by ·0 Comments

The final training for the Triathlon is completed!!! I did my final swim session tonight after solid daily swims since Monday. My arms are killing me but meh.. the things you do. The funny thing is I have had less people in the Gym pool (a real pool mind you) than at the apartment pool. Not having to dodge children, having marked lanes and everything was like shear bliss. It was even heated to a reasonable temperature. What is this world coming to!! Funny thing was even though there was a lifeguard on duty, they had no idea. I asked a few different staff how long the pool was and none of them had any idea. One of them said and I quote “It’s a pool”. Wow… smart! With tonight though that ends my time of ripping off Golds Gym in Woodinville. thanks guys.. its been grand! The gym was good, had great equipment and facilities but it was just a factory for workouts really. To big, filled with meatheads and didn’t at all feel personal, add on the fact that it wasn’t 24 hours. Not my kind of gym.

With the big day now approaching, tomorrow i taper with only a 10k ride on the exercise bikes at the apartment gym in the morning and tomorrow night is packet pick up ready for race day. I will get a chance to scope out the transition area and also scope out the ride course (as I forgot to do that on Monday). For anyone wanting to come support me on Saturday or to just come laugh heres some information for you all.

The Triathlon is based at Cottage Lake in Woodinville which is here. Transition is located in the park, while the swim will be in the lake itself. The ride and run in the local area based out of the park. The race maps can all be found here.

On Saturday morning the transition area opens up at 630am and I should be there between 630am and 7am but only competitors are allowed in there. I won’t have my phone on me more than likely (As theres no secure facilities) but the whole area should be open enough if you want to see me. I should be at the swim starting area around 745am and my wave hits the water at exactly 8:01am. I will be marked with my race number (24) so if you need to see me, just look for the number. I expect to take about 90 mins all up for all 3 legs and transitions so should finish somewhere between 8 and 9am I hope. where in that time I have no idea. The only thing I ask is if you come see me… Take heaps of photos for me!!

If you want to try and spot me easily just look for me in my tri suit which looks exactly like the one I mentioned in a previous post. It won’t look pretty but it will do the job, during the run though I will have on a white tank top but you should be able to see my race number pretty easily then. Right now it’s time to start to rest a little, get at least SOME sleep before the big day Saturday. After the race on Saturday, I swear I am not getting in the water to do laps again for at LEAST a good 12 months… hopefully.

by ·0 Comments

Since Yena left me on Saturday afternoon, it was time to get back to the grind. The goal for the weekend was to get in a number of training sessions prior to next weeks triathlon. Pretty much the rest of my weekend after all of the shenanigans was just going to be boring. So other than the training for the triathlon I was intending on catching up with all the missed work from Friday (and there was quite a bit) and doing the usual weekend chores along with a few extras.

First though let’s look at all my “training”. The pool was still closed unfortunately so that just got me really pissed off. Sunday morning was another Bike & Run training session with a Bike to Run transition thrown in for good measure. The ride went well and the servicing done was a smart idea because I knocked a good 15 minutes off my time. Ahh the benefits of actually having a working bike! I have the transition narrowed down now and things are looking good. On Monday morning I did the same two sessions BUT this time I added a pre bike transition. Normally this would be a Swim to Bike transition, but without a swim I just tried to replicate what it would be like. Running barefoot across the car park to my truck and getting going from there was the idea and although my transitions aren’t exactly perfect, they are good enough to get me through it without taking forever.

Without a pool though, what was I meant to do? I need to get some swimming in before next Saturday or things are not going to go well at all! So after a friend gave me a little push to check things out, I found a local gym (about a 10 minute drive away) that has a pool, along with a free week trial. Sorry to say but I am just going to use them for their pool for 4 days. I took my first swim at the pool on Monday and man it felt weird swimming in a proper pool, with lap lanes and everything. Totally not something I am used to at all, but I only have 3 more days of swimming left.

My training plans for the rest of the week are pretty much to focus on a run in the morning on Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday, with swims every evening. Then Friday I will go into hold back with just some time on the exercise bike Friday morning and then nothing Friday night other than picking up my race packet. Final week of training planned!

