One half marathon later and I’m still on track.
Weekly Amount:
Running = 13.1 miles
Biking = 46 miles
Swimming = 4000 M or 2.5 miles
Total Amount: 62 miles
Overall Amount:
Running = 64 miles (47 miles to San Diego)
Biking = 178 miles (64 miles to Las Vegas)
Swimming = 25,200 meters or 15.7 miles (21.6 miles to Los Angeles)
Total = 256 miles (159 miles to San Fransisco)
As you may have read from several of our previous posts, my brother, Rocky, scheduled a mystery challenge for me this past Sunday. I had absolutely no idea what to expect, but knowing my brother, I knew that it would be good.
Zeb at The Rose Bowl
I am, what some people would call, a night owl. In order to prepare for this event, I decided that I would sleep very little the night before, so that I would be able to get a good nights sleep before this Mystery Challenge. So, the night before I got 4 hours of sleep and I went to bed at 10 PM, the night before my Mystery Challenge, but going to bed and sleeping are two different things. I did not fall asleep that night. So, when my brother arrived at my house at 6 AM, I had not gotten an hour of sleep that night, and only 4 hours the night before.
When he came inside he furnished a gift . . . and it was . . . a T-shirt. But, it wasn’t just any T-Shirt. This T-shirt had a picture of our faces on the front and a picture of us running on the back. Not only that, but safety-pinned to the front of the T-shirt were the numbers 642 and the words The Rose Bowl Half Marathon just above that. My brother had entered us into the Rose Bowl Half Marathon. It caught me completely by surprise and I was extremely excited.
We headed to the Rose Bowl with our brand new, kick-ass T-shirts for my very first Half Marathon . . .
Stay Tuned for Part #2
I have a request for all of you heroes out there. My brand new Cannondale bicycle is in my garage and my Dad is worried that while he is doing yardwork on the weekends that someone might grab my bike and take off with it. I was planning on just getting a bicycle chain to lock up my bike, but since I have all of you as a resource, maybe one of you might have a better idea.
Here is a picture of my garage. Any suggestions?
After finding out that is was unlikely that my new bicycle would work, I was bummed. Corey Diaz, one of my former students at Don Lugo High School in Chino was working on my bike at Free-Wheeling, the local bike shop, where I had dropped off my bike the day before. At around 2 PM, I received a call from Corey.
“Hey, Zeb”
“Yes.”
“You know that problem that I told you about the bike not being able to shift gears and how I didn’t think I would be able to fix it?”
“Yes.”
“I fixed it.”
Horay!!!! I thought. I now had a brand new bicycle that was going to work, and not only that, but it was going to work well. I was stoked. Corey then told me that he was going to tune-up my bike and that it would be ready to go within a couple of days. I pateintly waited and picked up my newer bicycle when he called a couple of days later. And boy, did it ride smooth.
Thanks to Chris Carlson and Corey Diaz, I now had a newer bicycle with everything I could ask for. I’m a lucky guy.
Here is our previous article, Newer Bicycle Part #1 – http://runningbrothers.com/578/my-newer-bicycle/
Today is the day for our Mystery Challenge. Rocky put today in the works a long time ago and I’m really excited to see what he has in store for me. I honestly have no idea what we are going to be doing, but if I had to guess, I am guessing that we’re going to be doing something in the mountains. I know that my brother has done quite a few things associated with hiking, so I’m thinking that we’re going to run along some mountain trail.
At least, that’s what I thought. Now, I’m changing my mind. My brother came over yesterday morning to prepare for our outing tomorrow. What could he possibly have to do to prepare? Maybe it’s a scavenger hunt of some sort? Or maybe he’s just psyching me out and making me wake up at 530 AM on Super Bowl Sunday, with no intentions of showing up. Just kidding. I know he wouldn’t do that . . . or would he? I guess I’ll just have to wait . . . Stay Tuned for the outcome of Rocky’s Mystery Challenge.
