January 13, 2006
Time to get back on track
Well my vacation from blogging is over and it's time to get back to work. The toughest part about maintaining a public blog is that you can't always write about what you really want to write about for fear it may come back to haunt you. That has been the case with TriAmerica Miami and the Great Floridian. There is so much I want to write about, but I want to be able to produce the race in the future as well. With that in mind I decided to take a break and let all the dust settle. As the year goes on I may feel more comfortable about sharing my thoughts on our 2005 meltdown, but not just yet.
Posted by Fred at 07:36 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | More in: Random Thoughts
December 31, 2005
Out with the old and in with the new....
Out with the old and in with the new....that's the theme here at Sommer Sports now that 2005 has drawn to a close.
Out is our old Downtown Clermont junked-up office that served as our home for 15 years. In is our new professional office with plenty of space to grow.
Out is our old relationship with the City of Clermont. In is our new future partnership with the City of Clermont to grow and enhance the sport of triathlon and our Clermont events.
Out will be the old TriAmerica Series. In will be the new TriAmerica Brand and the TriAmerica Points Series.
Out will be all the negativity we faced in 2005. In will be new mutually beneficial positive partnerships.
Out will be our enhanced tropical storm season. In will be perfect weather at all of our events. (here's hoping that will be the case)
Next on my agenda - New Years Resolutions
Posted by Fred at 09:52 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | More in: Random Thoughts
October 19, 2005
The bigger you are the harder you fall..
I learned that lesson the hard way last week when I finally was able to start training again. I started off the summer with great ambitions. I was going to train hard all summer so I could race a fall marathon. Then after the GFT, when thing slow down for the season, I had planned to concentrate on mountain biking and kayaking so I could set my sights on a multi-day advenutre race this spring. Well my marathon training was non-existant this summer so I backed out of the two fall marathons I had signed up for. I'm not giving up though and I plan to get back on some sort of track next week after the GFT.
While on the way back from my run I hit a crack in a sidewalk and started stumbling forward. I thought for a second I was going to recover from my stumble, but no such luck. Down I went right into a nice row of shrubs. The shrubs saved me from serious injury, although I had a few small braches imbedded in my chest. Thank goodness I fell when no cars were passing by. I quickly pulled myself up and evaluated the dammage. I ended up with a bloody knee, elbow and hand along with a scaped up chest....and the shrub, well it will pull through but it doesn't look very pretty right now.
Now if my training had gone as planned this summer I would have been 20 pounds lighter and the shrub would still be in one piece.
Posted by Fred at 05:28 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | More in: Random Thoughts
August 31, 2005
Blogging is impacting my marathon training...
I just realized that there really is a direct correlation between my marathon training and my blogging. It has been almost a month since I last posted on my blog and it has been equally as long since I had good run. In fact my only runs the past few weeks have been to measure the run courses for our TriAmerica races. Seeing how the past two TriAmerica races had 5K loop courses, I certainly can't say I chalked up any mileage. I now have to face the fact that there is no way I could survive a major marathon a couple of months from now. I guess I could wear purple and pretend I was a TNT athlete so I could walk the marathon. I kid the TNT athletes, they are a great group of people supporting a great cause.
I sort of knew this might happen when I signed up for the marathon this spring. Once our triathlon season is underway and we hit the road with our TriAmerica Series, sleep tends to work its way down low on my priority list. Its not that I don't enjoy my sleep, there's just too much work to be done and not enough hours in the day. Hmmm, it may be time for me to join workaholics anonymous.
Of course now I have to pick another event to train for. I need something to aim for or I’ll never motivate myself to get back in shape. If I can jump-start my running soon I could build up a strong enough base to run the Honolulu Marathon in mid-December. It is one of the few major marathons that has no limit on participation. You can actually sign-up race week.
To complicate matters I threw my back out last week. It is all I can do to try and stand up straight. I was hoping to make it to a chiropractor before I hopped on the plane to our TriAmerica Vail race, but seeing how I was only home one day this week, time was not on my side. I'm sure I'll be able to locate one when we get settled in Vail.
My back has actually been nice to me so far this year. I totally abused my back when I was in the nursery business, and it lets me know that several times a year. I hate admit it, but I think old age may also have something to do with it.
Time to get back to work…
Posted by Fred at 08:56 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | More in: Random Thoughts
July 24, 2005
Marriage is imminent...
Now that you have just pulled yourself up off of the floor, rest assured, I'm not talking about me.... I know that day will never come. We are talking about the marriage between the South Lake Trail and Orange County's West Orange Trail. This on again, off again marriage has been in the works for years. Lake County has been like the runaway bride. Every time the state proposes, Lake County either shows no interest or runs away from the project. Had the county not drug its feet in the early days, the trail would already be built and it would be on the original railroad bed, much of which was tree-lined. With Lake County not being aggressive and supportive when it comes to trail projects, the state passed the funding on to other trail projects. I just learned we recently lost funding for the design phase on the western extension that will take the trail towards Groveland, and eventually all the way to the Van Fleet Trail. Again, this was a result of lack of action by our county. You do not have to travel far out of Lake County to access the successful trail systems of Orange and Seminole Counties. Hopefully one day Lake County will wake up and maybe learn something from our neighboring counties.
Clermont is not much better when it comes to support of the trail system. While we have a beautiful trail in Clermont, there is no city wide plan to direct residents to the trail. Even one of the widest roads in town, East Avenue, that connects to the trail and passes by two schools, does not have designated bike lanes. I pushed for the establishment of designated routes directing residents from various parts of town to the trail years ago, but with no luck. There are no trail maps available locally and there is not even a display board at Waterfront Park with information on the trail.
If I had a real job that allowed me more free time, I would be more active in pushing for more community and governmental support. I have been very active in the past serving at the state level on the Recreational Trail Task Force and locally on the Lake County Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Council and the City of Clermont Parks and Recreation Council. One thing you learn quickly by serving on these volunteer boards, you can advise all you want, but if you do not have someone at the top that cares, it really does not matter. This is one time when some turnover in a few key governmental and staff positions would be the best thing that could happen to the City and the County.
Now back to the trail connection. The official ground breaking is scheduled for August 10. The construction contract has already been awarded and the build out is scheduled to take 270 days. The section along Old HWY 50 will not be that great, it just parallels the road. When it crosses over to 455, it more closely follows the old rail bed so it should be more shaded and scenic. Hopefully when it is open, the county will take notice to its success and usage, and become more aggressive in pursuing other trail projects.
Posted by Fred at 03:14 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | More in: Random Thoughts
July 23, 2005
Oh yeah, what about those wasps?
Several people have asked what the outcome was with my battle with my not so friendly neighborhood yellow jacket nest. Well I finally won, but my victory did not come easy. I engaged several more battles, and they won most. My main weapon was water, and lots of it. Seeing how the nest was underground, and one of my previous battles created a nice crater over the nest, I just knew I could drown them out. I underestimated the percolation of our sugar sand. I ran a water hose for 48 hours non stop and all I ended up with was a small puddle over the nest. The water was disappearing as fast as it was coming out of the hose and the wasps were still coming and going through several side holes along the rim of the crater. I would move the hose so the water would flow into their entrance, and then a new entrance would appear a few hours later on the other side.
