Race results

    -------FINAL---- ----------------------- ----------
                                        Category               
Pos     Time    Name          Plc/Total Category    #      

148/171  1:38:22 Randy MILLER  52/58  Male Individ  272    

    500m          17.5km                  5km
--------SWIM-------------BIKE--------- ------RUN----------
Ovr  Time  /100m    Ovr  Time  km/hr    Ovr  Time   /km
146   15:13  4:04   53   38:03  3:49    166   45:06  9:02



WO HO  I beat 6 dudes!!!!!!

That swim pace calculation is a bit off..
if it took me 4 min per 100 it would be 20min
I know I am slow but not that slow!!!!
53 overall on the bike?????  you have to be kidding me!!!!!
I freaking love it!!!!
After that pathetic horrible run I still was
faster than 5 folks????

Thank goodness for the bike



Checking back on my history that was:
-3rd fastest swim pace
-2nd fastest bike Km/h
-3rd slowest run pace

Mount Royal Sprint

Well this is the first race that I haven't had a nervous meltdown. As I right this I don't have the official results. On Saturday I was invited to a poetry reading and as I am attempting to expand my horizon of knowledge thought what the heck. I honestly enjoyed myself, I must admit just like in High school I tried to find the literal meanings of the words spoken. So I understood 1 of the 5 read, I got to ask the author some questions like I wished I could have in school. Afterwards we went to this high end Pizza joint, it looked good. As it was pre-race night I already had eaten and would not eat anything different.

I got to bed a bit later than planned because I was restless and not very tired for some reason. I had my breakfast of an Egg Wrap and got my gear together, added a few items thinking it would be a bit cool in the morning but didn't really need to as it was quite warm today. I arrived to line up to get into transition and bumped into Meg who I met at Coach Mike's Transition Clinic. It was her first race she asked me a few questions and it felt really nice to have the answers and speak from experience. Sign in was easy and then we waited, I had my Ipod to listen to so that I could relax instead of chatting with everyone, it was a nice change I think I will do at the next race.

I lined up for my swim heat and waited and waited some more.... 11:30 I think I finally got my face wet. I thought I would have to share a lane with 3-4 people but nope. Each person got a half lane to go back and forth in without worrying about running into or slowed down by the fellow lane sharers. I actually felt good, I banged out 4 laps before I really took a pause for an extra breath before continuing. I had lost count around 7 laps so I asked the lady to confirm and I was on my way. My arms were feeling a bit heavy around lap 8. Then I felt like a beached whale trying to get out of the deep end without cracking my head on the dive platform.

I was able to jog to T1. I fumbled around getting my shoes on, I tried getting the socks on but I quickly gave up on them. I need to get better balancing on one foot after getting out of the pool, I must have looked like a drunk sailor.... but the bike is my thing and I am happy to say my Garmin says my average speed was 28.8km/h. I was doing 11min per lap and I know on my first I passed about 8 people. The second I got passed by 2, the third passed by 3. The first lap was probably the last for the earlier people and then the faster folks came out and passed me. I was very happy I was comfortable in the Aero bars in the flats. The corners and the uphills I would hoods, the downhills I would grab the end of the hooks. As I came in on my last lap I heard my name being called and someone waving, Ela is in the house!!!!

I fumbled once more in T2 the stupid bike racks they provided were CRAP I and many others were not impressed. The last few runs have not felt quite right and this was another on that list. My left side of my calf OH MY **** it shot up my leg with pain. I spent way too much time walking instead of running. I would grab bits of snow and rub it on my calf thinking it might help it relax so that I could do better. On my way back from the turnaround I saw Meg go past me and her face was full of pain. She had a bike crash a day ago and it looked like she was feeling it. I then this big guy ran past me and I recognized him from my swim group and I think he was behind me in line so my new goal was not to let him pass me again. I accomplished the goal so I know I wasn't in last place and that was my other goal :) I know I am a selfish bastard, I have learned to deal with it :) So I get to the final corner and I see Linda doing her volunteering bit and that blessed finish line. As I ran past Ela I just said "Advil please" as the pain was not good.

