In Awe - Hollywood Endings Really do Happen in Real Life

I just got back yesterday from a week in Lake Placid. We were there to cheer on my friend Jason in his first ever Ironman Event. I wrote last time that I couldn't get my head around what he was about to do. Well I still can't get my head around what he just did DO. Jason Billows....YOU ARE AN IRONMAN - 13hr9min of sheer pain, endurance and perseverance.

There are a few stepping stones here in this post to the ultimate in Hollywood endings come true to real life.

The first is Jason's story. This time last year he was attending the Ironman, not as a competitor like he had registered as but in a wheelchair having suffered very bad lower back herniation. This is also after a personal loss, some knee surgery, and also shin surgery. He had his back surgery in late fall, was off for 6 weeks, was then addicted to pain meds (I think i can confess that on his behalf since he mentions it..his doctor probably should not have given him the meds he had in that dosage). At any rate, he started his physio recover, then started in late December early January to train for the Ironman. Granted he had started training the year before, but he only had about 6 months. As I mentioned in the last post the IRONMAN is 2.6 Miles swim, 112 Mile bike followed by a full marathon.

One has 17 hours to complete it. Jason got up at around 4:40am or so the morning of the race, and we all followed afterwards around 5:45am to get a good spot around Mirror Lake to watch the start of the swim. It was pouring rain, but we had our "Here for Jason" shirts on (even the dogs had bandannas on) and we lined the Lake. At 6:50am the Pros were off. They were a small buzz of a group and fast! At 7am the gun went off for the Age groupers. Now if you have never seen the start of this race it is a sight to behold. Not only was I nervous for the sheer fact that Jason had at least a 12 hour day of physical pain ahead of him (and this was his strong suite and the running was his...well apparently he was told "be scared of the run") but I also thought of all the bodies close together. And for good reason too! As soon as the gun went off, boom, there was kicking in of heads, people panicking, or swimming , or....it was a MASS of bodies moving together ...like a swarm of bugs the whole time.

We then moved on to where the swimmers come out of the water, having half their wet suits taken down, then they run to the transition area in the Olympic skate oval to get their bikes. We saw Jason come by and he was right on time! 1 hour and 5 minutes. We ran over to where the bikes come down this scary hill to start the course - and saw Jason again, 6 min later - again on his time. We then had about 3 hours to wait to maybe see him again. When we saw him again at the 3 hour mark after the first loop he looked great. And again on time. Then again we waited to spy him on the start of the Marathon portion at around 2:30pm. Tim got a great picture. He looked great, in great spirits. I was still so nervous for him. It had gotten quite warm, and although Jason has done the full swim, and bike loop he had yet to actually run a Marathon and who knows what mind games go about out there. Although Jason has done so much yoga and meditation and is usually such a calm cool guy part of me knew he'd be fine.

The rest of the day was a waiting game - but finally at around 8pm, I saw Tim posed for photography!!! He had decided he would go down near Canada Corner and catch Jason in the final miles of the run to shot pictures. So he ran a large chunk with him shooting his final moments. As Tim made his way to the Oval for the finish line, we knew Jason still had to run up past Mirror Lake and around back to the Oval. I was with his lovely gal Tracy for the final moments. It was FANTASTIC seeing him look so good and crossing that line with such power. He then told us later that his legs started cramping on his second bike loop, and he had to run the whole marathon (and sometimes walk) with these cramps. This is a guy who has been through the wringer this last year and to see that special moment......I am so inspired by him. JASON - you are my hero!

But his is but one story. Throughout the day I caught glimpses of dispare, of power, or athleticism, and Hollywood stories galour. The second story is a short one. For the Ironman, they shut down each portion at a certain time. The swim was shut down at 9:30am. If you did not finish at 9:30 you could not continue. At 9:40 am there was this mass cheering on someone at the end of the course. I was not close enough to see for myself . Now this person would not be able to continue, but a man on the shore told me that the man in the water finishing had suffered a stroke years before and had entered the Ironman and was swimming with one arm as he was paralyzed on one side...SWIMMING WITH ONE ARM people! Again, awe-inspiring.

