Another Co-Worker from my Past

Greetings Readers

And another co-worker from my past as come into my life from the life of my Tele-Communications Inc. days.

This time the contact was initiated by my former co-worker via email. I guess I need to give you Readers a bit of a back story (and it does not matter to me to whether or not you Readers need to know).

Although certain Readers would say I am once again doing the stalking. Not. Then again, you Readers are entitled to your comments.

Flashback - About two years ago I was curious about Match.com. I joined up since it is free. Free meaning that you can look, search and set up a profile. Otherwise, in order to email or to receive emails to others on match.com, to see who is looking at your profile and other things you need to pay to get access to do those things on match.com.

Depending on how many months, what you want and etc, the cost could be as low as 26.00 a month or as high as 120.00 for six months. Granted, match.com does run specials from time to time and that is where it brings me to the point of the story.

There was/is a special for 25% the price of any type of membership you choose.

With that I decided to do the 6-month plan -roughly $ 75.00. Depending on your point of view that is a good deal or a waste of money.

Present - Well, about a few weeks ago I received an email asking if I was the same Daryl that she knew back in the day. Sure enough when I looked at her picture 13 years later I could see the face that I knew back in the nineties. I read the profile and was kind of amazed on what I read. No need to tell you Readers. Could be a mute thing to notice, but to me it was like "wow." without the exclamation point. Perhaps she read something in my profile that made her go "wow." without or with the exclamation point

I wrote back after getting her email and confirming that this was the same person that she worked with. I sent a short email asking a couple questions and gave her my personal email address.

Sorry Readers - I did not give her the blog email address, but I will. Unless, she decides to search the Internet then I am sure that she would eventually find this blog. There is no first impression, but I wanted to get the feel on what she, or even I, want to know about each other. We were good friends and did talk to each other about life beyond just work at the office on the 9th floor. Although, I do not think we were close good friends since she knew the same person I dealt with and to be blunt despised. Oh yes, I was 13 years younger and thought like someone who would call me the rudest person he/she has ever known. Young, dumb and full of c--"

I digress Readers. We both told each other that we would not date each other since that is not the real reason for contact. She wrote her reasons why and for me I wrote the reason why since she does not fit my type, which was one of the questions I asked her on how she found me.

Anyway, I did write back and now I am trying to find some time to write up a brief re-cap from 1996 to the present. I obviously do not want to tell too much or too little. From there I will gauge on how much we want to catch up or if this is like a "good to see you" thing.

P.S. Do you Readers my updates about the Ignorant Senor(ita)? I am still following that blogger and I have to admit it has been kind of dull - until the past two weeks. Anyway, I just reading the other day that the person that he/she was interested is gay/a lesbian. I am sorry Readers - it is not funny, but it's funny since the prior blog entries made by the ignorant senor(ita) showed how he/she just ate up the nice things about what the person did for him/her at home, at work, going out together, etc. Not to mention, the supposedly clues that were there but never he/she noticed before. But the reason why I find it funny is that he/she had mentioned that he/she this person's garbage and saw some empty fast food trash and thought to him/herself (and this is not a direct quote) "Oh that's so cool he/she eats at the same place I like to eat. We have that in common. That's just so cool."

I guess one could say that about me and the Qdoba girl, but I do not think I have ever thought that sort of thinking about the Qdoba girl. I do not even think that I ever wrote that "it's just so cool that the girl I like works at my favorite place fast food place I like to eat at." I did lust after the Qdoba girl, but I am not sure if I was looking for something "to relate to" with the Qdoba girl. My beginnings, and perhaps ending is that I just wanted to get to know her and see from there. Then again - I do not know. And may never know.

P.S. Readers - I needed a picture for the blog post so I decided to show you Readers the person who I named my new Mountain Bike after - Lily.

Until the next time

Daryl Charley
The Fallen Athlete

May Day - Smoking Hot

Greetings Readers

Sorry readers, I know that I have pictured and mentioned her in the past, but I did see her this morning on FitTV and boy oh boy I forgot how much I desire someone like her. I guess she is sort of my ideal mate (based on looks though). Anyway, a shameless plug for the show Namaste and Lily Goncalves. Granted, in this picture Lily is covered up, but she has the blond hair going on, the big old smile and just her looks. Again, this is only my opinion. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Though, I have to admit that is the only reason why and will do some Namaste.