As with most of my battles, every time I would engage them, I would have to leave right afterwards for one of our out of town events. Fortunately we have had one of the wettest July's on record. With all the rain, the ground finally became saturated enough so that when I started my next water attack, the water was able to rise to the rim of the crater. I let it flood for 12 hours and then took off for another road trip.
When I returned, the wasps were still there! Their numbers had dwindled though, so I was making progress. I soon realized they had created a nest under the slight berm surrounding the crater. I grabbed a 10 foot pipe I had been using earlier to probe the nest and punched a few holes in their new nest....and then did a 100 yard dash to the house. It is amazing how many wasps can fly out of a small hole in a short period of time. A few hours later I head back down to the nest with hose in hand. I placed it near the nest and the stream of water quickly found its way into the heart of the nest. About 8 hours later I shut the water off and let things settle down for a few hours. When I return to the nest, I'm pleased to see there is no traffic in and out of the nest. A few confused wasps are still buzzing around, but not enough to be a threat. I then drenched the area with a pesticide as a precaution and hopefully a deterrent to a future nest.
Now, two weeks later the area is officially wasp free! I have a strange feeling they are still around, in another location, and will soon be seeking revenge. This time I will be ready....
Posted by Fred at 06:19 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | More in: Random Thoughts
June 28, 2005
Time to move
About a month ago our building was sold and our new landlord recently stopped by with the new figures for our rent. All I can say is OUCH! Although entry fees ultimately help pay for our rent, unfortunately it is too late to increase each entry fee by $3 this year. That is what it would take to cover the increase in our rent.
It is hard to imagine that we have been in this same office in Clermont for 15 years now. We moved to 838 West Desoto Street in 1991, the same year we introduced the Great Floridian Triathlon. Prior to that time, I ran everything out of my house. At first we shared the office with a couple of other tenants. One was a graphic artist and the other was a computer salesman. After a couple of years they both moved out and we took over all the space.
Recently, office space in Clermont has become scarce and rather pricey. It is the old supply and demand theory. Clermont is growing too fast and office space is not keeping up with the growth. I must admit we had a good deal with our old landlord. He only raised our rent slightly each year so we had no reason to look elsewhere.
Many people picture us in a giant glass building overlooking Lake Minneola. Everyone is in private offices with a receptionist out front to great all of our visitors. Yeah right! Our office is part temporary storage, part work room, and part office space. We are a team of 5-6 doing the work of 10-12. Although we don't overlook Lake Minneola, we do overlook a small pond that serves as a retention pond for Downtown Clermont and HWY 50. Not quite the same ambience...
Now for the bad news, our rent jumped up from less than $750 a month to just over $2,000 a month. This guy must be nuts, we're on a side street in Downtown Clermont with very little parking. You can get office space right on HWY 50 for the same price.
So now the search begins. We ready to move out and July is a great month to do it. We only have two out of state events in July so we could easily execute a move. We'll just treat it as another event.
The tough part is finding a place to move to. Currently there is very little office space available in Clermont. If we move out of the Clermont area, we would save at least $6,000-$8,000 a year. Something I have to ponder....
Now if we only had the 300 square feet of office that was promised to us by the National Training Center when it was being built, moving out of our Desoto Street office would not be so tough. Unfortunately our promised office space at the NTC ended up being just a dream, along with the other promises that were made to us like; "The NTC is not, and never will be, in the event business....we will not put events on that will compete with yours....and CFT will be our event and training camp partner at the NTC". It is amazing how many people in Clermont think our offices are up at the NTC.
So now the search begins. We are looking for 800-1,200 square feet of office space that is available now. Anyone have any leads?
Posted by Fred at 06:38 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack | More in: Random Thoughts
Training and Blogging
My blogging and my marathon training are both performing at the same level - terrible. Actually I did get a couple of short runs in over the weekend, and I started several new posts on my blog, so there may be hope. Now I just need to finish my blog posts and continue with my running and I'll be back on track.
Posted by Fred at 06:33 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | More in: Random Thoughts
June 03, 2005
Yellow Jackets - 5; Fred - 0
Grrrrrrrhhhhhhh!!!! This is absurd, those damn wasps are still there. With all the rain we've been having I didn't have time to check out the damages until Thursday.
I think I'm making progress though, I just need to act fast before the hive gets back up to full capacity.
The result of my fire was a hole that is about 4 feet across and 18 inches deep. That's a fairly good size wasp nest. The heat must have colapsed the top levels of the nest in order to make such a perfect depression. Now that I can see the nest better, I noticed there are four distinct entrances to hive located around the perimeter of the hole. This will meake it slightly more challenging for my next attack.
I spent a few hours on the web researching ground wasps so now I feel I'm ready for my move. Weather permitting, my next attack will be Sunday night or super early Monday morning. I head out of town early Monday for a visit to Minneapolis-St. Paul so I'll do another attack and get out of town mission.
More to follow....
Posted by Fred at 09:07 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | More in: Random Thoughts
Technolgy, don't fail me now!
It never fails, when you are at deadline preparing for a race, technolgy always lets you down. Either we have a major network crash, our DSL goes down, my computer crashes, or we have printer problems.
This time it was our high speed color copier/printer. We print most of our race materials in house, including final instruction booklets, course maps, and just recently, our race numbers. A couple of days ago I noticed we were having registration issues with color printing. Our service guy was quick to respond, but the news was not good. We need a new belt and some other exotic parts, non of which could be located in their Florida warehouse. Finally the parts are located in another part of the country and are overnighted to the tech guy.
Now it's early Friday afternoon and we have 4 hours of ptinting to look forward to before we can stuff packets. I guess it will be another long night....
Posted by Fred at 12:43 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | More in: Random Thoughts
June 01, 2005
Yellow Jackets - 4; Fred - 0
That was the score leading up to my Sunday night offensive against the Minneola Yellow Jackets. The odds were not in my favor, but this was one match I had to win.
It all started a few weeks back when I decided to break up a large bed of bromeliads. If you are familiar with my yard, you know it is part jungle, part botanical garden. Hardly a week goes by that I don't locate something else to plant. Many of the plants are the result of my journeys to local nurseries while we are on the road with our events. I really hit the jackpot when we went to Arizona with our TriAmerica Series. I smuggled back all sorts of west coast plants in our truck.
