I’ve had a pretty busy week, despite being ‘out of work’ for the first week of summer. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I have master’s swim practice and then go straight to coach the high school cross country team. We met at Athens Monday and Friday, but on Wednesday we ran at Umstead. It was nice to be on the trails for a longer run. So pretty much I get up at 5:10 on all those mornings, get my ass handed to me in the pool… then go run with the cross country kids… and eat a huge breakfast when I get home!

Today, some of the cross country runners got in the pool right after our run for a short swim. We’re really lucky at Athens to have the Lake Johnson Pool (part of the Raleigh Parks & Rec) right at our stadium. So it’s right there, and very convenient. A lot of the kids came over to swim, which was cool. I think it’ll really help with their running. We did some relays and stuff, so everyone would be able to join in and not feel like they had to be great swimmers.

Needless to say, my arms feel like they are going to fall off at any moment now that I have done two swims already today.

I had two workshops this week too. Tuesday was “Passive-Aggressive Student,” put on by the Behavior Specialist team from Wake County Schools Central Office. It was very informative, and I really learned a lot from it. Thursday, I had an “IEP Development” workshop over at Central Office put on by the Legal & Compliance crew. This was also a really great workshop. I was really impressed with how well they did covering the legal issues of creating compliant Individual Education Programs (IEP), and the really cool thing is that they put the whole workshop on blackboard (which is an online access module). This action is nice so that people can go through the information at their own pace, and at home (or anywhere) at their own convenience. I’m really glad I attended this workshop because some new changes to IDEA 2004 has effected the way that IEPs should be written.

I got up early both of these mornings to run at Umstead with Sheldon. He really likes to go run with me in the forest.

I was going to go do the Tour de Kale tomorrow morning, but decided to opt out of that. The drive is pretty far, and we’d have to get up really, really early to get there on time. I’m going to do a tri workout with Alicia instead down at Harris Lake Park. The Triangle Triathlon has been moved down there this year, and people are getting together to look at the course. I’m not doing the race because Iron Mountain is the same day.

Awh well… the woods are my home anyways…

Here’s an article from the Wilson Times about the Buckhorn Triathlon this past weekend. Paul did a great job writing it up, and Marty and Richard are quoted in there too!! Really cool.

First time’s a charm
Buckhorn triathlon draws praise, large crowd

By Paul Durham | Sports Editor

With a large, enthusiastic crowd supporting 110 participants, the inaugural TrySports Battle at Buckhorn Triathlon was a smashing success Saturday.

While Marty Gaal of Cary and Alisha Lion of Raleigh took home the Buckhorn Belt Buckles as the overall male and female winners, respectively, the true winner seemed to be Buckhorn Lake.

Under a gorgeous blue morning sky, the first wave of swimmers in the sprint triathlon hit the water at 8 a.m. By the time the final competitor crossed the finish line two-and-a-half hours later, the temperature was just starting to heat up.

“The course was beautiful. This is one of my favorite venues that I’ve ever done,” said Lion, who has competed as a professional triathlete and cyclist. “The swim was perfect, hardly any chop which for a weak swimmer is just what you want. The bike course was rolling but enough hills so that it wasn’t easy and the run course felt a lot hillier than it was so it must have been hard.”

The course consisted of a 1,000-meter swim followed by a 17.5-mile bicycle ride around the lake and ended with a 5-kilometer (3.1 miles) run.

Gaal, a personal trainer and triathlon coach, was the first out of the water — coming in at 12:09 — and he never relinquished the lead.

“It’s a nice way to do it,” he said. “It doesn’t always work out that way but today it did.”

Gaal, who at age 37 has been involved in the sport for nearly 20 years, has participated in more than 100 triathlons, including the holy grail — the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii. Gaal, who is training for the Philadelphia Insurance Olympic-distance Triathlon, came to Buckhorn after seeing the event on the schedule of Finish Strong Series, the production company.

“I know these guys because they set up a lot of races around Cary and I saw this come up on the schedule and I thought it would be nice to go out to a new area,” he said. “This is beautiful.”

Jason Biggs, the event coordinator for Finish Strong which puts on 15-20 triathlons a year, said the debut went smoothly.

“We’ve had a lot of positive feedback already from the participants so we look forward to making this an annual event and bringing people to Wilson County and the area,” Biggs said.

Coming off a break following a collision with a vehicle nearly two years ago, Lion made her return to road triathlons at Buckhorn. The 28-year-old Appalachian State University graduate last competed in a road triathlon at L’Orient, France, in the ITU Long Distance Triathlon World Championships in 2007.

“I had to work for it definitely. It wasn’t a cakewalk for me,” she said of Saturday’s effort. “I pushed it as much as I could go. I didn’t shut things down until the last half-mile or so when I could see that I had it.

“I really wanted that belt buckle!”

Laura Hanson, the 2008 Wilson Times Athlete of the Year as a senior at Fike High School, also made her return to competition. Hanson, who just finished her freshman year at Wake Forest University, came in ninth out of 26 female competitors. Her time of 22 minutes, 32 seconds was second-best in the run in her triathlon debut.

“It was fun. I miss it so much,” said Hanson. “You never really lose that competitiveness.”

There were 104 individual competitors, with 22 listing a Wilson County address, and eight teams, including five from Wilson.

