What a week!!
After the last couple of weeks, I didnt know if I was going to be able to even get to do a sprint distance triathlon, and then finally getting to do one after all the work outs, ups and downs, was just the best feeling. Crossing that finish line was just amazing, the support of all the other participants still hanging out and having my wife, son and mom there as well was truely a blessing. Thanks to everyone else that has been along for the ride over these last few months, hopefully having a laugh or two along the way. 
Leading up the race the week went like this:
Monday: 2x750m swims
Tuesday: 12mile bike ride + 20min run/walk 
Wednesday: 2x750m swim
Thursday: 5km treadmill
Friday: off
Saturday: 25min bike + 25min run
Sunday: Melmerby Triathlon
Alright lets get to the race.
It was kind of the best type of weather or the type of weather I like for racing. Overcast, no rain, and a slight breeze. We pulled into the parking lot at Melmerby and my stomach started doing flip flops. This is always the point that my brain starts messing with me. You are too fat, your back is not ready, look at how legit everyone else is, why are you doing this -- those type of thoughts. I am pretty good at ignoring those, and for me the trick is to get to the registration table quickly so there is no time to back out. 
So off I went. Paid my registration fee and filled out the 'we are not liable if you die, get eaten by a shark, run over by a car' paperwork.
Got my numbers for all my gear, couple jokes about them not having fat guy size clothing and off to get my transition station organized.
Having never done one of these before I immediately notice that everyone else has a large rubbermaid type bin. This cant be a coincidence that everyone decided to carry their gear in a bin and not a bag. The guy beside me, Colin, explains that when you come off the beach you need to get the sand off of your feet quickly and a towel wont cut it so you should have a bin of water at your station. Oopsie, guess I am going to have sandy feetsies.
So I must have organized and re-organized my station 10 times after looking at all the variations of stations around me. Finally I decided does it really matter for you bub? And literally left my stuff in a pile starting with the things I would put on first.
Another thing I notice immediately, these people are serious. There doesnt look to be many in my boat ' I am doing this to try something new/have no idea what i am doing' boat.
Anywho I start putting my wetsuit on and head to the beach to take a look at the swim course. I am happy. This is the part i have been looking forward to most. I always feel at home in water no matter the distance, it is also crazy shorter then the 5km Epic was last month, so I started to get excited.
After the security briefing it was down to the shore for the start. After a quick chat with the fam and a dunk or two in the ocean the Olympic distance folks were lining up to start.
So the water temp. Holy crap it was cold. They wouldnt even tell us what it actually was, but if it was 15 degrees it would have been a hot cup of tea compared to how cold it was. I had an ice cream headache in my brain after about 20 seconds, and that was with a dive hood. Many came up to me and were mentioned their envy for my hood. Nice to have something going for me.
I asked my wife to track my time, just to see if I was on track compared to the pool. 
So the last olympic swimmer started their second lap and the sprint peeps were off.
I waited for the gungho people to get out in front and then started. I felt really good. Got in my groove, and was able to navigate for myself quite well. I only got off track once. There was however someone that was having some trouble navigating. This one gal was having some probs. She kept swimming in front of me on a zig zag, and i had to keep stopping. I was starting to get mad so i swam way out so that i could get into a straight line. Back into the groove.
I did take a couple of big mouthfulls of ocean, it was not delightful.
Rounding the last buoy, I was pretty pumped, I could see a lot of people behind me, so I wasnt going to finish last in the swim, everything else, fine, just not the swim.
Out of the water and Daph told me it took me 13:10. WHAT 13:10!!!
That is the fastest time i have ever done the 750m. Normally in the pool it is between 15-18min. This was a great feeling. Only draw back, legs did not want to work to get out of the water, and run to the transition area. 
Okay the transition area. This was such a blur. I think i may have mooned all the onlookers for an extended period of time. The worst was trying to get the wetsuit off with numb arms and breathing as heavy as I was. I was dancing around like i was stomping grapes at one point and finally had to sit down and yank the fricking thing off. Into my bike shorts, shirts and other gear, bike off the rack and holy crap it was on to phase two.
So I run the bike down to the mount line and away I go. I did great out of the parking lot, unfortunately directly on the other side of the exit is a massive freaking hill. Luckily i dont use my legs much when I swim so I was able to get up most of the hill at a good speed, but was almost completely gassed by the time i got to the top. As i passed a refreshment station, I yelled to a volunteer "that was mean, a hill off the bat, you guys are mean" and kept peddling. 
I am going to say, i was not ready for this part. I have done pretty much all my training for the bike on a treadmill. This was a major flaw in my training. I should have been out on the road more. Hills on a treadmill ARE NOT like hills in real life. This course had a lot of hills. I was really struggling on this and was passed continually along the route. I had to stop twice to shake out my quads because hey were getting so tight.
All that salt water I swallowed on the swim was not behaving in my belly and i threw up in my mouth a couple times. No smooching at the finish line.
I gutted it out though, sometimes only moving as fast as an elderly person with a walker, but i finally got to the transition area. A quick change into my running shorts and a tshirt change, and slip on my ipod. I chugged a G2 and started the run, well started walking on the run.
I had always planned to walk for 3 minutes to start the run so that I could get my legs working differently because i didnt want to blow out a quad or calf muscle with all the rigor they went through on the bike. So after 'I really really like you' i started to run. Well my version of running. Again older person with a walker could have lapped me.
It was a rough go. My back and my legs were not happy, and after 'ABC' I was walking again. About half way through 'Get Yur Freak On' I tried the running again. Okay we are in business. Things are still really tight, but moving faster then walking. 
I was starting to enjoy the running, still getting passed by others but everyone all said words of encouragement as they passed and it felt good. I was going to finish this thing. I have run many 5km runs, I can do this. 
Around the halfway mark, you could start to see the end point in the parking lot. Yes. 
As i started the run down the hill ( alright first bike hill you are forgiven because you are the downward hill on the run) I was happy and sad. Started thinking about my dad, and my outlaw brother Toby, how cool it would have been to talk with them about this. My dad always loved to come to these things if he could, and thought that triathlons were just the coolest, and Toby because we would have had a great time chatting about it on the beach later in the summer watching the kids play. And because I feel like I did good and didnt suck. I think i had both of them in my ear at different points along the way.
On the straightaway into the finish and across the line, of course i did a dramatic pose, hope i see that photo. Couple a highfives with fam and a couple of the other guys i met before the swim came over and congratulated me. Couple of drinks of water and jammed in a subway sandwich and it was all over. I think my total time was about 2 hours and 10 minutes, maybe more, to be honest i dont really care. Finishing it was always the point, coming in last or third last doesnt matter.
Pack up the car and headed for home and the most deserved #cigarSunday in a while. 
I havent decided if I will keep this blog going or not, the point was to keep myself motivated while I was working toward this goal, and I think it really helped me to do that. I guess it depends on what the next goal will be, I still havent decided. I know this is not my last triathlon, now that I know what it was like I know the areas i can work on. Thanks again for those that have been reading and commenting either online or in person, it helps to know that you have been in my corner and laughing along with me. Need to thank my family as well for putting up with me, for all the early morning and late night work outs, i have the best family.
And thank you to the message therapist I am going to see in about an hour, because i am one sore, stiff bastard right now.
Sean "BigBoyRunning" Ryan

