Nature At It's Finest!

The theme for my final group of photos is all the WILDLIFE that we saw while riding in our big boat on the St. John's river and while paddling our little boats on the tributaries.

A solo crane flying overhead on the cold and cloudy Christmas morning.

A flock of wild turkeys (gobble, gobble) snacking n the grass at the entrance to Silver Glen Springs.

A beautiful hawk checking us out as we paddled below him in the canoe.

A Great Blue Heron stalking it's next meal among the weeds.

These fish (I have no clue what kind) were at Blue Springs swimming around with the manatees.

Cormorants waiting patiently for the warm sun to shine through the clouds so they can get dry.

A good-sized alligator relaxing on the sunny side of the river.

A huge flock of ducks waking up on Lake George.

Our best spotting of the whole trip: A Bald Eagle soaring across the river in front of our boat.

There were two turtles on this log, one guy went 'splash' right before I took the photo and this little guy is working his way into the water.

15 little birdies, sitting in a tree, one flew off...and there were still a bunch of birdies sitting in a tree.

St. John's River Boat Photos (2)

More photos from the X-Mas Adventure! I am planning on one more bunch of photos, but they all have a different theme (you can figure out the theme later). Enjoy the rest of the visual story of the McLarty Clan on the St. John's River....

On Christmas morning we were towing five boats behind our BIG boat. That's Mom and Dad's kayaks on the left, the Family canoe in the middle, and Cheryl and Martha's kayaks on the right. For the most part, it was just the first three boats, but these five sure made a sight to be seen!

This is my "I just woke up" Aunt Jan on X-Mas morning. That's my fun little tree in the background surrounded by my "Going Green" presents: Green (reusable) Bags!

We had five boats training along...and we had four bikes along for the ride. They spent most of the trip on the back deck, covered in a blue tarp...we did get them off the boat one time for a LONG and very COLD ride on the morning of the 26th.

Letterman has "Will it Float?" and the blender company has "Will it Blend?" Well, the McLarty Clan has "Will it Fit?" This was our first encounter with a bridge and, according to my Dad official view here, the tallest antenna made it by a mere six inches!

60 minutes into a paddling trip up-stream at Alexander Springs, my brother had the notion that he wanted to exit the back of our canoe onto this particular tree and have me paddle away to take a photo. Obviously, I obliged his request and this is the resulting picture. I call it "Dustin in the Middle of Nowhere."

We had to eat...Jan and Grandma Jane were in charge of making lunches here...and we ate heartily! Everyone wanted to impress everyone else with their cooking skills so we had feasts at every meal (I'm not complaining:) and many leftovers to take back to dry-land.

That's my Aunt and Dad (brother and sister) kayaking up to Juniper Springs. This was during the pleasant time before the river got very shallow and very powerful and you had to put some serious effort into every paddle stroke to keep on moving forward!

We had some guests at the back of the boat in Lake George. The seagulls (are they still 'sea'gulls if they aren't at the sea?) thoroughly enjoyed the two-day-old waffles that I was breaking apart and hurling into the lake!

Our final night was at Silver Glen Springs and it was the only boil that was relatively close to the St. John's river. This photo was taken on our final morning. It was another very cold morning and the steam in this photo shows that the water (always 72 degrees) was warmer than the air. The rippling on the surface of the water at the bottom of the photo is the BOIL of the spring...the water is actually coming out of the ground right below our boat!

That is Jan, Me, Dustin, and Dad overlooking Lake George on our final morning. We went on a 40 minute hike before breakfast and were treated to a beautiful sunrise. (Thanks to my Mom who snapped this photo...sorry she couldn't be IN it:)

Holiday Adventure Photos (1)

As the title of this post implies, there will be more posts with photos coming later. As it is already 10:30pm tonight and I have to be awake and driving by 5:00am tomorrow morning, I can not waste precious minutes waiting for my photos to load. I am going to scramble through some fun captions to the following photos and then catch some ZZZZ's before working the Clermont Marathon all day tomorrow!

Oh Captain, My Captain...here is Dad and Dustin behind the wheel of our behemoth of a boat. We might not have been allowed to drive it at night or in a storm, but if there was a surprise eclipse or some dire need to triangulate our position to within 17 feet...Dad's hand-held GPS was ready to go!

