Holy Hills, Batman!

I’m spending the next week up in Collingwood, for a vacation and to finish off my summer of training. I knew there was a big, blue mountain here, and I thought that it would be a lot of fun to ride up, and then to come bombing down. The thing is: once you get to the top, the hills just keep on going, and going. I find myself thinking, where are the flat parts of Collingwood?! I suppose it’s good for me…

Next weekend will be my last triathlon of the season. In anticipation of a fairly competitive day, I decided to do a 5k race on Sunday, just to keep the competitive juices flowing. So, on Sunday, I raced in the Carrotfast 5k in Bradford.  Aside from getting  to race some people, I figured I was in good enough shape to run close to my pb (16:22 from 2006, the last time I ran one).

So the gun goes off, and I find myself running in 12th or 13th place, despite a 3:07 first k. I guess the entire high school cross country team in front of me didn’t take into account the other 4k still to come.  Seeing a lead group break away, I figured if I booked it now, I could get a nice tow around the course. So I gunned it, latched on around 2k, tried to take the lead around 3k, died at 4k, and puttered to the finish line, ending up 4th in 16:28, which leaves me encouraged for next weekend’s tri.

I should point out that I raced in my tri suit, with a singlet on top. Tyler told me I looked like a tool, which I agreed with, but sometimes you just gots to get your freak on. Whatever that means.

Congrats to all my teammates who had great races in PEI and Kelowna this weekend. My suggestion is that you all get yourselves on the Guelph Lake start line. Time for another PTC smackdown.

one after the other

One thing after the other. That’s all life really is. With that in mind, I blog.

Let’s start with an easy one: we moved. To a great apartment in the Annex (about as downtown Toronto as you can be). We’re on the 16th floor of a building, and our view takes in everything between here and the Lake. In the past couple weeks, I’ve been an ikea regular, a floor scruber, a key cutter, a heavy box lifter, and an interior decorator. All of which has meant our apartment is looking sweet, but I’ve been a little fatigued. Or a lot. Oh, but the view.

Next one I’m quite a bit ticked about, but my beautiful bike was busted. Very long and quite stressful story later: the day after Belwood, the frame basically cracked on me so I’ve been in an out of the shop trying to get it fixed. I’ve been riding the Cannondale in the mean time, but I keep flatting (Toronto riding = misery for me). So that’s been stressful. But I just got it back on the weekend, and it was rolling again.

After that one, is the obligatory one about about triathlon. I raced last weekend in Niagara. It was, well, meh. In the swim, I kept burning matches to stay in contact, on the bike I got hammered (combination of burnt matches, moving fatigue, all the funeral stuff, and riding a non-TT bike), and on the run I did what I could do in my little no-man’s-land. I’m happy this one is over with and I’m looking forward to pulling out all the stops in the next 3 weeks. Since then, I’m feeling better and I’ll tell you this: Guelph Lake is go time.  And if you’re laughing because I made this my “A” race, well, just make sure you’re on that start line. (note to self: you suck at trash talk)

That’s all I have for now. Next time I’ll have some pictures.

Oh, if anyone has a semi-decent used road bike that I could turn into a commuter bike, please let me know. (something under $500).

“I Keep Going.” A Tribute to Vincenzo Del Monte.

It’s been a while since I posted, and a lot has happened in that time. I’ll get to all that in my next post. For today, there is only one thing on the agenda. Here goes.

On July 27, 2009 at 12:41pm, my 88-year-old Nonno, Vincenzo Del Monte, passed away. (Eulogizing a life in a blog post may seem tacky to you, but it’s a very small way Amy and I have decided we can honour my Nonno).

My Nonno was the real deal: a hard working, providing, story-telling Itallian Stallion.  My Nonno’s legacy to me is simply in how he lived his life. When he came to Canada (from Italy) after fighting in WWII, all he knew was hard work. That’s it. He knew how to work. And so he worked. He worked two jobs, as a mechanic and as a billards  hall operator, often working right around the clock. He worked on his marriage and family, to make sure no one was hungry or lonely or unhappy. He worked at home in his garden, growing enough tomatos and grapes to feed a small army. He worked on his grandchildren, teaching us how much fun you can have by chasing each other’s socks around on a battered old carpet. And he worked in his heart, to make sure it was right before God before he went away. And it all worked.

It taught us to work. If you look at my family, no one lacks in effort. My Nonno made sure of that.  Nonno taught us that in life all you have is what you have, here and now. And if you want to enjoy your life, you simply have to work.

My Nonno’s last words to me fit with this. When I asked, as I often did, how he was doing, my Nonno simply replied, “I keep going.” That’s it. A whole life summarized by three simple words: I keep going. No matter what life throws at you (and it threw a whole lot of junk at my Nonno), just keep working, keep going. And somehow, in all of that going and working and doing, you’ll have one hell of a life.

Everlasting thanks, Nonno. I’ll never forget you, or the legacy you left for us. You, unequivocally and without question, and unreplaceable for us. We’ll miss you dearly.