Oh…yea…about that…

So as you know, my first race of the season, an indoor sprint triathlon was supposed to happen on Saturday. Notice the emphasis on the ‘supposed’ to, as in ‘it did not happen’. Or should I say, the race happened, but I was not in attendance.

Now, I could make a long story short and give you the important details, but hey, I’ve got the space and maybe you have the time so let’s go for the long story. Now if you’ve got your popcorn and beverage of choice (if I was a drinker my choice would have been stronger at this point, but alas, a Shirley Temple would do). Let’s start with a little background.

Background.

My last name is Koeppel, go ahead and pronounce it however you like, it gets slaughtered on a regular basis. Now I’m not sure what the exact translation of that name means in English, but in my version it means something along the line of crappy luck. Now I’m sure ‘everyone has bad luck now and then’ and while I’m sure this isn’t the worst luck ever a family could have, it still sucks when you’re in the moment. I can remember having and experiencing said luck from a very young age although the wrath of it, specifically with travelling, didn’t really start to fall on me until late high school.

Notable Previous Experiences.

1) During my Grandpa Koeppel’s funeral, the hearse (with the casket in it) got a flat tire on the way to the cemetery from the church.

2) During the “burial” of the same service, my Grandpa was being put in a mausoleum unit on the third story. Somehow the corner of the casket hit the corner of the unit and just about sent the casket flying off the high-jack thing as the entire family was watching below

3) On a trip to Spain with a high school Spanish class, at mid-night my class left a venue in downtown Barcelona…without me. I caught a cab back to the hotel, so there was no freaking out on my part (the teachers were a little freaked).

4) On my first flight by myself ever, a trip to Texas, my plane got delayed over night in Chicago on the way home…I had to get a hotel room. The plane home the next day was delayed…in the air. (I realize this is a regular occurrence, but it was my first time flying by myself).

5) When travelling home in college my car broke down on the side of the interstate…1 mile from the exit home.

6) Got a new car last year and was pretty excited about it. Until I was driving home 3 weeks after getting it and it broke down on the side of the interstate.

7) I ended up having to replace the entire engine block, a month after buying it.

8) Got a flat tire a couple of months ago, which was no big deal, I have a full size spare and I know how to change flat tires. A lot of good that does you when your spare is flat too.

Current Experience.

Britney and I were in Iowa City visiting her parents and were going to head to Marshalltown for the race Saturday morning. Friday night she’s hearing this clunking noise in the back of the car. She pulls over and discovers that a lug nut from the tire is missing. So she parks the car for the night. We go back the next morning and it turns out the lug nut is missing, but the bolt that holds the lug nut is broken. My dad messes with the other lug nuts on the same tire, tightening them because they were loose and breaks another bolt. Now two of the five bolts that holds the tire to the car are broken. Fast forward, we take it to a local place and they cant fix it because they don't have the tools (by now I’ve way missed the race).

We end up driving very carefully and slowly back up to CF trying to ignore the massive clunking noise in the tire. Now the car is in the shop and again and will hopefully out with better bolts.

Conclusion.

Having the last name of Koeppel sucks. I swear one of these days I’m going to change my last name (I’ve got options, my mom didn’t take my dad’s last name when they got married), although knowing my luck that really wouldn’t help the situation.

(Note about training: my 20 week training plan started today, I’ll keep you posted throughout the week on how my first week is going.)