Jeff the Killer?

What's up all you savvy Internet people? Another week of training and fundraising has gone by and it was a doozy.

Throughout the week it was pretty standard training, short bikes, short runs,  and some short swims. I did do a 3000m swim, which is about 75% of the swim at the Ironman, so that made me feel good.

Something I started doing while I was deployed was, when I'm riding indoors, every fifteen minutes I get off and do a wall sit for a minute. If you're one of those people that think time is going by too fast, do a wall sit for a minute. It slows time down dramatically.

Then on to my long workouts. 4.5 hour bike on Saturday and a 2.5 hour run on Sunday. My bike on Saturday was pretty fun, and I felt good the whole time. At one point I saw someone riding ahead of me. And since 4.5 hours is a long time to be by yourself, I was dying to catch up, even if it was just to say, "Good morning!" But he/she slowly got farther and farther away. It was like the scene on Cast Away when Tom Hanks loses Wilson. 

So, after I lost my friend who I never met, I actually ran into a group ride. It was a beginner group of people for the most part. But after I passed them, a guy caught up with me and we chatted for a bit. He was confused when I told him I wasn't a part of the group and I was by myself. After a couple of miles (going faster than I wanted) we parted ways.

So I still had a couple hours of climbing hills and cursing the sun. For some reason I had a bunch of Muhammed Ali quotes in my head, so that kept me busy for a while. "I'm so mean I make medicine sick!" "I'm so fast, last night I turned off the light switch in my hotel room and was in bed before the room was dark!" I don't know what any of that has to do with biking, but it got me through the hills.

Finished up my long ride on the trainer.  Sweat  marks on the floor = a successful ride. 

Then, the Sunday run. I started out with Katie and Benny. We ran for about an hour and it was pretty hot. I hadn't pushed the stroller on a run in a while so that was a rude awakening. When I dropped them off I felt pretty good. I went back out into the inferno for an easy hour and a half run.

No. Within 1.5 miles I was walking. The heat felt like it was melting me. It was 11:30 in Middle Georgia, but I felt like I was running on the sun in a sweat suit. As I got to my first aid station (a Shell gas station) I noticed they had slushies. Sometimes you have to get what sounds good. So I ran the next couple miles sipping on my high fructose corn syrup and ice mixture. And then it was gone and I was again completely over heating. I stopped at another gas station and got a Gatorade.

I had to stop at home to get more water. With only 30 minutes left in the run I laid down in the living room covered in sweat asking myself a bunch of questions about why I'm doing this. I don't think I answered the questions, but I did get up and finish the run. Holy hot town batman.

After some recovery Skyline Chili, and a nap we went over to The Methodist Home to go to their chapel service. It was really awesome! They started with three girls doing a choreographed dance. Then a couple more kids spoke about their recent mission trip experiences, then I was on. 

"Open with a joke," I tell myself. "Well I won't be dancing.." Two people laughed. I like those odds, so I kept going. I told them all about the race and they were actually pretty interested. "How long will it take you? Is the swim upstream? Can you shower afterwards? You do it on ONE day? What's your baby's name?"

Afterwards, a boy named Jordan came up to me and asked me some questions. Then he asked what my name is and I said Jeff. And he said, "Oooohh. Jeff the killer!" I'm almost positive that was a compliment.

Donation Update:
We are so close to reaching the half way mark for our $2,000 goal!  As of today, we are at 45%!

Thanks to:
Kelly, Casey & Kelly for sponsoring a total of 3 miles!

Also, My mother-in-law, Patty, & brother-in-law, Danny, sold a couple event tickets to a friend for $40 & donated the proceeds to sponsor 4 more miles!  Thank you!

-Jeff