On Sunday (Aug. 24), I competed in the Alberta Challenge Triathlon, which took place at Miquelon Lake near Edmonton. This was my last triathlon of the 2008 season. My time was 2:44.45, which is very respectable considering that the run course was on gravel and grass. I placed 11th overall (the race previous I placed 17th overall). This race had a higher number of men age 20-29, so I placed 5th out of 8 in my age category. See full results here.

Although the softer earth slows run times down, the Miquelon Lake trail was by far the most beautiful run I’ve done in my triathlon career thus far because the course was set on a pathway through trees and near small lakes. I would love to do this race again next year.

My proudest achievement was that I came out second overall on the swim and was able to pass the leader with a fast transition from the swim to bike. I’m very pleased to say that I defended my first place position for the first 7km of the ride and only dropped to 5th place by the end of the bike portion. Running was my weakest area. I had a slower transition and simply didn’t have the energy to maintain my standing. Nevertheless, I am extremely happy with the race, considering my training schedule in August dropped significantly (due to social activites, concerts, trips, and activities).

I’m convinced that if I actually trained with a club, or stuck to a good personal training schedule, then I could be placing much higher in competition. A pair of aero bars and some race-weight wheels might be nice too . . .

I just saw Radiohead play Thunderbird Stadium in Vancouver, BC. I attempted to writre down the setlist as they played it.
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On July 3rd, 2008, I read at the flywheel reading series at Pages Books, sponsored by filling station Magazine. CJSW’s Writer’s Block attended the event and recently sent me an audio recording of my reading.

The recording begins with me reading some twitter poems.

Enjoy.

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Last night I rented The Tracey Fragments (2007), a film by Canadian director Bruce McDonald (of Hard Core Logo fame).

The film follows Tracey Berkowitz through two or three days of her troubled teenage life. McDonald offers the viewer touching and troubling insight into Tracey’s reality, crafting the story by overlaying screen atop one another to give the film a mosaic quality (like the photo I included here). The effect is beautiful and, at times, rightly overwhelming.
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Confession: I had trouble spelling triathlon a few months back. Now, I’ve completed three triathlon events, improved my time, and internalized the proper spelling!

I just finished completeing an Olympic distance at the Coral Springs triathlon (1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km run). I am pleased with my effort at this event. My time was 2:34:08! Plus, in the men’s 20-29 age group I came in third overall (age group resutls here). Furthermore, I hacked over 15 minutes from my previous Olympic time (2:49:20). Not too bad (my goal was to improve by 10 minutes).
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Rogers has backpeddled on its iPhone pricing following the public reaction to its ridiculously overpriced rates. Meanwhile, Telus and Bell announce that they will soon charge their clients for incoming text messages! Welcome to Canada, a mobility wasteland.

This cash grab angers me for a number of reasons. Not only does it hamper the use, adoption, and development of an effective technology, but this plan shows no respect for customers. The sender of the text has already paid for the service, like a letter sent through Canada Post—the sender pays, the receivers the letter. How can Telus and Bell justify having both sender and reciever pay for the same message?
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This weekend I participated in the Foothills Charity Triathlon, which took place in Okotoks.

I feel great about how I did—eighth out of fifty-five males. I completed a 500m swim, 20km ride, and 5km run in 1:07:23! Of course, this race didn’t have a lot of elite racers (next week’s Coral Springs race will), but my time was still respectable. I really tanked out on the bike ride (16 out of 55) and I’m not sure why. I think I might have injured myself about a month back, because I’ve been feeling slow on my bicycle in general lately. I should probably ice the area in question and refrain from riding.

If you’re interested, you can see results at this webpage.

A quick note. After another busy week with ChristmasFuture, I had a great day yesterday—goodness to goodness. Sushi for dinner with a cold beer. For dessert, a milkshake at Boogie’s Burgers followed by a high score on the Ms.Pacman game. After, I spent some time writing at a coffee shop. When I returned home, a friend called me and invited me to see Broken Social Scene at the Sled Island mainstage. Not only was their performance excellent, but somone else gave me a ticket for the Saturday mainstage! Needless to say, I had a huge smile on my face biking home in the dark after the show ended.

Looks like it will be a great weekend.

I will read some new poems about people, technology, and tigers at the upcoming flywheel reading series, which will take place Thursday, July 3, at Pages Books in Kensington (1135 Kensington Road NW) at 7:30pm.

I will be reading with Asa Boxer and Dominique Frissard. Asa’s book, The Mechanical Bird (Vehicule 2007) will be available for sale.

This event is free of charge. I hope to see you there!