LUNA-TICS TEAM ROOM: Year-round "Looney" fun.

[Kona2]

Hooboy! There's snow in those clouds roiling over the mountains....and "they" say that it's going to be a biggie snowstorm for the Denver area. Hah! Golf on Monday and snow shoveling on Friday. Go figure...must be Colorado!

Meanwhile...it's Groundhog Day. Another name for groundhog....rodent. And 40 percent of all animals are rodents. Yikes. We might try to make these things sound kind of cute...small, furry animal...call them Groundhog Phil ...and then mention that other characteristic...two LARGE incisor teeth. And wowzer...these small, furry rodents are part of the squirrel family - bushy tail and all. Did I say prolific? Oh yes, these little varmits mate several times a season. Can produce NINE litters...is that in a lifetime or a season !?! Aaaack. We won't even try to figure out how many in a batch...could be a multiplication nightmare quickly. Guinea pigs, stars of the Geico commercials (row...row...row), are just smaller, chubbier versions. The rowing makes them cuter, though. Us too.

Season meters as of 279/366 = 147,819,520 m (from earlier today)

Total meters on the day = 402,806 m

Oars in space (participation) = 29 percent

MILESTONES...Bragging Rights...Celebrations:

6.55 MM Jay
2.35 MM Sarah
1.2 MM Scott
1.1 MM Marie
650 K Greg H
500 K Karyn cool half million !
400 K Mike C

Thanks to all who rowed today - good stuff after completing that challenge!

Steven D 878 m
Wim 1,000 m
Kaylee 1,100 m
Bobbie 1,500 m
Jim 1,500 m
Tom R 2,210 m
Marty 3,000 m
Nataliya 3,000 m
Katerina m
Harold 4,000 m
Tammy 4,600 m
Scott 4,700 m
Elton 4,800 m
Chuck 5,000 m
Diana m
Marie 5,656 m
BJ 6,016 m
Sarah 6,500 m
Karyn 6,507 m
Chris H 6,565 m
Christa 7,500 m
Walter 7,500 m
David T 8,000 m
Zander 8,000 m
Rivka 8,500 m
Tony m
Anita 9,000 m
Robyn 9,000 m
Baz 10,000 m
Jeff P 10,000 m
Mike C 10,000 m
Roger 10,100 m
Jerry 10,500 m
Michelle 11,000 m
Ronnie, m
Bernie 12,009 m
Danno 13,061 m
Greg H 13,151 m
Dennis 13,433 m
AJ 13,736 m
Gail 15,000 m ... look at you go !
Andre 15,182 m
Kevin N 20,000 m
bg 22,174 m
Ron 23,097 m
Jay 25,000 m

[Kona2]

Oh the weather outside is frightful....



Snowfall is pretty steady...billions and billions of flakes....what makes it tough is the wind. We have three and four foot drifts throughout the backyard, and about 14 inches of snow in the driveway. Next on agenda is to get the snow thrower out and tackle round one of snow removal. Yikes!

Woohoo! We have three teammates on the very brink of hitting their million meter milestone! That's pretty amazing. Our virtual fireworks supplies are seemingly endless - so keep those milestones coming!

Season meters as of 280/366 = 148,396,449 m

Total meters on the day = 576,929 m

Oars in space (participation) = 36 percent

MILESTONES...Bragging Rights...Celebrations:

5.45 MM Cathie
3.65 MM Ronnie
3.35 MM Brett
2.75 MM Baz
950 K Chris H
650 K Gene H
535 K Mario Jackson
50 K John D

Thanks, everyone, for rowing!

Ethan 750 m
Ashlee 1,005 m
Kaylee 1,100 m
Mario Jackson 1,800 m
Lily m
Gene 3,000 m
Marty 3,000 m
Sunny 3,000 m
Katerina 3,600 m
Harold 4,000 m
Denny 4,500 m
Nataliya 4,500 m
Robyn 4,500 m
Scott 4,500 m
bg 5,016 m
Teresa 5,516 m
Diana m
Ryan 5,653 m
BJ 6,016 m
Elton 6,500 m
John D 6,609 m
Chris H 6,653 m ... getting closer to that ONE million meters !
Jeff P 6,706 m
Dave H 7,000 m
David T 7,000 m
Marie 7,500 m
Walter 7,500 m
Sam 8,000 m
Terri 8,399 m
Rivka 8,500 m
Ken H 8,800 m
Tony m
Zander 8,900 m
Marty 8,946 m
Anita 9,000 m
Christa 9,500 m
Baz 10,000 m
Jessica 10,000 m
Mike C 10,000 m
Greg C 10,326 m
Rodrigo 10,813 m
Sarah 11,000 m
Rosi 12,012 m
bg 12,013 m
Ronnie m
Tom M 13,000 m
David A 14,540 m
Jim 15,000 m
Michelle 15,000 m
Tammy 15,000 m
Tim K 15,033 m
Roger 20,000 m
Jerry 20,500 m
Danno 21,097 m ... he's baaaaack! Mooning us from Florida again !
Cathie 27,000 m
Jay 28,000 m
Brett 70,040 m ... nice update !


