We’re into the closing stretch, there’s only 3 weeks until our triathlon at Pacific Grove on 13th September. The second half of the training program has continued to build the intensity level and I’ve now completed two 30 mile cycle rides (takes about 2 hrs), four one mile open water swims (takes about 45 mins) and this weekend we completed a 7 mile run, our longest yet (which took about an hour and a half). So all in all I feel I should be in a good position to complete the race in under four hours, especially since one of the 30 mile rides was at 6,000 feet in Tahoe!

(The photo is off Kerry and I with R2, one of the coaches, at Aquatic Park in San Francisco after our open water swim and run).

And after our seven mile run on Saturday Kerry and I were up at 5:30am on Sunday to head down to Monterey to check out the triathlon course at Pacific Grove and go for a swim in the sea to practice crawling through the kelp, of which there is a lot…much more than I was expecting (see the photo). Then it was all change and off we went for a cycle ride around the bike course, cycling about twenty miles. By the time we got back home we just crashed and slept for a few hours…this training lark is quite tiring you know!

On the fund-raising side I have been very fortunate to exceed my minimum amount by quite a bit, thank you to all those that have donated so far and in particular to those that have donated $100 or more: Sean, Martin; Julie; Prashant; Oda; Rich (and team at Diablo P&O); Bernhard; Joe (and team at eLeaseReturns); Tim; Kristi; Scott; Robert; Ivan; Ephraim (and team at OMG); Maya; John; Barry and Jugdeep….you guys rock, thank you so much. Also, Hearst (Kaboodle’s parent company) generously donated $5,000 as a corporate sponsorship…big thanks to Ken, Scott, Scott & Ed for making this happen.

For those who would still like to donate to this great cause there is still time, the deadline is the 28th August and since I have exceeded my minimum it would be great if you could donate to Kerry instead and help her reach her $3,300 goal…she needs about $1,000 more and I’m sure all you generous folks can help her! Here’s her fundraising page: http://pages.teamintraining.org/sf/pactri08/kez.