The rest of my weekend was spent cleaning up the house after I tried to unclog my bathroom sink (it hadn’t been draining properly for a week or two now) and with lots of frustration, a boat load of baking soda & vinegar, a bottle of draino (that didn’t do much at all), a little bit of elbow grease and a whole lot of disgusting crap, I got it cleaned in two hours. I also spent a good portion of Sunday working from home and some time on Monday in the office working as well. The things you do to stay employed!

A big week ahead, I don’t expect to get much sleep this week, so Will head to bed early tonight (hopefully) to try and get a least one night of half decent sleep. The rest of the week is going to be full on!

by ·3 Comments

2 years ago during my trip around the world, I was visiting Seattle with Brad & Corey and we had planned to head out for dinner. I am a pretty fussy eater at times, so was brad, being that it was only my second time in Seattle, I didn’t know where to go and I had really just been starting to get into twitter just prior to that trip. So I thought I might try something out. I tweeted out for some help on where to eat. I was given a recommendation of a restaurant by someone on twitter. The recommendation was for Steelhead Diner down by the market place. I instantly fell in love with the restaurant and when I returned for my interviews with my job later that year, I returned (it was restaurant week). I also got another recommendation for Skillet Diner from the same person. Who would of known at the time, but that person to this day has never failed with their recommendations to me.

@Seattlemaven on twitter (or you can just call her Ann which is her real name) was the person who gave me that first recommendation. Since there are so many places to eat in this city, I have needed help to find the best places and Ann has never let me down… EVER. So many of the places I have eaten at like Barrio, Hudson, Steelhead so many more, all have been suggested by Ann, all of them I have loved. When Yena came to visit me, she told me she wanted a night out on the town. I had no idea where to take her, so I turned to the one person who had yet to let me down. I reached out and got some tips of the places that fit what Yena had told me what she wanted.

In the end we only had time for one place out and we went with what was a favourite. If @seattlemaven loves it it HAS to be good right? That bar was Suite 410 and Yena loved it. It was as though they combined two of her favourite bars from back home into the one place over here. With Yena loving it so much, I felt that I had to reach out and write this blog post, because a simple thank you would not convey just how much I am grateful for making one of my friends so happy.

Funnily enough Ann works for the Seattle Visitors Bureau (@visitseattle) and all I can say is that if you EVER need any help in seeing or doing something in Seattle or need help in finding out where to eat, drink or be merry, They can help. In this day and age it is tough to find out who to trust with recommendations. Sites like Yelp, Urbanspoon etc are good, but it is tough to work out the real from the fake. I know now who to trust and I suggest you all listen when you see a suggestion from these guys, because it is spot on!

So to Ann I must say a big, giant THANK YOU! For being the fantastic wealth of knowledge of all things Seattle that you are, but most of all I want to say just how grateful I am that you can make me and my friends happy, that you are kind enough to share your knowledge and passion for this city, asking nothing but kindness (or maybe the occasional bit of food porn) in return.

by ·2 Comments

Well the big day finally arrived yesterday morning. The culmination of all the Breakfast “research”. I gave my friend Yena all the options with one Extra one, another recommendation for something new to try that apparently has the best Biscuits & Gravy. Yena had no real idea what that was, so we went with it. Something a little bit different right? Hudson is down in the Georgetown area of Seattle which is near the Port/Boeing Field area. Pretty much its all industrial and it is fairly basic. Absolutely dive bar location and in the middle of no where, bring it on! Funnily enough its located next door to a Haunted House.

From Labor Day 2013
From Labor Day 2013

We took a seat at the Bar (not a counter, a real bar) and the menu was left for us and some water. The Menu was fairly basic really, but there was a good range of Booze options. This is more a bar than a restaurant so that is understandable.

From Labor Day 2013
From Labor Day 2013
From Labor Day 2013

I took the biscuits & Gravy and a side of hash while Yena went with something that was just crazy++ a Monte Cristo sandwhich made with French toast! Seriously! Sounded pretty awesome. Food was quick and I was barely into my first cup of coffee when it came out (ps they use Umbria coffee, so the coffee is gooooood).

From Labor Day 2013
From Labor Day 2013

The food was good, the biscuits were light and fluffy and the gravy was nice (though it has been a while since I have had country gravy). Prices were really reasonable and the portions not overly huge but not tiny tiny rip off. I would say that it was a good score.