My Aunt Jan relaxing and enjoying the passing scenes of nature from a prime viewing position of the front deck (right next to the grill:)

My Mom in the back of the canoe during of our many paddling adventures along the St. John's River. Well, we never paddled ON the St. John's...but we did just about every freaking tributary and confluence we passed during the three-day "vacation"!!

Dad and Dustin in the kayaks, me in the front of the canoe...Row, Row, Row your boat, powerfully UP the stream!!!

There she is...the Song of the South. This was our campsite for the first night of the trip...no lights, homes, people, or noise...it was beautiful and serene (and very comfortable to be able to experience all those things while sleeping in a Queen-size bed:)

Duster-Buster and I on Christmas morning. So who is watching where we are going right now??!!

Dad and Dustin on the top deck...Grandma Jane and Jan on the lower deck. We were far from ever being crowded!

Martha and Cheryl joined us via kayak on Christmas morning. They had heard rumors about pecan waffles being served on the boat...the rumor was true and they were delicious!!

What more can you ask for on Christmas morning than watching manatees swim alongside your canoe?? I snapped these two sea-cows investigating us...my first time actually using my camera under-water!!

Land-Ho & Happy Holidays

The McLarty Clan is back on dry land after a three day adventure along the St. John's river. The house boat was a success (meaning it didn't sink, crash, run ashore or tip over:) and we just arrived back home. I took a plethora of photos, including the first underwater shots I have taken with my water-proof camera, and I can't wait to browse through them and upload a summary of the trip.
Right now, I'm checking the few emails that were waiting in my inbox and catching up on major events in the world news that I might have missed (we didn't have TV).
I hope that everyone had a fun and happy time during the holidays. I got to spend it with my loving family and I've very thankful for that! Now, it's back to work for everyone here...Mom is already in the shop, Dad is unpacking the truck, I am thinking about tomorrow's training, and Dustin is plopped right in front of the TV trying to enjoy the last few hours of his freedom from UF...tomorrow he has to head back up to Gainesville and report in for swim practice (Go Gators:)!!

All Aboard!

The truck is completely packed. The rear end of a canoe and two kayaks are sticking out the tail gate. The front is jammed with coolers, luggage, games, DVDs and cooking appliances...leaving just enough space for my Dad and Brother to sit and drive to the marina. My Xterra is sagging under the weight of a full 4-bike rack on the back, a 24 inch Christmas tree (plastic), gifts, 2 coolers, 7 grocery bags full of food, more luggage and pillows...leaving just enough space for my Mom and I to drive to the marina.
We are waiting for my Aunt and Grandma to arrive...and I'm sure their car will be packed to the ceiling with their luggage, lunch foods, and whatever random paraphernalia they have decided to bring to stay entertained! As soon as they arrive, we will all depart in a huge caravan and head to our home for the next 3 days on the St. John's river. At least I have seen the boat and have full confidence that it is large enough to hold all the stuff we are packing...my Mom and Brother are sorta doubting it's size:)
Here is the 'Boat Schedule' that we will sorta follow for this adventure:
Monday
Depart Hontoon in the afternoon (SR 44)
Motor south to the confluence of the Wekieva River
Paddle kayaks up the Wekieva run
Set up for the night
Tuesday (Xmas)
Motor north to Blue Springs to arrive at 8:30 (a little south of SR 44)
Motor north to Alexander Springs confluence
Paddle kayaks up the Alexander run
Ride bikes off of SR 40
Set up for the night
Wednesday
Motor north to the Juniper Springs confluence
Paddle the Juniper run
Drive north to the Silver Glen springs
Ride bikes off of SR 19
Set up for the night
Thursday
Motor south for the marina
We will all be off-line for the next 3 days. There will be no new posts here on my blog and none of us can check our emails...but, I doubt that we will ever be out of cell-phone range (this is the St. John's river, not the Grand Canyon:) so if you would like to speak to any of the McLarty clan (or say "Happy Holidays"), don't hesitate to call!

