Howdy. I’m in Grand Junction sitting in a hotel room.
I’ve been here for two weeks.

I often hesitate to write anything personal on the
internet that is not entirely about me (I guess you
can never write completely ‘about me’, but whatever).
In this case I am referring to my father and his
health.

My father went in for a ‘routine’ surgery two weeks
and one day ago. This particular surgery went well.
During his recovery an entirely different scenario
presented itself. He developed pancreatitis as a
result of a deteriorating gallbladder. A situation
that takes years to develop showed itself while my
father was actually in the hospital.

A second surgery was scheduled and he is now in a new
recovery phase after dealing with pain, fatigue, and
god-only-knows-how-much boredom. I have been trucking
over to the hospital mutiple times every day and I am
happy to report that yesterday was the best I have
seen him in this two week ordeal. He is weak, which is
a contradiction from his character, but he is doing
what he can to guarantee a safe and lasting recovery.

The doctors, PAs, and especially the nurses at the VA
hopsital in Grand Junction, Colorado have been
exceptional. However, my father’s patience and
tenacity probably helped to generate such sympathy
(and in some cases empathy) from the hospital staff.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

As a result: No races in Memphis or Austin. Hardly
even worth mentioning given this situation, but I
thought I would point out the obvious anyways.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I have received a lot of emails and phone calls from
friends out there and I want everybody to know that I
genuinely appreciate every single one of them.

My father isn’t out of the woods yet, but he certainly
seems closer.

-jd

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I typically try to write a blog every 5-7 days, but
its been nearly two weeks now since I wrote about my
lovely stomach ailment in Texas. Frankly, I would have
written earlier, but I’ve just been, well, tired. I
essentially became a ‘triathlete + 1′ for a couple
weeks while acclimating to altitude.

‘Triathlete plus one’ defined: I had the energy to do
my training ‘plus’ one more activity. That activity
ranged from cleaning my room, to laundry, to picking
up my bike case and other gear, but never reached the
blog. Normally I knock them out over early morning
coffee, but I’ve been sleeping through every_alarm,
every_morning.

Kind of made me laugh when BB and I made plans to get
going by 6:30-7:00 on about a dozen consecutive
mornings and I never even got out of bed until 7:30
(at the earliest). Luckily, he’s pretty understanding
and flexible.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Its great to be back in this town. The first week is a
bit tough, but 5430 never seems_that_high since I
routinely go to 9500 when visiting my folks (and I
lived there years ago). Nevertheless, I still take
certain precautions in the first 3-7 (and even up to
14) days at altitude when arriving from sea level. My
best advice is to simply ‘keep moving’ during this
time period instead of following a normal training
routine.

An athlete needs to be really flexible during this
time period. Altitude training locales are always
filled with fit and motivated athletes, but I would
suggest holding off from those groups sessions (or
epic mountain rides) and becoming friends with your
thoughts for a few days. There is plenty of time to
get hammered into the ground and its probably best to
at least wait until the altitude isn’t the variable
causing your heavy breathing.

+++++++++++++++++

Couple funny things…

I hurdled a snake Sunday while running around the
reservoir. It was in the ‘read-to-strike’ position and
everything and somehow I looked down in time to spring
over it.

I also hurdled some soccer balls during a track
workout (Thursday) since others were practicing while
I was running.

On Wednesday I was running along the Mesa trail and it
was becoming more and more muddy as the run
progressed. I kept telling myself it would surely get
better. Then I slid down the hill into a tree. I
turned around.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

More to come since I’m actually able to get up before
7:00 now.

-jd

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Man. Being sick is a drag. Being sick to your stomache
is an even bigger drag. I had the pleasure of meeting
Montezuma last Thursday. I was strung out staring at
the wall like an idiot for a few days. I tried to
cheer myself from time to time by thinking of how the
situation could be worse. I concluded that if I felt
that ill, while driving from Jacksonville to LA on
I-10 with (any) Don Henley album on repeat, it would
be worse.

Well I hoped to get some good training in while
visiting my aunt and uncle in Melissa, Tx last week
but it turned out to be a bust. Since I was still too
sick to train, but not to sick to sit on my ass, I
decided to drive to Colorado a couple days early. I
also decided to go to Boulder via Crested Butte to
surprise my mom who I haven’t seen since Xmas (and
Dad, but I saw hime one week ago in Houston).

She was surprised. I am no longer sick. It always
seems like life gets better when I cross that Colorado
border. I love this state.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Marc and BB towed to line at St Anthony’s this
weekend. They both had solid races with Marc taking
the overall AG title. BB fought through some stomache
issues (sympathy pains, what a loyal friend) and still
went 1:56.

Good times,

JD

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