Birthday dog...Kihei is 8 today!
I'm sure she will celebrate by leaping and bounding through the snow...

[Drivetofast]

Happy Birthday Kihei and wish you many more. What a pretty Lady. Have fun in the snow.

[bg]

Happy Birthday Kihei and wish you many more. What a pretty Lady. Have fun in the snow.

happy birthday from me too and gooooooo pats....

[Kona2]

Another episode....

Our teammate Anita's dogs sent me down this bunny trail this morning. Number capture was going well - until the totals didn't quite match up...and back to the team roster I went. That's when I noticed that Anita had changed up her profile statement, and it now included the names of her two dogs: Elke and Emil (named for Emil Zatopek). Wondered who Emil Zatopek was...and I was down the bunny trail before I even knew it had happened. Emil Zatopek, a Czech long distance runner also called "The Locomotive", was a three time Gold medal winning Olympian in the 1952 summer Olympics. He won gold in the 5K, 10K and the marathon ...setting Olympic records in all of the events...and he'd never run a marathon before the Olympics. I'm not a runner, but seems like the training for a 5K and a 10K and the marathon might be pretty different -- and to be able to set records in all those different events...wowzer! He developed and utilized intense interval training - something we've certainly talked about in this forum. One of the greatest Czech athletes, he was awarded the Order of the White Lion by the Czech president in 1998.

This bunny trail continued when I looked to see a bit more about Emil's life and came across several of his quotes - three I liked:

"There is a great advantage in training under unfavorable conditions. It is better to train under bad conditions for the difference is then a tremendous relief in a race." (So, Baz, that bad weather training is going to help lots!)

""To boast of a performance which I cannot beat is merely stupid vanity. And if I can beat it that means there is nothing special about it. What is passed is already finished with. What I find more interesting is what is still to come."

"Great is the victory, but the friendship of all is even greater."

Good guy, this Emil !

Back in our Rowing Universe, we've got more milestones to celebrate! Danno completes back to back half marathons, and Raoul throws down a FULL marathon from Zurich (nice completion time on that, too, Raoul). Lots of good updates!

Season meters as of 281/366 = 149,064,882 m

Total meters on the day = 668,433 m

Oars in space (participation) = 29 percent

MILESTONES...Bragging Rights...Celebrations:

6.6 MM Jay
2.75 MM Zander
2.75 MM Christa
2.65 MM Rivka
2.5 MM bg
2.15 MM Danno
1.4 MM Terri
900 K Kevin N
900 K Angelo
800 K Kiba
400 K Nataliya
240 K Kaylee

Million Meter Watch:

Jim with (30,924 m) to go!

Jerry with (50,298 m) to go!

Rosi with (61,397 m) to go!

Million Meter Watch:

Zander with (232,833 m) to go!

Baz with (234,357 m) to go!

Million Meter Watch:

Marty with (11,948 m) to go! And look at that cool Bike Friday in his new team profile picture! I love Bike Fridays! I have an orange one!

Ken G with (40,962 m) to go!

Chris H with (44,301 m) to go!

Jeff P with (59,059 m) to go!

Angelo with (59,836 m) to go!

K2 with (66,422 m) to go!

Mitch with (77,820 m) to go!

Kevin N with (97,550 m) to go!

Diana with (126,822 m) to go!

Sunny with (128,221 m) to go!

Ted with (147,000 m) to go!

Thanks to all who rowed today!

Ashlee 1,010 m
Kaylee 1,200 m
Bobbie 1,500 m
Mario 2,500 m
Katerina 2,600 m
Gene H 3,000 m
Sunny 3,000 m
Nataliya 4,600 m
Richard T 5,000 m
Tony m
Harold 5,800 m
Elton 6,525 m
Ken H 7,500 m
Mike C 7,500 m
Terri 7,500 m
Walter 7,500 m
Tammy m
David T 8,000 m
Sam 8,000 m
Rivka 8,700 m
Tim K 8,771 m
Anita 9,000 m
Marty 9,000 m
Roger 9,000 m
Baz 10,000 m ... NZ is calling....bet this is a light (if much at all) exercise week...
Dennis 10,000 m
Greg C 10,319 m
Scott 12,000 m
Lee M 12,360 m
Jerry 13,000 m
Rosi 14,000 m
Michelle 15,000 m
Kevin N 15,500 m
Marie 16,000 m
Christa 18,000 m
Zander 18,000 m
Cathie 20,000 m
Ronnie 21,000 m
Danno 21,097 m
bg 22,124 m
Sarah 27,000 m
Jay 30,000 m
Raoul 44,195 m
Kiba 51,097 m ...with a half marathon in there somewhere!
Angelo 125,203 m ..great update!