In Loving Memory

I will miss my beautiful little Angel. He, literally, flew into my life one day, 6 or 7 years ago, at swim practice in Port Orange and he was loved by my family and I for many years to follow. He was the McLarty Farm's guard bird, chirping when anyone approached. He would passionately sing to anything that was yellow and having his head scratched was his favorite past-time. No matter where I was in the world, South Africa, China, Germany, Australia...he would always whistle to me on the phone and I would never be home-sick. I don't know when or where he was born and raised, but he will always be a part of the McLarty family. I love you Angel and I will always whistle to you. Thank you for all your pecks:)

The Hamster is Running

I've got a lot of small ideas rolling around in my head. Individually, they are nothing of great importance...but all put together, they warrant a post.
I thought I would mention that my Christmas gifts have a "Green" theme. I was able to locate an online store that sells reusable bags...the kind you take shopping...so that we can reduce the number of plastic bags consumed by this country. Eco Bags has a TON of options and I chose an organic-cotton-string bag and the Green Bag to give to all my family and friends.
I will not be using ANY wrapping paper or ribbon this Christmas (or any in the future) because I see them both as a complete waste. Instead, the few gifts that I will be giving will be placed in the previously mentioned shopping bags or wrapped in some newspaper that is lying around the house.
Fortunately, I don't have too many gifts to worry about. This Christmas, the McLarty family is trading the consumption-tradition of trading gifts for a river-boat adventure on the St. Johns River. Last Sunday, my Dad and I stopped by the marina to take a tour of our boat...it is HUGE! There are 4 bedrooms (and a pull-out couch), 2 bathrooms, a full kitchen (minus the oven), a grill on the front deck, lounge chairs on the top deck, TV, and the Captain's Chair (fully equipped with steering-wheel and throttle:).
We will be arriving at the house boat in the middle of the day on Monday, Dec. 24th. We will shove off as soon as all six people, two kayaks, one canoe, four bikes, and three days worth of food are aboard and stowed. I'm planning on packing a large stack of books, DVDs, and board-games to entertain myself and my family when we are not enjoying the natural scenery outside the boat. **Yes, I am ALL for enjoying Nature, especially when given a great opportunity like this. BUT, even the most avid outdoor enthusiast can enjoy a game of Scrabble or the latest Blockbuster release for a short period of time!!**
I'm already ahead of myself...talking about what I'm going to be doing during Christmas...that I forgot to mention that I am back in DeLand. I packed up all my gear from Koren's place yesterday and headed out around 4pm. I drove straight to the Wednesday evening airport ride and had another great (grueling) experience between 6pm and 7:20pm. As soon as I was out of my sweaty clothes and in my car, I headed towards DeLand and arrived home just in time to eat dinner with my Dad while we watched Independence Day on TV.
Dustin is pounding out the last two days of Christmas Training up in Gainesville and he plans to be home around noon on Friday. I can't wait to see my little brother...I was supposed to go up and train with him for a few days, but that idea was squashed when I realized that Alec's practices at Clermont were hard enough for me:). I will be continuing my swim training with the DBS group in Port Orange for the holi-days...and visiting the beach with a surfboard because I hear the waves are perfect!

Triathlon Song

I was patient. I listened closely. I was never worried. I knew, one day, I would eventually find my own, personal, meaningful, original, creative THEME SONG.
Well, today is that day...I have finally found my song (or did it find me?) and I invite anyone and everyone to have a listen and enjoy!!

Half My Age

LITERALLY! I got my butt kicked in the pool today by a girl who is HALF MY AGE! She is 12 years old and a phenom swimmer on the Fast Lane team. I was holding my own against her until a little past half way of the main set...then my arms suddenly decided to give out on me and refuse to pull through the water! It was a tough practice, almost 8000 meters of fast and long freestyle sets...the main set started with 400, 800, 1200, 800, 400 on 1:20 base followed by some fast 50s. I was pretty happy with my final 800 and 400 and ready to warm down and head home...not quite!
We came into the wall and Alec had the surprise second half of the workout on the board...200, 400, 600, 400, 200 on 1:17.5 base followed by some more fast 50s! It was somewhere in the middle of the second 400 that my body completely shut down and refused to listen to my brain:). I had just enough left in the reserve tanks to climb out of the pool and drive back to Koren's place where I scarfed some of my home-made veggie lasagna in front of the TV. We just finished Live Free or Die Hard...an extremely realistic movie, especially the part where Bruce Willis surfs on the tail of a fighter jet!
Tomorrow is my last day staying at Koren's place. I'm going to pack up all my stuff during the day and head home via the Wednesday night airport ride. I'm looking forward to another hammer-fest at the 'port...I hope I can hang on the pain-train for the whole ride!:) My last two rides have been more endurance oriented (75 miles on Saturday morning and another 75 miles on Monday morning) so I could use some FAST pace-line training in my repertoire.

