40 It's Just A Number, Although a Very Big One...

Happy Birthday to me. I'm forty. So, I failed in the Hope I Die Before I Get Old competition, although I did make a valiant effort through my twenties and early thirties. Getting older doesn't really bother me, and with the triathlon under my belt I feel pretty good at the moment. I've signed up for the San Jose triathlon next weekend, although the thought of getting up at 4:30 am to be down there for a 7:00 am start is not appealing.

Tash gave me a killer birthday present, a photo album of my first 40 years, apparently she spent the last year collecting and printing photos. Now thats love! There are plans for the day, but I've been told I'll find out what they are in good time.

Manhattan

I've been traveling, hence zero time for blogging. I spent a very pleasant weekend in Manhattan, (followed by London and Ireland). Actually pleasant is probably not the right description of a weekend with an old college friend who was over from Ireland visiting his brother. Mildly debauched, actually on Saturday night it was quite debauched. It's been a long time since I was last up late enough to see the dawn. All in all it hit the right notes of drinking, eating, catching some music, sight seeing and shopping.

It was pissing rain while I was in the taxi from JFK, and the freeway was at a standstill. The driver decided to take local streets through Brooklyn to get to the East Village, where my mate was in a bar and had a pint with my name on it. It was the right decision, we made it from the airport in 40 minutes. I snapped this as we traversed the Williamsburg Bridge looking towards Midtown.

Luckily the weather eased off and was perfectly pleasant for the rest of the weekend.

Wildflower Triathlon

2hrs 48mins 17 seconds

Had a great race. It went as smooth as could be. The swim as expected was my strongest, and I got out of the water among the top of my age group. I had a ball on the cycling, the infamous Lynch hill didn't seem too bad. All the training definitely paid off there, I cruised up the hills. The run was as brutal as I had been led to expect, but I got the 10k done in 50 minutes. I am really happy with the time, 12 minutes inside my aim of 3hrs. Everyone I talked to told me it was a good result, for a first triathlon, given the difficulty of the course. I am thrilled skinny, (or at least swimmed, biked and ran skinny). More later when I recover. Thanks to all for your best wishes. I will be doing this again!