Someone like her would not even have to ask me twice to do something for her. Oh yes, readers I am laughing at myself. I know that I have probably mentioned that I do not compromise doing this for that, but in someone like her I would probably not even question "why should I?!" Alright, I better let this topic go, before I get myself deep in a hole that I can not get out of.

It is so nice that I do not have to wear my Nautica top under my biking jersey these mornings. Granted, the air is about 45 degrees in the morning and the first cranks of the bike I am cool/cold. Yet, I know that in about a mile I will be warm from the blood flow coursing through my body. Not to mention the Sun shining her ever so warming morning rays upon my taunt, muscled thighs. Hah hah.

Anyway, the only drawback is playing Russian Roulette with the weather. Sunny in the morning, definitely does not mean Sunny in the afternoon. With no wind breaker it is just a thin layer of Lycra and cotton to my body. Yet, most of the time when it is time to go home from work I could care less about getting soaked. Matter of fact, I do not blame nor have the right to get angry since I chose in the morning not to wear/bring a windbreaker for the evening rain showers.

I am cold, teeth chattering, sand/dirt plastered against my legs and face, fingers stiff turning red from the chilly rain and wind during the Spring March/April showers. But as soon as I get home I peel everything off at the front door and make a bee line to the bathroom for a shower - a hot shower. Oh yes, that is such a reward for my suffering I did upon myself for not bringing a wind breaker.

I know I could "wad" or "pack tightly" a wind breaker, but alas I do not want to. Also, this is not an every time sort of thing. There are some days that I am no mood to be miserable so I dress to the "T" - Windbreaker, multiple bandannas, covered fingered biking gloves, multiple layers of clothing and my mood (my "Don't Fuck with me" mood) to keep me dry.

As you may have surmised - the snow has hopefully stopped for the winter, but no guarantee, but that means rain showers. I love the rain, but the early spring rain showers are cold to bear. I literally put myself through hell biking this time of the year since I do not want to carry a lot of clothing.

Which I find strange. During the winter, I do not have to worry about bringing an extra pair of clothing to wear on my ride home from work. Every day I wear my cycling clothing and then I bring my work clothes in my bag. Snow usually gets patted off and the clothes are minimally wet (except socks - those socks get soaked year round)

Yet, during the rainy season. I have to bring three sets of clothing with me. Soaked clothes do not dry out in time for me when I am at the end of the work day ready to go home. I loathe pulling on wet clothes. It is just so cold, wet, and miserable for me to do. I know that it may be raining still when I leave work and the clothes that have not dried out will get wet once more, but I want to be less miserable than I have to be. And wet clothes do not go on without stretching and pulling your clothes here and there over your body.

Oh, a bit of free knowledge - do not wear any white underwear if you are going to be riding through the rain. The combination of rain, the dirt/sand mixing into the soaking of your clothes will forever stain them. And I hate to say this, but it looks like a "Skid mark." Oh yes, I tried, bleach, detergent with bleach, stain removers, marker removers, Shout, etc yet there is just a very light mark on where the water stain is. Oh this happened years and years ago, but as you can read I can still remember as if this was yesterday.

I also have to keep my dry clothes in those supermarket plastic bags. If there is a heavy down pour or steady falling rain then my biking bag will get soaked and then eventually my all my clothes will be wet.

By the way, you daily commuters, put your papers and all other stuff in Zip Lock bags to keep them dry. Learn from this guy who has learned from not doing this way back in the day and cursed the biking gods in anger.

Until the next time

Daryl Charley
The Fallen Athletes

2008 Snowman Stampede 10M/20M

Greetings Readers

Pain. Let me re-visit “pain”. I told you readers that I desire pain.

I had a very rough night last night. I slept on my back and every time that I turned over on my side my thighs would wake me up. The pain. This happened about three times throughout the night.

Finally, I came awake with the morning sun shining against the northern wall of my living room. The sun was very bright. The other thing that was very bright was the pain in my thighs and I was just a bit tender in my calves.