Party For The Children

'Tis the season to have a party for ANY reason at all! Last night we had a party at the McLarty Farm to put together the gifts for the Children's Home. BIG THANKS to all our friends that came by and helped wrap marshmallows, bake cookies, put candy in bags, write names on bag-tags, eat pizza, drink hot cocoa, etc! It was an evening filled with the spirit of Giving and these photos are proof:

First, we tackled the BAKED GOODS...we put one of each home-baked cookie and brownie into a plastic baggie.

Here is John, Cheryl, and Tammy in the "Cookie-Bag-Assembly-Line"...all smiles because they know that the leftovers are up for grabs:)

Second, we tackled the CANDY...we tossed two of each chocolate or sugar-filled item into a brown baggie.

Here is my Mom at the "Candy-Assembly-Line." She is the creator of this yearly McLarty tradition. Every Christmas she comes up with another idea to personalize something for every kid at the Children's Home.

There's Dad supplying the troops with some much needed nourishment. There was no way we could have bagged cookies, candy, marshmallows, and mugs without stopping to refuel with his delicious PIZZAS! This was the first one out of the oven and it completely disappeared not too long after I took this photo:)

That's Martha proudly displaying one of the personalized mugs after she stuffed it with some hot cocoa packets and marshmallows.

If you were wondering where the baggies of marshmallows came from...look no further than Cheryl and Tammy working hard at the "Marshmallow-Assembly-Line." This was one of the more complicated areas of the evening because it required that ribbon be CURLED!

Karen (my Mom), Nancy, Martha (hiding), and Pete all showing off the pretty mugs before putting the mug into a Christmas gift bag...(Yes, there were LOTS of different kinds of BAGS floating around the house all night:)

Who says there was an age-limit or age-minimum to help in the spirit of GIVING? This is little 4-year-old Sean hard at work with the finished product...1 bag of cookies, 1 bag of candy, 1 bag of marshmallows, 2 hot cocoa packets, and 1 unique mug all stuffed into a holiday gift bag.

The fruits of our labors...75 beautiful and yummy gifts for 75 very deserving kids this Christmas!!

The McLarty Holiday Party concluded with a medley of Christmas music performed by our very own three piece band...Mom on piano and Nancy and John on guitars!

A Promise of Recovery

I finally ran out of late-night-blogging energy after another memorable swim practice last night. I've decided that this morning will be spent accomplishing some chores/tasks/typing that can only be done when my arms have the ability to support themselves. Later this evening, I will head back to the NTC for another torture session with Alec and his team in the pool.
I've never had a training schedule like the one I am falling into this December...with LATE NIGHT training sessions, followed by late night dinners, followed by late morning sleep-ins. I remember getting accustomed to the EARLY morning training schedule we fell into in Australia last year because we wanted to get everything accomplished before the sun got too intense (and I still got pre-skin-cancer). I remember the average schedule we had in college, it might have started early in the morning, but I was always finished training around the same time the sun went down.
Each day this week, my final training session hasn't even begun by the time it's dark outside. The local swim team dives into the pool sometime after 6pm and the Wednesday ride started only when the street lights had come on to light our path. Now my days aren't even starting until well after 8am and I'm rarely leaving the apartment before 10am. I wonder what kind of schedule the January Triathlon camp will fall into...it will probably revolve around whatever pool time we are assigned so I know it can't be between 5 and 8pm at night (that is already filled)!
As for the remainder of my week, I've got a long list of events to fill my non-training hours. Today, Koren and I are expecting a free-lance masseuse to arrive at the apartment in the next hour. She knows him through another local triathlete and I told him that the USAT team would be looking for someone like him in January. The Swiss Ski School is out in the middle of nowhere so we would need a professional to come to us...not the other way around. Basically, I'm testing him out to see if I want to make a recommendation...I know, my life sucks:)!
Tonight, I head back to the pool to join the high-schoolers in the pool. As I trudged my way to the locker rooms last night, Alec promised me that today would be a "recovery" day. I was very excited at that promise and I intend to hold him to that.
I spoke with my Dad this morning about planning our traditional weekend ride and it looks like we might join the Windermere Roadies for their Saturday morning ride. I'm trying to sample everything that's out there...so this would be another new group ride for me. It's either Saturday morning group-ride or Saturday morning swim practice with Alec. Unfortunately, I can't do both (yes, I just shed a tear) but the pool is available for the rest of the day...the group ride is only a one-shot deal. My decision isn't official yet...it is all based on that promise of a "recovery" swim this evening!