Was it the best breakfast in Seattle? Probably not… however the reason I was there wasn’t all about the food, but the company. Keeping alive a tradition that the two of us have had for many years. The Brunch buddies were back in action and I made the agreement (and hopefully Yena will continue it as well) that I will keep having brunches out even if it is on my own. Going to keep trying to find the best Breakfast/Brunch in Seattle.. even if I have to do it on my own… without my buddy.

by ·1 Comment

It’s Labor Day weekend! This time last year I was travelling to the other side of the country to the US Air Force Museum to spend the weekend mileage running and checking out awesome planes. Getting to spend the weekend with two aircraft that I have always wanted to see (the XB-70 and the YF-12) was pretty awesome. Well this year is a little bit different, because my friend Yena decided to come visit. Originally planned to come in around the start of the month right around my birthday, but plans changed and so Yena was coming for a couple of nights (just two sadly) and it would be like old times. Earlier in the month I had already played tour guide for Fiona, but this time was a little bit different. This was like the old days when Yena and I got to hit up France or like back at home when we explored TNQ thanks to 5 Star Mal 😀 This time it would be me hosting, but I would be having some time off to enjoy myself while I played tour guide.

I picked Yena up late Thursday night (after traffic from hell) and we enjoyed a quiet evening of that Seattle staple of Teriyaki, a few stories before hitting the sack, both of us were dead to the world pretty quickly. Friday morning was a little bit the usual for me, work outs, breakfast and fixing air bookings (thanks Tripit for being not so great). With that all done and the sun coming out we decided to head downtown for a bit of random wandering while we explored the city and hit up some time with the big gaming festival PAX on.

From Labor Day 2013
From Labor Day 2013

After plenty of random wanderings and taking Yena up to the top of the Columbia Center we jumped in the truck (after a failed attempt at trying to have lunch at the Batali Families Salumi) and headed up to Kerry Park for some beautiful Skyline Shots:

From Labor Day 2013
From Labor Day 2013

After that it was some power shopping at the Mall so Yena could pick up some things before her last flights home and some lunch at a new Vietnamese Pho place (barely opened and the broth was gooooooood). Then it was off to the Boeing Factory and the Future of Flight to show Yena exactly where I really live 😉 I did earn myself $20 in the process though (thanks Blaine!)

From Labor Day 2013

Friday night I took Yena out on the town (her request) and after some advice from a some friends we had a good plan set (though since we were running behind It didn’t quite go to plan). We had dinner near Pikes Place Market at Steelhead Diner:

From Labor Day 2013

Then after not being able to get a park on Capitol Hill, we headed for a nightcap (or two) at Suite 410:

From Labor Day 2013
From Labor Day 2013

Today was a little bit of the usual adventures of a big loop from Pikes Place, along the waterfront up to the Olympic Sculpture Park, to Seattle Center and the Space Needle, then the Monorail down to Westlake and back to Pikes Place. I wasn’t feeling so crash hot, so no usual Lunch for me, but we still had a final coffee together at the “First” Starbucks. One last drink before I drove her (slowly) back to the airport so she could begin her journey home.

From Labor Day 2013
From Labor Day 2013

One thing I will say about having one of my closer friends coming to visit is that it is totally different compared to just other friends or family. I got to really relax, and have fun being a tour guide/tourist in my own town. I got to explore and although I have been to these places before, I still enjoyed it. I still had the best time. As I drove away from the airport on my own I was a little bit sad, but I thought back over how awesome the weekend was and knew that it was all about one thing. This:

From Labor Day 2013

by ·0 Comments

When my parents decided to finally try and venture further out of Australia than New Zealand, I hoped and prayed that they would come my way. Sadly the closest they would come would be Vancouver (I got told it was due to the tour company, but who knows). Thankfully I was able to coordinate a weekend up in Vancouver when they were going to be there, prior to them flying home to Australia. What it meant for me was time to spend with my family.

My parents were scheduled to step off their Alaska Cruise saturday morning, so it meant if I drove up Friday night, I could have an night to myself, a morning to hit the Grind and then spend the rest of the day with my folks and possibly catch up with someone else on Sunday morning before hitting the road back to Seattle. Plans settled!

