AMA 2 or the sky is beautiful these days

This has been a wonderful vacation so far. I've been sleeping in as much as the cats will let us. Some workouts, lots of writing/editing. Not too much pigging out. Christmas we visited some friends in Okotoks, and I actually stopped to take a picture of the sky. Wouldn't you?

This evening I missed the best part of sunset, but still liked the rolls of cloud. Only slightly tweaked in Snapseed.

Curtis and Celina still enjoy playing with each other, and loved playing with the tissue wrap from presents. I just missed a flurry of paw waving.

This was dawn the other morning, though I'm looking west instead of east. You never know where the colour is going to be.

Tuesday I ran up to the reservoir and back, 8.5 K in exactly an hour. This is a fine pace for me, and if I could keep it up another 4 hours a marathon would be done. Beautiful warm weather, slightly over dressed.

Thursday I did a short run around the neighborhood, 30 minutes, not quite 4.5 K. Slipping and sliding in the soft sandy snow. It's melted a bit, and refrozen. There are some slippery bits. Lots of limbering up and cool down and stretching. I think this is going to be an important part of my routine if I'm going to start seriously training for a marathon. Do any of you hard core runners have any suggestions for good books to read on the topic?

Planning on an easy run on Saturday, if you're interested let me know.

More questions from Michelle.
How long ago did you do your first triathlon?
My first triathlon was the Chinook Half Ironman in 2008. You can read about it here and here. Yes, I only started seriously training late 2007. It's all in the old blog posts, though the first bunch of them are really boring. Even for me.

How did you know you were ready? 
I didn't. It was a goal I'd trained for, to see if I could do it. To save the suspense, I just barely made it.

Did someone inspire you? Who?
Susi de Leeuw. We started at an engineering company at the same time. Not that I'm an engineer. Later she had a tough breakup, and started doing triathlon. I was watching the internet feed at IMC 2007, waiting for her to come in on the bike. The story is at the same link as above, so if you read the Chinook followup post, you know the story.

She's been one of my biggest supporters along the way, showing up to cheer me on at IMC. Now she doesn't do triathlon anymore, and very rarely blogs, but she does lots of other stuff that makes her happy.

She got me started with a coach, which worked for a while, and I met a ton of other interesting people along the way. The other inspiration is all the ordinary people that do triathlon and other activities. Sure, the pro's are amazing, but this is what they do all the time. Watching ordinary people getting out every day, juggling work, a spouse, children, and the never ending laundry, to say nothing of the other trials of everyday life, just keeps me going. When you read some of the stories of what people had to overcome just to get the start line, let alone the finish line, how can you do anything but get your stuff on and get going?

Cori @ Read.Write.Run.Mom 
okay okay. I've been crazy busy. Here's the question...just so you won't attribute one to me!!!
How many millimetres long is your mustache?

Linda measured today. The longest hair she found was 37 mm long. The average was about 30, and the shortest hair she found was 5 mm. From corner to corner it's about 75 mm, and each wing is 45 mm. The height ranges from 40 mm to 20 at the edges. I've had it ever since I was about 17. I have no idea what my upper lip looks like. I started it as an experiment, and when it became clear my father hated it for reasons unspecified, it became a permanent fixture. I realized only later that he could not say the words "porn star" to me.

I trim it every couple weeks or so, though if I was really on the ball I'd do it every week. The barber always wants to cut it, but I'm sure they'd leave me looking like a porn star. That part of me anyways. Being a guy, it's just slightly depressing where hair grows when it no longer grows on my head.

As the hair on my head gradually thins, the mustache seems to be getting thicker. It's also going gray, which is no surprise. A few years ago while on vacation I decided I was going to be a beach bum and not shave. 3 weeks later I was horrified to see this white stripe running from my mouth, down my chin to my neck. The rest of the beard was still reddish, and it all looked horrible. I shaved, and have been (mostly) clean shaven ever since. Some weekends I don't shave, though you will be relieved to know I don't shamble around the house in my underwear. Much. Call before you drop in, just in case.

And the first attributed question, from Jayne, who says she has no fears.
When are you going to catch up on your dues (payable to me as treasurer) of the Chocolate Mainliners Association?
Ummm. I'm strictly a freelance chocoholic. I hadn't been aware I was part of an organization, let alone one that had dues. Considering that said dues are to be paid in chocolate, I'm a little dubious about the whole darned thing, speaking quite frankly.