Yikes!

The end of a very well-used olympic bar

Yikes! It's been a bit since I posted. I'm safe and sound in Baghdad, but have been incredibly busy here. I'm spending more time in a leadership/managerial role on this trip, which has had me hopping. The result has been that I haven't taken a single picture, spent any time piping, and haven't put up a single post.

The one thing that I have been doing is CrossFit workouts. I've discovered this eclectic, no-frills, open-source exercise regime that has really opened my eyes to the definition of physical fitness. As an Ironman triathlete I believed that I was at the pinnacle of fitness. Noooooo, not even close! CrossFit is an entirely different universe of conditioning. It combines olympic power lifting, gymnastics, rowing, swimming, and running to form the quintessential athlete. I highly recommend people check it out. It can appear to be very intimidating at first, but it really does have a kinder, gentler side to it. I just haven't seen it yet.

Things here in Baghdad are pretty stable at the moment, and I mean this very moment. Muqtada al-Sadr is threatening to expire the 6-month ceasefire, which, once again, will turn this place into absolute chaos. We'll know more tomorrow what this lunatic plans to do.