The Life of Pizza John

It was nice to get together with most of the family for Thanksgiving.  Dad decided that every year of the Presidential Election we would do Thanksgiving at his house so the whole family could get together from time to time.  I think the only people that ended up missing it this time were Sossin (about to have a baby) and Jacob (who knows...).  I'm not sure why the whole family can't just get along.  People need to learn to grow up. Needless to say, we all had a good time, Jordan reconnected with Donna so that was good and everyone got along great.  The pic below of pie is the best Key Lime Pie from ABC in Scottsdale.  I also added a Halloween pic for good measure :-)

Like any other active adventure, weather can really play a big part with what you get to do...  My friend Briana and I planned a dive trip that turned into a drinking trip thanks to hurricanes! Luckily we got to dive one day in Jupiter and it was quite an adventure!  There were 6 foot swells which made riding in a small boat extra fun!  About 30 minutes into the ride, I was puking over the side of the boat.  The diving was good, but not fantastic.  I would definitely like to check out Jupiter again, but maybe when the weather is better.  We were happy Jupiter Dive Center took us out with the bad weather and treated us to a good time.  The coolest things we saw were a couple sharks and a bright Moray Eel, but the visibility wasn't fantastic.  I would say the boat ride was the funnest part...I'm glad we didn't sink! We may not have gotten to dive much on the trip, but we stumbled on a couple festivals we had no idea existed!  The first was ...

If I would have written about this race right after it took place, I would have done a lot of venting and said I was done with racing for a while.  I have not done a race since Ironman Louisville, but not because of how I felt after the race.  I have been busy traveling!  But that's another story, so here is this one... My overall time was 11:45:59.  This might sounds good, but I was planning on much better!  Here are the details: Swim: 01:13:47 T1: 3:28 Bike: 05:32:32 T2: 3:33 Run: 04:52:39 Division Rank: 42 I was not super happy with the swim.  I felt pretty good and efficient, but when I got out of the water, I was surprised at how slow I was!  My legs cramped once and I had to stop and stretch them underwater, but they came back and I felt like I finished strong.  I think the cramping was just a lack of my swim training so I definitely need to work on this for the future. My bike was right where I wanted it!  T...

Life has been crazy!  In a good way... The next few posts were all written today, but occurred over the last few months.  Enjoy! ps.  Since these are written long past the dates they happened, they won't have as much detail as they should have...but oh well...that's what I get for procrastinating!

Since my Half Ironman I have done two sprint triathlons.  The swim was canceled in the first one, so it was a run-bike-run.  In the second race, I improved my run time and my bike time by about a minute each.  They have been good training for Ironman Louisville.  I'm getting a little antsy so I can't wait for this race to be over, but I did decide to sign up for the Half in Miami in late October.  I can't let all this training go to waste with only one big race!  I need to hit sub-5 hours on the Miami Half as well. Now that I have a better idea of my fitness, I am shooting for less than 10:30 in Louisville...it's going to be hard to do!  My running is improving a lot especially on the short runs.  Running with the ACRR has helped a ton!  I love my new running group friends.  I have also been pushed on the bike a lot by Todd Neville and Bill Duggan. One last small race before the big race.  Olympic Tri in Fernandina. ...

In training for Ironman Louisville, about two weeks ago I decided to sign up for the Florida Half Ironman.  I have only been training for about five weeks, but it seemed like a great time...And it was! I was shooting for under 6 hours and I did it in 5:00:41.  So close to the sub-5 hour mark!  It was a great experience.  I felt really good most of the race so this means my training is working.  Here are some of the details. Swim (34:33):  The swim was in Lake Eva and the temperature was about 82 degrees.  The water was so murky you couldn't see the person swimming next to you.  They did wave starts so you constantly ran into people in front of you.  I did like this better than the mass start at Ironman St George.  It was much less violent.  When I swim outside a race I generally breath every third stroke, but for some reason I felt like I could not get enough oxygen on this swim so I breathed every other stroke.  ...