This final story makes me weep with joy and wonder. This is the true Hollywood story come TRUE! There should be a movie about this guy. So my third story is this: Matthew Long. It was after 11pm. The Ironman ceases at Midnight. If you are not at the line at Midnight, you are not completing the event. So we had hung out at Canada Corner where there is this HUGE hill marking the last few miles of the Ironman. People looked dead, tired, seized up, and in sheer agony. Of course others just looked determined. We had decided to head back to the oval to the finish line to cheer those we coaxed up the hill at Canada Corner to the finish line. If you are around Canada Corner after 11:15 or so, you may not make it. On our way to the Oval, we spied a massive group running. Wondering what it was I asked our newly crowned Ironman Jason Billows, "what is that". He then told us there was this guy, Matt Long, a NYC firefighter, who had been a multiple Ironman hitting his record time just four years previous in 2005. He was riding his bike in December of 2005 when he was hit by a NYC Transit bus, and was given a 5% chance to live. His whole right side was crushed and shattered. He came out of his accident as a miracle and amazingly telling his therapist that he would complete an Ironman. His therapist then said "if you enter and do it, i will run with you". And so the "I WILL" group was born and that was who was running with Matt Long - apparently the whole day! So we see him coming up the street and my head is thinking "oh god I hope he makes it, but it doesn't seem so". Flash forward to 11:57pm we hear chanting and the oval breaks out into a frenzy as we see Matt Long's group heading our way. There was banging, and yelling "Matt, Matt, Matt..."....he rounds the corner limping the whole way, and crosses the line at 11:58pm...with 2 minutes to spare. I had tears streaming down my face. Hollywood could not have scripted this moment better.

My experience with the Ironman is this: I am awe-struck by the determination of these athletes. I personally can't imagine doing what they do, but I have resolved to better my physical program by signing up for a Running Room Clinic and would like to try a road bike. Will I try an Ironman someday? - probably not, my swimming is very very sub par. However, every time I open my mouth to complain, I will remind myself of Jason from his wheelchair to Ironman story, the man who swam with one arm, and Matt Long who came back from the brink of death and kicked the grim reapers ass!

IRONMAN at Lake Placid - Many Many Miles to Travel

So Tim and I were down at Mirror Lake in Lake Placid NY the other day when this fine washboard specimen of a man comes sauntering past. Tim says "close your mouth buddy". Oh yes, many many fine bodies are to be seen this weekend in Lake Placid as the race day comes closer.

The Ironman is a grueling race that starts at 7am and ends at Midnight. It involves a total of 140.6 Miles of work - starting with 2.6 mile swim, followed by a 112 Mile Bike, followed by a FULL marathon at 26.2 Miles. For you Canadians out there just to put it into perspective - All told almost a 5km swim, 180km bike, and 42 km run. OH MY GOD! I've been trying all week to wrap my head around what my friend Jason is going to do tomorrow. I've seen some of the course in our travels around the area - a lot of hills since this is a mountainous region. At this point all his training is done and it's a total mental game. You have to understand, this is a guy who last year was suppose to do his first Ironman but was in a wheelchair at Lake Placid watching and couldn't even walk. He then went through major back surgery in late fall, then started physio and then training just this January. And after all that he is ready. Last month he did the Epicman training - which was almost a full Ironman but only Half the run.

So 2 days ago Tim and I went for a hike. It was really tough and very very steep climbing part of the last mile - and the whole time I kept having to tell myself, "jason is doing an Ironman, jason is doing an Ironman, this is nothing, you are getting a really good workout". Only a 4 hour 9km hike, and yet I can't fathom what Jason will have to endure over 12 to 14 hours tomorrow. I am very humbled and proud of his work and hope that he kicks some MAJOR ASS tomorrow.

At any rate, we must all leave the house at 5:45am to get a good spot at the starting line at Mirror Lake tomorrow - I've seen pictures of the start and seriously I would totally panic! (see attached). Luckily Jason is super confident in water, but man I couldn't do it. See above shot.....yesh!

Did Nano Thermite Take Down WTC 7?

I haven't stirred the conspiracy pot in a while and don't have much to write about theatrically - although I suppose this could be considered "theatrical" in sense I would suppose, but here goes. This interview with a leading Scientist is too important not to share. I know lots of people scream "conspiracy theorist" but you know what, he is a leading scientist and knows a lot more then the regular joe out there - do you say he doesn't know his job? I dare you to prove him wrong if that is the case if you are a trained scientist. Any logical person that has had any science education should be able to form serious questions concerning the provided chain of events which culminated in the fall of all buildings located within WTC plaza on Sept. 11, 2001. This is an interesting and enlightening interview.

