WSI

Water Saftey Instructor. This is another course that I have to take and be certified in to coach next year and I’m not happy about it. This course is 32 hours long. Who has time to take a course that requires you do be there days at a time. Not me. So it looks like I’ll have to take this course between Christmas and New Years. Which means I’ll have to cut my time short with the fam and only be there on Christmas day. Blah! So much for a little R&R this holiday season.

Ok vent it over. Carry on peoples, nothing to see here…

Long Weekend

Like many of you I’m back to the normal grind of everyday life after the long and relaxing weekend. I spent the majority of my time visiting with friends and family. I drove the very long 1:10 minute drive to my hometown for the holiday. We had above average weather which provided a few days to perfect fall weather. I took full advantage by getting back out into the country and trouncing through the woods. It was nice to have a few days just to go with the flow and not have to be anywhere at a particular time. Some true R&R.

Now it’s back to the daily grind and working for the man. We also started our efforts for the upcoming TNT season which will be starting in a matter of months. I guess I lucked out the first time as a coach because I wasn’t involved in all the prep work. I didn’t luck out this time as my calendar is already filling up with meetings and informational session. Plus I had to get CPR certified so if you are in need of a little CPR let me know. I can now save lives.

Take care folks…

Questions from Kim
1) Best blogger pal?
I’d have to say Mouse. We’ve met up a couple of times and have had a ball. Plus we chat it up on a regular basis.
2) Favorite position?
I favor the bottom.
3) Best song/album to get you into the mood?
I’m not sure, but it most likely would be a soft, quiet, intimate mix or soundtrack. Soundtracks are usually a good way to go.
4) Have you snorted Ritalin?
I can’t say that I have.
5) Currently in love?
Yeah, I’ve fallen pretty hard and fast for Ms. R.
6) Who’s the hottest blogger ever?
I don’t know if this could ever be determined with all you lovely ladies out there.

More Questions and Answers

So there have been a few additional questions posted so here are my responses.

From TriSaraTops
1. So, you ever inhaled?
Not directly, though that trip down to Chicago years ago to watch a soccer game could only be described as a hot box.

2. Best drunk story?
Oh so many to choose from. (not sure if that’s a good thing) A few years ago I was out in CO with the fellas. We are in Denver partying and watching the Avalanche win the Stanley cup. We are boozin for a few hours and then a riot starts up. (Noting big just a big fire in the middle of the street) As we are being escorted off the street when the pepper spray comes out and we were hit with some residual spray. OUCH that stuff hurts. So we figured the best thing to do was go drink some more. We are at a placed call Daddy Rocks (think that was the place) and I’m drinking like a fish and start dancing like a fool. I'm a really bad dancer! At one point I even ask the girl who is manning the beer tub if she wants to dance. We finally leave and I start yelling and waving at all the ladies I see as we are driving down the street. Of course the guys are just laughing because I’m normally the quiet one. We get back to where we are staying and make my way to the toilet after letting everyone know that I’m about to be sick. After getting sick I come out and say that I’m all better before passing out. The kicker is that we were going white water rafting the next day. Everyone is really hung over but me. I’m feeling great and I’m ready to go. One guy that we were with didn’t even make it to his apartment and he spent the night in his hallway. Ahhhh good times…

3. What's the song that reminds you of a) high school, b) college, and c) first love?
High school – Jock Jams
College – Walk Around in Circles, Soul Soughing (I swear this was played at every party I was ever at)
First Love – What’s Your Fantasy, Ludacris (the joke “our song” that kind of stuck)


From Nic
1) Tighty whities, boxers, or commando?
Boxers
2) Do you make your bed in the morning?
I’d say about 25% of the time
3) Describe your perfect Sunday...
Well my Sunday would star off with a little sleeping in action, since that is a rarity in my life. (Nothing too late, maybe 9 or 10) This would be followed by a venture to Mom/Pop shop for breakfast. I heart a big breakfast so freaking much. After a little down time to let the stomach digest a sweet breakfast I’d head outdoors to do something; walking, running, hiking, biking, whatever. It doesn’t really matter I just can’t spend the entire day indoors. (Not that I haven’t before) The day would probably end with a nice dinner and maybe chilling out for a bit to watch a movie. I’d say something like that would be a pretty nice day.