I crossed the finish line and just stopped moving. It felt great I was kinda angry with myself because I know that my run has suffered lately and this was result of that. I used to say my swim was the worst sport but I am seriously wondering if the run has become it.

So according to my watch I did the swim in 16:16, bike in 36:22, run in a pathetic 45:37 for a total of 1:38:00 which is good I was going to be upset with myself if it took longer than 1:45:00

St Pats 5km 2008

Alright folks, this was a good test for myself. I planned ahead and scheduled my massage 2 days before the event so I had a chance of being loose and relaxed. The lady that works me over has noticed I am getting less adhesion every time.

So I did my night shift watching the snow fall and getting worried with each and every flake that fell. It has been a while since I ran outside and this would be the coldest run in a while. So I hung around for an hour after my shift with the next crew talking about Vegas. I took a quick walk over to the race site to get the muscles warmed up a bit.

I lined up near the back of the pack with the idea that the slower runners would keep me from going out too fast. It was very cool to see the HAWK2 helicopter start the race with a countdown from their speaker and then their siren went off to get us going.

So my plan worked I didn't go off like a jackrabbit, I found a group running at my pace. The group turned out to be Kathy who was my Half Marathon Clinic Pacer so I knew she have a good pace to follow.

I felt good when I got to the bridge so I took my first walk break on the way back I paced with Candice a friend from Highschool that I saw at the start. I ended up taking the walk break with Kathy's crew and Candice got ahead of me. I watched her move from the back of her group to bridge up to the group ahead, it was fun to watch. I caught up to her just before the 4km marker and started to wind up my sprint but once again I ran out of gas in the middle of Princes Island park...

I started the wind up closer than the last race I did this experiment so next time I will do it 750m from the line. So she passed me as I took my third walk break trying to get my Heart to slow down from the 180 bpm it was going at. That last walk break cost me 13 places at the finish line and Candice got me by about 25 seconds.

Place Race# Name         City     Div/Tot  Sex/Tot  Div    Time      Pace 

84/164 5666 Randy MILLER Calgary AB 7/13 26/38 M3039 35:09.2 7:02

Vegas.COM attractions list

This is the list I was using of things to see on the strip I have put an x out front of the things I saw.

Shows:
Blue Man Group (A+ DRUMS!!!!!!!)
Zumanity (B+ wish I didn't go solo)
Phantom of the Opera (A+ the classic that will never disappoint)
Hover Dam Tour (B- was a bit disappointed)


Buffets:
Imperial Palace, breakfast, very self serve
Tropicana, lunch, limited selection
Harrah's, lunch, good selection nice atmosphere
Bellagio, supper, selection was out of this world if I could I would have gone every day!!!!

Bally's (many shops)

· Jubilee! All Access Backstage Walking Tour

Bellagio (amazing)

x· Fountains (A) watched 4 diff perfomances

x· Gallery of Fine Art (C-) not worth my money as I didn't enjoy the art

· Conservatory

x· The Art of Richard MacDonald Presented by Cirque du Soleil (B+)

· The Tuscany Kitchen

Caesars Palace (nice open casino and great atmosphere won $4 on slots)

· Exotic Cars

x· Fountain shows and aquarium (C was just a display in the mall)

Circus Circus (no go)

· Adventuredome

· World's Largest Permanent Circus

Excalibur (no go)

· Motion Rides

Flamingo (no go)

· Wildlife Habitat

Imperial Palace (I stayed here but didn't do much other than sleep here)

· The Auto Collections

Las Vegas Hilton (STAR TREK do I say more??)

x· BORG Invasion 4D (A+ way cool effects)

x· Klingon Encounter (A+ fell in love with the lady that transported us)

x· Star Trek: The Experience (A the display of artifacts is unlike anything I imagined)

x· Star Trek: The Experience -- Secrets Unveiled (A++ it was cool to see the rides and how they are operated)

x· Quarks Bar (A great names of foods!!!)