I went to the big island last November and I was surprisingly unimpressed. I didn't have a desire to return to Hawaii until my friend Corey convinced me another island was worth the trip. I am glad he convinced me. I wish I would move to Kauai, it is a magical place. If I didn't have Daria, I would have not come back. Corey and I mainly surfed, but we also did some hiking and exploring. We saw lush terrain, beautiful waterfalls and crazy wildlife. Corey even got 'attached' by a sea turtle (that's another story). The surf was good, but would have been a little bigger. We got to Kauai right after a long storm so a couple days we were there, it was pretty flat, but we enjoyed other parts of the island when there was no surf. I met Adria in LAX waiting to fly to Lihue. Corey and I ended up hanging out with her quite a bit. She get us a bunch of great restaurant recommendations and on our last day took us on a hike to a waterfall where we swam aro...

Daria recently learned to text and this is how our first conversations have gone: The texts started on Dec. 2 2011 Daria:I mis you Me:I miss you too! This is so great you are texting :-) Daria:Is that crazy that im texting Me:Are you having help? Daria:I dont need hap Me:Nice. This is so great! How was school today? Daria:i didin feei good soo i stad home Me:Oh no, I'm sorry. Are you feeling better now? Daria:i em stil cofing Daria:ho bnanus Me:What was that suppose to say? Daria:oh bananas Daria:ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Me:Haha, you are funny Me:This is cool, I just can't get over it! Daria:you are funy too Me:what are you going to do tonight? Daria:if i am feelyn betr we will go rolr skating Daria:this is mi frst time goeen rolr skating Me:That will be exciting! Let me know how it goes Then a couple hours later... Daria:Helo dad Me:Hey Daria. Are you going to skate? Daria: no, my uthr dad will not be home in time too watch oliviu Me:That sucks. We should skate sometime. ...

I got to surf on Thanksgiving this year. I am so lucky! The last couple years I backcountry boarded in Utah on This holiday and they were a blast, but I am so happy to be in the warmth and near the ocean. I also finally got to Hawaii for the first time which was a blast. I will post pictures soon. Life is busy with work, surf and friends, but I really hope to be updating this more. On another note, I signed up for Ironman Louisville. I am very excited about this. I will probably start training in March so my life will be busier than ever before. I am finally meeting people in St Augustine. I was off to a slow start, but now I have friends to hang out with most nights so that is always nice. But I need to meet more people who surf since the ones I know only go out when it is good. Well, back to work...be back soon.

So I recently moved to Florida and my life has been crazy so I have not had time to post. I will give a life update soon! During my move, I came across this fortune a friend had gotten while we were eating lunch and I thought I would share it. I laugh, but feel bad every time I read it... On another note, I am absolutely loving St Augustine and I am so happy I moved here. More updates soon!

Edit: Wow, it took forever to get this out! Too busy at work, but I wrote the majority of this right after the race... It has been almost a whole week since Ironman St George and I am feeling great! The whole weekend was a really great time and the race was fantastic. Everyone in St George was very nice and supportive through the race. SWIM (1:08:05) I had not done a lot of open water swimming nor had I swam in a big group of people before this race and boy was I in for a surprise. I had heard people were violent in the water but you don't really believe this until you get elbowed in the face while swallowing a gallon of water! I wanted to start in front of the pack so I made sure to get in line right when they were allowing people to do so. The water was a great temperature (about 62 degrees) with a full wetsuit. If the water was any warmer I would not have wanted a full wetsuit. When the gun went off I started swimming in the huge pack of people. Things went well for the...

I don't think I have ever been so nervous in my life... With Ironman St George in less than five days I am ready for the biggest event in my life thus far. I am fighting the nerves and I don't see myself sleeping a lot the next few nights. Training has not gone as well as planned...first with an injured calf and then with my usual knee problems. The calf is all better, but the knee is here to stay. With a little Ibuprofen, I can calm it down a little, but the pain is always there. With the lack of training I have had to adjust my goals, but I am still hoping to do well. This is my first Ironman so I can't be too picky as long as I finish. I have made it to St George twice to train and both have been productive and fun. Knowing the course has helped me plan my workouts in Salt Lake so I can mimic the terrain. I also made it to San Francisco again and got a chance to swim in the bay. It was freezing and gave me a good taste of how the water will feel in St George. Well...