Jeremy’s Blog

Yesterday I went into the Health Partners Specialty Clinic right near my home for a quick surgery in the afternoon. I started the day with a 4 k swim early in the morning and focussed on some 100 repeats. I shaved up the night before (for the first time since my accident) and wore a speed suit rather than my regular drag suit. Needless to say it was fun to go fast. After that I went for an easy 1 hour spin. I was not allowed to eat before the surgery and was super hungry. The surgery was totally slick. They did knock me completely out, pulled two screws on the top of my leg and two more on the bottom. I woke up, ate some food that we (Jennie and I) brought with and they quickly kicked me out so the staff could all attend Friday happy hour (at least that’s what I highly suggested and it seemed to go over well). My foot felt fantastic and has nearly complete range of motion! Jennie and I went immediately to Grand Performance to pick up some socks and a bottle for my new buddy Shane that I got to race with today at Miracle Kids (which I will write about momentarily). We then had dinner at Whole Foods and went home. I was feeling great still and watched a bit of t.v going to bed at 10p.m.

I woke up before my alarm today very excited about Miracle Kids. Tony Schiller had asked me last week (before my surgery was scheduled) to assist a 7 year old super cool kid named Shane (who has Spina Bifida) during his race. This event is awesome by the way and you must check it out or better yet volunteer. I arrived at 10:30 and immediately found Shane and his family. We discussed how we would go about the race and set up in a vip transition area. Shane was the only kid with a disability in the race (that I saw). There were several cancer survivor kids participating too. Shane and I got to lead the procession down to the beach after the opening ceremony in which Mitch’s dad talked about his now deceased son and how his son really originated Miracle Kids.

The basic story is that little Mitch was terminal with cancer and at the U hospital in 2002. He overheard another kid asking if they would have Christmas and his parents had to explain that they had no money. In fact, the parents of the child were sleeping in the back of a truck during the winter in the parking lot of the hospital. Mitch asked his dad how much money he had so that he could help them out. He also told his dad to help such families after he died. Thus Miracle Kids was born to help raise money to help families in need. Each kid races with a name of a kid with cancer who can’t race and raise money along the way.

I pushed Shane in his wheelchair down as far as the carpet went. From there I picked him up and carried him to the water edge. We got to enter first and they didn’t start anyone else until we got around the first corner, about 30 yards or so. Then the older kids (15-17) began followed by the younger kids. Shane and I accidentally did the long swim course but it only added 50 yards. We took it easy and just had a ton of fun. I picked him up again and brought him out of the water to his wheelchair. I pushed him into transition stopping a lot to receive high 5’s from all the excited spectators. It was awesome to say the least. From there it was a race for me against Shane in transition. His mom helped him into his hand pedal bike while I removed my wetsuit, garbage bag and saran wrap that I affixed around my stitched leg (don’t tell my doc - it didn’t get wet at all by the way). I put on my shoes and was finishing tying up my second shoe when I saw Shane booking it out of transition on his bike. Should’ve had speed laces! Luckily Jennie ran after him and I had to hobble quickly with a bit of aid from a hiking stick to catch up. This catching up routine was repeated anytime there was a downhill. My dad caught up with my nephew Adam as well early on the bike course which would be a 3 mile loop around Nakomis. Shane pushed through the entire thing like a true champion. We were last to T2 but surely had the most fun. The run leg was only .5 miles and Shane changed to his super cool race wheelchair complete with tubular race wheels. I had to grab my mountain bike in order to keep up and a bunch of the Cargil volunteers (Cargil is a major sponsor and brought nearly 50 employees to help) came with too only to find themselves having to run the entire time. When we came into the finishing stretch I’m pretty sure every participant and their families were screaming their heads off. I ditched my bike before entering the narrow path but luckily Shane slowed down to high 5 everyone. It was a true honor to race with Shane today - a 7 year old who taught everyone present about life.

