July, 2006. Somewhere on Hwy 1A between Bearspaw and Cochrane. Jason Lapierre Memorial Cycle.
Annabelle (on her brand new Felt F90 road bike): Hey David, I'm going to do the Sylvan Lake Triathlon next July. Do you want to do it with me.
David (on his 1999 GT Aggressor mountain bike): Yeah, sure.
Annabelle: Awesome. I think it's a half ironman.
David: Uh...what does that mean?
July 2007. Sylvan Lake Half Iron finish line. Big smile on my face (or was that a look of relief?) surrounded by old and new friends. Team J-Force was awaiting the last finisher to find out who would be presented with the first annual Jason Lapierre Spirit Award. And we couldn't have selected a better person than Gail Ungstad.
July 2011. Back in Sylvan Lake, a few hundred yards east of where we last joined our gang of misfits. Gearing up for another day of trash talking our fellow J-Force teammates. Since 2008 we've taken a more enjoyable and less stressful approach to the Sylvan Lake tri by competing on relay teams. After a strong, but somewhat blind, swim by Ms. Reid, I was ready to hit the bike. My goal was a sub-2:45, but what I really wanted was to get Annabelle a big enough lead to ensure she could hold off the blazing Ricky on the run. The conditions were excellent and made for a fun day on the road. Everything seemed to be firing and asides from a few short mental lapses (oops, why am I only doing 28km/h on this flat?), I was happy with my race. Not having to worry about saving my legs for the run, I was able to attack a bit more than had I been competing in all 3 disciplines. The bike course has a few decent hills on the back half, but a high cadence and powering over the crests to pick up some free speed brought me a negative split. Final time - 2:38.
And Annabelle, in her first race back since our newest J-Force member entered the world, ripped it up with a 1:55 on the run to give J-Force Faster the win...at least against those other guys. But props to Irene, Rick and Chuong for having a strong performance too. I guess. Joke lang.
We also had the opportunity to present the 2011 Jason Lapierre Spirit Award. This time to Carrie Baron, the final finisher on the day. Congratulations to Carrie for showing true determination in that blazing sun to finish her first ever half iron distance triathlon. Now if you are questioning the strength of this award, we just have to go back 3 paragraphs to our old friend Gail. Gail is from Slave Lake and her house was recently affected by the flooding which took many of her possessions. One of the remaining items she found in her house was the 2007 Jason Lapierre Spirit Award. She took this as a sign and returned to training for triathlon as a way to get through this difficult time. So through a fire and flood ravaged town, Gail could be seen running and pedaling around town as the rest of the town seemed to question what the heck she was doing. So yes, it would seem that is a pretty powerful award.
Now had I been writing this in chronological order, somewhere between 2007 and Sunday's race, I would have been giddily writing about the final couple of days of this year's Tour de France. But I'm sure most of you know I never digress from a story. We once went to see Billy Connolly in concert and he was telling this story at the beginning of the show and kept going back to it throughout the night until he finally finished it at the end of the night. Now THAT is digression. But I digress. So the last 2 days in the Alps were very exciting. I was going for Cadel Evans to win, so seeing his determination to singlehandedly drag himself back into the race 2 days in a row was thrilling. Andy and Alberto also made for some very exciting viewing. But it was that last day when Dezz and I were truly perched on the edge of the couch watching the Individual Time Trial. Congrats Cadel.
And yeah, my wife is kind of a big deal.
Annabelle (on her brand new Felt F90 road bike): Hey David, I'm going to do the Sylvan Lake Triathlon next July. Do you want to do it with me.
David (on his 1999 GT Aggressor mountain bike): Yeah, sure.
Annabelle: Awesome. I think it's a half ironman.
David: Uh...what does that mean?
July 2007. Sylvan Lake Half Iron finish line. Big smile on my face (or was that a look of relief?) surrounded by old and new friends. Team J-Force was awaiting the last finisher to find out who would be presented with the first annual Jason Lapierre Spirit Award. And we couldn't have selected a better person than Gail Ungstad.
July 2011. Back in Sylvan Lake, a few hundred yards east of where we last joined our gang of misfits. Gearing up for another day of trash talking our fellow J-Force teammates. Since 2008 we've taken a more enjoyable and less stressful approach to the Sylvan Lake tri by competing on relay teams. After a strong, but somewhat blind, swim by Ms. Reid, I was ready to hit the bike. My goal was a sub-2:45, but what I really wanted was to get Annabelle a big enough lead to ensure she could hold off the blazing Ricky on the run. The conditions were excellent and made for a fun day on the road. Everything seemed to be firing and asides from a few short mental lapses (oops, why am I only doing 28km/h on this flat?), I was happy with my race. Not having to worry about saving my legs for the run, I was able to attack a bit more than had I been competing in all 3 disciplines. The bike course has a few decent hills on the back half, but a high cadence and powering over the crests to pick up some free speed brought me a negative split. Final time - 2:38.
And Annabelle, in her first race back since our newest J-Force member entered the world, ripped it up with a 1:55 on the run to give J-Force Faster the win...at least against those other guys. But props to Irene, Rick and Chuong for having a strong performance too. I guess. Joke lang.
 |
| Watch out for the little one at a Kids of Steel race near you in 2014. |
We also had the opportunity to present the 2011 Jason Lapierre Spirit Award. This time to Carrie Baron, the final finisher on the day. Congratulations to Carrie for showing true determination in that blazing sun to finish her first ever half iron distance triathlon. Now if you are questioning the strength of this award, we just have to go back 3 paragraphs to our old friend Gail. Gail is from Slave Lake and her house was recently affected by the flooding which took many of her possessions. One of the remaining items she found in her house was the 2007 Jason Lapierre Spirit Award. She took this as a sign and returned to training for triathlon as a way to get through this difficult time. So through a fire and flood ravaged town, Gail could be seen running and pedaling around town as the rest of the town seemed to question what the heck she was doing. So yes, it would seem that is a pretty powerful award.
 |
| Carrie and Gail |
Now had I been writing this in chronological order, somewhere between 2007 and Sunday's race, I would have been giddily writing about the final couple of days of this year's Tour de France. But I'm sure most of you know I never digress from a story. We once went to see Billy Connolly in concert and he was telling this story at the beginning of the show and kept going back to it throughout the night until he finally finished it at the end of the night. Now THAT is digression. But I digress. So the last 2 days in the Alps were very exciting. I was going for Cadel Evans to win, so seeing his determination to singlehandedly drag himself back into the race 2 days in a row was thrilling. Andy and Alberto also made for some very exciting viewing. But it was that last day when Dezz and I were truly perched on the edge of the couch watching the Individual Time Trial. Congrats Cadel.
And yeah, my wife is kind of a big deal.
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