11.11.07

For those of you who have read my posts in the past, you will remember that earlier this year I purchased a road bike (bicycle not motorcycle). I did this with the intent of getting in shape to do a triathlon. Well I thought I would give everyone an update on my training. I was doing good for the first few months, until I went to Lafayette and couldn't find a good place to ride. But since I have gotten back to Peoria I have really worked to get back on track. Unfortunately, since I have gotten back the weather has been wet and cold so I was slacking on the biking. To make up for it I have been running on my treadmill more. Well I think I am doing pretty good now on my running. I have never liked to run, to be more precise I absolutely hate running. At first I couldn't run a complete mile without taking a break. Now I am doing a good 2+ mile run twice a week and a longer run on the weekend right now I am at 3.5 miles. I currently have to goal to do a marathon sometime by mid next year. I really think this is a possibility, especially after I watched the pbs special marathon challenge. In the show they took a group of average people and trained them for the boston marathon in under a year. All of them finished except for one, but that one person had an injury that wouldn't allow them to run but otherwise would have completed the marathon. If they can do it surely I can, and completing a marathon would help me on my ultimate goal of doing an ironman. As for the bike, I am still doing my normal 12 mile ride when the weather allows. I need to work on getting a stationary trainer for it so I can bike during the bad winter months and keep a more consistent training schedule. So next time you see me ask me how I am doing on my training, as I will need alot of encouragement to reach my goals. And if anyone wants to run a race from 5k to a marathon let me know and I might join you.

11.4.07

The above picture is from my trip last weekend to Starved Rock State Park. I didn't realize there was such a beautiful state park just over an hour away from Peoria. It has probably a few miles worth of walking trails, with a hand full of waterfalls at the back of some of the canyons. It is definitely a place I will be visiting more. I can't wait to go again when there is snow on the ground and the waterfalls have frozen. But fall it probably the best time to visit as the colors and smells of the park are just amazing.

This week I started to do a little pre-training for my pilots license. I had gone to talk to one of the instructors at the local airport and she had recommended to get Microsoft's flight simulator. I had in the past played around with an older version and found it to be ok. But I have been amazed at how well it teaches the concepts of flying. If you take the time to go through the lessons, it really has alot of very valuable information in it. I have only completed the basic lessons so far, but it has taught me enough to be able to take off, fly straight and level, and land safely (although the landings might be a bit rough). But I have installed a Piper Pacer, my current plane of choice, to see how it flys and to determine flight times to locations I want to eventually fly. I have found that I can fly to Holland from Peoria in about 2 hours, and from Holland to Thessalon in just under 3 hours. And since the game has the proper landscape and buildings in it I could see how beautiful those flights would be. Here is a picture of flying over the Mackinaw Bridge.

News Archive