Shane, myself and our families hung out enjoying some snacks and conversation. We left the race about an hour after finishing. It was so amazing to be a part of this fantastic kid’s day and to witness the Miracle Kids Tri. Once I got home I did notice that my leg was bleeding a bit. I unwrapped the bandages and found that a few stitches had come loose. It was an easy fix though and I think my doc will be impressed with my home stitching job. It really hurt but I had the luxury of thinking about Shane which made it quite tolerable to stitch myself up. I guess I’ll have to take it easy tomorrow.

So all in all it was a fantastic day. The weather held (it’s storming now), the race went amazing, I got to hang with one of the coolest kids I’ve had the pleasure of meeting, I learned about Miracle Kids Triathlon, I chatted with stud tri guy Brian Bich (his kids were racing today and Brian will be smoking everyone at HOLT tomorrow), I saw a ton of friends (Yndestads, Christine Heilman, many more), and had the opportunity to get inspired to my very core. I just hope anyone reading had half as good a day as mine…

Oh, check out the 3 pics of Shane and I in the ‘pictures’ section!

Jeremy

Today I was called a ‘genetic freak’.  My response was ‘thanks’.  The reason?  My recovery.  The person? My Physical Therapist Mike Mancini.  But before I go into that I need to write about my doc appointment yesterday…

I had a follow up with my surgeon, Dr. Cole who is the Chief of Surgery at Regions hospital and on of the best trauma surgeons, especially for pelvis stuff, in the country.  We did x-rays of everything and he found out that I did the Lifetime Triathlon.  I thought he was going to get mad at me but instead was totally ecstatic.  We reviewed the x-rays and the excitement rose.  He kept saying ‘this is unprecedented’ over and over regarding how the x-rays looked.  He did some stress tests to my leg, called in all kinds of other docs to look at me and told me to ditch the crutches and come back on Friday to get part of the plates out of my leg - a very aggressive move that has never been done this early (typically you wait at least 9 months but hey, I’ve got Hawaii coming up).  Dr. Cole plans to write a case study about me for publication in fancy medical journals.  He said he’s never scene such a recovery and this completely changes the traditional view of recovery for my type of injuries.  I guess it may help others down the road should they have to endure same or similar stuff.

Today I got up early and hit the pool.  Dan Arlandson was already into his 60 x 100 on 1:24 bender.  I did 1k warm up with drills and 8 x 500 and tried to stay in viewing distance of Dan’s feet when he smoked by me.  It made for interesting training going from a zone 3 tempo well into zone 4 and back to zone 3.  Great L.T set though but I was super smoked after.  I had no time to shower so packed my chlorinated body into my car without the use of crutches (yes!!!) to head down to see my P.T.  I excitedly told Mike about my follow up visit with Dr. Cole and we then got down to business.  Mike has me doing all these functional exercises in various planes of motion to get my foot, knee and hip moving in a coordinated fashion while building strength and stability at the same time.  When you’re weak this is beyond tiring.  Miraculously my body was responding after just a few reps of an exercise and was moving smoothly and relatively strongly throughout.  Mike said I was doing stuff he wasn’t planning for me until a few weeks from now and then called me a ‘genetic freak’.  Thanks mom!  Thanks dad!

I hope this post doesn’t come off like I’m all high and mighty; that certainly isn’t my intent.  I’m just super psyched that I’m recovering way more quickly than expected and the prospect of running at least part of the Imarathon at Hawaii now real.  I finally feel like I’m getting some aerobic fitness and can’t wait to get some metal out of me on Friday.

I’m off for a ride…

Jeremy

Holy crap what a past few days it’s been!  Fan freakin tastic best describes it.  Here’s the scoop:

I had a solid week of training with a bit more swimming and lots of nice outdoor rides.  I also added in all the new stuff that Mike Mancini, my P.T taught me on Monday which leaves me nice and sore.  Friday came up quick and my day was full with getting my packet for Lifetime Tri, being contacted by MPR for an evening radio interview in house, and talking with Jason from Lifetime corporation about Kare 11 interest in interviewing me before and after the race.  All this attention is totally fun but stressful at the same time.  I just thought I was going to do some training at the Lifetime tri but the media picked up on my story and thought it to be ‘inspirational’.  If I can inspire someone that’s great but it certainly wasn’t my main intent.