Anyways, back to my battle with the yellow jackets. It began while I was standing in the middle of the bromeliad bed figuring out my strategy. Something started buzzing around my head but I just figured it was a determined horse fly that had been antagonizing me earlier in the day. I swatted it away and bent down to start pulling up plants. Little did I know that it was actually a wasp and it just let out a silent battle cry that would soon trigger a mass attack. Within seconds I was being swarmed. It caught me totally by surprise. It took a couple of seconds and a rather painful sting to realize that I was in some serious trouble. Off I went in a mad sprint away from ground zero. Thank goodness nobody was driving by the yard at the time because it looked like I was performing some sort of exotic tribal dance as I did everything possible to get the wasps off of me. I made it half way up the yard towards my house and assumed I had outrun the wasps. Besides, I needed to let my heart rate drop down below 200 bpm. Big mistake, the wasps where right there with me and I was shocked to see at least a dozen clinging to my shorts, a few of them where a little bit to close to an area I did not want stung. My body jumped into turbo drive as I did a mad dash to the house. I had my shorts off before I was in the door and was in the shower a few seconds later. While the cold water was drenching my body I quickly checked to make sure I did not have any of the unwanted guests with me. It was then the adrenaline started to wear off and the pain began. I felt like I was a human dart board. The count, eleven major stings that I could see and a few more that I could not. This meant war!!!!
After a few hours the pain subsides and off I go to Home depot for some hornet spray. The label says one can will do the trick, so I purchase two. I head down to the war zone to locate the nest. My findings were not good, it was an underground nest. I had never encountered one of those before and I quickly recalled the many news stories I had read of people and animals being attacked, and sometimes even killed, by their encounters with underground yellow jacket nests. The cans say the spray will reach 15 feet so I get only as close as need be in order for the spray to reach the nest. I start unloading my liquid weapon and the wasps go crazy. Fortunately they seem more interested in attacking the streams of spray hitting their nest than coming after me. After emptying both cans I leave feeling confident the war would soon be over.
The next afternoon I head down to the battle zone. Much to my surprise it was business as usual for the wasps, with a steady stream of the creatures coming and going in and out of the nest. I was furious. I decide my next step would be to thoroughly drench the nest with insecticide. I mix up an exotic insecticide cocktail for my new friends and then super-size it to five gallons. I load it into my high pressure sprayer and totally drench the nest. No insect could live through this I figure.
After being away for a couple of days for a site visit, I return and anxiously head down to the war zone with shovel in hand. I was curious what the inside of the nest looked like. As I approached I was shocked to see wasps coming and going in the nest as if nothing had happened. This had to be a joke; it was as if my pesticide cocktail was an energy drink to them.
I then decide to head up to our local farm store to see if they can offer some advice. The sales clerk tells me about this new spray foam especially created for hard to kill wasps. One large can will do the trick he says, so again I grab two. With cans in hand, off I go to battle. I quickly unload both cans and the entire nest is soon drenched in inches of foam. I can see wasps already dropping after coming in contact with this stuff so I know it's going to do the trick.
A few days later I return from one of our road trips and I quickly dash down to the nest to check things out. Once again I can hardly believe my eyes when I see the wasps buzzing in and out of the ground as if nothing had happened. Now it was time to be creative. I remember watching a story on TV where the pest control guys came in with a giant vacuum and sucked all the wasps out. I was not sure if my shop vac was strong enough for that so I thought for a few seconds and then fire popped in my mind. Besides, the entrance to the nest was partially covered with a downed branch and I knew it would eventually have to go if I was going to get up close and personal with the wasps. Fire would do the trick! I plan out my strategy; I knew I would have to be quick with the fire, a flame thrower approach would be ideal. I gather up a bunch of palm fronds and sprinkle them with tiki torch fuel. I also gather up plenty of fire wood because I wanted this fire to burn long and hot. My strategy was to quickly throw a small bucket of torch fuel on the mound and almost instantly light it. I knew I only had one chance to light it so I drench a t-shirt in tiki fuel and hang it on a long pole. I decide to attack at sundown because I knew most of the wasps would be inside the nest.
It's time to go to battle. I toss the fluid and drop the burning shirt on the nest...woooooosh, success! I quickly toss the palm fronds on the fire followed shortly there after by the firewood. I watch the fire burn for a while until I knew it was under control. Before taking off to the airport for our Zion site visit, I walk down to the nest to check out the remains of the fire. The coals are still glowing and radiating out heat. There is no way the nest survived this. If nothing else, the fire had to seal the nest entrance for good.
Now I'm on our return flight to Orlando and I can't wait till tomorrow morning when I can view the results. I just know I will be victorious!
Posted by Fred at 01:26 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | More in: Random Thoughts
May 19, 2005
The hurrier I go, the behinder I get....
I came down with a monster cold the beginning of this month and that sort of set the stage for a crazy couple of weeks. I can't believe I came down with a darn cold. I always amaze myself how I manage to escape all the bugs that go around, especially seeing how I'm always surrounded by stress and go for days with only 3-4 hours sleep a night max. Maybe it was my marathon training that did me in. :)
During the past three weeks I started no less than 10 new entries on my blog, but I never got past the first paragraph on any of them. No more excuses, my cold has finally left me and my brain is beginning to function once again.
I have lots of stuff to report on, so stay tuned.
Posted by Fred at 02:54 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | More in: Random Thoughts
April 29, 2005
Ticked off at road-hog cyclists....
I think we have all passed this lady while cycling or running out this way.
From Monday's TICKED-OFF section in the Orlando Sentinel:
I am ticked off at the stupid bicyclists in Clermont who ride in the middle of the road and refuse to move to the side. I am going to turn a few of them into hood ornaments for my Ford Explorer if they don't quit hogging the road. Perhaps their cutesy bike pants are blocking the blood flow to their brains.
Posted by Fred at 01:29 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | More in: Random Thoughts
April 28, 2005
Too many men????
About every couple of weeks I hear of another "man" surfacing in the triathlon world. Last year I started to compile a list of the new men entering the sport. The list kept growing, and growing...it was unbelievable. What is it with this sport's obsession with a man? Sure there is the granddaddy of all men, the Ironman, but come on race directors, try to be more creative and original when naming your races. Maybe I'm missing something...lets see, TriAmericaman, Great Floridianman....nope!
I did some research and I found a total of 68 manly races. For some names like Tinman, you will find many events with the same name. I only listed one occurrence for each unique man. Here they are -
1. Abitaman
2. Amphibiaman
3. Aquaman
4. Atomicman
5. Boilerman
6. Buffman
7. Californiaman
8. Cajunman
9. Chesapeakeman
10. Chickenwingman
11. Concreteman
12. Cornman
13. Crawfishman
14. Cyman
15. Deadman
16. Demolitionman
17. Demoman
18. Devilman
19. Diamondman
20. Dilloman
21. Dutchman
22. Eagleman
23. Firmman
24. Gatorman
25. Grandman
26. Hammerman
27. Hillman
28. Iceman
29. Ironman
30. Lavaman
31. Lobsterman
32. Mattoonman
33. Miamiman
34. Mightyman
35. Milkman
36. Minneman
37. Missionman
38. Mooseman
39. Mossman
40. Mountainman
41. Musselman
42. Oddman
43. Pigman
44. Pineappleman
45. Pineman
46. Powerman
47. Prairieman
48. Pumkinman
49. Quarterman
50. Redman
51. Rocketman
52. Sandman
53. Shrimpman
54. Silverman
55. Spudman
56. Steelman
57. Stoneman
58. Terraquaman
59. Texasman
60. Timberman
61. Tinfoilman
62. Tinman
63. Titaniumman
64. Turtleman
65. Ultraman
66. Vineman
67. Windman
68. Woolman
I'm sure there are lots more men out there than the just the ones listed above.