[bg]

to add to your bunny trail....i've done a few low key track meets....running shorter distances is very different than longer ones....and if you look at the olympians the body types are so different.....and then there are those folks who do tris and bazz and his races....all amazing... btw...great rowing everyone.....today is my day off from rowing..i had a 12+ mile long run.....gooooooo pats....

[BAZzy]

to add to your bunny trail....i've done a few low key track meets....running shorter distances is very different than longer ones....and if you look at the olympians the body types are so different.....and then there are those folks who do tris and bazz and his races....all amazing... btw...great rowing everyone.....today is my day off from rowing..i had a 12+ mile long run.....gooooooo pats....

Good work BG!! BBB

[BAZzy]

Well the countdown is well and truly on, and hopefully a week from today I will be sitting back in downtown Christchurch recounting stories of the adventure, with my brother-in-law, and fellow competitor Ray Tong – in fact I am absolutely positive that will be the case.

And yes, the training has tapered, although that probably happened when we went on holidays a week or two back, so it has really wound down. I’m comfortable with that, I’m not trying to squeeze the last minute out of my time, in fact I’m almost indifferent to what my time is, my aim is to finish around the average of the two-day individuals based on last year’s time which is around 16 ½ hours, but conditions will dictate the outcome to a greater extent.

Fitness wise I’m happy, I guess you could always do more, but I’ve got my head in the right place and happy with the task ahead.

And it was a great surprise for me to discover this morning, that team ‘Big Bad Baz’ support crew (Janet & TomO) have got their clothing decked out and have the logo of a Komodo Dragon. The dragon is kind of a long running joke with TomO and me – we love them!





I will post the links to the race page before I go, as I understand it will be possible to view position updates in live-time, and also I will be carrying the Spot Tracking Device.

One of my favourite quotes is from the book by Jon Krakauer “Into Thin Air” which was a personal account of the Everest disaster of 1996. The quote was from a person named Walt Unsworth, and whilst I’m unlikely to climb Mt Everest (my persona would never let me say never!!), I can relate very much to what he said.

And I’ll be taking his thoughts, along with TomO’s “ Dad, Just embrace it” when I line up on Kumara Beach on the West Coast of New Zealand’s South Island on Friday 10th at 7am NZ time.

“But there are men for whom the unattainable has a special attraction. Usually they are not experts: their ambitions and fantasies are strong enough to brush aside the doubts which more cautious men might have. Determination and faith are their strongest weapons. At best such men are regarded as eccentric; at worst, mad...

Everest has attracted its share of men like these. Their mountain experience varied from none at all to very slight – certainly none of them had the kind of experience which would make an ascent of Everest a reasonable goal. Three things they all had in common: faith in themselves, great determination, and endurance.”

We’re pumped, and thanks so much to team Luna-tics for all your support, you’re a special group that I’m thankful to be part of!!

Cheers, BBB

[bg]

Well the countdown is well and truly on, and hopefully a week from today I will be sitting back in downtown Christchurch recounting stories of the adventure, with my brother-in-law, and fellow competitor Ray Tong – in fact I am absolutely positive that will be the case.

And yes, the training has tapered, although that probably happened when we went on holidays a week or two back, so it has really wound down. I’m comfortable with that, I’m not trying to squeeze the last minute out of my time, in fact I’m almost indifferent to what my time is, my aim is to finish around the average of the two-day individuals based on last year’s time which is around 16 ½ hours, but conditions will dictate the outcome to a greater extent.

Fitness wise I’m happy, I guess you could always do more, but I’ve got my head in the right place and happy with the task ahead.

And it was a great surprise for me to discover this morning, that team ‘Big Bad Baz’ support crew (Janet & TomO) have got their clothing decked out and have the logo of a Komodo Dragon. The dragon is kind of a long running joke with TomO and me – we love them!





I will post the links to the race page before I go, as I understand it will be possible to view position updates in live-time, and also I will be carrying the Spot Tracking Device.

One of my favourite quotes is from the book by Jon Krakauer “Into Thin Air” which was a personal account of the Everest disaster of 1996. The quote was from a person named Walt Unsworth, and whilst I’m unlikely to climb Mt Everest (my persona would never let me say never!!), I can relate very much to what he said.