Saturday’s 4:15 a.m alarm woke me from a dead sleep.  I had packed the car the night before, got up, made coffee, grabbed a banana and power bar, pooped (everybody does) and jumped in the car.  We took the back roads to the race and found parking very near by.   I thought that we arrived with plenty of time but it’s amazing how much stuff you need to take care of.  I had scheduled to meet Jason and Kare 11 at 6:30 on the beach.  As is typical on race day everything was delayed.  I didn’t get set up with Kare 11 until almost 7a.m and needed to start at 7:09.  Luckily the race went off 5 minutes late but I had zero warm up and had to ‘hop’ the fence to get to the elite amateur wave in time.  I had about 1 minute after getting in line until the start.

The horn blew and everyone ran and dophin dove away.  I was hopping on 1 leg into the water and began swimming at only knee level water.  I did catch up to the tail end and only got caught by the first 5 women (I think).  I did start catching the corporate relay folk that started just in front.  I just swam steady and didn’t go into the red zone.  My time was fine, nothing crazy but good considering no warm up and my first time in a lake this year.  I had to beach myself in the shallows when finishing and stood up on my good leg and hopped across the timing mat.  There I grabbed my crutches and off to my bike I went.

I took plenty of time in transition getting my riding shoes on, socks, helmet, etc.  I figured out a skip pattern that was the fastest way to get out of transition.  Right upon getting to the mount line two elite amateur women mounted and turned into each other crashing to the ground.  It definitely made me nervous but fortunately I was just getting on when it happened.  The bike went well.  It was totally aerobic for me as I could only push so hard with my left leg.  I got caught my some masters guys and two women and my instinct told me to kick down but my brain told me to hold back.   Possibly for the first time in my life I listened to my brain.  I had a ton of fun on the loop around Hariet with all the corners.  There were a couple of guys catching me and I would put tons of time in the corners on them.  I certainly wasn’t hanging it out at all but it still amazes me how many people are uncomfortable on their bikes.  The last couple miles my mind wandered and wondered about the 10k on crutches that I now had to endure…

I took a ton of time again in transition lacing up my single shoe and putting on my special boot.  I started with the crutches that go only up to your wrist.  This proved to be very difficult but I had my regular crutches just outside of transition at the water stop.  I stopped and grabbed those along with a short sleeve jersey to protect my armpits.  Jennie walked just off the course the first lap with me.  I got a bit agitated at the end of the first lap since it took almost an hour and all kinds of shoulder, back and arm muscles were freaking out.  I was happy that I wasn’t chaffing though.  I did the second lap on my own and was now in the mix with all the sprint triathletes.  Everyone was super encouraging (with the exception of one crabby dude who said ‘give it a rest already’).  I was out there for fun and for a workout and to prove to myself that Kona isn’t a pipe dream but it became much more than that.  It became a true test of mind over matter and pulled out of me my absolute best.  The last mile was grueling.  Everything hurt (except my leg and pelvis) and was on the verge of cramping.  My shoulders, arms, hands, right leg, glutes, and many muscles that I didn’t know I had were screaming.  Once I came into the finish straight it did go away (mostly) and I could hear that familiar voice of Jerry McNeil along with the roar of the crowd.  I felt like I floated to the line and at the same time it couldn’t have come any sooner.

After the finish line I chatted with Kare 11 again.  My family (parents, nephew and Jennie) were there along with Summer and Suzie - two of my recent graduates and incredibly talented therapists.  I was so honored that they came out to share in a little piece of physical and mental rehab.  Even my P.T came out and was on the backside of the run course cheering me on.  I was on cloud nine and hit the VIP tent right after my interview and saying hi to everyone for a cold and oh so tasty beer.

