Wednesday, June 13, 2007

SCHOOL YEAR CLOSES OUT!

Today our school year comes to a close and I must say it has ended on a rather dissapointing note. AISE is a proprietary school and because of this money is often at the forefront of decisions. Add to this that Egypt is a society where connections mean everything and you have a recipe for bad things to happen.

On May 24th our seniors finished school and decided to go on a rampage disrupting the other school activities going on and causing havoc in the school. This involved firecrackers in the school, oil on the floors, live chickens and rabbits (some of which eventually died!) and other shameful events. Some of the problems should have been seen coming as this group of seniors has been a less than reputable bunch.

The administration along with school ownership reacted quickly and in a way that many of the staff approved of and among other things prevented some students from participating in the graduation ceremony. Unfortunately, a handful of teachers felt this was too harsh and parents were up in arms. Eventually through pressure from parents, some teachers and many high ranking government officials (as the result of a well connected student body), this decision was reversed and all students participated in the graduation ceremony.

This has caused many hard feelings on staff and even between staff. Many people are dissillusioned with the school and the ownership. Today we have an assembly to recognize departing teachers followed by a lunch put on by the ownership which many, many teachers have decided to skip. One teacher has even resigned over the incident. It is very unfortunate and there is a real somber mood around the school today.

As for my action, I have let the administration know about my displeasure with the actions and some of the goings on in our school this year. I have let them know that I have not been very satisfied with many aspects of my postion and some of the decisions made and how I believe the school year could have been made better. This brings closure to the school year for me and now I need to put it behind me and move on to next year. I can't carry any of this baggage with me through the summer and in to next year. I need to believe that the administration will take what I have said seriosly and try and make improvements on some of the negative things that went on this year and move on. I need to be able to look forward to next year and believe that positive changes will be made and it will be a good year and a positive attitude from me will help ensure that, so I will attend the ceremony this afternoon and believe that better things for AISE are on the horizon.

cheers for now

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

BACK IN THE POOL

After two weeks of not being able to swim due to an infection in the road rash on my hip I was finally able to get back in the water the last two day...not sure if I should have but I needed to! I was starting to get a little nervous about the swim especially because it is the area I am least prepared for. So yesterday morning I took the wetsuit to the pool, quckly pulled it on and it was a disaster!! I swam about 200m and my arms were DEAD! After about 1000m I packed it in and headed home very dejected. This morning I went back to the pool and took my time getting my wetsuit on and discovered that was the difference...whew!!!

I made sure I got the wetsuit up as high asI could on the legs and crotch and then that my arms/shoulders were all the way in and I had no trouble. I banged out a few thousand meters without any trouble and at a nice comfortable pace (about 9 minutes/100m). I'm hoping to even average 9 1/2 minutes for the race. If all goes well this shouldn't be a problem.

It's amzazing what your mind can have you believe when you let your thoughts wander for a bit. I went from feeling good about everything to thinking the swim might be a little tougher than I thought to thinking I may DNF because I missed a few swim workouts this month!! While my swimming definately has suffered over the last month due to this road rash and a few other things if I DNF it won't be because of these missed swim workouts!!

12 Days to go!!!

Cheers

Thursday, June 07, 2007

AT PEACE!!

People have been warning me for some time how difficult the taper for Ironman will be. It's a time filled with doubt, anxiety, nervous energy, etc. I have to say that 1 week in and I feel at peace with things. I am relaxed, calm, definatley excited about the race, but all seems to be in perspective.

My main goal in starting this was to get to the finish line healthy and as trained as I could be which would give me the best opportunity to get to the finish line. I feel that's the position I'm in right now. I have basically had 6 very solid months of training. No major injuries to speak of and no major illnesses. Every set back along the way has been minor. Every disruption in training has basically been anticipated and dealt with. I am two weeks away from toeing the start line as healthy and well trained as I can be. Yes it would be nice to not have missed a couple long rides or swim due to track meets, meetings, etc. but these things were anticipated so they are not causing me stress. This was always about the journey, not the destination. If something comes up on race day and I don't finish I feel o.k. with that knowing that I did all I could do and that it musn't have been meant to be on this occasion. Sure I will be dissapointd, but the jorney has been a great one and I have enjoyed every minute of it!