Nic you are killing me with these favorites. hehe :)

4) Favorite band (had to ask that one...)
Old School – Pink Floyd, Modern School – Dave Matthews, New School – Modest Mouse

Dave probably gets the top nod. I heart a good live band who can jam.

5) Favorite book (had to ask that one, too...)
Gates of Fire by Steve Pressfield – One of the better books I’ve read over the last few years.

Other favs would be books by Tolkien, George RR Martin, Hemingway and William Kent Krueger (local crime/murder/mystery author)

6) Favorite movie (it just completes the trilogy)
My favorite movies are ones that you can just pop in at any time. They usually are comedies, action flicks, or some combination. That would includes ones like Ocean’s 11, Fight Club, ect., but I’ll put Snatch at the top of the list right now.

Some answers

Well there weren’t maybe questions asked over the last few days. Either everyone knows everything about me already or people just really don’t care. No matter here are the answers to the questions that there asked.

Ever been in love? Tell us about it. Chickfit
The first time I was off the deep end for a lady was several years ago. We had met at a house party thrown by some mutual friends. We went swing dancing on our first date. We soon were attached at the hip like many college romances. We went through some ruff patches as everyone does and even took a break after a year and half only to start things up again. One of the hardest parts was when she was away in California watching over her dad who was struggling against leukemia. This in turn led to her involvement with the LLS and eventually my own. After she was done with school it looked as if this would be and we'd get married and all that jazz. That changed when she wanted to spend 6 months out of the country and we decided to end things at that time. It turned out to be one of those “if we hadn’t met so young” deals. We are still friends though somewhat distant given that she now lives in Cali where she is in law school.

I could also tell you about my current squeeze, but that story is still be written. :)

Last time you had sex? No need to go into detail... ;) Chickfit
This weekend

Favorite song? Chickfit
I don’t have a favorite song. I like a variety of music, well except country. (Sorry if that’s your vibe, but I just can’t do it) There’s really too many out there to have just one favorite.

Can you be friends with girls? Chickfit
Totally…I have a number of good female friends.

Coffee, tea, or soda? Chickfit
Soda all the way. I can’t stand coffee and I’ve tried the tea thing, but just haven’t acquired a taste for either.


How often do you pick your nose?? Kimmi
I couldn’t tell ya, but I’ll try and keep track for you…

Finally before I go, congrats to E-Speed who rocked the JFK 50 miler and TriSaraTops for posting a new ½ marathon PR. You gals rock!

You only get 6

Ok ladies and gents it's target practice time. This is you chance to find out whatever you

wanted or didn't want to know about me. I'll post a reply to all the questions on Sunday

so you have til then. Your subject matter is below. Fire away peoples...

1) About friends...

2) About sex...

3) About music...

4) About drugs...

5) About love...

6) About anything...

P.S. I have no idea who originally came up with this list of questions...

Not back yet

This past Sunday I went out on my second run since the marathon and things did not go well. The run was short, maybe four miles and I didn’t make it half way before my body was pissed. My knees felt like someone was drilling a hole through the middle of them the remainder of the run. I was like “what the heck, come on” things shouldn’t be this hard, but apparently they are. So my second run in almost of month went just about as poorly as the first. It seems really weird to have only run twice in almost a month. I can’t remember the last time I took so much time off in between runs. I guess that means that I’ll just have to spend more time in the pool, but this not running thing is starting to get old. I need to run peoples!

I did make it back into the pool last night. Things left better then the last time around so that is encouraging. If I didn’t have a raging headache I might have actually had a decent swim. Oh well so it goes. I’ll be back to the pool tomorrow. Can’t wait, really I’m so excited to go freeze my ass off in the pool. Really I am…

The Origin of Walchka

Kels posted a question over the weekend and here’s the response to; why Walchka? Walchka is a play on my last name and it’s a nickname that I’ve had since high school. The inception of walchka was first spoken by a guy on my soccer team who like many called my by my last name, but ended it with a hard K sound. I’m not sure why NN did this, but it caught on. It soon evolved to having a KA at the end and I’ve had the name ever since. It has been used so much by my friends that there was actually a time where someone thought my real last name was Walchka. I thought this was pretty hilarious and just went to show how much the name was being used. Plus when you’re not the only Mike in the group most people use a last name or nickname anyway. It just makes this easier. Well that’s the story behind Walchka. Thanks for the question Kels.