True to its nature, the triathlon featured few competitors who excelled in all three legs. Richard Armstrong of Durham finished second overall in the men’s race despite coming in 10th in the swim and seventh in the bike ride.

“I came out of the water and was down quite a bit — as usual, since I’m weaker in the swim,” he said. “I moved up a bit through the ride and was surprised by the hills at the end, actually. I read it on the Web site but didn’t believe it through the first few miles, so we suffered a little bit at the end.”

Armstrong said he and several other competitors were in training and decided to make the Battle at Buckhorn part of their third day of training camp.

Did that mean he was ready to run another 10 miles?

“Not today, no,” Armstrong said with a laugh. “That’s tomorrow!”

paul@wilsontimes.com | 265-7808

I had a great time racing at the Battle at Buckhorn Triathlon yesterday. The Finish Strong guys did an excellent job putting on the event (once again!).

A HUGE thank you to Jon of TrySports, my new sponsor for the year. I couldn’t have done the race without your support… you’ve truly been the motivation to get me back out to race. THANK YOU SO MUCH! And, of course, I want to thank my coach, Sonni, of Studio 7 Multisport. Sonni has always stood by me no matter what and I will never have another coach as long as I live.

This race was definitely one of my favorite races ever, course-wise. It was such a nice venue. You folks should check it out next year if you can!

The best part of this race was the prize- the overall winners (male & female) won a genuine hand-crafted belt buckle. SWEET! Great motivation to get out there and race hard.

This was my first road triathlon since Worlds in France a couple years ago. I had a great time, and I’m definitely looking to do more tris this summer.

Check out the video that Joe put together from the race:

This is my new bike from TrySports. It’s for sale! Email me if you’re interested in buying it.

It’s one fast bike! I look forward to racing it tomorrow in the Buckhorn Triathlon.

School is officially out for the 2008-2009 year. I am extremely happy that it’s summer time. I’ve needed a break! Being a Behavior Support Teacher is hard, but I definitely enjoy it. In fact, I’m lucky that I really love my job. Sure, it’s demanding… but I never dread going in to work or feel like one of those people that go to work “just to pay their bills.” It’s nice to have that kind of balance in my life. I’ve honestly never been happier.

This year completes my first full year as a teacher. Last year, I subbed during the fall and started full-time as a Curriculum Assistance Teacher in January. At this point, it’s difficult for me to reflect on everything I’ve been through this year. There’s been highs… and there’s been lows. I’m very thankful that I have a great administration and coworkers to lean on through it all, because I can’t imagine doing this job without all of thier support.

Some positives from the year:

1. 3 of my students are now back on track to graduate in 4 years after working with them this year.
2. One of the most difficult students I worked with came by my room at the end of the year after his exam just to give me a hug and thank me for all I’ve done to help him this year. He’ll now be promoted to the 10th grade after passing his English EOC.
3. One of my students came by, along with his mother, to give me a card and take a picture with me. I’ve worked with him now since last year, and he’s really grown as an individual.
4. I’ve developed great relationships with the faculty at Athens. They helped me get through. I was so impressed with all the great collaboration that we had!
5. I’ll never forget the toughest day I had this year, and how a student, my colleagues, and assistant principals supported me on that day.
6. The parents were wonderful! I am very happy to have great communication and collaboration with them as well. I couldn’t be as effective without solid support from home.
7. This was the first year that one of my students made it through school the ENTIRE year. She usually ended up on home/hospital before the year was over due to too much stress/anxiety. She made A/B honor roll her first semester.
8. A student that came to us from another high school as a repeating 9th grader is now going to promote to the 10th grade.
9. 2 students graduated mid-year.
10. My Behavior Specialist from Central Office is the BEST! I was very well supported by her, and I could always bounce ideas off of her and collaborate to come up with good lessons, and process about certain behaviors.

It’s been a good year. I’ve learned a lot. And now it’s time to enjoy the summer!!

The Open Water Swim at Jordan Lake this morning was a lot of fun! Marty and the guys with Finish Strong certainly did a great job putting on this event. I ended up winning my age group, and won a coffee mug! What a surprise! Thanks, Bri, for holding on to that for me.

I took off to do a run with Alicia after the swim was over so we could get done and I could go out to eat breakfast (priorities, ya know… ha!). I had no idea that I would win an award or anything, so I didn’t stay around for results. I’ve never considered myself a “swimmer” even though I swam growing up on the swim team and was a little fish… jeez, I was ALWAYS at the pool until I was about 15.

After filling up on scrambled eggs and blueberry pancakes, Joe and I went to PetSmart with the doggies to get some toys and treats. They are now happy chewing on peanut butter basted raw hides (yes, even my dogs LOVE peanut butter!).

Now I’m watching the Prefontaine Classic on TV… and I get to have a massage later! Wahoo! What a great day!!!

Come out for the Open Water Series at Jordan Lake this Sunday! I’m goin out to see how it goes… not been swimming much, but it should be a great workout. Then I’m doing a long run with Alicia afterwards. Should be a good day!

I’ve started swimming with the TAC-One Step Beyond Master’s group again, and I’m really loving the practices. We had a really fun workout this morning, and I got to see some people that I haven’t seen in a while (due to being so busy teaching), which was nice. I have to get out a little early to make it to school on time, but I won’t have to do that for much longer since school ends on June 10th.

Looks like we’ll have good weather tomorrow for a road ride… Summer, here we come!!!