Luxor (high class, must be hard to sleep with all the rooms opening into the all night casino

· IMAX Theatre

· In Search of the Obelisk

x· King Tut's Tomb (B+ it was neat but I expected more)

Mandalay Bay (hard to get around)

x· Shark Reef (A- it was a great cool place to relax and enjoy watching the fish and peoples reactions )

MGM Grand ( very large!!!)

x· CBS Television City Research Center (B+ Watched a pilot show for some crappy coupons)

x· Lion Habitat (B got there as they first came out but man that crowd was huge)

Mirage (no go)

· Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat

· Volcano (under renovations)

New York - New York (top 3 for my entertainment)

· The Roller Coaster at New York-New York

Paris (absolutely beautiful)

x· Eiffel Tower (A the view was incredible)

Rio (no go)

· Masquerade Village

Sahara (no go)

· Las Vegas Cyber Speedway

· Speed - The Ride

Showcase Mall (shops)

x· GameWorks

x· M&M's World

Silverton

· The Aquarium

Stratosphere

· Big Shot

· Insanity-The Ride

· Stratosphere Tower

· X Scream

Treasure Island

x· Sirens of TI (A watched it twice from different spots)

Tropicana (old but well kept up)

· Bodies...The Exhibition

x· Titanic: The Artifact Exhibit (A found a poster that blew my mind)

Venetian ( the most amazing hotel on the strip, learned Roulete here )

· Gondola (I didn't want to go by myself)

· Guggenheim Hermitage Museum

· Test America at the Venetian

x· Madame Tussauds Las Vegas (A+++ had a lot of fun posing with the stars)

x· Streetmosphere at the Grand Canal Shoppes (I wanna go to Italy now)

Wynn Las Vegas BIG MONEY!!!!

x· Penske Wynn Ferrari Maserati (A- I wish they would have let you take some photos of the cars)

Post Vegas, Panorama Skiing

Well I passed the line of potential probing from our friends in homeland security. I fell asleep on the plane before we reached cruising altitude. I tried taking some photos of the city lights but non really seam to have worked (sorry Dom) . At landing I couldn't remember what parking lot my car was in so I waited for the shuttle I thought I was in only to find out that the two buses earlier were the ones I needed.

I got myself home and chatted with Carey from upstairs planning to be ready for noon when Rob would show up and take me out to Panorama for the weekend. He showed up 2 hours early so I quickly unpacked from my desert attire to the skiing gear. There was to be about 12 of us going but everyone bailed out at the last moment... work got in the way. So Rob and I had some drinking to do to make up for the guys not joining us. I realized that I had not really slept since 7am Thursday so I did pretty good partying till 11 Friday. It was so cool meeting up with Laura and her guy in the pub we were at. I thought they weren't back till Sunday so it was an added bonus to the evening.

Saturday we skied the snow was very hard packed, I don't know when the last time they got snow but it was bare in spots already. We decided to stick to the first Chair because the snow was better than the top of the hill. Happy to say nobody crashed out of our party... there was one guy on the ground for 2 runs with ski patrol holding his neck very still. Pat my head because I did not want to repeat the feeling I had when Leah and I went. I want my brains to stay in my skull.

We had lunch with our I should say my (I am the single one) favorite waitress as she took good care of us which helped with the drinking pace the night before. Supper we were served by the lady with the "supervisor" tag on her shirt... Rob and I got our two round from the bar because she took too damned long and she got a 1.40 tip. stroll down to the general store for some offsales and back to the room. I was passing out but Rob was wired for sound so he went back to the pub, probably paid cash at the bar to avoid the bad service.

So this concludes my story of my travel on this trip... Now I have to go through 600 photos. I'll pick the better ones and upload to facebook.

DAM day

So I wondered around some more after the last post my DAM tour didn't start till 12:30 so I checked out more shops but didn't buy anything... I am getting worried about my Bank Statements. That's what I get for a last minute decision to go on a vacation. OH well.

I ened up at the Bellagio to see the Gallery of Fine Art. I have to say it was a bit disappointing there was 50 paintings and I only like 2. I guess the American Modern style isn't my thing. I got the name of artist if any of you know anything let me know what else of her style I might enjoy. Her name is Georgia O'Keeffe and the paintings were: Red Stump, and Deer Skull with Pedernal.