I'm Hooked On Wednesday

Yesterday afternoon I loaded up my bike, all my cycling gear, and myself into the Xterra and headed towards the O-Town Airport (Orlando International for those of you not from around here). It was a 50 minute drive along some of the Central Florida toll roads to the east side of the airport. Since this was my first time joining the Wednesday evening ride, I arrived WAY early and drove the loop that we were going to ride. It was a beautiful 4 lane, divided highway with a wide shoulder on both sides. The ride started at 6:00 pm so the most important part of the road was the numerous street lights that were planted every 25 yards along both sides of the street.
I followed all the cars with bikes hanging off the back and parked at the end of a side street. It was just after 5:00 pm so I got all set to ride and headed out for a warm up loop. There were a lot of other people with the same idea and I chatted with a couple of guys who were 'regulars' and they gave me the official 'run down' on the turn-arounds, sprint lines, areas of glass, etc.
At 6:00 pm, on the dot, about 65-75 bikes rolled out of the parking lot and headed out for the first of four loops along Heintzelman Blvd. We were actually in the middle of the airport...the planes were landing on one side of us, taxing along the bridges above our road, and over to the airport terminal on our other side...never a quiet moment! The first ½ of the first loop is considered the "warm-up" and only averages about 20-22mph. As soon as we are around the first 180-degree-turn, the group starts GOING!
For the next 30 miles we averaged above 25mph! Not only did I manage to just hang on with all the fast guys, I was pulling through multiple times and enjoying every moment! There was a great side wind so I had many opportunities to practice placing myself on the correct side of the echelon. Basically, it was a PERFECT, amazing, fun, new, and EXTREMELY HARD training ride! I can't wait to tell all my teammates about it and convince Cliff to put this on our weekly training schedule for the whole month of January!

This is the map of the ride loop from the Windermere Roadies website.

Six Double Oh!

6:00...no kidding...that was my time for my last 600 yard freestyle tonight at swim practice! I didn't think I am still capable of swimming double-ohs! At the end of the evening practice, I stroked and kicked my way through 7800 yards of swimming...the longest swim practice I've done in a few years...and I'm still alive to brag about it:).
The main set was 3 x 800 free on 9:30, descend 1-3, followed by 8 x 100 kick. Me and the guys in the lanes next to me bust out a 8:10 for the third 800...impressive. That was followed by 3 x 600 on 7:10, descend 1-3, followed by 6 x 100 kick. Right before we pushed off for the final 600, when my arms were already screaming, Alec looks down at me and says something like: "Show me what you've got."
How could I not take the bait? I'm always up for a challenge and today was no different. I dropped all the other guys by the 300 yard mark and managed to hold my stroke together to the wall right at 6:00! I won't mention that I had to go last on the kicking set because I was completely thrashed at that point and it was just a success to get myself moving up and down the pool:).
All my meeting, phone calls, and massages went as planned today. At the pre-race meeting I was assigned to help out at the finish line during the December 29th Marathon race at the NTC...race director is none other than the amazing Tom Z...there is also a 1/2 marathon race and a 5K so there will be three groups of athletes crossing the line (it will be a long and busy day:). I called both of my coaches in COS where it was apparently heavily SNOWING today! I bragged to both Sharon and Cliff that I was sitting outside in 80+ degree weather getting a sun burn as they huddled inside to keep warm! As for a recap of my massage today with Mona at the NTC I can give you just one word: OUCH!!

