Solar Eclipse

My primary kids told me there was going to be a solar eclipse. This was two days before boards.  I was so cocooned up in my studying that I had not heard about it.  With a little warning I would have bought an arc welding lens.  A few places in town were giving away disposable viewing glasses, but they had long lines and quickly ran out. One of the primary kids said their teacher told them to make a pinhole camera.  This is a 5mm image projected on the back of the pinhole camera I made after I got home from church.

Some of our friends invited us up to a nearby park to look through their arc welding lens.  This is the picture through that lens.

Albuquerque was in the center of the path to have the moon cross the center of the sun.  People flew in from other states.

I took Maggie up to the park and she thought the pinhole camera and looking thought the welding lens was pretty fun.  The next day, Maggie asked me what I had done with our pinhole camera.

Four Corners Off-Road Triathlon

1 mile swim, 15 mile mountain bike, 5 mile run.

Well, a small part of me still feels I should have backed out.  I am getting over a cold that moved into my chest. The swim started well with a solid crawl.   About a 1/8 of the way into the swim, I got the worst asthma of my life.  A few times I year I will get exercise induced asthma (usually running in the winter).  I was pursing my lips during exhalation to stent my airways.  Superimpose that to my lack of swim training.  When I say lack, I mean none. I did not finish last, but nearly (there were three swimmer behind me). I finished the swim in 43 minutes.  I kept a close eye on my watch, the cutoff for the swim was 50 minutes. The swim hurt.  I thought about signaling the firefighters on the jetski.  But I wanted to do the bike.  I really wished this was the spudman tri and I was in the snake river with the current carrying me to the finish.

Some kind soul let me borrow their farmer john tri wetsuit.  The floatation was so nice.  I may hunt for an inexpensive farmer john.

Next time I will take my inhaler.

The bike was fun.  Mostly single tract. Some good climbing (see picture).  Quite a few sand washes (it is New Mexico).  Krehl, thanks for the 29 tires.  The 2.25 width helped in the sand.  I bought some 29x2.1 small block 8 tires for my Leadville 100 race in August.  When I was putting on tires for this tri, I decided to put on Krehl's tires and I felt lucky every time I came to a sand wash. I passed 5 people and got passed my 3. 

The run was also off road.  The first half was like running through the sand dunes. Then we ran around the Farmington reservoir.  A few spots had exposure.  But if you fell you would land in the reservoir.  They had a kayaker running safety hanging out nearby. It was a fun narrow challenging hiking trail.  Much more fun than running on the road.  I was slow.  1:08 for 5.3 miles.

Total time 3:45.  My heart rate monitor says 3921 calories.

The off road course was fun.

I finished 109 of 110 finishers. 121 people started.
Swim: 43 (105th place)
First transition: 5:58
Bike: 1:42 (101th)
Second transition: 3:13
Run: 1:08 (107th)
Total time: 3:45