Event Week; Halfway point

We had lots of stuff going on this week, including multiple events, some interesting sight-seeing, and reaching the halfway point of the year. I will touch on our travels to begin.

We continued to make our way through Spain, coming to rest near the Spain-France border. Along the way we passed the La Mancha region, a harsh, arid region known for several important agricultural crops, its famous windmills, and for the being the setting of the novel "Don Quixote." We then visited Madrid before making our way back to the coast. We hit the Mediterranean coast around Tarragona and Salou, where we could experience Europe's fastest roller-coaster, Furius Baco, a hydraulically-launched beast that takes you from 0 to 84 mph in 3.5 seconds. It is also the world's fastest roller-coaster with an inversion. Had we been passing through several week's later, we could have enjoyed the International Fireworks Display Competition in Tarragona (Becky would have loved that).

We continued northward along the coast, passing through Barcelona, and eventually finishing off in Girona. Barcelona is of course notable for many things, but for me personally the first thing that comes to mind is the Barcelona Olympics of 1992. That event, during the formative years of my life, is largely responsible for my love of sport in all shapes in form. Plus, I had a crush on Kim Zmeskal.

Several notable events this week: Mike and Rob competed in the Hy-Vee Triathlon, both turning in great performances (results). Mike finished in 2:14:58, placing 2nd out of 151 in his age group, and 66th out of 984 for all males. Rob finished in 2:26:25, placing 21st out of 116 in his age group and 158th for all males. Good job to them both.

Becky and I competed in Maquoketa's Timber City Adventure Race, a canoe (8 miles), bike (14.5 miles), and run (3.1 miles) event. We placed 2nd (out of 4) in the coed racing division, but were also beaten by two coed teams from the rec division (the race has way too many divisions). Out of all the coed teams we were 4th out of 18. We both improved over the last time we did this event 2 years ago (Becky by 4 minutes, me by 30 seconds), so we were happy with the result.

Jake and Megan completed the longest 30 meter walk of their lives. I didn't get their time, but I know they finished in high style. Congratulations to them. I also just realized that I did not post the week of Sandra's wedding, so a belated congratulations to her, Ryan, and their new arrival Maggie the viszla.

We are about halfway through the year, as a team we are about 40% of the way around the world. Individually, some are way beyond their goal pace, some are right on, and some are lagging a bit (check the mileage chart below if you are interested). Keep up the good work, and if you have been in a funk, now would be a great time to jump-start your training.

Have a good week, and stay healthy out there.