So that being said two more weeks to stay healthy and get to the start line, everything after that will be gravy in my books!

cheers

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

SUPPORT!

Have I mentioned the great support I have recieved on my Ironman Journey??

My biggest fan is my wife and I can't believe how supportive she has been. The ironman jouney is really a family affair. We certainly work together on raising our daughter and it's not without give and take so I try and get the majority of my workouts in early in the morning before Anaka wakes up but Friday mornings long rides are tough as she has Anaka at home, alone all morning and Saturday mornings are similar as I do my long runs. A couple evenings a week I have Anaka while Jaz teaches Yoga, but it's only for a couple hours. There have been some ups and downs through the training but she is a special person and has remained interested and supportive and I love her for it.

My second biggest inspiration and fan is our daughter Anaka. She turns two in August and has been a complete joy and is an amazing little girl. She is so well behaved it has been easy for both Jaz and I to live up to our committments (training and others) as she is so flexible and easy to deal with. Whenever my bike comes out she asks 'Daddy bike??' and is happy to see me return from my workouts and greets me with a hug.

My two main training partners Brent and Paul. Paul has done 3 Ironmans, Brent one and have been a great support as well as wealth of knowledge. I have done the bulk of my training with them (Brent especially) and it is always great to discuss things with them and bounce thoughts off them during our morning runs or on the way to the pool. they have definately helped with motivation as it doesn't seem like much of a chore to get out of bed at 4:30am when you get to hang out with good guys!

Mark, Bec, John, and Ame, our friends from home that live across town. Mark was my main training partner last year and we began this ironman journey together. It's unfortunate we haven't been able to train together as much this year, but we have sill put in many miles together and it has been nice adding Bec and John to the mix. Hopefully Mark and I will be able to stand at the finish line of Ironman Switzerland together as Ironmen! While we haven't been able to put in as much time training together, we have been on the phone pretty much daily!

The Cairo Cycling Club for being such a great group of people and pulling me through many miles on the road, showing interest and being supportive.

Staff members at AIS who have been supportive and interested in my journey.

Again, thanks to everyone!! 19 days to go!

Cheers

Monday, June 04, 2007

BRING ON THE TAPER

Build phase is finished and now on to the taper! I am under three weeks now and feeling pretty good. This past weekend we (along with about 50 staff members from our school) travelled to Al Arish. This is a sleepy little Egyptian town (about 400 000) on the Mediteranean Sea in Sinai about 30km from the Rafah border crossing to Gaza. This border crossing has been open off and on over the past few months under much controversy.

The hotel we stayed at was great. It was right on the beach with beautiful surf. On Friday morning I got up and did my last long ride. A six hour, fifteen minute 190km ride along the coast road. The ride was mainly flat with a few rollers just to throw your rythm off. It travelled through many bedouin 'villages' which added to the uniqueness of the ride. I got to witness bedouins selling crabs along the side of the road, a group of 4 men loading a camel in the back of a pick-up, many, many bedouin women and children herding their goats through the desert coast. I even had to stop at one poing while a women herded her goats across the highway. And only in Egypt does a foreigner blow through a security check point on a bike with 5 guys in uniform, wearing guns and shouting at you to stop! all-in-all I was happy with the ride. I went through a rough spell from about 100km to 140km but rode through it and felt fairly strong at the end.

Saturday morning I got up and did a 3 hour run. The run felt good all things considered and was easy to stay motivated knowing it was my last long run for a while!!

Now I have three weeks to focus on the taper, equipment checks, and stying healthy, as I am pretty sore today from the weekends events!