I signed my brother and myself up for a sprint triathalon, Los Alamitos’s Race on the Base. One year ago, Dusty Miller, a good friend of mine enrolled me in this race and me, him and Donald Lindsley all did the race together. It was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed it, which is a big reason why I decided to start training for an Ironman.
Over 6,000 people participated in the event last year. To be honest, I thought the name, Race on the Base, meant that it was at the base of a mountain. But just recently I realized the actual intention of the name . . . it’s called Race on the Base because it takes place at a military base. It’s a 5K run, a 12 mile bike ride, and a 200M swim.
The race is set to take place on February 26, 2011 at 10:30 AM. So, in 21 days, my brother and I will be competing in our first event together. I’m extremely excited and can’t wait until The Running Brothers get put to the test.
Here is a link to their website: http://www.ci.los-alamitos.ca.us/Race%20on%20the%20Base%202011/index.html
At the end of Zeb and Rocky’s Big Adventure, we met up with my Dad and Chris Carlson at Danny K’s in Anaheim, at which point, Chris offered up his Cannondale bicycle. I’m assuming because he saw the dismal shape that my bicycle was in. That next week he went to play golf with my Dad and I was able to pick up my new bicycle from my hero, Chris Carlson . . . and man, it sure was sweet!
The tires were flat and Chris said it would need a tune-up, but now I knew that I would have a bike that I could at least use to compete in my triathalon events. The next day, I took my newer bike to our local bike shop, Free-Wheeling. Just so happens, the guy standing behind the counter was one of my old High School students, Corey Diaz. I remember that Corey was always performing tricks on his bicycle outside my classroom. I was constantly telling him to quit goofing around on his bicycle, afraid that he would hurt himself or someone else.
Corey Diaz
But, I was happy to see him behind the counter when I came into Free-Wheeling in Chino, because I knew that I would be in good hands. He ran some brief diagnostics and after a minute or so, he said “Uh, oh.” And then explained that the gears on my bike did not work and that he might have a remedy, but if that remedy did not work, my newer bike would be worthless.
He said that it would take a day or so to find out if his remedy would work. It didn’t sound good. That initial excitement I had towards getting this newer bike went away and I had resolved myself to the fact that the bike was irreparable and I would have to go back to my more than 10 year old, garage sold, $2 bicycle that only had one gear. I was bummed.
Stay tuned for Part 2 of My Newer Bicycle . . .
I’m on a roll.
Weekly Amount:
Running = 10.6 miles
Biking = 45 miles
Swimming = 4000 M or 2.5 miles
Total Amount: 58 miles
Overall Amount:
Accomplishments:
Zeb Bikes to San Diego
Yesterday morning I woke up to three missed text messages, asking if I wanted to join a group of my friends for a walk around Chino Hills. I rang them up and they had just started their walk. I guess I was going to have to catch up. I drove my truck to the Community Park and then ran in the direction that they were headed. Two miles later I caught up to Dusty Miller, Lindsey Miller, Devin Miller, Erin Rogers and her dog, Dummy.
Lindsey Miller, Erin Rogers, Dusty Miller and Devin Miller
Technically, the girls, Devin (obviously) and Dummy did not run, but they did walk and that counts. We walked through English Springs Park before Dusty got the itch to do some running. We ran ahead to grab our cars and we met the girls at Haru Haru, a local sushi place for lunch. The food was good, but the meal with friends was even better.
By the way, isn’t Devin absolutely adorable? I’m not biased or anything, but that’s got to be one of the cutest kids you’ll see. I have no idea how Dusty and Lindsey could have made something so cute. I guess miracles do happen.
All in all, it was a great day for friends to get together, exercise and have a great time.
Oh, I almost forgot. Here is a picture of Dummy.
When swimming, every 25 meters I reach a wall and each time I hit the wall it is with my hand in front of me. When I turn around, my head is above water as I kick my legs against the side of the pool and propel myself forward.
I watch other swimmers from time to time and some of them have performed a technique, different from my own. One which I have never done before, nor know how to properly perform.
Heroes, I am asking for your help.
How do you perform the underwater flippy thing? (And what is it’s proper name?)