Plus I love a controversy! Enjoy! http://russiatoday.com/Best_Videos/2009-07-09/Did_nano-thermite_take_down_the_WTC.html

The original study was published in the Open Chemical Physics Journal recently by 9 scientists from all over, including the gentleman in this interview above. Here are the exerpts for you science nerds out there:


INTRODUCTION
The destruction of three skyscrapers (WTC 1, 2 and 7) on September 11, 2001 was an immensely tragic catastrophe that not only impacted thousands of people and families directly, due to injury and loss of life, but also provided the motivation for numerous expensive and radical changes in domestic and foreign policy. For these and other reasons, knowing what really happened that fateful day is of grave importance. A great deal of effort has been put forth by various government-sponsored and -funded investigations, which led, in large part, to the reports released by FEMA [1] and NIST [2]. Other studies of the destruction have been less well publicized but are no less important to the outstanding obligation that remains to the victims of that tragedy, to determine the whole truth of the events of that day [3-10]. A number of these studies have appropriately focused attention on the remaining physical material, and on available photographs and video footage, as sources of evidence still in public hands, relating to the method of destruction of the three skyscrapers.

CONCLUSIONS
We have discovered distinctive red/gray chips in significant numbers in dust associated with the World Trade Center destruction. We have applied SEM/XEDS and other methods to characterize the small-scale structure and chemical signature of these chips, especially of their red component. The red material is most interesting and has the following characteristics:


1. It is composed of aluminum, iron, oxygen, silicon and carbon. Lesser amounts of other potentially reactive elements are sometimes present, such as potassium, sulfur, lead, barium and copper.

2. The primary elements (Al, Fe, O, Si, C) are typically all present in particles at the scale of tens to hundreds of nanometers, and detailed XEDS mapping shows intimate mixing.

3. On treatment with methyl ethyl ketone solvent, some segregation of components occurred. Elemental aluminum became sufficiently concentrated to be clearly identified in the pre-ignition material.

4. Iron oxide appears in faceted grains roughly 100 nm across whereas the aluminum appears in thin platelike structures. The small size of the iron oxide particles qualifies the material to be characterized as nanothermite or super-thermite.

5. Analysis shows that iron and oxygen are present in a ratio consistent with Fe2O3. The red material in all four WTC dust samples was similar in this way. Iron oxide was found in the pre-ignition material whereas elemental iron was not.

6. From the presence of elemental aluminum and iron oxide in the red material, we conclude that it contains the ingredients of thermite.

7. As measured using DSC, the material ignites and reacts vigorously at a temperature of approximately 430 °C, with a rather narrow exotherm, matching fairly closely an independent observation on a known super-thermite sample. The low temperature of ignition and the presence of iron oxide grains less than 120 nm show that the material is not conventional thermite (which ignites at temperatures above 900 °C) but very likely a form of super-thermite.

8. After igniting several red/gray chips in a DSC run to 700 °C, we found numerous iron-rich spheres and spheroids in the residue, indicating that a very high temperature reaction had occurred, since the iron-rich product clearly must have been molten to form these shapes. In several spheres, elemental iron was verified since the iron content significantly exceeded the oxygen content. We conclude that a high-temperature reduction-oxidation reaction has occurred in the heated chips, namely, the thermite reaction.

9. The spheroids produced by the DSC tests and by the flame test have an XEDS signature (Al, Fe, O, Si, C) which is depleted in carbon and aluminum relative to the original red material. This chemical signature strikingly matches the chemical signature of the spheroids produced by igniting commercial thermite, and also matches the signatures of many of the microspheres found in the WTC dust [5].

10. The carbon content of the red material indicates that an organic substance is present. This would be expected for super-thermite formulations in order to produce high gas pressures upon ignition and thus make them explosive. The nature of the organic material in these chips merits further exploration. We note that it is likely also an energetic material, in that the total energy release sometimes observed in DSC tests exceeds the theoretical maximum energy of the classic thermite reaction.Based on these observations, we conclude that the red layer of the red/gray chips we have discovered in the WTC dust is active, unreacted thermitic material, incorporating nanotechnology, and is a highly energetic pyrotechnic or explosive material.


(emphasis added)
Complete Article: http://www.bentham-open.org/pages/content.php?TOCPJ/2009/00000002/00000001/7TOCPJ.SGM

The Xtreme

Ok if I wanted to go to the extreme, I would try out for a part in a play that is so not "me", or submit to direct a very challenging show.

My brother posted this to his blog and I just had to share this EXTREME. I felt sick as I watched this....but if I had real guts, man this would be fun!

The Extreme

Responsible Doggies and Owners and only 14 more sleeps until Lake Placid

I am a responsible dog owner. Hence my frustration when I can’t walk my dog any place I please. I have to say I am pretty fortunate in that I live in an area of Ottawa that has at least 4 off leash dog areas that are very lush, woodsy and pretty. But not everyone has that luxury and there really is not that many areas in town to take a good dog off leash.