Okay, in case i have not been clear, i dont want to talk to you if you are naked in the gym change room or shower. I dont know what ' come talk to me signal' I am giving off, but holy crap, seriously, eff off naked people.
Now it is the soapless that are chiming in. Last week as i was getting out of the shower at the pool, eyes to floor, moving my myself from the shower to my towel, a university aged dude walks by me. Taps me on the shoulder and innocently asks if he can borrow some of my body wash.
I didnt know what to say.
The easiest thing would have been an awkward yes, pass the bottle of bodywash back to him, never making eye contact, or eye contact with any other bits and pieces and then, well, run away.
Did i do that?
No.
I growled. 
A low, c'mon man type of growl, looked him in the eye and said seriously?
His shocked look back was enough for me to stammer out, here, here, just take it, like i was getting robbed of my most prized comic book or something. 
I just wanted to end the conversation and get my wet, naked self the hell out of there.
But would he just take the body wash and leave me be, no, he kept following me around with it trying to give it back. 
Keep it, i yelled over my shoulder, walk faster, almost to towel...almost to towel.
Then he circled me. Not a stich of clothes on and bent over and placed the bottle at my feet and walked back to the shower.
GAH.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I will spare you the vivid details, but I saw things only a proctologist might. 
Why, why baby jebus would you do that to a fella just trying to shower with the fresh scents of old spice, towel off and start the day.
I am going to see this person again, and the entire time i see them, i am going to be thinking, hey, remember that time you tried to borrow my body wash and when you gave it back, you bent over so far i could see your spine......wait for it.....from the peep hole.
I now carry two bottles of body wash in my bag.
Yes I am that much of a weirdo.
Anyway, not a bad week, still have a bit of the back pain kicking around, but the week went like this:
Monday: 2x750m swims
Tuesday: 2x750m swims + 12mile bike ride
Wednesday: off
Thursday: 12mile bike ride + 15 minutes walk/run on treadmill ( yay!)
Friday: 1x750m swim + 1x1000m swim 
Saturday: off
Sunday: 12mile bike ride + 40 minutes walk/run on treadmill
So finally, after a couple weeks, getting back into running.
I figured it would be okay as I had another message therapy session booked the following Monday so if I ended up feeling tight in my back after the run/walk, that would be a good safety net.
I have decided to give the Melmerby Sprint Triathlon a try next weekend, depending on how Monday goes and the week of training.
Fingers crossed that I will finally get to my first Sprint!
Sean "BigBoyRunning" Ryan

