Haymed.org Triathlon

Yesterday I volunteered my time in the morning to work the Haymed.org
triathlon in Waynesville, NC. The night before I was able to convince
Jennifer to do the race, even though it was calling for rain in the
am. I got her out of bed at 0500, and we made the 1/2 hour drive in
the rain to the race site. While I was busy on the course making sure
that the marshals were in place, and the roads were swept of loose
gravel, Jennifer was busy racing. I made it back from my first task,
to see Jen go off in the pool, 6 laps, or 300 yards, not a long swim
at all. Jen has not been swimming since 2004 IMFL, but she completed
it in a respectable 7 minutes. On the bike course, she posted the
fastest women's time, and 4th fastest overall time men or women,
unbelievable! Her run was 27 minutes, great for not having run since
December! She placed 4th overall woman, 1st in her age group. I was
busy most of the time out on the bike and run course, so I didn't get
to see much racing. I did follow an 11 year old girl on both the bike
and run, and I'm happy to report she finished the race and got the
loudest applause at he awards ceremony. 11 years old and racing
triathlon, amazing!!

Greenville Racing Series

Jennifer and I recently spent three weekends down in Greenville, SC for a series of spring races. The six races were the first real races since her return to racing bicycles this year. We were really happy with the results, she got the overall 5th spot, out of more than 40 women competing. Jennifer, of course, was a little disappointed at first that she didn't do better, but she changed her tune when she realized that she had exceeded her goals coming into the series. The 5th place overall is a payoff of all the long hours she has spent on her bike since early February of this year. Pretty good for such a short time of formal training. Her coach has her doing some sprint training, and standing power rides that are not only fun, but will surely help her improve her finishes. 

The next big race is the weekend of April 4, and I'm considering doing the omnium myself. Being around all of this racing is making me want to do it. I just don't think I can resist. For sure I want to do the Charleston series April 19 & 20th. 

The pictures are just various shots of Jennifer and her squad-mates at the races, enjoy!

Has it really been almost a month since my last post? Wow! School is great right now. I am on a clinical rotation at Mission Hospital in Asheville, on the very same unit that Jennifer works on. I get to see her for a minute in the mornings after she is done giving report to the next shift, and I am getting report from the previous shift. I guess I could actually have to get report from Jennifer one of these days, that would be nice. 

Class is hard, but I think I just barely still have an "A" for the term. The class average on the past few tests has not been great, I can only assume we will be loosing a few classmates to attrition soon. I am enjoying being back in the acute hospital setting more than ever, with complex patients, and really powerful pharmaceutical interventions going on. Some of the drugs we use today are nothing short of amazing. How we ever figured out that this one pill will fix your heart, and not kill you is beyond me. 

I have applied to several units at Mission, and hope to hear back for an interview soon. I can't believe I am going to graduate soon. Oh, and I was chosen by my classmates to give the student address at the RN graduation ceremony. What an honor. I'll have to start working on that one ASAP. 

Here at home, I'm on spring break, and waiting for the weather to cooperate long enough so that I can finish the roofing project I started a Looooooong time ago. 

The picture is a shot of me at the Greenville Bicycle Training Race Series. I was there doing support for my favorite team and rider, BMW Bianchi and Jennifer. 

This is what my classroom looks like

This semester, class is taking place in a large auditorium on the auxiliary campus . There are 80 students, so we are split into two sessions, I'm in the second one 1-3pm. In this shot we are taking a must pass math test. I made 100%. I was the second person done, so I was able to snap this shot with our new camera. 

Jen is racing this weekend, so we are going to Greenville, SC Saturday and Sunday. I will take lots and lots of pictures, then post the best here for your pleasure.

 

 

Cycling in Black Mountain

I met my friend Brian Burns, of Asheville, yesterday for a ride in
Black Mountain. We parked at the Ingles supermarket by interstate 40,
and rode a 23 mile loop with a short side trip to the lot. The loop
will surely be a favorite of Jennifer, and is part of the Hilly
Hellacious Hundred route. The only thing I had in my stomach all day
was a muffin and cup of black coffee. needless to say, this was not
really enough for 2300 feet of climbing in 23 miles. By the time we
got back to the car we were wiped out, and famished. We had planned to
get some grub in town at one of the nicer eateries, but when we saw
Taco Bell less than 200 feet from the car we pounced on it. The two of
us consumed $18 worth of faux Mexican fare. Honestly, I did not think
it possible for TWO people to spend $18 in Taco Bell in one sitting.
It can be done, as evidenced by the second photo. We laughed when we
got that tray of bean pies, and people must have thought we were from
somewhere else when they saw us taking pictures of it.

My legs are spent from 2 days in a row of good rides. Jen is getting
up right now to drag me out for another 3 hour ride today, I hope I
make it!!

Team BMW Bianchi

Here is the website for Jennifer's new team. They are pretty good at putting up race results and reports, so check it often when racing starts this year. I think the girls are slated to go to the training criterium races in Greenville, SC at the end of this month! Go team!

http://www.bmw-bianchi.com/team.php

Quick Update

I have been very busy, surprise, of late with school. My second exam was quite harder than the first one, but I did do well. My 92% may be the highest grade in the class, I won't know till next week, but the class average on the test was a 75%. Passing is 78% in this class. 

Last Sunday, Jennifer met with her new cycling coach to do some heart rate testing to establish a baseline and create her training zones for the season. Her coach's name is Laura, and she is quite an accomplished cyclist herself. Laura rides for Advil-Chapstick, check out her squad here: http://www.teamadvilchapstick.com/

Laura is the one on the far left in the team shot on the home page. After the test, Jennifer rode out to Black Mountain to meet me at Bird Creek (our new land). 

After dropping Jennifer off at Laura's house I went straight to Bird Creek, and was blown away with what I found. Two days earlier, Feb. 1, Black Mountain was hit by a big ice storm. Although our lot did not sustain much damage, route 9 that leads to our side of the divide was devastated. Many of the trees lost their tops, and there were limbs down everywhere. I stopped counting the number of utility power trucks at around 20. When I got to our new road, I talked with the only neighbor we have, and he told me it took him three hours to chainsaw his way out of his driveway. Like I said before though, our lot did not sustain much damage. The neighbor told me it was the worst storm he had been in since moving there in the 80's. First came the ice, then 60 mile per hour wind, a terrible combination. 

I spent the better part of four hours looking for the placement of the existing septic tank on the house site. I was able to locate the 100' X 7' drain field, but I can't seem to locate the 1000 gallon primary tank. Bummer. I was hoping to be able to drive a 1/4 inch rebar into the ground and hit it, then dig out the top to locate the connection. My next step is to try to rent a powerful metal detector to find it, via the rebar used in construction of the tank, then hire someone with ground penetrating radar if that fails. The last option is going to be expensive, but still cheaper than a complete rebuild of the entire system.

Jennifer is headed to training camp this weekend with her team, so I am going to go out there again Sunday to pick her up from her meeting point at a friend's house in Black Mountain. I plan to spend some more time looking then. Jennifer is excited about the prospect of riding all weekend with her new team, and she promised to take lots of pictures we can post here for everyone's enjoyment. 

My preceptorship at Harris Regional Hospital is almost over. I have completed most of my 96 required hours. This week was spent in the outpatient surgery center getting patients prepped for their procedures, and a day at the pain clinic in Bryson City. The pain clinic was really fascinating, I saw many epidural steroid injections under the fluoroscope. Next week I have another day at the surgery center, then I think I will be done. Just three months to graduation at this point, I can't wait!