for a guy who wrote the textbook on relaxing, The Public Professor.