Re-Living My Swimming Days

Talk about a mental (and physical) relapse! I just got home from swim practice with the Fast Lane team here in Clermont. The National-level kids swim from 6-8pm so it's completely dark out...but that leaves all the light hours of the day for me to be out biking and running.
Here I am, swimming with a bunch of 13 and 14 year-olds that can kick my out-of-shape butt up and down the lanes of the pool! Tonight, we swam about 5000 yards of fast BACKSTROKE...yes, BACKstroke! I've got little muscles that haven't been used since my 400IM at the Olympic Trials in 2004 that are screaming for mercy. The final set of the night was 8 x 100 on 1:20...all-out-backstroke. After the first 4000 meters of practice, where we did 3 x 600 backstroke PULL, I was pleased to see that I could still bust out a few 1:03s.
This was all after I had a great bike ride this morning...solo...but I still motored my way around the hilly Clermont loop and threw in the Sugarloaf climb. I actually did Sugarloaf twice! Apparently, I had some kind of mental spasm and decided to turn around at the top for another punishing 3 minutes of climbing:).
In between my morning ride and late evening swim, I spent some time catching up on emails. I got the info, from my new friend Lea, about the Wednesday "Airport Ride". Starting at 6pm, 4 loops of a 9 mile course, reaching speeds up to 32mph...basically, I can't wait to go and get my out-of-shape butt kicked by 30-40 year-old men up and down the road in Orlando! Sound familiar?
Tomorrow, when I eventually wake up from a recovery-coma, I've got a long list of things to do. Race meetings, phone calls with my coaches, painful massages, aqua-jogging workouts, another killer swim practice, etc. If I find some hidden energy at the end of the day, you will see another post:)

Sunday Ride

I had a great Sunday ride out here in Clermont. My Dad and our friend, Chad, drove over from DeLand and we were all off and riding by 8:10am. On the night before the ride, I spent some time looking over the local roads on Google Maps and combined with Koren's knowledge of the good roads, I came up with a fun and new loop. It started by taking us over to the Swiss Ski School to explore my home for the month of January. I wanted to see what the area was like and if the ski lakes were going to be swim-able.
The houses in the development were all beautiful (I have no idea which one I'm going to be staying in) and the lakes were awesome (hopefully we are not banned from practicing open water swimming). The only negative thing I could see was that it was REALLY far away from EVERYTHING! We are going to spend an entire month in the middle of the Florida countryside:). The drive to the NTC swimming pool is going to be about 15 minutes each way and there will be no opportunities to ride bikes to the grocery store or walk into town. Fortunately, I've got my car and there will be at least two OTC vans for us to use during our stay.
Anyways, the rest of our ride on Sunday was amazing...all the roads were quiet and the traffic was very polite. The roads were mostly flat in the direction we headed (south and west) so we finished the ride with a few climbs on Cherry Lake Road. In the end, my water bottles were completely dry, we'd been in the sun for over 2 1/2 hours, and we pedaled just under 50 miles in the cool (but humid) morning.
Dad and Chad had to get back over to DeLand so there was no time for a leisurely lunch break. I tossed them some fresh fruit for the drive home and then enjoyed a relaxing meal in front of the TV. After a long rest it was still barely afternoon and the sun was still shining. I grabbed my new two-piece Speedo suit and headed for the NTC pool. My goal was not to do some amazing swim practice...I just wanted to cruise back and forth for a few minutes in the sun before getting killed on Monday night with the Fast Lane swim team:)!

First, It Was Good-Bye Hawaii...

...Now, It's Good-Bye AUSTRALIA!!!!!!!
I just shed a tear...actually, quite a few tears! Now that the official announcement has been made about the Hawaii Olympic Trials race being canceled (and moved to Alabama)...I was just informed that the Australia Training Camp has been canceled (and moved to Arizona)!
12-14 of the top American ITU triathletes will be in Tuscon, AZ for one month of training before the Alabama Trials race. Since I hope to be one of those 12-14 athletes, I will continue to report about the camp as if I'm going to be there.
I'm a bit hesitant to report that we will be living in a Residence Inn from March 14th until April 15th...at least it sounds like its going to have a kitchen...but it's still a hotel and that's not the same as the BEACH FRONT APARTMENTS we had in Noosa last year!
I've heard nothing but good things about the training in Tuscon. Great places to ride and huge groups to ride with. I'm sure the warm weather will be perfect to acclimate for Alabama (and Beijing for that matter). The sun will be shining and we will be outdoors so everyone will have a healthy (or unhealthy...if everyone forgot their sunscreen) tan when we leave.
The only other impact this change has on my schedule is in regards to the first World Cup races of 2008. When we were going to be spending March in Noosa...the Mooloolaba World Cup is just an hour drive down the coast. There was also the option of taking a quick flight to New Zealand for the second World Cup in New Plymouth or a kinda-shorter flight to Japan for the third race in Ishigaki. Now, I need to sit down with my coach (well, actually just sit down with my phone and call my coach because he is 2,000 miles away) and rethink what kind of traveling I need to do in March and early April.
I look forward to figuring things out and posting my new schedule. Until then...I am continuing to apply lots of sunscreen and swim, bike, and run in the sunshine of Central Florida!