Alright ladies, for the past several years the percentage of women in the sport has been increasing. Isn't it about time you got the recognition you deserve in race names?
Start lobbying.....
Posted by Fred at 04:32 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | More in: Random Thoughts
April 26, 2005
Zoom, zoom, zoom....
I just set a new PR for a trip from the my office to Orlando International Airport. I think I made this trip at least 50 times last year so I have my timeline down to a science. Usually it takes a minimum of 40 minutes to arrive in the parking garage, and if I am forced to travel in rush hour traffic, it could take an hour. Last Wednesday I had a 6:00am flight to Portland. As is often the case before I take off for a multi-day trip, I pulled an all-nighter so I could get as much office work done as possible before I left. Everything was on track for an on time departure from Clermont at 4:00am, until I started encountering troubles with our color printer. You see I had to print out collateral materials for my trip and I did not receive the files until that night. It is amazing how fast time zips by when you start encountering technical difficulties and are on a timeline.
I finally get my stuff printed and head out to the airport. As I leave Clermont I glance down at my watch and am shocked to see that it is now 4:45am. Yipes, I was thinking it was more like 4:20am.
I know it doesn't do any good to keep looking at my watch so I just concentrate on getting to the airport as quickly as possible. My mind plays out all the possible scenarios and what my stragey will be when I get there. My Pathfinder rises to the occassion and I arrive at the airport in record time. My strategy is to drive up to the curbside check in, and then go park. The airline has a 45 minute cutoff for checking in before a flight and this will buy me a few extra minutes. Even though I printed my boarding passes online, I still have to check-in onsite to check my baggage. I bribe the Skycap and he manages to overide the system and was able to check me in. I figure there will be no way my luggage would make it on the same flight, but he assures me it will.
Awesome, now I just need to park, dash into the terminal and hope the the security checkpoint has no lines. It is hit or miss in Orlando. Sometimes you breeze through, other days it takes an hour to weave your way through the lines. Luck is my side and I fly through the checkpoint in record time.
I'm on my way with time to spare!
Posted by Fred at 10:21 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | More in: Random Thoughts
Hey, a real person, what's up with that????
If you've called our office the past couple of weeks, during somewhat reasonable business hours, you may have been caught off guard. We now have a real person answering the phones! Instead of having all calls go directly into our auto-attendant/voice mail system, you'll now be greeted by the friendly voice of Andrea. I know it has already caught many of our frequent callers off guard. It even catches me by surprise when I call in to access my voice mail while traveling. That's the only time you really want to get the auto-attendant so you can punch in your access codes.
This is all part of our new "Athletes First" strategy for 2005. In the past it was always a challenge to catch a real person via telephone at our offices. For some reason athletes picture us being a giant glass building, overlooking Lake Minneola, with an army of employees running around. Yeah right! We have a small staff and we are involved in over 40 major events each year. We've been in the same office for 14 years now. I admit there have been times when we spread ourselves too thin, but my team always steps up to the plate and delivers 200%.
This is the first time we have had a full time dedicated executive assistant and I'm psyched! Andrea was hired so we could give the athletes, our customers, the quality customer service they deserve. This is just the first step in many changes you will be seeing the next few months. Stayed tuned for more details....
Posted by Fred at 04:46 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | More in: Random Thoughts
April 25, 2005
Drunken Monkey and the Cherry Bomb....
That sums up what I encountered a week ago Sunday. It was such a fun time that I decided to give it another go this past Sunday. Before those of you with creative minds let your imaginations run wild, I will let you know it was a very demanding and exhilarating experience, and I ended up bloody afterwards.
What I am talking about is mountain biking. Both the Drunken Monkey and Cherry Bomb are parts of the off road trails located in the Withalacoochee State Forest west of Clermont. With numerous abandoned phosphate and lime rock pits, scattered throughout the area, the terrain is as varied as you will find in Florida.
During our most recent excursion, we got turned around while playing in one of the pits. We ended up heading out in another direction and missed our return visit to "Drunken Monkey" and "Cherry Bomb". It also gave me the opportunity to perform my first ever face plant while mountain biking. Thank god for soft sand and my helmet.
I have one more free Sunday until we go non stop with events for 10 weeks or so. This time the Drunken Monkey will be no match for me!
Posted by Fred at 02:24 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | More in: Random Thoughts
April 07, 2005
Darn, I'm in, now what do I do...
Confirmation - Dear FRED SOMMER, You have successfully registered for the 30TH MARINE CORPS MARATHON.
What was I thinking here...like I can really run a marathon the week after the GFT. But hey, I need something to motiviate me to train during the summer. I've always wanted to run Marine Corps, but most years it falls on the same weekend as the GFT. This is one of the few years it doesn't, so I decided to give it a shot. It has been at least 7 or 8 years since I last ran a marathon, and I'm up for the challenge!
Posted by Fred at 02:05 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | More in: Random Thoughts
March 31, 2005
The final four...
With all the talk of the "Big Four" dominating the sports news over past couple of weeks, you would naturally expect that this would also be a hot topic of discussion in our office. Well it certainly was, but it had nothing to do with basketball. You see we had our own final four competion going on. For the past few weeks we have been conducting interviews for a new administrative asistant position within our organization. It was amazing how many quality resumes we received. Unfortunately anyone who lived more than 10 miles from Clermont was automatically eliminated. I did not want anyone coming in to the office in the morning with road rage.
My hiring record has not always been the greatest. I have learned the hard way that enthusiasm for the job does not always equate to great job performance. This time I let Brian and Cindy perform the preliminary in person and phone interviews. After doing so, they came up with their final four and that is when I was brought in for the final interview process.
I'm excited to report that we now have a new administrative assistant that will be joining our organization next week. I'm psyched!
Posted by Fred at 10:20 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | More in: Random Thoughts
I'm still alive...
I know it has been a week since I last posted, but don't fret, I'll have have my posts from this past week up tonight. I have a bunch in progress, but have not had the time to finish them off. These 15 hour + work days take their toll on you...
Posted by Fred at 08:46 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack | More in: Random Thoughts
March 29, 2005
Man I feel old!
Easter weekend I traveled to Daytona Beach to time the 37th Annual Easter Beach Run. Easter came early this year, placing the run in the middle of the spring break craziness. I knew heading over to Daytona it was going to be a wild weekend. Once I left Orlando I heard on the radio that there was a tornado warning in effect for the Daytona beach area. I then realized I was on an intercept course with the storm's projected track. Oh well I figure, I'm driving a fairly solid rig, a big Ford F350 with our 24 foot, 10,000 pound timing trailer behind it. No such luck, after I pass the speedway the storm rolls in and I thought I was going to roll over. Time to pull over and sit this one out.