Jennie and I then went home.  I was calling all sorts of folk on the way back.  At home I ate some lunch and watched the Tour de France coverage.  Jennie took a nap but I was too excited to sleep.  We rented a movie but I passed out just before 9 and didn’t wake up until 8 this morning.  I took it easy watching the live Tour coverage in the morning.  I caught up on some e-mail and then my parents and nephew came over.  We went over to Lake Phalen for the ‘Dragon Festival’ which is a big party where you can eat, watch martial arts demos, do tradition Chinese drumming, watch dragon boat racing and just have a good time.  Adam had a blast doing some Chinese art and was most impressed with his new glider plane that he got from some booth there.  My dad brought his bike with and we road back to his house in Apple Valley after the festivities.  It was a tough ride with a headwind most of the way and we had to jam it to get back in time for my mom to get to work.  I road back home on my own pleased with how I was feeling and ended up getting almost 3.5 hours in.

I can’t wait for tomorrow.  I have a follow up with my doc and we’ll discuss when to take the plates out of my leg.  I feel like the bone is 90% or more healed and look forward to just being able to walk around consistently without my ’sticks’.  The pelvis does not give me any issue and I’m sure it’s all healed by now.  Anyway, I’ll know for sure tomorrow how things are and hopefully what the rest of the prognosis is going forward to Hawaii.

Thanks to everyone and anyone who cheered me on or who ran past with words of encouragement.  I am truly touched.

Jeremy

I’m definitely in for Life Time Fitness Tri.  I did a bit of research and can use crutches but not a wheelchair.  I will stay in the elite amateur wave in order to avoid any mix ups with less experienced folk on the bike.  Jason from Life Time corporate relations office called me yesterday as well stating that they wish to set me up with Kare 11 news to possibly do a piece on me.  He just became aware of my situation and refunded my entry and gave me and entry to next year.   Hopefully I can truly race next year at Life Time.

Last Saturday was Minneman tri.  My buddy and sponsor (with Orbea) Phil Godkin arrived at 10p.m the night before from Milwaukee escorted in by all kinds of fire works.  We repacked his van, had a beer, and went to bed.  Twas a short night with the alarm firing off at 4:15a.m in order to arrive, set up and be ready to go by 5:30 along with the guys from Grand Performance, my bike shop sponsor who did the bike servicing for the race.  All went well and I even drove the course during the race to help out with flat tires and crashes.  We only new of one crash and the lady did in fact get going and finished.  We also only came across one flat which is unheard of in a race.  Props to the race for cleaning the course so well.  At the awards ceremony we gave away an Orbea Ora frame and fork via a drawing of sorts.  The guy that won was totally psyched so it went to the right person for sure.

In other news I had a P.T appointment on Monday.  I took an x-ray at my uncle-n-laws chiro office (Scandia Chiropractic) and brought it with.  We reviewed it and decided it was time to start weighting the leg more heavily including some rudimentary walking.  We did some mobilization stuff and then hit the treadmill.  I walked forward for a bit then walked backward to get the posterior hip moving and help with dorsiflexion range of motion.  After that we repeated some previous lunge type exercises adding some weight and did some body squats adding weight for a second set.  I’m still a bit sore but it’s that great kind of ‘I worked out’ sore.  In addition I’ve been out on the bike daily and swimming daily.  The swim is coming along with my 200 repeat times just 10-15 seconds off where it was pre-accident.

Nothing too exciting is on the schedule until Life Time Tri so I won’t post until after that.  Monday of next week is my post op appointment with my surgeon where we will hopefully make a schedule for when to take the plates out of my leg.

Hope to see you all at Life Time Tri!

