Category Archives: Travel

IRONMAN 2012

10 Monday Sep 2012

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As you may know the World Championship Ironman triathlon races were held today, Sunday, September 9, 2012 in Henderson, NV, just outside Las Vegas.  It just so happened that they setup camp very near where I needed to be all week.  So I have walked through the camp several times this week and have seen and walked along with the Ironman athletes, who have traveled here from around the world, for a few days now.

Today, after the races, I had an opportuntiy to meet and chat with a few of the athletes, including a winner!

However, as great as that was I must also mention an encounter earlier this week with an Ironman participant, Marco from Columbia, I believe he said to me, it was a little hard to think at the time!

So, I’d been walking through this camp and it finally dawned on me that I might be able to get air for my bike tires at their maintenance tent. (I may as well ride it.) Suzy Q is just about out of gas, the bike, which I haven’t named, YET, is still sitting up and the weather is really nice in the early morning now.

Anyway, I stopped by and asked if I could come by and pump air into my tires and they said sure. So, a few minutes later I’m back with …..Shelly? umm, maybe, I don’t know, a name will come to me eventually, The Bike.

The lady I had spoken with earlier, handed me the pump and pointed out a good spot, where I would be out-of-the-way. However, no sooner than I get to the spot, only a few steps away, Marco, is reaching for the pump. Now, he doesn’t speak much English but believe me.. That’s Okay, because, my words were all but lost. He had finished with the tires before it occurred to me to ask his name. He was perfectly nice, considerate and respectful, it was not a pickup, and he didn’t hit on me, he was just being a gentleman, AND he just happened to also be gorgeous along with his Columbian accent. So Thank You again Marco. Hope you did well in the races!

Unfortunately, I didn’t think to get Marco’s picture but today I did get several pictures of the triathletes I met. Now, I know this sounds strange, but I was tempted (but didn’t, that’s the important thing to remember) to take pictures of calves! (just the guys). Rarely, I think anyway, do we think of men as having nice legs, but have you ever noticed the calves of cyclist or runners … beautiful. Great definition and muscle tone, very lean.

So today, like most days in Vegas, the weather was … great, if you don’t mind a little heat. It was 104 degrees but could easily have been 110 or 112, clear, calm, relatively low humidity, as always, it was beautiful here.

However, as I spoke to the triathletes, I asked them all the same first question – So how was it? And they ALL gave the same one word response – HOT.

First, I met Frazer at the Coffee Bean, when he came in with his Bike, boy would I love to have one of those! Frazer came in with his family, an absolutely adorable (three years old, is my guess) young son, and his wife (I assumed). Frazer told me he was from England, a small town just outside of London. He explained that his medal which I had asked if he would put back on was for participation and not for winning. I thought that Frazer described the desert heat perfectly. He said, it was really nice this morning and then suddenly WHOOSH (as he falls back slightly to demonstrate how the heat here just seems to hit you all of a sudden). But all was good and I think we all enjoyed having Frazer and his family sitting nearby and chatting away at The Coffee Bean. Nice Guy, great English accent. Thank you Frazer!

Frazer 1

Frazer from England with his Medal & Cool Bike – Ironman 2012 Las Vegas

Continue to see winner Parys Edwards! >>

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Going to Cali ?

01 Saturday Sep 2012

Posted by in Kindness and Other Acts, Survival, Travel

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As lovely as Vegas is, and it is lovely, it looks more and more every day that I’ll be forced to move on.  Now since I am a Midwest / East Coast girl, when it comes to picking a place to live,  rather than just a vacation spot, it turns out I know very little about west coast cities.

That acknowledged, I got out my trusty, dusty, paper map of the United States of America.  Yes, I have a GPS and yes I’m fairly up-to-speed with the latest technology and I love tech gadgets.  I actually window shop at technology stores and sites as often as I can, just for fun.  I may be the only woman I know who loves fashion but doesn’t like to window shop – fashion great, window shopping, not-so-much, it’s like a tease.

So, as I was saying, I got out my old paper map of the US-OF-A  so I could properly see just where the heck I am in the world and where I might be able to get to from here (Vegas). (With very little money, I should note.)

Well, there’s Utah, an entire state I suddenly feel I don’t know nearly enough about to go venturing blindly into it.  Then there’s Colorado, (I actually have friends there but it’s too far away and very hilly, oh and let us not forget,

VERY COLD.

That took me to Arizona (Phoenix), I have a friend there too, at least I think we’re still friends.  What do you think? When someone sits you down to have “the talk”, fills you in on their itinerary for the next few months, sets the next date, but then … poof, nothing, gone in 60 seconds. Okay, well not really 60 but there was a vanishing act involved.  So, I just moved on with life. Now we’ve had a couple of brief and friendly conversations since then but am I good for a favor?  Who knows, but all things considered, it can’t hurt to ask.

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