Release the Kraken!

The 4^th of July was fairly uneventful. I got up early to help out with the Melon Run – the Florida Track Club’s annual 4^th of July 5k race – so dubbed because we serve watermelon at the race finish, and the age group winners get a watermelon to take home. I had decided not to run the race. A 5k didn’t really fit in my training for the week. I really needed to ride. Also, I had stayed up way too late the night before and was just plain tired. I ended up taking care of the post-race food table. The event was a success. We had 400 participants, which is a great turnout for a town the size of Gainesville, and a course record of 15:02. Everyone had a good time, lots of watermelon was consumed, and the rain held off until we were all cleaned up.

Back at home, I decided that I probably needed to take a nap at some point. It was a steady rain outside and showed no signs of clearing up. I ate some breakfast, did some laundry, and settled on the sofa to watch some Wimbledon. After getting the important details from Joey about Jordan’s first triathlon, I crashed out. I was awakened around 2:00 pm by a text message photo of some crazy person in disguise. I wonder who it could be?

Let’s hear it for friends who go above and beyond to make you laugh. I had a bad headache and felt truly horrible so I went back to sleep. It was still raining and Brian was working so I really lacked any motivation to move. I woke back up around 5:00 pm and still felt yucky. I grabbed the remote and started looking for something to watch. I found a Godzilla movie marathon on Encore. No kidding – they were showing all 29 Godzilla movies to celebrate the 4th, and since it’s Encore – no commercials. So I settled in to watch some cheesy Japanese scifi. I do wonder if the Japanese people are fixated with seeing their cities destroyed on the big screen, but that is a discussion for another day.

The Godzilla movies reminded me of the St. Augustine Triathlon turned duathlon. I had done this race last year and Brian and I had such a good time, I decided to do the race again. When we arrived at the race hotel Friday night, the wind was absolutely horrendous. It was so bad that it actually lifted my bike as I was walking across the parking lot. Insane! Of course there was concern that the swim would be cancelled. While we were eating dinner, I checked the weather on my cellphone. At the top of the page in big red letters was a coastal flooding and wind advisory. I showed it to Brian and he remarked that the locusts would be arriving at 6 am and there was a Godzilla alert until 8 am. I laughed pretty hard, and decided to share with Joey. I knew he would find it amusing so I sent him a text message. He replied that the Godzilla alert was nothing, at 7:45 am they are releasing the Kraken. Now I should know better than to be eating or drinking anything when I read one of Joey’s texts. I almost choked and then had a good laugh, as did Brian. If you don’t get why this is funny, you need to watch more cheesy scifi.

The swim was cancelled the next morning. The ocean was one giant froth and you could actually see the riptides. A sea monster rearing up out of the ocean wouldn’t have surprised me. The tri became a du. My first one ever. Everyone had a good time even though the wind was crazy. Brian and I spent the afternoon in St. Augustine before heading home.

Here's to lazy, rainy days spent on the sofa, friends that make you laugh from 1000 miles away, and cheesy scifi.