Jeremy

Hello all,

Happy 4th of July! And if you’re Canadian, happy belated Canada Day (July 1st)! Not too much to tell but things are progressing very well still. I had an x-ray the other day and the outer bone (the part that supports weight) in the tibia looks 99% intact. The pelvis is solid and is of no worry. I’ve been doing short bits of walking, if you want to call it that. More of a shuffle really. Today I relied on a cane for the most part and guestimate that I am putting 80% of my weight down. I did ride up to Scandia from my abode and was able to go considerably harder without any issues or discomfort. I should be off the crutches in 10 days completely.

In other news, Lifetime Fitness tri is next weekend. I signed up for the elite amateur wave before my injury. I was gearing up to try and win it but alas stuff happens.  So instead I will do the race content to finish. Granted I won’t be racing but will use it as great training. I’ll do the ‘run’ on my crutches rigged up with extra padding. My goal is to break 3 hours. My moto going in is if you can’t beat them then join them.

So I guess I’m ‘racing’ twice. Won’t be getting that Gear West bonus for beating Dave on the bike (it was a small possibility at one point) but it’ll be nice to get a good workout in.  I’ve only been training for 5 weeks (if you can call it that - it’s all base except for 2 swims last week where I went hard) so I won’t expect much in the swim or bike but will be happy to finish.

Tomorrow is Minneman.  I’ll be helping Grand Performance bike shop and Or bea bikes who are both sponsors. I’ll help with basic bike stuff pre race and drive the course with some spare wheels and tubes. It should be fun but I am not looking forward to getting up at 4a.m. I’m currently drinking some Molson to get me sleepy and to bed early. Hopefully this plan won’t backfire…

Sunday I will be riding a ‘metric century’ (100km or 62miles) leaving my abode at 10a.m. Anyone is welcome to come and several people have confirmed. The plan is to average 15mph making for a purely endurance paced ride.

That’s it for now. I’ll post again in a couple days with any new news and a Minneman report. Thanks for reading!

Jeremy

Yesterday I had a blast.  I announced the first Rochester Triathlon along with Dave, a retired waterski show announcer who was fantastic.  It all started with a drive down on Saturday with eventual overall winner Sam Hauck who is with the club that I started for this year called the Twin Cities Multisports Club.  Sam is a great kid.  He’ll be off to Omaha this fall for medical school but isn’t your typical med school kid.  He’s incredibly bright but very down to earth.  We talked about the race on the way down along with all kinds of stuff such as the fact that he joined the republican student group during undergrad to get a free bottle opener.  Turns out he had purchased some beer that wasn’t twist off and couldn’t find the opener.  Luckily the republican dudes showed up just in time.

Anyway, we got down to Rochester, got Sam’s race packet, went to the hotel, got some food at Noodles and co and then drove to the race site to check stuff out.  It looked to be a very solid venue with a unique swim that was 2 laps with a beach run between the laps - in other words you exit the water after lap one and run along the beech jumping back in for lap 2.

On race day I showed up at 5:30a.m.  Sam stayed in bed and road his bike over as it was less than 4 miles away from the hotel.  They weren’t yet set up with the pa system so I just visited with some pals that I saw and patiently waited.  Very soon the local radio station van came up and set up the pa system.  I began to blab various things especially for newbies and Dave came over to assist.  We plugged the sponsors and soon it was time to start.  We moved to the beech area for pre-race stuff with a portable pa set up.  The race waves were soundly set up with a gap between olympic and sprint that was appropriate to not create congestion.  After the swim we went back to the finish area to have some fun with announcing.

I was able to keep the humor meter up throughout the day and bellowed with excitement when I saw Sam coming in for the win.  Tough stud Brett Lovas was second followed by our very own Scott Penticoff.  On the woman’s side Cathy Yndestad smoked everyone with out Michelle Carlson coming in 5th.  There was a team competition that took the top 3 from each club.  Twin Cities Multisports Club took top honors!  I was like a proud parent and have the trophy at home right now.