Okay what the eff.
Already wrote a post for this, but apparently it didnt take.
GRRRRRRR.
Weebly you are on the list!
So basically this is a delayed blog post, because I was having some continued struggles with my back. 
I have pretty much written off traditional medicine as the doctors cant really do anything for me and my lower back pain.
So after a survey of what some others have done for various aches, pains and injuries it was looking like I was going to have to try some hippy medicine options if i wanted to get back to running. The week for this blog went like this:
Monday: 2x750m swims
Tuesday: 2x750m swims
Wednesday: 2x750m swims + 12 mile bike ride
Thursday: 2x750m swims
Friday: 2x750m swims + 12 mile bike ride
Saturday: 12 mile bike ride
Sunday: off
Very absent of the running. 
So i decided when looking at the options around the Nish, that of the hippy medicines, message therapy would be the first on the list to give it a go.
Now i have tried a chiropractor before, but the dude kept want to "crack me" and I was dead set against it. On the second appointment he was trying to convince me so hard I finally had to tell him " dude, no means no, no means no".
I didnt go back.
So I made my appointment, wasnt sure what to expect, was hoping no awkward nakedness, no candles and no talk of breathing into my Shakira. I might have that wrong. hehe
I was pleasantly suprised to find the office, looked doctory, and not hippyish.
After some conversation about my previous back, and knee injuries, my fitness goals, and some additional health issues she was starting the healing process. 
First thing I heard was a gasp. Followed by " wow, i dont even know where to start your back is pretty messed up" #encouraging
Over the course of the session, she worked on the various muscle groups in my legs and back.
One of the questions asked was would i ever consider yoga.
I replied with ' no, i dont want to be that guy in the yoga class'
She assumed I meant the creepy guy at the back and had a little look of understanding in her eye.
Oh no, no not that guy i said, the FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRBBBBBPPPPTTTTT guy.
I dont want to be that guy.
What she said?
You know the farting guy I said.
I dont think i have ever heard that before, and she started laughing.
I can admit it openly, I...Am....Gassy, BUT i dont want to expose a room full of bendy people that have paid to be bendy in an enclosed space to that.
I dont think she realised what she was getting into by taking on me and my back.
I did feel better in my legs and hips so I made another appointment.
Unfortunately the recommendations were to not participate in the triathlon coming up this week, stop lifting anything over 3lbs and many, many new stretches.
BLAH.
Pretty disappointing to keep working towards something and have these road blocks put up in the way. Hopefully I will be able to get some running in during the next week so that i can try the Melmerby one coming up.
Hopefully the hippy medicine will keep helping out my back, because i think i have built up a tolerance to robaxacet over the years, cause it doesnt really do much anymore.
#stillnotahippythough
Sean "BigBoyRunning" Ryan