Keep em coming folks. Maybe I’ll have to bust out the 5 question deal that was going around way back when...

Hmm…Lifejacket anyone?

I went. I got into the pool. I pushed off from the wall and nothing happened. My body was like what do you want us to do? I guess that’s what happens when you take 2 ½ months off from swimming. I knew it was a bad idea to take that much time of and now I know why. Any hoot my swim last night was basically crap. My muscles couldn’t remember what they were supposed to do and I my body felt like lead. Instead of cutting through the water like a fast moving catamaran I was plowing through it like a tugboat.

I guess I have to start somewhere and hopefully a few more trips to the pool and I’ll be feeling a little more like an actual swimmer.

Sorry for the short post but that’s all I got. Any more questions out there?

Have a great weekend everyone…

Tonight

Tonight I make my return to the pool. I’ve been putting it off for the last couple of days basically finding any excuse not to go. That’s not going to happen tonight, crossing my fingers. I will go to the pool and submerge myself in the chilling lap pool water. I will take a deep breath and push off from the wall and see if I swim or sink.

For a little motivation please be prepared for some verbal flogging to hit me with should I not make it tonight. I don’t know what happened, but going to the pool use to be so much easier. Anyway feel free to leave a taste of what I might have to endure should I fail tonight.

Til then enjoy this entertaining video that showed up in my inbox the other day. Hopefully you haven't already seen it. I hate when that happens. :)

Later folks…

Sticker Giveaway

If you do nothing today make sure you make it to the polls to vote. Here in MN you get little red “I Voted” stickers. Any other states have the little red stickers? Or what do your stickers look like? Get out there people…

Location

So last week a question was posted about marriage and a change of scenery. The marriage would be to one and only Mouse and a location change to the state of Michigan. I’m not sure my current squeeze would appreciate it if I just went off and married another woman. The second factor in that equation is location. Currently Michigan doesn’t fall on the list of possible relocation sites which includes; Colorado, California, or somewhere in the Boston area. So my apologies Mouse, but at the moment that just isn’t going to work.

Next question…


Oh and before I forget congrats to local fav Trimama and Cali native the Big Kahuna for finishing their first Ironman in Florida over the week. You two ROCK!

Oh and the goal for this week is to get back in the water. I’ve put it off for too long and it’s time to get my ass back in the pool. It may be the off-season, but that doesn’t mean I can just veg. (sigh)

How it all started…

Habeela posed a question to me from my post yesterday regarding my venture into endurance sports so here is a little history lesson for ya. To be honest its relatively short history, but my background is running which stems from almost 20 years of playing soccer. Back in 2003 and 2004 I started running more regularly for both physical and mental wellbeing.

After a while I decided that I really needed some goals with all this running and I convinced my friend James to do ½ marathon with me. I spent the spring and summer of 2004 training for the fall race. During that time I went and saw my first triathlon. (Lifetime Fitness Triathlon) It immediately dawned on me that I had to give that a tri, because running just wasn’t the challenge that I was looking for. After completing the ½ marathon in the fall of 2004 I started to get in the pool and go through the pain and anguish of leaning how to swim. Yes I could swim, but swimming for distance was a big challenge and it took several months to get comfortable in the water.

2005 was my first year racing triathlons. I was hooked from the beginning, which was with TNT of course, and dove head first. I bought a tri bike before my first race because I knew that I would heart this sport. I did 5 races my first season and I haven’t looked back since.

This past year I continued my work with TNT as a mentor and coach while also pursuing my own goals in this sport. I did another handful of races this year including my first ½ Ironman and marathon in prep for Ironman Wisconsin next year.

So in short fashion that is my history in endurance sports. I haven’t been doing thing stuff for a long time, but I defiantly jumped right into the deep end. :)

Thanks for the question Habeela!

Next…

5000+

Holy crap, don’t you people have anything better to do with your time? hehe j/k I just thought I would take this moment to thank all you peeps for dropping by from time to time. I might have to get a little creative to keep you avid readers around during the off season. With a lack of scheduled workouts I’ll have to come up with some other subjects. Any suggestions or anything you are dying to know about me or my opinions? Probably not, but I thought I would throw it out there. Let me know…

Take care folks...