On a completely different note, today I had a P.T session that added a ton of very dynamic activities to actively engage walking muscles.  I walked 50 yards or so being limited by very weak foot muscles.  I hit the pool after that and did a 4k swim followed by pool running and walking with emphasis on pushing off the foot in the shallow end of the pool.  Tonight Dan Arlandson came over and we went for my first outdoor ride!  We averaged 18 mph and it felt great.  Our ride was only 1.5 hours but it was great to feel the road and sun.  I plan to go 2 hours tomorrow and increase by 30 minutes every day.  My progression to ditching the crutches should be less than 2 weeks.  Hopefully I’ll be writing soon about my progression to running!

All in all things are going well.  It was tough the past 2 weeks with Kodiak being sick but I am reinvigorated with my outdoor endevours and ability to get around without having my foot swell up terribly.  My hip gives me zero issues which tells me that I will indeed be back to full speed next season.  I now feel like I am truly training and have no doubt that I will complete Hawaii.  Thanks to everyone for the words of encouragement.  It’s amazing to go to races like Rochester and have people whom you have never met come up to you and say ‘I’ve been reading your blog - keep up the good work’ and such.  I’m humbled to know so many check this blog and keep up with what I am up to.

Thanks for the inspiration you all give me.

Jeremy

Yep, the title is correct.  I went running the other day.  Granted it wasn’t exactly what you might be thinking.  I ran at Accua, a very cool training and rehab center in Savage that has an underwater treadmill.

Chris Koast with Accua had e-mailed me some time ago regarding coming in for a free session.  They give free 30 minute sessions in the treadmill pool the first time and Chris thought it could benefit me.  At that time I really didn’t think so and thought that regular pool running with the belt would be just fine especially given the drive to Savage.  As it turned out Chris knows my physical therapist and was at his office last Monday.  We chatted a bit and I was much more interested after our conversation.  Jonny-J also received an invite so we scheduled sessions back to back on Thursday.

So down to Savage Jonny-J and I went.  Chris showed us around and explained the types of clients (lots of local tri and run heros included) and then got me in the pool first.  I was very surprised how different it was from regular pool running.  Since your foot actually touches you gain the training of muscles in the lower leg and can teach them to fire better.  I began by walking and could see my gait on a video screen in front of me as there is an underwater camera in the pool.  The water level is adjustable and we kept it up to my chest so that there would be about 20 pounds or so of pressure on my leg when walking.  We eventually sped up the treadmill and added some jet flow from my front to increase the intensity.  I wasn’t setting any records but it definitely was a workout that was much more specific in regards to training the ankle and lower leg musculature.  At the end we did a bit of standing on one leg with the jets pushing me off balance and tossed a medicine ball back and forth.  The overall workout wasn’t aerobically exhausting but my nervous system was freaking out trying to reestablish itself in my lower left leg and made me very tired.

Next it was Jonny’s turn.  Since Jon is ‘able bodied’ Chris put him through the ringer demonstrating the many applications that could be done in the pool.  Jon turned red, blue and a very odd shade of purple during the 30 minute session and was also impressed.

This is the only public access underwater treadmill in Minnesota.  The next closest is either Chicago or Omaha.  It’s a bit of a hike from my place but I’ll definitely be down to use the pool again in my training for Hawaii.  If you’re having issues preventing you from land running definitely consider Accua.  (I was not paid to endorse by the way!)

Outside of the Accua endeavor I’ve just been up to my regular training with an increase on the bike intensity and pool intensity.  This afternoon I’ll head down to Rochester as I will be one of the announcers for the Rochester tri tomorrow.  Rising star Sam Hauk and I will carpool down.  My ESP tells me that Sam will be first or second with Scott Penticoff the other first or second.  I guess my next post just might read ‘I’m a psychic - call my hotline’.

Grip it and rip it!

Jeremy

It’s been a bit of a lonely abode with Kodiak gone.  He always let out a howl when we would come home.  Madison is a ’silent husky’ and only howls if induced by hearing it.  Madison is out of sorts and on Sunday Jennie woke up with a locked up back and neck.  Jennie layed low and I went up to Scandia to get back to my fishing roots.  Got into a bunch of croppies and had a blast with my nephew Adam who’s all of 8 years old.  We towed him on the tube for a bit after fishing.