As I told you readers I knew this morning was going to be difficult. Even more so since I elected to forgo any type of pain medication. I was, am, going to right this pain out. Let me tell you readers that I did sleep on the couch. And should any of you readers witnessed me this morning trying to get up off the couch you would have laughed your ass off. I tried, really tried, to just stand up. Nada. I could not even do this simple act of standing up from the couch. I had to bail on that option. Now, I was sitting in the middle of the couch so I decided I would use the sides of the couch to push up off from. Well I could not get to either side of the couch to this. I was too stiff to move over to the side of the couch. I tried twice and once more I had to bail on this option.

The last option, which is always the best option after a grueling run, was to roll off the couch. I rolled off the couch and fell onto my knees. In Nasmaste form, I would be doing the cat pose. The next part was the hardest – getting up onto my feet.

After 15 seconds or so there I was facing the couch on my feet and ready to take my first official steps of the day – to the bathroom. Ooh. I was stiff. You have to imagine me walking like Frankenstein to the bathroom. Thank goodness I did not have to take a dump. I might still be stuck on the “throne”

After that little trip to and from the bathroom I was starting to loosen up. Since I was starting to loosen up I decided to take a walk around my humble abode. I went to the kitchen, to the bedroom, outside the balcony and then back to the living room.

There was no way in hell that I was going to be able to do the Run the Republic today. With that in mind I decide to do my Sunday ritual. Getting dressed was a chore in itself. It was painful, but I was able to laugh and ooh when getting dressed.

And the rest is history.

Now, let me return to yesterday morning. I was not hung over, but I was not in the best physical form. Yet, I had decided to do the Snowman Stampede 10M/20M at Cherry Creek Reservoir.

As I arrived at Hobie Hill I saw a lot of people. More than I thought there would be. I signed up and had about 5 minutes to the start of the race. I elected to start at the back of the pack. I knew I was not going to be the fastest nor the way I was feeling I was going be steady.

The morning was nice – in a matter of speaking. Not really cold, a bit of a northerly wind, but the sun was shining ever so brightly. More importantly there was no snow falling and the temperature was not in the twenties.

I started out pretty good and feeling all right. I was keeping a good pace. Mile 9 - I was slowing down just a bit, but that could be everyone else was running faster since most of them probably picked the 10M run. As opposed to me who chose the 20M and had to maintain a pace that would keep me going and not get swept up by keeping pace with the 10M runners.

I was a bit sad that I reached the 10M-point and had another 10 miles to go. While everyone else was finishing up I had to keep running. I grabbed some more Gatorade, some chewy banana nut granola bar pieces and headed out for the final loop. 11, 12, 13 miles I was keeping a pretty lonely pace with basically no other runners around me. Then, that’s when the night’s drinking caught up to me – I hit the wall. I literally started to slow my pace down and eventually I started walking. I walked about 30 yards and then I knew I had to make myself start running again.

The next aid station was a relief. I grabbed some orange goo and more Gatorade and rested for about 5 minutes. I felt my strength coming back into my body and when that started to happen I knew I had to start running again. I had another lonely run down to the turn around point, which totaled about 2 ½ miles.

During those 2-½ miles, I saw many runners that passed me during before the 10-mile mark. I also some runners that I passed turn around early, before going to the turn around point. Fucking not fair, but I at least know that I ran the 20 miles as opposed to them.

I was slowly crumbling away physically, but mentally I still had the drive to keep running. Less than 3 miles to go and the end was in sight, which meant I was close to adding this event to my already impressive athletic resume.

The last two miles were the toughest. I was not even running, but I was running in a slow motion state. Or perhaps more to the point I was jogging lightly, shuffling myself to the finish line. I was at the very pack of the back, but never the less I was going to finish.

Un-officially I finished at 3:56:48. Not very good at all considering that I did the first 10 miles in 1:30:00. As you can tell the time difference on the second loop I was reduced to running on instinct. There is no shame at all I feel about my time. I know and you readers now know the story behind my performance

I have posted two pictures - The first one is the same shot and view that I have been taking for the past three weeks. But as you can see the sun is setting and therefore is making the picture is dark. So I had to turn around and get a decent picture of me after the Snowman Stampede.

