Up til now...Long version:
Grew up in Dallas Texas, played soccer, some football but I was really small in high school and quit. I turned my interests to wrecking cars and getting into trouble so to avoid college and get in shape, I joined the Marine Corps (not the best reasons). Got into shape, but after 2 years, I was all I could be and got out (yeah it's an army slogan but close enough). Failed out of college the first go around, found more trouble and moved to Boulder in 94.
What an eye-opener, I LOVE ALTITUDE. After getting hit by a car, tearing my ACL, I used extreme hiking/ trail running and mountain biking to re-hab my knee. I kept up w/ weight lifting since the Marine Corps, more for vanity than anything and the hiking/biking served as my cardio. My girlfriend moved up, and w/ news of our first child, I decided to grow up and go to college at the ripe age of 23. Architecture was truly my calling and I excelled through school w/ many accolades. What little free time I had was mostly devoted to the gym and the mountains.
Over the last several years, I've summited a lot of 14er's (14,000 foot peaks), some of them technical and scary, others easy and fast; and most of any "training" I did was to enable easy summits. So I did a lot of steep trail running/ fast hiking. I ran the Bolder Boulder (10k) a couple times and it was fun. I definitely felt a high when finished but really didn't enjoy just running, especially on pavement. So, I thought .... I like trail running and mountain biking, I can half-ass swim so why not TRIATHLON, of the off-road variety. I signed up for one in September 2005 and loved it, even though I really sucked, by my standards anyway. A week later, I was asked to sub-in on a relay race. I had no idea what the hell it was or what it entailed, but sure, it sounded fun. The Outward Bound Relay, 10 people, taking turns running from Idaho Springs (right in the middle of the Rockies of Colorado) to Glenwood Springs (North of Aspen), 170 miles in, uh, 24 hours. Man I loved it so much, the camaraderie, the race environment, the challenge. I wanted so bad to sign up for more and more races and for the first time I actually liked running.
But personal life interrupted and 2006 forced a suspension of that enthusiasm. I kept up some running and kicked butt on my first 1/2 marathon last August. Now the stars are aligning to let me continue my quest for longer races. This year, 2008, will hopefully be a great "feeling out" phase as I go for an Olympic Xterra Tri and a full Marathon. My goal is to save money for a road bike and more races to enter next year w/ the ultimate goal of an Ironman in 2010.
How's that for a long version!
HELL YEAH!
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3 comments:
Well, the coach is the reason i was trying to rein myself in. He has encouraged me with pushing my swim but I've been pretty good with keeping the run discipline until last night. I feel good enough today to do the run workout again so i don't think he'll be too concerned, but we'll see. He reads my blog pretty regularly (as I read his) so I'm sure he'll chime in via email or as a post on the blog before too long.
The stroke and strides are a lot of fun and while there are definitely some heavy duty triathletes at the 5430 races, there are a lot of age groupers too. I look at it as an opportunity to be lapped by the best and rub shoulders with the greats, if only briefly.
"lapped by the best and rub shoulders w/ the greats"... Well said.
Best of luck to you, I really like an underdog!!
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