I drove up last Friday night and unfortunately got my first windscreen chip in the truck 🙁 Thankfully (if you can be thankful) it is on the passengers side of the truck right down low. But the border crossing wasn’t to bad and after dropping off some donuts at a mates place on the way north, I was safely in bed in Vancouver without a hassle. Back at my old haunt the Fairmont! Saturday morning I got up super early and headed straight to Grouse Mountain to get on that trail before it got way to crowded. I was aiming for less than an hour. My prize for getting under an hour. Ice Cream! I made it in 57 mins, with no issues at all. Hell I was suprised I didn’t have to run the last bit. Though I was disappointed that you now have to pay to come down the mountain when previously it was free. After breakfast I ran into my parents in the lobby of the hotel and as expected. My mum burst into tears right in the middle of the lobby.

I got to spend a good afternoon with my family, we went over to Granville Island to the markets (they had some lunch) and then Dad came with me while I ran some errands (I was not letting him near the drivers seat of the truck) and then I took dad to try his first Japadog! He actually liked it! (my mum and aunt would not even get close to even remotely wanting to try).

From Family Visit to Vancouver

After a quiet afternoon it was time to celebrate my Mums Birthday. So we went out for a special dinner and it was me this time wanting to show them an amazing restaurant in Vancouver (probably the only one I really know). Tojo’s was introduced to me a few years back by a fellow contiki traveller and friend. It was a great experience and I had to go again. This time I did order the Omakase and it was worth every cent! My parents had a great time and of course, Tojo’s did not disappoint with singing my mum Happy Birthday

Of course, I was going to take my parents out for a special ice cream (and for my reward) but the place I wanted to go had about a 45 minute wait, and I wasn’t going to put them through that, so we went back to the hotel and I went for a walk to get ice cream myself, which was overpriced and crappy… No reward at all. More like pity in a cup.

Sunday morning I hit up a ride thanks to the hotels free bikes and then after breakfast with my aussie friend Roylene, I headed home to Seattle. thanks to a 90 minute border crossing and being totally behind plan for the day, I threw caution to the wind and indulged in that ice cream reward by going to Snow Goose but that is for another day.

My time with my family may have been limited, but it was better than the three hours I had with them back in April. I miss them already and wish I could of stayed longer but work rules my life at the moment. So I take what I can get, and cherish the moments I do get. Who knows.. maybe they will come back and spend some time with ME this time. Who cares though. I have photos like this to keep me happy for a while

From Family Visit to Vancouver

by ·0 Comments

My god the triathlon is less than 2 weeks away and now I need to get serious.

It is tough to fit all the training I need to do around everything else with friends and family visiting, it is not an ideal situation. But I have already paid the entry fee and invested almost 3 months of my life to this tri, it is to late to turn back now.

I am improving and the individual legs don’t worry me it is just mixing it all together! The transitions etc worry me the most and if that’s the worst on my mind then that’s not to bad right?

Time will tell how it all goes but I think its time to get more focused on my training, everything else comes second right?

by ·0 Comments

Since it’s National Aviation Day today, heres some of my favourite photos from the last 12 months, really lets just call a spade a spade… its Avgeek Porn 😀

From Qatar Artistic & Spotting

Qatar Airways 787 at Boeing Field on its delivery night.

From ANA Ambassador Spotting & Artistic

ANA 787 at San Jose Airport

From Aviation Nation Spotting

F-22 Lightning II at Nellis Air Force Base

From Seattle Spotting 2013

Uzbekistan 767-300ER at Paine Field

From Seattle Spotting 2013

American Airlines 737 at Paine Field at Sunset

From LAX Spotting 2013

British Airways 747-400 Climbing out of LAX at Sunset

by ·0 Comments

This morning was a big step in my triathlon training. For the first time this morning I did all 3 of my legs in the same period. Unlike last week where I was practicing transition, today was about making sure that I could do all three legs. Even though they were out of order (Ride, Run, Swim when it should be Swim, Ride Run) damn it was not easy!