WHOOOOOOO what a week!
Coming off the Epic Swim I was on a super high. 
Only to immediately to have my legs kicked out with the cancellation of the Port Hood Triathlon, which was to be my first Sprint Triathlon. GAH. 
Yes there are other triathlons and the job now is picking which one it will be, but when you have your mind set on something and it just goes away it is incredibly frustrating. But everything happens for a reason, i hate it when people say that, but you will shortly see why it is true in this case.
Anyway my week went something like this:
Monday: Week2 L2R 5K session 1
Tuesday: 2x750m swims + 13mile ride
Wednesday: Week2 L2R 5K session 2 + 2x750m swims
Thursday: Week2 L2R 5K session3
Friday: Off
Saturday: 13mile ride + 5km run
Sunday: 2x750m swim
I already talked about it in my #cigarSunday post, but had a back blowout on Saturday which i wont rehash here, so it might actually be a good thing that the Port Hood Sprint isnt moving forward as it gives me time to recover from this latest spasm.
So that is the working out part, now for the wedding.
So a couple of absolute awesome people got hitched this past Saturday in Lunenburg/Bridgewater. It was a beautiful ceremony on one of the piers along the waterfront, which is so fitting that these two got married outdoors and near the ocean.
They were smart enough to know that they needed to give me a job to do and asked me to be MC. Now while it was short notice ( the day before) I was able to spend much of the car ride down writing and rewriting up some things to say. Much of which got shot down by my long time editor and critic, and at the end of the day, she came up with much funnier things to say. So I guess Charlie was right, Daphne you are funnier then I am. That hurt.
Things were going great until we stopped for gas and I rolled out of the car the wrong way and BLAP there goes the back.
EEEEEEEFFFFFFFFFFFF
I am a little panicked about it, with having to be a helper at the wedding, but we are on a schedule so off we go. 
We get to the location of the ceremony a little early so we walk around a bit. My back is screaming at me, but we get to our seats and witness our younger friends take this next step in their lives together. It was such a great moment for them and their families and friends.
A few selfies and we are off to the reception site.
Now I am not going to say the reception site was in the middle of nowhere.....ahhh, well,.......yeah Im totally going to have to say it was in the middle of nowhere. Middle Lahave. I didnt know there was an upper or lower to even have a middle one. ba dum ba cymbol crash.
But it was an absolutely beauty spot, right on the ocean.
It was a church that has been converted into a small reception hall, so all the ambient light is through these amazing stain glass windows. 
The meal was outstanding as well, catered by a smaller company so that you have an incredible personal touch with all the components of the meal. 
There were a ton of other great touches from the table dressings to the decorations. 
Responsible for all this was of course the bride, but the person pulling the strings behind the scenes was the Miss Leah Byrne. Now there may be some of you that read this blog from time to time, know that they only one that could manage Alicia's, wedding to the high standards that are demanded from someone who manages events (Alicia) would be the Alpha Gal that is Leah. As someone that is relatively new to the wedding planning game, you would not be able to tell, Leah had all aspects covered and was on top of all aspects of the wedding and reception from start to finish. It was really great to see the care in which she took with everything. If you are planning a wedding, hire this gal. You will not be sorry.

But nothing compares to the fact that the couple came into the reception to Panama by Van Halen. These are my people.

The MC'ing went fine, nothing was thrown at me in disgust or rage, so it was a win in my book. 

Now we didnt stay for the dance, one - it is a four hour drive home, two - we are old, and three - one of our dogs had diarrhea for a week so we wanted to make sure the house was still standing and not taken from us in some dogshitacane.

We slipped out the side door as Rich and Alicia took the floor for their first dance as husband and wife, knowing that Alicia was exhausted and wanted to go to bed, and Rich wanted to party the night away. With that info, Daphne and I laughed all the way to the car, ahhhhhh marriage. 

Anyway, it was a fantastic day, so great to see a couple that starting dating 8 years ago, continue to grow together over the years, and take the big step of getting married, and do it in a way that was true to them, respectful to their families, and to themselves.

Best of luck to you Alicia and Rich 
Sean "BigBoyRunning" Ryan