I arrive at my hotel and the place is crazy, college and high school kids are everywhere. It brought back memories from my high school days and the frequent trips to Daytona we made. Walking back from the parking lot to my hotel I had one of those classic experiences you think only happen in the movies. The roads are still flooded from all the rain so I make sure I walk as far away from the edge of the road as possible. I want to make sure I'm not a target for a car splasher. The coast is clear so I approach the intersection where I need to cross over to get to my hotel. Well this card load of kids swerves over from the inside lane to the outside lane to hit a giant puddle on edge of the road where I am standing. A giant wall of water leaps up from the ground and toatally drenches me. The kids blast their horn at me and zoom off. I was pissed, but then I remember, I was young once too. I was a total hell raiser as a kid and I splashed many an unsuspecting tourist in my younger days.
Saturday afternoon is race day and the storms return. We are all set to start the 4-miler and the beach patrol tells us it is a no go, lightning is moving in. We start to review our options; cancel, delay, postpone, or shorten the course. Meanwhile, while watching the beach patrol's radar, it appears the storm is slowing down and moving slightly inland. The race director is able persuade them to let us start the race and off the runners go. Five minutes later you can here the rumble of thunder and the rain starts up again. The thunder faded away but the rain picked up and everyone and everything got drenched.
Usually we end up with an average of three drenched races a year. We've already had two so far this year so maybe the rest of the year will be dry!
Posted by Fred at 10:21 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | More in: Random Thoughts
March 23, 2005
Want to trade spouses????
This could be the opportunity many of you have been hoping for...to trade in your current spouse for a new one! You could even make $50,000 in the process...what a deal!
Here's the scoop. I was contacted by a casting agency looking for a fitness oriented family for the TV Show Trading Spouses. Below is an excerpt ftom her email:
I think a motivated and driven Mom/Dad involved in athletics would be fantastic for the show. If you are not familiar with 'Trading Spouses', it is a family-oriented reality-based show on the FOX network that highlights various cultures and lifestyles of families across America. It’s been compared to a "foreign exchange student program" for Moms. It's a once in a lifetime experience that is fun, educational, and profitable – at the end of our seven day shoot, each family that has participated has received $50,000.00!
Perhaps you know of a family that may be perfect for the show. (FYI, each family must consist of at least one child between 6-17 years of age and have two parents within the home). We have a deadline approaching, and I would love to extend this opportunity to as many families as possible.
If you know of a family that may be interested, tap back at me and I'll fill you in on the rest of the details.
Posted by Fred at 06:37 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | More in: Random Thoughts
March 14, 2005
Gators and spiders and snakes, oh my!
We had one of those weekends you live for; warm and sunny, very little humidity and a nice breeze....you had to be crazy to stay indoors. You can tell winter is over because our cold-blooded creatures are beginning to stir. Saturday morning, while running along the Minneola Trail, I was greeted by a beautiful 4 foot black racer. As it slithered across the trail in front of me, I had all to do to keep myself from chasing it into the woods. You see I still have a bit of "Crocodile Hunter" in me. In my younger days, I had all sorts of animals and reptiles for pets. Over the years I've captured about every type of reptile you can find in Florida, even the poisonous ones. Normally it was just a catch and release program, although I did take care of a few poisonous ones that made themselves a bit to comfy in my house or yard. Yes I said house. You really don't want to share your living space with a coral snake. If you know where I live you would understand why. I still live in the house I grew up in. It's a grand old wooden house, built in 1929, overlooking Lake Minneola. It still has some undeveloped land attached to it and it is refuge for a bunch of animals, including a cute little red fox.
Sunday I decided to spend a few hours kayaking. I have a 17 foot touring kayak, the kind you sit inside. Before I climb in, I always look inside the hull to make sure no unwanted passengers are inside. You would be surprised how many creatures love to make the kayak their home. Nothing jumped out at me, so away I go. Sunday was fairly breezy so kayaking across Lake Minneola was sort of challenging. About half way across the lake I feel something large climbing up my leg. By instinct I reach down, scoop it up with my hand, and toss it out to sea. I've done this drill before. Of course my heart skips about three beats and I nearly capsize my kayak in the process. Damn wolf spiders! I don't mind spiders when I know where they are at, but I do not like being surprised by them. If you are a native Floridian, you know that wolf spiders are our friends. They can have a leg span about the size of your hand and they love to eat large insects, like cockroaches. If you shine a flashlight on them at night, their tiny eyes glow bright red. I felt guilty that this spider was now going to be lunch for some large mouth bass.
Another animal that has red eyes at night is the trusty alligator. I learned as a kid during our night-time excursions to find gators, the further apart the red eyes are, the further away I needed to be!
One of my missions during my kayak tour was to check out a piece of property that developers were getting ready to rape and pillage. It used to be a sand mine years ago and it is connected to Lake Minneola and other lakes in the Clermont chain via the Palatlakaha River. There is small canal that surrounds the entire back side of the property. I decide to check it out. I used the opportunity to relax and let the wind blow me along. I was at peace with nature and the local wildlife....large turtles, rabbits, a Florida otter, swamp birds, and an alligator! That is where the "at peace" part ends. As I was drifting down the canal my mind was in another world. All of a sudden a small gator jumped off the bank and splashed into the water about 5 feet in front of me. It scared the bejesus out of me! Had I seen the gator lounging on the bank in advance, it would not have been a big deal. But when you are in a relaxed state of mind and you see a large black object jump off the bank into the water in front of you, you quickly get a reality check. It was just a baby, maybe 5 or 6 feet max, but it certainly got my adrenalin pumping. I waited in the area for a few minutes to see if it would surface, but it decided to stay down below. They can stay underwater for 20-30 minutes before they have to come up for air. I continued on with my journey, but this time I was more alert.
What a cool weekend...I got to experience gators and spiders and snakes, oh my!
Posted by Fred at 04:48 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | More in: Random Thoughts
March 11, 2005
Iron battle in the outback...
If you follow the sport, you may have heard about the big battle brewing in the outback. Forster has been the home of Ironman Australia for nearly 20 years. Well their contract is up this year and the folks that own the rights to Ironman in Australia, IMG, have been shopping for a new location. It appears that Forster was not on the list.
The headline from ABC News Australia says alot -
Council outraged over Govt's triathlon support
The NSW Government's decision to financially back Port Macquarie's bid to host the Australian Ironman Triathlon from next year has left Great Lakes Council reeling in shock.
The Major Events Board is providing $100,000 a year to Port Macquarie for three years, with performance agreements after that.
The news follows Great Lakes Council's decision last week to withdraw its bid.
Mayor John Chadban says it is a scandalous situation.
He says despite years of lobbying Great Lakes Council, which hosted the event for 20 years, has never been able to get any support from the Government and it is the reason it pulled out.
"We were never able to attract money because of the commercialisation of the event we were told anyhow," he said.
"We're absolutely shocked of the likelihood of that event being funded at another location.
"One wonders whether this is a political ruse and we're caught in the middle of it and that's of concern to our community."