Thinking about this more, I can make a separate Blog entry on the event. Oh, do you readers want to know the ride home after running the 20 miles?! It is a story in itself.

Oh, I almost forgot. My alarm goes off every morning at 5:05 AM. Ooh boy, I do not know how long the alarm was beeping this morning, but when I came out of my sleeping stupor I rolled off the couch and crawled on my hands and knees to the alarm clock. I then crawled back to the couch and immediately fell asleep. I remember this moment, but I do not remember how I actually felt. My mind knew that I needed to shut off that alarm no matter what.

Until the next time

Daryl Charley
The Fallen Athlete

March Wonderland

Greetings People

Same as the last time readers - I need for you to be witnesses and also to blog so that my father knows that I did remember his birthday.

Happy Birthday

In the past 12 hours snow has been falling and there was quite a lot on the ground this morning. Oh you bet readers - I biked into work this morning, even though there was a slight hesitation on taking RTD. Then I thought of the $ 3.00 dollars that I would lose to public transportation. So, I got the bike out and got a rolling about 6:50 AM just because of all the snow. I say there was about six inches on the ground where I live. Though most of the snow on the concrete was melted.

The snow was slushy and I did get "slushed" a few times, but other than that I was okay on the ride in. Going home is going to be a different matter. My riding clothes are soaked and will not be dry by the time I get off work this evening. So, the hardest part tonight will be putting on the wet clothes. Urgh. Not looking forward to that.

Another new SouthPark episode last night. This episode was a lot better that last week's episode. Oh, that Cartman though.

I forgot to mention, not that anyone would care, but I bought two new pairs of Levi on Tuesday over at Park Meadows Mall. I needed a couple more of jeans to replace some that are starting to show through. Each were $ 29.99 and change, but I guess worth it since I can wear jeans to work every/any day I want. Woo hoo.

I guess I have one more thing to add. If any of you readers know what sort of bike caps I have on my tire valves... well then you should be able to figure out the type of earrings I bought the other day. Yes readers, earrings, but I only wear one. I bought them so I can match. I like my new ear rings.

Not watching, but in the 2007 Sony Ericsson Open - Roger Federer lost to the same opponent he lost his winning streak to. I do not know if the was luck since he done won against Federer twice in the past month. I know nothing more than that readers. I care, but I do not care that much to find out.

Until the next time

Daryl Charley
The Fallen Athlete

Naming the Versus Bull

Greetings People

I guess I am making a quick entry since I had to log in on the net to name the bull. The naming of the bull is the "versus bull" that the program has the viewers name their bull with a name. Anyway, I have been thinking about this for about a month and I just could not think of a name that someone else would come up with. I thought about one word name up to three word name. So, here I am on the day of the deadline (for submission) and I still can not come up with a decent (unique) name. So, the name that I chose... well I guess I better tell you readers tomorrow. Just in case my name gets tossed for duplication. You never know readers I could have the name and could be disqualified for whatever reason. I trust my faithful readers, but not the "others" who may stumble upon my blog. The prize is two tickets to Las Vegas for the PBR 2007 World Finals.

So, while I was still contemplating I decided to look up a name that I see a woman on a show every morning before I leave for work. The show is Namasta on Fit tv and I just want to see what "Google" has. Yes, that is a picture of her - Lily Goncalves - and I have to say something about her just catches my eye. Of course, one of the things is that she is blonde. I also like her smile and eyes when she does smile on the show.

Readers - I have Terry and Ian as the couple to be eliminated from the Amazing Race. I have a "coca cola" riding on the outcome. Of course, if the "Beauty Queens" get eliminated I am out of a "sprite". Hah hah.

I had my first breakfast of the year outside on my patio this morning. What a beautiful morning after Saturday's rain that fell almost all day. About 6 PM last evening the sun finally made an appearance and what a nice evening to see the sun shining ever so brightly for those final minutes of the day.

Hope you readers are having a nice Sunday. I know that I am

P.S. Readers - I read that the 2007 Sony Ericsson Open has third round action, but not on tv. Apparently, today there is Sharapova vs Venus Williams match. Could be interesting, but I am unable to watch on tv.

Until the next time

Daryl Charley
The Fallen Athlete