Monday was a fantastic day, for me anyways.  Jennie was still quite buggered up and took the day off work.  We scheduled her for some chiropractic care in the early afternoon and went together to my morning physical therapy appointment.  Mike, my pt, had given me some tough stuff to do last week specific to training balance and gait abilities.  We added a ton of stuff to the repertoire and he thinks that I can start walking next week!  If that happens I’ll ride outside next week too.  This is 2 weeks earlier than anticipated last week but my improvement in the past week was enough that this is a likely reality.  Needless to say I’m psyched.

After that we went to that little Swedish store called Ikea.  First on the agenda was ingesting some Swedish meatballs and the $1.99 Penne pasta dish which was actually decent.  After that Jennie and I wondered to the bed section to look at a bed we had scene in the catalogue.  It’s a latex and wool mattress and was the only bed I’ve ever lied on that actually has a huge difference.  Totally contouring with no pressure points like a memory foam bed without the hassle of having to keep your bedroom temperature at 78 degrees in order to keep the foam soft and not super hard and rigid.  (My brother tried the memory foam and took it back since you need to keep the room temp so high and your body heat does not get distributed by foam like it does with wool.)  They had one in stock and we made arrangements to get it today.  After Ikea it was up to Scandia for both of us to get adjusted.  We had dinner at my grandparent-in-laws before heading home.

Life’s been stressful this past week with Kodiak and all but I am keeping up with training and finding it easier today to stay positive.  Today I did my full strength routine and now am off to do a ride and then a swim.  I’ll then go to Grand Performance tonight for club clothing pick up and then off to dinner with a group of my graduates.  I haven’t been getting up in the wee hours to go to the pool lately but hopefully can get back into that habit tomorrow.

Life’s been full of curve balls lately but fortunately I’ve figured out the curve of the ball and am now confident that I’ll hit it out of the park.  Watch for my home run coming soon…

Jeremy

Today sucked.  I didn’t train.  I was exhausted.  I stayed up the past few nights with my male dog Kodiak.  As posted in ‘best and worst day’ he had lymphatic cancer that spread all over the place.

Two days ago Kodiak was especially miserable to the point where I really wanted to put him out of his misery.  Before that he was definitely lethargic but still eating and giving out his typical love.  Luckily he rebounded yesterday and even today but upon true analysis he still wasn’t truly living, just sleeping in a very uncomfortable position due to the location of the tumors on his chest which seemed to hurt if he lied on his side.  As a pet owner you need to make those tough choices for your pet and that is what I had to do today.

Jennie and I headed up to Scandia Vet Clinic with both dogs.  We stopped by her parents and let them run around.  Well Madison ran about and Kodiak stumbled about.  We packed Kodiak back into the car and left Madison behind.  We went to the vet and put Kodiak up on a table.  As I held his head and pet him Steve, the vet, gave Kodiak a good dose of morophine.  He became quite tired right away but still looked me right in the eye in a rather peaceful way.  Another shot was given in his front arm and he simply closed his eyes and everything stopped.  It was very peaceful for him, was heat wrenching for Jennie and I, and was ultimately the best thing that we could do.  We packed him up in a blanket and went back to Jennie’s parents to bury him in the far back yard.

Kodiak was the best dog you could ask for.  He never hurt another domesticated animal  (he did have a taste for squirrel and tried to get deer once in a while) or human.  His demeanor among the very young and old was amazing.  His winter endurance pushed me to my limits in training.  His howl was captivating.  His loyalty and love was present even in his last moments as he in fact licked my face after being induced with morophine as if to say he understood.  We will miss him terribly.

