June 3rd – Milton – Sprint
July 8th – Peterborough – Half IronMan
August 19th – Mont Tremblant – Full IronMan

Let the fun begin!

In 2 weeks, we are going to celebrate his life and his memories in the first anniversary of his passing. My father is gone but his strong character, unconditional love and support for his family, friends and community, his big heart, his sense of good judgment, his intelligence and his hard working attitude will live forever.

As they say, you could cry, close your eyes, be empty and turn your back but you could do what he wanted; open your eyes, smile, learn and move ahead. I’ve tried to follow his will and I’m proud of the year I had but this was not going to be possible without the love and support of everyone around me.

I like to dedicate this post to all who supported us over the last year. I am proud and humbled to be surrounded by so much energy:

My mother, Azar, who her strength never falls short of surprising me, Ghazaleh, Mamani, Shohreh, Morteza, Mohammad Reza, Sima, Majid, Varooj, Anik, Afshin, Bahar, Ramin, Kian, Shayan, Saideh, Rasoul, Arash, Nina, Gloria, Sima, Dariush , Sara, Samira, Frank, Kathy, Sam, Parviz, Foroogh, Ali, Bijan, Zohreh, Esmail, Azam, Abbas, Pooneh, Mitra, Ali, Behnaz, Khashayar, Kathy Falakfarsa, Afshin, Shokoufeh, Kayvaan, Rouzbeh, Sepideh, Mehrdad, Bagher, Afsaneh, Ebrahim, Fereshteh, Tahamsebi family, The Amjadi Family, Bahman, Soheila, Farzad, Mojgan, Afashrpour family, Hassan, Soosan, Peyman, Roxana, Jafarin family, Panahi family, Tahoura, Mojdeh, Sidney, Parsi, Hormoz, Leyla, Hamed, Marjan, Behdad, Poorya, Pouria, Kiana, Ehsan, Arash, Ali Razavi, Ali Bangi, Aidin, Sahar, Pooyan, Hasti, Maral, Araz, Yashar, Andrée-Ann, Salek Family, Mehri, Ali, Saman, Sara, Shervan, Goli, Kianoush, Arvand, Hoda, Rubil, Nargol, Aidin, Arian, Arnold, Shaunna, Conway family, Esfandiar, Pouya Alagheband, Pouya Khansari, Rob, Erin, Naghshineh fmaily, Hamid, Niloufar, Golbanoo, Sam, Siamak, Valorie, Ronak, Saman, Navid Hossinian, Elham, Babak, Atee, Pendar, Hoda Gerami, Mahgol, Siavash Shabanpour, Natoosha, Narges, Hamid, Christianne, Katherine, Brian, Greg, Ladan, Leyla, Charlotte, Jhubin, Rosa, Thor, Harsha, Jeongwon, Kaveh and Kiana Rahnema, Arash, Ida, Narges, Ali Kamran, Mojdeh Ghodousi, Nima, Sina, Farshideh, Azizeh, Gilda, Galia, Siroos, Mehr Afarin, Nima Nakhaei, Kaveh, Alia, Sepideh Aghel, Sanaz Aghel , Shanaz, Fahimeh, Irandokht, Behzad Anvari, Negar Anvari, IBM Colleagues, Rotman classmates, Rest of the Farid Mojtahedi family, and last but not least I like to thank a special friend, Jasmin Panahi, who has been the ears I needed in the toughest moments of the past year …

I apologize in advance for any names that I might have missed.

Its now been almost 4 weeks since I broke a rib, for the most part the recovery has been pretty smooth. I feel great and with the exception of early mornings, I’m mostly pain free! Pool swimming has been the only exercise that has been challenging/painful. I actually think it’s not the swimming part that is hurting me but its reaching and holding to the side of the pool which puts pressure on my ribs. I’ve been trying to avoid hanging on to the sides during my breaks and it has helped a bit but for now I just have to suck it in and complete the exercise.

I did something a bit risky 2 weekends ago. Despite my broken rib, I did the Belwood race.  The race was great,  perfect weather conditions, awesome course and better athletes. Before the race I decided that I wanted to swim without a wetsuit, showing up to the start line and seeing everyone in wet suits was a bit nerve wracking but before I knew I was in the water with a good rythm and managed to finish the swim in a “good enough” time.

The 30 K bike course was a good combination for a race. We dropped 30 meters within the first 10 K of the ride then we went through a series of rolling hills and gained 30 meters and we wrapped it up with a smooth flat ride to the end.  I  pushed myself hard during the last two thirds of the ride and it certainly paid off.

Run was pretty action free, flat course through the woods and couple of loops. I wrapped up the race in 1:56:32 , a result that I’m happy about but I know that I still have a ton of room for improvement.

Finally I like to wrap this post up with crazy story and a thank you to a true gentleman.
I lost my Garmin 310XT at Lake Wilcox on Saturday July 23rd (Don’t ask how). I went up there to put up some signs in case someone has found it. Once I got there I saw a sign near where I lost my watch that someone, a triathlete, has found it. I called him and went and picked it up from him. Yes, there are amazing people out there.

I have fractured a rib playing beach volleyball. It was just pure good ol example of “trying too hard”. I dove for the ball that was going to land 3 meters in front of me and ouch.  But no  worries, I’ll be alright. I spent yesterday working from home, well my bed to be honest and I feel better now.

The only thing I’m a bit worried about is my race coming up at the end of next week. I felt super ready prior to the injury and was ready to put in a personal best, this changes the whole game. Today I went back on the bike and rode for 45 minutes and didn’t feel too much pain. Tomorrow’s swim will be the real test. Wish me luck

On Sunday, I rode from my House to Mississauga (appx 30K) followed by a 30 min run. While running I found myself daydreaming about that finish line in 412 days, in fact I was thinking about what I’d be doing during the last 200 meters of the run and I think I was either talking to myself loud or was making weird hand gestures while having these thoughts cause when I woke up I noticed 4 older ladies that were walking toward me looking at me like I’m someone that has been running in the heat for too long

Over the last few days, I’ve downloaded and watched 4 NBC Ironman specials.Too many fascinating stories to mention here but one thing they all have in common is that every time I see that finish line I get all teared up, yes I’m cheesy but a tough one

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EokseUskyDI

Ironman Mont-Tremblant here I come

I will be posting the diary of journey to the big day (August 12th, 2012) on this blog, join me on what promises to be a heck of ride.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8NzCoE2sxA