The good news is that Forster has decided to stage the event on their own in 2006 as an independent iron-distance race. You may recall the same thing happened in Germany a few years back when Ironman Germany pulled out of Roth. The race continued on as an independent and still sells out. Foreign athletes are not as obsessed with the Ironman brand name as American athletes are.
Go Forster!!!
Posted by Fred at 09:18 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack | More in: Random Thoughts, Triathlon
March 08, 2005
Not to be outdone by NYC, Clermont wraps Waterfront Park
Look out Cristo, you have competition. Some folks here in Clermont commissioned Crisco to wrap the area around Clermont's Waterfront Park. With sureveyor stakes and flagging tape, it doesn't have quite the impact as the gates of Central Park. Hey this is Clermont, it's hard to attract someone of the caliber of Cristo
You think I'm joking, no way! Well maybe the Crisco part, but it is Pig on the Pond Weekend and I'm sure Crisco is the foundation for many of the treats that will be served up during the weekend.
Pig on the Pond is one of Clermont's few festivals. It started a few years back and has really taken off. I'm not exactly sure why. It's a sanctioned BBQ cook off, but the BBQ is not served to the general public. Throw in some carnival rides and games, several funnel cake vendors, live gospel and country music, and a Saturday night fireworks display and you have Pig on the Pond.
The first year I went to the festival it really lived up to it's name. I had never seen so many "Hefty Honeys" gathered in one location in my life. I guess you should expect that when the festival has a food theme.
Clermont's wrap is quite ugly and darn right tacky. Unfortunately I have to take some reponsibility for it. You see about 6 or 7 years ago we started using flagging tape to keep athletes from parking on the yards in close proximety to Waterfront Park. The day before the race we would drive stakes and run the tape from stake to stake. It did the job it was meant to, at least when it stayed up. You see the tape is quite thin and it doesn't take much wind to stretch or break the tape. Usually by the time the race got underway the tape was already on the ground. Since then we have graduated up to a few strategically placed no parking signs and a bunch of cops to keep cars from accessing the no parking areas before the race. Public parking is limited in close proximety to the park, hence the need for the parking restrictions. Got to keep the local residents happy you know.
The Pig on Pond folks were told that the triathlons use stakes and tape to keep cars off yards, so they must have decided that if it is good enough for the triathlons, it's good enough for them! Early this week they drove about two miles worth of stakes in the ground and started running tape. They went stake crazy....at least two thirds of the areas they staked and taped you couldn't even park there if you wanted to. By the end of the first day the tape was already sagging and broken in many locations. The trouble is the festival is still three days away.
The bottom line is that it makes the area around Waterfront Park look like crap!
Posted by Fred at 01:49 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | More in: Random Thoughts
March 04, 2005
Protect your banana!
Are you tired of finding your banana bruised or squashed??? If so, then check out the Banana Guard. This is for real!
I never know what I will find during my morning web searches...
Posted by Fred at 06:52 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | More in: Random Thoughts
March 02, 2005
Delayed awaiting inbound aircraft.
That was the message on the board when I arrived at the airport. I knew I should have checked my flight's status before I left the hotel. My brain does not function well when the temperature is in the single digits outside, and it just slipped my mind.
You guessed right, this was my return trip to Zion to get city approval for our TriAmerica Chicago race. At least I made it up OK this time. My flight was late arriving, but not late enough to make me miss the city council meeting. Fortunately the major snow storm had already passed and was on its way to ceate havoc on the east coast.
It is always enjoyable to go to a new city because in most cases they really want us to be there. Everyone is so positive and the "can do" attitude is quite a change from what we experience in our own backyard. Because I have been hosting triathlons in Clermont for 21 years, I'm not sure the business community and city folks appreciate what we do for the community. I'm still waiting for the day when our city manager actually thanks me or expresses some type of appreciation for what I have done for Clermont. He's been there for 20 years and I'm still waiting. Today we had a joint meeting with the Lake County Sheriff's Department and Clermont Police Department to talk about our 2005 Clermont events. If I encountered the same negativity at one of our TriAmerica host community meetings, I would most likely say thanks, but no thanks, and look for another host community. Don't get me wrong, the police do a great job at our events, they just don't embrace these type of events like other communities.
Posted by Fred at 09:43 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | More in: Random Thoughts, Travel
February 27, 2005
Another rainy day in paradise
Rain is never fun for a race timer. Besides making everyone's life miserable, it plays havoc with our electronic timing equipment. Our last rainy event was last fall's Marathon of the Palm Beaches. Not only was it wet, it was very windy and stormy.
Now it's time for another soaker, Florida's Great Escape Tri. Unlike marathon athletes, triathletes are used to being wet. The only way it could be worse would be if it was cold out. Lucky for us and the athletes, the temperature is moderate.
According to the Race Director's Almanac, we are forcast to have three wet events this year. One down two to go.....
Posted by Fred at 09:01 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | More in: Random Thoughts
February 25, 2005
Cisis, what crisis, continued...
Driving in the snow and ice is not fun. I cannot help but think about those clips you see on the weather channel where cars just slide around and crash into each other. I make sure I keep about 20 car lengths between me and car in front so I have plenty of sliding room.
I finally make it up to Vail and am able to pry my hands off the steering wheel. First thing on today's agenda is to review the course so everything will be fresh in my mind for tomorrow's meeting with the police and public works. After Sybil and I slide around town for a couple of hours, its time to change gears and meet with tourism folks. John will be my host as we tour several hotel properties that will serve as host properties for the race. Everyone is excited about TriAmerica coming to town and are anxious to be involved.
After lunch, it's time to meet with the rest of the tourism folks to talk strategy and answer any questions they may have about our program. Their mission is the same as all the tourism groups, they want "heads in beds".
During the course of the day I hear the news I was hoping for, a meeting has been arranged with the Town of Avon on Tuesday. I also learn that I'm going solo, no help from the toursim folks. I explain to them that I do not enjoy being thrown out to the wolves, so they arrange to get Rick, the angency guy that brought us to Vail, to attend the meeting.
Day one is over and it's time to unwind. The first few trips to a new venue are always the best. You get the red carpet treatment and they always put you up in a nice place. My room was awesome! It was beside a small creek overlooking the ski lift at the base of the resort....what a view. Then reality sets in, I have tons of work waiting for me so it's back to the laptop and my never ending flood of emails.
The meeting with the Town of Avon goes better than I expected. We talk about merging their event with ours in hopes of creating a win-win for everyone. Their event has a nine year history, but it has some drawbacks. It has a pool swim and an extremely challenging bike course. Our event will have a lake swim and an easier bike course. Because their event has already been approved by the Avon Town Council, any changes will have to go before the council for approval. Now the ball is back in my court to provide documentation on how this can be a win-win for everyone.
The final meeting of the day is with the Vail Police Department and public works. We discuss our proposed course and potential locations for the second transition area and the finish line. Of course we have to factor in a few challenges to make things more interesting. We are not the only event coming to town that weekend, there's a farmer's market, wine and food festival, and a jazz festival. Add to the mix several road closures and major construction projects and let the fun begin.
