Holiday Beginnings

I was at a pre-Thanksgiving-pre-Christmas party last night. There were about thirty people there and for the most part, they were really nice folks. There were some pretty good Scooby Snacks, chips and dips and cheeses, candy and other stuff that I didn't need. They even had a stack of deep fried egg rolls. Those egg rolls got scarfed down pretty fast and I only got one. I was rooting around for a second one, but I got shoved aside by somebody hungrier than me.

It was a BYOB party. As soon as we got there, we found a wine opener and popped the cork on our B, and when that was gone we started in on somebody else's B. Now that I think about it, I think we went through three or four B's.

Everybody was chatting away about something or another, I sort of lost track of the topic and quit listening. At that point somebody, and I am not sure who, but somebody mentioned something about Ironman. It might have been me. Anyway, I found myself the center of attention, pontificating to those around me on the wonders of all things Ironman. It's like the joke

Q: How do you know if somebody is an Ironman?

A: Just wait a minute, he will tell you all about it.

One of the people at the party asked me what my finishing time was, I told her and she said that she heard the winner finished in eight hours and change and then she asked why I finished so far behind him. I didn't have a very good answer so I said I would have been faster but I got tired. At that point, I stopped talking about Ironman and started watching the football game.

About a month ago, I decided I wanted a pastrami sandwich. Since I was pretending to be in training for Ironman, I didn't get one, but I did promise myself that I would get one after Ironman. So yesterday, I went to Cash and Carry and bought an eighteen pound brisket. I am going to corn it for a week or two then smoke it to make pastrami. An eighteen pound brisket is actually about twelve pounds of meat and six pounds of fat, so I expect it to net out at somewhere around thirty bucks a pound. I promise, I wont post a picture.

If I didn't mention it before, I am already signed up for the Kona half in May. I don't know what to expect, other than I probably wont win. I guess as far as places to start my training, that is as good as any.