I understand people who are afraid of dogs, or don’t trust dogs off leash, but I can essentially walk Abby around the block with no leash and she walks beside me. Now this did not come without a lot of work. My husband and I spent over a year with her on a long 50 foot lead, and countless hours of training, Agility and flyball etc to get her to where she is now. She is a dog that pretty much comes when called every time. Guinness followed suite as soon as we got him. He saw that mummy didn’t stray and figured out pretty quick that his owners are the ones with the “goods” whether they be treats, or in his case his Ball with Chuck-it Launcher. Case in point – I was at our Soccer pitch/park the other day (it’s not an off leash park but everyone brings their dogs there when there are no kids playing soccer and it’s empty most of the time anyways), and I was standing by the side of the road talking to a couple who stopped me to ask about my dogs. The lady was a former Wire Fox Terrier owner and we were gabbing about the breed, how great they are, how funny and fun they are etc. Then she looks at me and then the dogs who are off leash and just sitting on the grass and says “wow, your dogs are good, they just sit there and wait for you – my Beaner would have run off”. I proceeded to tell her my training details, that Abby used to bolt out of the house in jubilant freedom (short version). Fox Terriers are known to run off as I pointed out about Abby in her younger days, but if you spend enough time training them that YOU are the best thing in the world, and to leave You is just plain stupid, then you are Golden! The only time Guinness’ staying with us becomes questionable is in the Fall when the squirrels are busy collecting their winter food, but generally now all I have to do is bellow out a warning "GUINNESS'...and he hesitates (but he still takes off...LOL but always comes back)

The reason for this blog entry is this: Tim and I are heading to Lake Placid in a couple of weeks, and every time we take a trip with the dogs we have to do (well I do) a lot of research to find dog friendly places to take our dogs and general most places are not that friendly. In this particular case a beach, or hiking trails since it's summer and we will be in the mountains. See our dogs are better off leash – Abby in particular. She is generally a much nicer dog off leash as she feels less threatened, and she likes to poke around and dawdles. So imagine my excitement when I discovered that Mirror Lake and the beach in Lake Placid is DOG FRIENDLY – woot woot!!! See dog friendly beaches RARELY happen my friends. When we’ve been to Provincial campsites their “dog beach” is a scrap of crappy rocky ledge. Lake Placid hiking trails are also going to be great for our dogs. They love hiking off leash. And being the responsible owners that we are we bring baggies for poop, and also put them on their leash should they get out of hand, or little kids or unfriendly dogs barrel our way.

I guess I am writing this because I am also really excited about our trip. And I know the dogs will have a great time because of the dog friendliness of the place - since "mummy and daddy" will be happier too. Our friend Jason is doing the Ironman on July 26th and we will be there to cheer him on. He loves our dogs and was more then happy to have them come for the week leading up to his big event. There will be hiking, and eating, and running, and playing and drinking and yoga up top of Whiteface mountain. Only 14 more sleeps.

Post Fringe Blues = Purchases and Booze

I think I have Fringe withdrawal, or at least theatre withdrawal. One reason could be how I just JUMPED at the chance to do our "Sid's" (robin) fundraiser BIRTH which I hope is going to happen. Not only is it a nice and good script, it will be a good bonding women's adventure and great fundraiser for a good cause (Breech Birth).

Another reason I can tell is I have some free time so I am buying things - my defense also is that the weather has been really crappy. Granted I have not bought much in the way of clothing in a while and I do try to buy local or at least Enviro stuff. I did not do so yesterday when I purchased a brown linen skirt from Winners (made in China but on SALE) or the two items at Apple Saddlery last night ( a functional black summer dress and brown cool, capris - BOTH ON SALE). However the purchases I made are ones I will wear a lot and are "classic" items - meaning in my books they will go with a lot of other items I own. Today I redeemed myself by making Eco purchases.

I found a new Fav store. It's called Adore It, and it's on York and Cumberland . I bought this cool one of a kind tank top made from recycled pieces of clothing, stitched with Canadian thread, and totally MADE IN CANADA. Also bought a Fair trade blouse designed in Canada but made in India. Everything in the store is either local, or Fair Trade or used. It's a great store with some really cool items for ladies. Check it out.

I also made my way down to The Workshop which is another one of my favorite stores - supporting local or Canadian designers and crafters. They have fantastic stuff. All be it pricey but I think really worth it. I didn't buy anything due to the above purchases I just made and the fact that I have a husbands birthday next week.

Now it's on to a Team Oreo party at Nadine's house. I miss my cast a lot and it's only been a few days - another sign I have Fringe Withdrawal. But the plans are happening. I have squeezed some limes, we are all on the search for Mint, JP is bringing the Rum, I have icing sugar , all we need is soda water and we are good to go! Bring on the Guitar Hero and Apples to Apples - it's gonna be a good night!