And I’ll be taking his thoughts, along with TomO’s “ Dad, Just embrace it” when I line up on Kumara Beach on the West Coast of New Zealand’s South Island on Friday 10th at 7am NZ time.

“But there are men for whom the unattainable has a special attraction. Usually they are not experts: their ambitions and fantasies are strong enough to brush aside the doubts which more cautious men might have. Determination and faith are their strongest weapons. At best such men are regarded as eccentric; at worst, mad...

Everest has attracted its share of men like these. Their mountain experience varied from none at all to very slight – certainly none of them had the kind of experience which would make an ascent of Everest a reasonable goal. Three things they all had in common: faith in themselves, great determination, and endurance.”

We’re pumped, and thanks so much to team Luna-tics for all your support, you’re a special group that I’m thankful to be part of!!

Cheers, BBB

love the photos....good luck and have fun......

[Kona2]

Great photos, Baz! Always good to have a support team (and well outfitted, too).

Season meters as of 282/366 = 149,561,687 m

Total meters on the day = 496,805 m

Oars in space (participation) = 31 percent

MILESTONES...Bragging Rights...Celebrations:

5.5 MM Cathie
4.1 MM Michelle
3.95 MM Jerry
3.95 MM Rosi
2.6 MM Bernie
2.55 MM AJ
2.5 MM Roger
2.4 MM Tammy
1.85 MM Elton
1.75 MM Sam
1.75 MM Katerina
1.4 MM Raoul
1.1 MM Dave H
950 K Jeff P
540 K Mario
400 K Walter
100 K Denny

Thanks to all who rowed !

Ethan 1,001 m
Kaylee 1,350 m
Bobbie 1,600 m
Lily 1,950 m
Jeri 2,000 m
Ashlee m
Gene 3,000 m
Mario 4,000 m
Marty m
Raoul 5,000 m
Nataliya 5,200 m
Katerina 5,500 m
Robn 5,500 m
Harold 5,805 m
Gail 6,000 m
BJ 6,016 m
Elton 6,555 m
Sunny 7,000 m
Andre 7,104 m
Walter 7,500 m
David A 7,545 m
Tammy m
Tony m
Anita 9,000 m
Christa 9,000 m
Roger 9,000 m
Rivka 9,100 m
Baz 10,000 m
Dave H 10,000 m
Jessica 10,000 m
Jeff P 10,000 m
Sarah 10,000 m
Scott 10,000 m
Rodrigo-go-go 10,311 m
Sam 11,000 m
Jay 12,000 m
Bernie 12,015 m
Denny 13,388 m
Jim 13,900 m
Ronnie 15,000 m
Michelle 15,500 m
Zander 16,000 m
Wim 17,054 m
Diana 18,499 m
Jerry 18,500 m
Danno 21,097 m .. good grief... three days in a row...
Rosi 22,000 m
Cathie 30,000 m
AJ 40,262 m

[Dave_H]

Good luck for Friday Baz (Karen sends her best wishes too!). You can't go wrong when your support team are so organised! Hope the weather holds for you - Kumara end looks pretty good, but rain forecast for Christchurch...

Good luck also with the Superbowl today folks (I'll be cheering for the Patriots just for you Barbara)!

Cheers,
Dave

[BAZzy]

Coast-to-Coast (and go the Patriot’s!)

My competitor number is #460 and I understand progress can be viewed on the Coast to Coast website (under ‘The Race’ tab).

I will be taking a ‘Spot Tracking’ device that logs in real time my progress approximately every 10 minutes or so and can be viewed at the following Web address. A word of caution though - don’t be alarmed if there is no progress, the tracking device may not be able to ‘see’ a satellite, it could be malfunctioning, or more than likely it is actually functioning perfectly well and I’m not making any progress, but simply sitting on a rock somewhere in the New Zealand Alps (wondering what on earth I am doing there!).

Start time is 7am New Zealand time on 10 February (1pm New York 9 Feb), and a staggered (officials choice of words!) start on Saturday, I should be around 7.30am approximately. If all goes well I expect to be crossing the finish line around 5pm NZ time on 11 February (11pm New York 10 Feb)...

See you in a week’s time!
Baz (BB)

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/face ... BnEk3Kf430

http://www.coasttocoast.co.nz/

[Toothdoc]

BaZzy,

Have a great race!

dano

[Rumping]

Good luck Bazzy! I just took a look at the website and wow... That's one long race. That beer better be worth it!

[bg]

good luck and have fun bazz...and goooo pats.....