I was running out of room on my camera card so I had the business center burn the card on a CD. So as I waited I played $2 of quarter slots and I walked away with a voucher for $6!!! I made money!!!!

I had been up the real Eiffel Tower so of course I payed the $10 to go up the copy. Very glad the sky was clear because you could see quite a ways away. Didn't spend too much time up there because I had to get back to my hotel to catch the bus to Hoover Dam. I was on a shuttle that took me back to the hotel next to where I had just been... I was a bit annoyed because it took about an hour to get the bus full from all the stops at the hotels. But we finally got out of town and our guide started his stories.

The Dam is huge is all I have to say. But they are building a new bridge over the canyon and my attention was drawn towards that a bit more often judging by some of the photos I took. We saw a video on the history of the Dam and how it was built. Then we all went down the elevators to the generators. They had one of the Rotors out for the first time in 25 years. The people working there had glasses and shirts like my Dad does when he goes to work... Is that the uniform for Engineers of a certain age group???

I got back to Vegas in time to collect my tickets and get to the restaurant I had a discount voucher for. It took me some time to find the place but when I got there I realized that it was the restaurant of the big Italian guy from Iron Chief. I had Lamb and three kinds of cheese that I had never heard of. I have the menu in my pile of papers so I will let you all know later.

Then Phantom of the Opera. I was given a very nice seat... I have noticed that being a solo ticket I haven't had a bad seat at any of the shows. Lets just say 15 years ago when I saw this play in Edmonton it was my first operatic experience. I remember identifying with the Phantom Character and this day I did as well. But I have learned a few things about myself so that I won't fall into the trap that I did 15 years ago when I felt I would never find my Christine (the female lead character)

The set for the play was incredible the chandelier made many ladies scream when it came down. the costumes were vivid and changes were done very fluidly. I was most impressed with the scene changes that took you from looking at their performance to the action behind the stage. One change put everything that was on the left on the right including the actors and they performed as if the curtain had just closed. It blew my mind

I wondered the shops and took some photos of the shop windows mostly of the ladies clothing because I started to see styles that the ladies in my life might wear. I ended the night waiting for my shuttle to arrive. As I did I realized a very hot nightclub was in my hotel. INCREDIBLY BEAUTIFUL ladies were walking into the club and I mentally hit myself for not going to a club this week. But my ride to the airport arrived and this adventure was at a close.

star trek day

ok i know I geeked out on this one. i spent the day at the hilton Star Trek Experience. i wondered around the strip in the morning. and went to the wax museum. that was a hoot!! I got somevery nice photos.... hoped on the monorail to get to the Hilton. I met a Laura standing in line and at the end of the day we realized we were the only nerds that did all the events.... old people get tired.... and yes to answer all your questions, married. rats she was nice and pretty. BUT I passed Oneils test so way more than 5 min :)

I rode the Borg 4D ride first and the effects in 3D were incredible!!!!

Next was the klingon attack, I fell in love with the actoress that transported us. sigh!!!!

Then it was behind the scenes tour.. i have been sworn to secrecy so na na na boo boo!!!!

They have all these artifacts from the series and models of the ships and all kinds of things to look at.

next was supper at Quarks. good time!!

then i took a cab down to freemount street just in time for the lights to come on. The first show was childish with planes and things flying around you. BUT the next show had Techno beats and phycadelic shapes on it. I saw a few ladies groving and moving to the beats. Ella you would have enjoyed it. Too bad they didn't have an all night rave under that canopy.

I hoped on the Duce, a bus back to the strip and saw the Sierns of TI one more time, a bit better spot to watch the ladies, photos didn't turn out so well. Got a Mararita and enjoyed the show.

I got back to my room and put on this icy hot patch on my back. to day feels much better.

I got some discount tickets for tonight phantom of the opera. and I am going on my tour of the hover dam later this afternoon, they opened up the gates and are flooding the down stream to rebuild sand dunes or something. they are making a big deal about it on the news.

well I am off,