My ride was down on the Burke Gilman Trail again, because it’s flat and because it gives me something different to look at rather than the local streets. But that wasn’t a smart idea this morning because when I first got moving, a big string of cyclists almost pushed me off the path. Figured it was just a bunch of idiots out for their morning ride. Then another string passed me, and another, it was like a continuous procession of cyclists. I am usually out for these rides around 6ish so that it is quiet and I still have plenty of time in the morning to do things. Well it turns out I ran into the waves of riders heading on the RSVP Seattle to Vancouver ride. Ahhhh crap! All morning on my first leg all I heard was “rider ahead”, then when I turned around all I heard was “Passing on your left” every few seconds. When I had about 5ks left to go, all I heard after that was “Passing on your left” then seconds later “your back tyre is flat”. It was great for them to all be so nice, but it got old, REALLY fast. I was going to get the bike serviced after the Tri, but if I had a flat tyre, might as well get it done now and get the tyre fixed at the same time.

As soon as I got back to the truck, I tried to transition as quick as possible, and managed about 3-4 minutes before I was back on the trail, this time going the opposite direction to the way I had just ridden. I had found that trail continues under a tunnel and then splits in two. Hoping that I could get a bit of quiet without the bikes running me over. It was a good quick run and I felt like I was back on pace. I was under 6min kms which is my usual timing so I was certainly happy with that. Knocking out a 2.5km run in less than 15 minutes. Gotta be happy with that. It was also the second run in the tri suit, which I REALLY need to get used to, so tomorrow I am going to do just that, a 5k run in the morning in the Tri Suit to try and get used to it (running Punishment Hill for the first time in months!).

By the time I got back to the apartment though, I was drained & I still had laps to do. Considering I only need to do around 350-400m of swimming that equates to roughly 30 laps of the complex pool. I usually swim about 40 (got that down to about 18 mins) so decided that since I was distance training today, I will stick to 30 laps. Kind of glad I did because when I got out of the pool, I was just shattered. My calves were burning and it felt like I was going round for round with a bear or something. I was looking forward to a shower!

I think my training is improving and I know I can do this tri, but part of me thinks that I am an utter moron for doing this along with the fact that I kind of wish I had not entered the tri now. But that would be copping out now wouldn’t it. I am not a quitter and I have invested way to much time (been swimming for almost 3 months now) and money ($100 just in entry fee) to give up now. So I keep pushing, I keep trying and who knows how it is going to go on the day… as long as I get it done!

by ·0 Comments

This may be the final Breakfast Chronicle before the big day when my friend Yena comes to visit.  With my Birthday last week and add on Fiona’s visit, how can I not want to go somewhere special for a Sunday Brunch before the baseball.  A while back I had asked for recommendations on twitter where to go.  The first thing that my usual source came back with was Barrio and purely based on one dish.  Pork Belly Benedict.  So I figured that with a chance to impress and a special occasion, it fitted perfectly.  The wierdest thing to start with though was that I made the reservations (as it was recommended I do so for a Sunday morning in case) via Twitter.  Pretty easy and the process was painless, if not a little bit weird.  In the end we really didn’t need one as the place was pretty quiet when we got there, but hey, doesn’t really matter.

Barrio is in Capitol Hill and just around the corner from Skillet, but a few one way streets through me off and were almost late after having to try and find a park.  The place was quiet and I already knew what I wanted to ordering for me was no issue.   The menu was pretty good, albeit wierd to be in a modern Mexican restaurant for breakfast.  The coffee is Caffe Vita so that is always a good thing. But this should give you an idea of the decor:

From Fiona's Visit

But I know you all want to see the one thing that everyone else does…. the goodies

From Fiona's Visit

That is the Pork Belly Benedict and it was AMAZING.  I wanted to lick the plate it was that good.  I could of inhaled it if it wasn’t trying to savour every bite.  My friend Dan’s Burrito looked good as well:

From Fiona's Visit

3 of the 5 people though had the benedict and all loved it!  The French toast that my friend Fiona had looked pretty good as well.  All in all a great meal!  I was so tempted to steal the coffee cups they were nice and big.

From Fiona's Visit

They even gave me some churros as a birthday gift

From Fiona's Visit

But the best thing of the morning… getting to spend time with my Friend’s, although they are more like my Yankee Family..

From Fiona's Visit