Tomorrow is a new day.  I’ll get back to training and giving my other dog Madison a bit of needed attention.  She’s a bit out of sorts tonight looking about the house for Kodiak.  It will probably be more difficult for her as pack mentality is so strong in huskies.  It seems that’s rubbed off on me too though.  Although I’m extremely saddened I am also happy for the time that I had with Kodiak and for having the courage to not let him suffer anymore.  Many friends had the opportunity to see him in full glory when out training on snow shoes and skiing or with his interaction with kids and ‘more seasoned’ folk.   We’ll all miss him.

Rest in peace Kodiak, and give me that running kick when I need it!

Jeremy

Ahhh… the sweet feeling of fatigue and a touch of sore muscles.  How I’ve missed this feeling!  I finally am at a point where this will be ‘normal’ again.  But before divulging into my happy bliss here is the rundown for the past days:

Friday I watched the downtown Minneapolis crit, part of the Nature Valley Grand Prix.  Not an overly exciting race as the Bissell team kept everything pretty much together and the race ended in a field sprint won by my buddy Kirk O’Bee.  It was great to be out and I in fact had a long day with work stuff, a longer swim and home therapy.

Saturday I helped out at the Liberty Tri.  I was out in my kayak for 2.5 hours and led out the elite wave long and short course and then went back out to assist a few folk.  Way less drama than Manitou and better weather as well.  I now have a sweet set of sunburn lines after a full day in the sun.  It was about time we got some great weather.

Sunday was full on.  I went up to Scandia for brunch with my inlaws and brought the dogs.  Kodiak had a good time (as previously posted he has advanced cancer and we don’t expect him to be around much longer).  I then went down and watched the Stillwater criterium which was quite exciting.  I finished 4th there once and it brought back a lot of memories.  After that it was down to my parent’s house in Apple Valley.  We had a great dinner and I jumped in their pool to do a bit of water running.  I was smoked by Sunday night.

Yesterday was another crazy one with work, physical therapy, swimming, riding the trainer and meeting at Jim Robb’s house for some needed club website updates.  I was gone from 9a.m to 9p.m and my foot was a bit angry by the end of the day.  A 20 minute ice bath remedied it though.

Today was bliss.  It was the first day that I felt ‘aerobically competent’.  I did a 1.5 hour swim (5000 yards) and a 30 minute pool run.  I ran out to Start Line Running Store after that to bring Ann Rhea, manager there, some calcium supplements.  Poor Ann has joined my club of ‘temporarily out of service athletes’ aka TOOSA by crashing on her bike at Liberty and breaking her collar bone and rib along with slightly puncturing her lung.  I don’t know how you ’slightly’ puncture a lung, but Ann did that and was back to work on Monday.  She’s nuts but we all love her.  After that I stopped by work for an hour then got home and continued with training.  I did upper body lifting/rehab stuff then hit the bike trainer for 1.5 hours.  I followed that up with lower body lifting/rehab which I was psyched to find great improvement over the last set I did a few days ago.  My wife Jennie helps with a few ‘maneuvers’ that I’ve been prescribed.  Right after finishing we went out to Big Bowl Restaurant in Roseville.  I had a beer before dinner and had that warm happy fun time feeling that you get after consuming a beer post hard race or workout.  Mind you I wasn’t setting any records with swimming or biking, but it was certainly a record for me.  Two weeks ago I could barely do 1 set of lifting.  Now I’ve quadrupled the weight and am doing 4 sets.  On the bike I could do 90 watts before getting pain.  Now I’m spinning out at 160 watts and would go higher but don’t want to stress my tibia.  When I started swimming I would need a break after 100-200 yards.  Now I’m doing 1k repeats on 1:30 pace and staying very aerobic.  So the endurance is up, strength is up and range of motion is up 100% or more in just two weeks.  If I keep going like this I’ll win Hawaii in sub 7 hours but I’m pretty sure there will be a cutoff point.  Seriously though I’ll be happy to start and finish Hawaii.

That’s the news for now.  I’m just enjoying that blissful tired feeling that you can so easily take for granted.  Tomorrow I’m going for another long day so I better get some sleep.   Thanks for checking in!

Jeremy