I've had all the fun I can handle for this trip so I decide that May would be a good time for another visit to finalize the courses. It's hard to envision a triathlon transition area when everything is buried in snow.
Posted by Fred at 09:17 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | More in: Random Thoughts
February 24, 2005
Crisis, what crisis?
For all of our TriAmerica events, we partner with an organization that wants us to be there. They are the driving force behind the event in that market. Our partners vary in each market and usually include at least one of the following: Chamber of Commerce, Convention & Tourism Bureau, Sports Commission, City Rec Department, and Economic Development Agency.
In the cae of Vail, it was a private agency that was hired by the city to bring special events to the city. Potential events then go before the town's Special Event Committee to see if they make the cut. Once approved, the Tourism Bureau joins the mix.
Our Vail race will be unique within the series in that it will be a point to point race. If you have been to the Vail Valley you know there are not many options for open water swimming. Hence our swim will take place in Avon, a town located about 10 miles west of Vail.
My first visit to Vail was last Labor Day, the same time of year the race will be held. The weather was picture perfect. My host showed me the area and the many course options available. I had plenty of questions for him, including several concerning the lake we will use for the swim. I noticed there was no public swim access on the lake so my first question was if the town let us swim in the lake. The answer was yes, the Town of Avon is behind the race and and has signed off on allowing us to use the lake for the triathlon.
In December our event came before the Vail Special Events Committee and it was approved by the Town of Vail.
Now it was time for me to me to head to Vail and finalize the details and meet with various folks that will be associated with the promotion of the race. In advance of my trip, Vail's special event person, Sybill, was busy lining up meetings with the key players. One of those would be representatives from the Town of Avon. On Thursday of last week she contacts Avon and hears some surprising news; nobody knows anything about the TriAmerica triathlon or about the use of the lake for the swim. We learn they have their own triathlon planned the week before our race and they are deeply concerned aout how our race will impact their event. Both Sybill and I frantically try to track down where the breakdown in communication occured. We had to get things back on track or there would be no TriAmerica Vail. By now it was Friday with a legal holiday approaching on Monday. Time was not on our side a we made very little headway in advance of my departure to Vail. I would just have to pick-up where we left off when I arrive in Vail on Monday.
To be continued...
Posted by Fred at 02:18 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | More in: Random Thoughts, Tri America
Hurry up and wait...
While the internet keeps getting faster and faster all the time, our website makeover seems to be going in the other direction. Changes and additions that I thought could be accomplished in days, are now taking weeks and months. We do have a bunch of cool content and features on the horizon, hopefully it is not the endless horizon.
Posted by Fred at 12:24 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | More in: Random Thoughts
February 23, 2005
sleep, who needs it??
What is up with my sleep? I'm on a red-eye back to Orlando, tired from lack of sleep the past few days, and I cannot fall asleep. I even had a super sized margarita with dinner. After my last sleepless red-eye a few weeks ago from L.A., I wanted to make sure I got some sleep on my trip so I popped a couple of Tylenol PM's before boarding the plane. We are over one hour into the flight and here I sit, wide awake.
Maybe sleep really is over-rated....
Posted by Fred at 01:42 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | More in: Random Thoughts, Travel
February 22, 2005
Hey, what's up???
No I didn't give up on the blog, my life has been real crazy this past week and my blog worked itself way down on my priority list.
I have discovered that airports are a great place to work on a blog. I'm sitting in Denver now waiting to catch a red-eye back to Florida, so it is a great time to play catch-up with my posts.
Stay tuned for a weeks worth of excitement.
Posted by Fred at 11:38 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | More in: Random Thoughts
Comfortably Cold
Why is it that cold weather does not seem as cold in the cold climates as it does down here in Florida? Everyone says it is the dampness we have in Florida. Although the air is dry in the mountains, moisture is everywhere, it's just frozen into ice and snow. The temperature is not that bad in Vail right now. It is barely above freezing. I'm able to walk outside with just a long sleeve shirt and I'm not even cold. In Florida I would have jacket and multiple shirts on and still be cold.
I guess you could say I'm comfortably cold....
Posted by Fred at 12:25 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | More in: Random Thoughts
February 20, 2005
Why me???
It's a beautiful Saturday in sunny Clermont and my day has been going great. My dog Inga took me for a nice run and in return I let her take a swim in Lake Minneola, her favorite post run activity. It was one of those days where you could not justify being indoors. I was glad that I had booked an evening flight to Denver. Yep, I have not even been home three days and it's time for another site visit. This time it is a solo trip to Vail to meet with the various city and tourism folks on our TriAmerica Vail race. I guess it could be worse, I could be flying to Newark or something. I had hoped to be able to squeeze an extra day in my trip to ski, but with a double event weekend on the horizon next weekend, my skiing would have to wait. That was just as well, I only learned how to snow ski last year and it is true, it is hard to teach an old dog new tricks.
Things are going great as I prepare for my trip. I decide to run to the office to grab some files and materials I would need for my meetings. While there I decided I better clean out last week's travel receipts from my wallet. Wait a second, where is my wallet??? This is when the fun begins. I think for a minute and then remember I had set my wallet on the back of my truck while I was loading a box of oranges to bring along on my trip. I ran outside thinking maybe by some act of luck my wallet would still be on my truck...after all I've gone from my house to the office with my coffee cup on my truck numerous times. No such luck this time, so I quickly return to my point of origin to begin my search. After thirty minutes of searching with no luck, and less than two hours to go before I need to leave for the airport, I decide I better switch to crisis mode.
My biggest concern is how do I pick up my rental car at the airport without a credit card and license. I remembered that I had a duplicate license in my desk from last year. I had misplaced my drivers license early last year and of course once I went to the trouble of obtaining a duplicate, I located the original. Time to focus on the card issue....hhmmmm, my sister has the same last name, maybe I can use her card and pretend she is my wife or get some sort of written authorization from her to allow me to use the card. I quickly call the rental car company and explain my dilemma. The guy on the other end just chuckles. "No way guy" he exclaims, "the card must be in the name of the person who rents the car, no exceptions." Time for me to be creative. I ask, "what if that person goes to the Orlando airport and completes the paperwork and pays for the car there and then I just pick the car up in Denver?" No way I am told again, no card, no car. I soon realize I have no other options.
Fortunately I have some great friends in Denver, Judy and Paul Lawler. I was planning to spend Sunday with them prior to driving up to Vail. I explained my situation to Paul and he insisted I use one of their cars. Crisis #1 solved.
I quickly locate my duplicate drivers license and realize it has expired. Oh well I figure, at least it will get me through the airport security. Certainly they do not look at the expiration date. Wrong! I am instantly tagged a high security risk and was subject to that extra special treatment at the passenger screening security checkpoint.
Fortunately my Saturday experiences did not set the tone for the rest of the trip.
Posted by Fred at 11:06 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | More in: Random Thoughts
February 18, 2005
TriAmerica Chicago
With the exception of missing the city council meeting, our TriAmerica Chicago site visit went well. We are marketing the race as Chicago, but the race actually takes place in Zion, Illinois. Zion is located about 40 minutes north of Chicago, on Lake Michigan about half way between Chicago and Milwaukee.
