Happy Halloween

Took Bella to Wishing Star pumpkin patch yesterday. Pigzilla was there smashing pumpkins with his flat nose and eating them like hamburgers.
Snuck in a ride beforehand with Bicycle Village and realized that one bike ride a month isn't cutting it. Now that the run is under  control I need to get on the bike big time. I was out of gas at 30 miles and limped it in on a snickers and Gatorade. Next week I need a food plan. Seems that everyone is at the end of their season and mine has just started.
Poor Bella started throwing up after boo at the zoo at the Cheyenne Mountain zoo. We were up at 2:45 so sleep wasn't great but had a great swim today.
Also very happy because my mom is in town.

North Colorado Springs Readiness Center - Ground Breaking Ceremony

Today was a neat day for me. First, a day off from working out after my below twenty degree 2-hour run yesterday was a welcome occurrence. But mainly because I was able to participate in the ground breaking ceremony for the North Colorado Springs Readiness Center. This readiness center will become the home of 1st Battalion, 157th Infantry in May 2013 and hopefully my office.

CPT Willem Eder served as the master of ceremonies and introduced several guest speakers. COL Meverdin, the Colorado Army National Guard Command Chaplain gave the invocation and prayed for the safety of those will construct the armory. Guest speakers were MG Edwards (The Adjutant General of the State of Colorado), BG Cappozella (Commanding General, Colorado Army National Guard), and the Honorable Steve Bach (Mayor of Colorado Springs.)

Mayor Bach stated that the $20 million, 63,000 square foot project will employ over 700 full and part time workers and that would be a needed, "booster shot in the arm" for the local economy.

“The addition of the readiness centers and the infantry battalion increases the value of the Guard to the community and enhances our ability to assist in a time of need,” said Maj. Gen. H. Michael Edwards, the Adjutant General of Colorado. 

A news release from the Colorado National Guard Public Affairs office states that the project will be constructed to achieve a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold rating, certified through the U.S. Green Building Council. Sustainability features include geothermal heating and cooling, photovoltaic arrays, solar preheating of ventilation air, daylighting sensors and a state-of-the-art energy management control system.

Below in the picture are the guest speakers of the ceremony, COL (Ret.) Deborah Roberts, and little old me who BG Cappozella called in at the last minute to grab one of the golden shovels. Unexpected, but great to be part of the historic event.

P.S. I finished all of my work to close out my first MBA class this evening and the St. Louis Cardinals win the World Series!!!

Pre-Run Meals and Snow in October

Woke up happy this morning to find that we did not receive the full 10 inches of snow that was forecast last night. My wonderful wife and I packed up Bella and dropped her off at school. Then we met my coach, Lisa Rainsberger, at the Canyon Cafe.
The meeting was too discuss my selfish desire to complete Ironmman Arizona before a deployment to Afghanistan. I figured it is the only way to guarantee I will get to make an attempt at scratching it off my bucket list.
We discussed that I would run two more half marathons, ride three centuries, three 4k swims and one half iron event leading up to the race.
It was good having Ann along because she was able to see the big picture and buy in to my selfish dream.

It is hard to believe that we went from 80 degrees to snow in 24 hours but this Georgia boy now knows that this is Colorado. I was a wimp of course so I waited until 8 PM and capitulated to running on the DREADmill at the gym. I learned that steak and cucumber and tomato salad is a poor pre run meal. I have never been accused of being very smart. But I did read an interview with world class triathlete on the plane last week that said he eats all kinds of crazy foods in training to build up his tolerance to food in the stomach. Maybe this is where the intestinal fortitude comes from in the ranger creed.