Good-Bye Hawaii...

...Hello Alabama!
It would shock some people but I have come to understand and accept last-minute changes within the world of USA Triathlon events.
I think I mentioned before that I would have to miss my 15-ish annual St. Anthony's Triathlon because I will be competing in the second Olympic Trials race in Honolulu on the same day. My family didn't register for the McLarty Relay because I wasn't going to be competing in St. Pete.
Now for the change-of-plans announcement...they just told us today that the Honolulu race didn't have enough funding but the city of Tuscaloosa, Alabama picked it up and is hosting our very important event in conjunction with the Collegiate National Champs.
So, on April 19th, I will be swimming, biking, and (hopefully) running in Alabama. I hope that means more of my family will be able to attend...it's not a $500+ plane ticket half-way across the Pacific!

Weekend Working

I'm heading over to Tampa on Friday afternoon for the Tampa Bay Lightning Reindeer Fun Run. No...I'm not magically healed and able to run...I'm going over to help the Champion-chip Timing company do the race timing and registration.
MapQuest says its less than 90 minutes to get from here in Clermont to the downtown Tampa area so it wont be too long of a drive. I'm meeting Jnet and Dave (the official timers) on Friday evening for dinner, spending the night, and then getting up early to help make sure everything goes smooth at the race. It'll be just like IronKids...without the swimming and biking parts...but still with a lot of kids. Along with the 5K run race, there is a 1 Mile Fun run and Kids Dash...should be entertaining!
Here is the race website if anyone is over in Tampa wants to run a 5K on Saturday morning!

Cyclist vs Dog on Judge Judy

This is a clip that my Dad forwarded to me.

"A fascinating Judge Judy segment on YouTube. It's a "classic" legal struggle between cyclist who was injured and a couple whose dog got loose. Most interesting is the attitude of the couple that the cyclist had it coming for being crazy enough to actually ride on a road. The wife thought it was relevant that the cyclist lived forty miles away. You've got to watch this interesting and socially-sobering legal tussle."

I love the wife's defence that it was obviously the cyclist's fault because "he had no business riding his bike 35 miles from his home". I guess we should all just resort to riding 100 meters up and down our driveway for three hours instead of enjoying the beautiful country roads (that are full of dogs wiggling out of their leashes)!

Christmas Plans

Check out our BOAT!!!

The McLarty family is going to spend the Christmas holiday on a pontoon boat cruising up and down the St. John's River. We are renting this 53 foot boat from December 24th to the 27th (okay, so we might not be on it the WHOLE time:).

All that matters is that it will be something different from the boring tradition of opening presents in the living room! I was reading the FAQ's on the boat rental website and this was my favorite:

Q: Are there pirates on the river?

A: It is not unusual for someone to ask us this question. I have never heard of pirates on the St. Johns. The river is very safe. We have never had a customer boarded by a pirate and I do not remember anything taken from a rental houseboat.

Thankgoodnes...I was SOOO worried that the worst part of this experience was going to be the PIRATES! I dare any pirates to attempt spending a few days in a 53 foot enclosure with MY family:)

Treats and Yardwork

Check out my edamame salad I made last week! I took some ideas I'd acquired from the OTC cafeteria, some things I've read in cooking magazines, and some from online recipes. Basically, it's yummy edamame mixed with sweet corn, chopped olives, slices of onions, crumbled feta cheese and stirred together with some balsamic vinaigrette dressing! Give it a try...healthy and tasty!

So here we are, the McLarty family working in the yard. This was last Tuesday when my Mom, my Dad, and I laid sod for 4 HOURS. We were covering the new septic tank and drainage field that were installed right after Thanksgiving.

Here is proof that I actually WILL break a sweat and get my hands dirty:)! Check out the HUGE stack of sod behind me...we did 4 of those pallets with one short lunch break.

Okay, this is one of our garbage cans. And that is a huge metal wrench jammed into the side. The short story: my dad was trying to pull a pipe out of the ground with the tractor, a long rope, and a wrench. He thought it would be a good idea to stick something between the wrench and his head...in case something slipped.

So this could be the back of my Dad's head! Thank goodness for the trash can!!!!