While touring the city I learned Zion was one of the first planned cities in the United States and was platted to imitate the layout of the British Union Jack flag. It also boasts more park space per capita than any city in the region. The actual race site is the Illinois Beach State Park. It is a beautiful 4,160-acre park with nearly 7 miles of shoreline on Lake Michigan. Wildlife is everywhere and we must have spotted over 50 deer in just one day. A couple of giant skunks patrolled the resort, but don’t fret, we learned they have never sprayed humans.
The swim will be in Lake Michigan and will be wetsuit legal. The bike course is flat and a good portion of it will be shaded. I’m still not sure if we will just design a 5K loop run course with the 10k runners completing two loops, or a combo 5K-10K loop course. Most of the run will be on scenic paved or gravel trails.
Everyone we met with up there was great. It is always refreshing to meet with police and city government folks that all share a "can do" and "we'll make it work" attitude. I wish I could bring some our local political types with us on our site visits so they can see how other cities welcome our events.
While our race is the week before the albatross of a triathlon, the Chicago Triathlon in Downtown Chicago, I still expect at least 800 athletes in our first year.
Posted by Fred at 12:40 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | More in: Random Thoughts, Tri America
February 17, 2005
We can't swim here....
While scouting out the shoreline of Lake Michigan looking for a suitable place to start and finish the swim, I notice something peculiar. There are huge slabs of broken concrete lining the beach as far as the eye can see. They are giant slabs about a foot thick and they resemble chunks of an old road bed. We can't swim here, there is no way they can be moved and no easy way to get over them. I figure they must have been placed there for erosion control.
I think to myself, "what other surprises are waiting for us down at the shoreline?" I proceed to head down the beach to the shoreline. As I climb over the concrete slabs I become enlightened. The slabs are actually ice and with the sand coating, appear to be concrete from a distance.
I really do need to have my eyes checked...
Posted by Fred at 11:07 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | More in: Random Thoughts, Tri America
If at first you do not succeed....
So much for making the City Council meeting, however I did manage to call in to the USAT Conference call while in transit to my hotel.
Man does it get cold up north. It was a nice balmy 28 out when we where scouting out the venue. I learned a valuable lesson, do not walk out on the beaches of Lake Michigan in the winter dressed like a Floridian.
I just booked a return trip to attend their next city council meeting on March 1. This time I'm flying direct to avoid Atlanta!
Posted by Fred at 01:33 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | More in: Random Thoughts, Travel, Tri America
February 15, 2005
I got to get out of this place...
Seven hours in Atlanta Hartsfield airport is enough to make you go crazy, especially when you have to stay sober. I'm still holding out hope I'll get out of here in time to make it to the city council meeting tonight. If our flight leaves on time and the roads are ice free, I might make it the meeting by 8:00pm. That's only an hour late, not too bad when you compare it to the three meetings we already missed this afternoon. And of course there's that 8:00pm important USAT Board conference call tonight....decisions, decisions.
We still have another hour to go until our delayed, canceled, delayed and delayed again flight is scheduled to depart. Of course the plane has to arrive here at the airport first. You see, travel really is as much fun as most people think it is...
Posted by Fred at 04:26 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | More in: Random Thoughts, Travel
Lost in the fog
Today was an early day for me. Alarm rings at 2:30am and it's time to head to the office to do a few tasks before driving to the airport for our trip to Chicago. Usually I fly out of Orlando but this time I opted for Tampa to take advantage of a better flight. It's 40 minutes further but I had already decided to let Brian, my ops guy, drive so I could work on emails during the trip. It worked out great for me and I was able to send about 30 messages out before we arrived in Tampa.
I knew when we left Clermont the day was not going to go as planned. I saw on the Weather Channel that the Atlanta airport was already fogged in. As luck would have it our flight involves a plane change in Atlanta. We finally receive the official word form the airline, our flight will be delayed at least 1-2 hours, perhaps even longer. Thank god for my wireless connection, I can tackle more emails from my endless email pit in outlook.
Today we meet with the various city and county folks associated with our TriAmerica Chicago race. At 7:00pm we go before the City Council for what I hope will be a rubber stamp of approval. The race will actually take place about 40 minutes north of Downtown Chicago, just south of the Wisconsin State line. The venue will be a beautiful state park located on the shores of Lake Michigan.
The weather forcast for the area is snow and freezing rain, perfect weather for a site visit!
Posted by Fred at 06:47 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | More in: Random Thoughts, Travel, Tri America
February 14, 2005
Bring it on, I'm ready for battle!
I just read an interesting story in the St. Pete Times announcing that Ironman is looking to bring their Half Ironman Championship race to Clearwater, FL, in the fall of 2006. If I was a boxer, it would be as if the Great Floridian - Florida Challenge is down on the canvas waiting for the knock out punch
Those of you that have been around in the sport for more than five years remember when Ironman started their ambitious growth phase across the US. Our Great Floridian Triathlon took a major blow as result. You see the year before ironman came to Florida, the Great Floridian had attracted 1,100 athletes. I felt confident the next year the race would fill and then I would be set for life. Once a race fills to capacity and turns athletes away, it gains a cult like status. Athletes know that if they want to race, they have to enter quickly or they are left on the sidelines. Word of mouth spreads like wildfire and athletes just hover over their keyboards waiting for registration to open.
Ironman decided to place their new Florida race right after the Great Floridian. That year our participation dropped from 1,100 to less than 500 athletes as everyone jumped ship to race Ironman Florida. Although our attendance has grown some since then, we had no choice but to combine the Florida Challenge with the Great Floridian on the same day in order to keep the Great Floridian alive. If you follow the sport, you know that we are not the only race that finds itself in the shadows of ironman.
Now in 2006 we may be faced with an official half ironman on our doorstep in close proximity to the Great Floridian - Florida Challenge. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure who will be the winner in that duel....in the long run, I doubt it will the athletes...
Posted by Fred at 09:09 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | More in: Great Floridian, Random Thoughts
I didn't say that....
Whenever I get a call from a media person I cringe. You never know what they are going to ask and what tidbits of the conversation they will actually use. My worst fear is not knowing what info they will repeat out of context or in error.
Recently I came across a story on one of the Tri Magazine websites that gave me credit for running the 2000 Triathlon Olympic Trials and for founding the Danskin Tri Series. Wow, I didn't say that! I said we timed the first Olympic Trials and we currently direct two of the Danskin races, Disney and NY Metro. I hope the story did not offend anyone...
Posted by Fred at 06:04 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | More in: Random Thoughts
February 13, 2005
Polar Bear Plunge
Sunday was one of those awesome days that makes you appreciate why you live in Florida...crisp blue skies with the temperature in the mid 70's. After moping around all day Saturday recovering from my trip to the dentist, I was anxious to get some training in. First on my agenda is to let my dog take me for a run. I have a great dog, she's an akita mix and she lives to run. Unfortunately she always tries to set the pace, her pace not mine. I