For those who aren't in the know... ...my parents are professors at Western State College (www.western.edu) in Gunnison, Colorado. They decided to take their spring break on Mustang island in Port Aransas, Texas this past week. Port Aransas is a small fishing/beach/tourist town about halfway down the gulf coast between Houston and Harlingen/Brownsville/So Padre Island. My family has been coming here since the 1970s (before me obviously) and they still have their original condo from then (minus the uber awesome 1970s furnishings). I decided to come down and join my parents for the week since my training plan was lower in volume (but higher in structure). There isn't a lot of variety for training on the island, but it does have a nice outdoor 25-Meter pool, a beach to run on (packed, not loose sand), a decent track, and one main hwy with a massive shoulder that runs the length of the island for cycling.

However, I did have to be a bit cautious with the Spring Break crowd so I had all my cycling done by 10 or 11 in the morning. I thought I might be hard to see from those monster trucks running around the island. If you ever want to be thoroughly entertained I suggest you head down here for spring break some time and park on the beach. The beach is like one main drag with people cruising up and down all day long (for 5-6 miles). Its something worth seeing once, if not more.

A bunch of my non-tri buddies came down for the weekend from Houston so I spent all day and evening with them yesterday. We spent time on the beach, in the bar, and at the house watching the NCAA tourney. The Aggies actually made it to the Sweet 16. I cannot believe it.

TAMU is to basketball what Rutgers was to football this season. The past four seasons have progressed as such: ZERO wins in the big 12; to 8-8 in Big 12 and bubble team that did not make tourney; to making the tourney, upsetting Syracuse and losing to eventual Final Four finalist, LSU, by 2 points; to making the Sweet 16 and perhaps more. Amazing. They could not pay people to go the games when I went to school (all of three-plus years ago) and now tickets are a pain in the ass to get.

One of the biggest, and well-supported, universities in the nation should have nationally recognized athletic teams in every discipline most years. I'm glad to see that seems to be taking shape. We need work with our XC team (not sure as many folks care like I do), but I imagine that might come in time as well. We just need one kick ass runner and everything could change. I don't think Whetmore is too worried about it though.

Anyways, I'm heading back to Houston shortly so that I can catch the UNV/Memphis game (winner places us in SA next weekend).

Take it easy,