Here, There, and Everywhere.

Well, enough is enough, time to get on writing about oh the last month. First was my trip to NY City, the Jersey Shore, and then on to the half-iron in Connecticut. I stayed in the city with one of my best friends, Kyle Westaway, who is one helluva host. I was there for 3 days. In NYC we went to see a few shows. Feuzuberta (butchered that) was incredible! The city is not my cup of tea but I have respect for those who live there. Little tough to train there, especially when they want to charge $50 to swim!! I also was able see a dear friend, Tiffany Moran. We went to school way back in the day and reconnected this past Xmas. She was a gracious host as well. We went to the Broadway play 9 to 5 and what great times. I then went to the Jersey Shore to train with Scotty, love that guy, we had some great training days, always brings back memories from the college days. Then came the reason I was there, to race my second half. Boy was I in for a treat. One of my dear friends and mentors Jon Lawler and his son Nathaniel were also on hand for the race, as were Kyle and Tiffany who took the train from the city. They had a great time on that train for the entertainment was at a high when we picked them up. As for the race it was my last amateur race, and I wanted to see how I could go at this distance. Plan was to get out and get on some feet in the swim. Well, I got out and no ones feet were there, so for the first time in my life I led a swim start to finish, feeling great about that. The bike I knew I had to keep in check and everyone was talking about how hard it was. Well it was the hardest ride of my life! I covered the course in 2:26. The leader, Matty Reed, was a mere 9 min in front, so to say the least the course was tough. I got off the bike and caught all the women and was running with some guy pros. My plan was to keep it cool for the first 6-7 miles and then let it rip. I had done 10 miles two weeks prior at 5:45 pace so I thought I was ready to go. Well, the run course had a 2 mile climb at 4 miles, another climb at 8.5 to 10, and the last was from 12 to 13. At the turn around which was 6 I knew I was in trouble. One of those days, could not get out of the gear I was in and I was in for a death march. The amateur who won, I was 2nd am and 12th overall, came by me at mile 9 and I had nothing - one of the worst feelings in my life. Really the toughest race or run I have ever done in my life. I did take away some great things from the race. I wanted to do better but hey you have days where you run 1:27 and hate life. So after that I came home to Knoxville, where I had some down time and spent one of the weekends on the lake with some of my oldest friends, Linlee, MJ and Jason and Ashley and Kirk. It was a blast and not often I get down days like that and they all made it a special day. Thanks guys. Pretty soon I think Ashley will be the next great triathlete, based on her swimming abilities with paddles!! Last weekend I drove to Buffalo Springs, Texas, to watch 70.3. Watched Bosch have fun in his first half-iron, and Sydney Cornell have a spectacular day and qualify for Kona. Fun weekend although, on Saturday I rode the course it was 100 degrees and the surface temp was probably 115. I felt Iike I was going to die, and probably came pretty close to it. Now, I am in my first week training here in Boulder. My gracious roommate Laurie Fritts has been kind enough to let me crash at her place. This week I have been keeping everything in check low intensity but keeping volume up. Beautiful place with a lot of different people to train with and now I just have to find the right group. Well, I guess that will do for now. I'm supposed to race first Pro race this coming Saturday in San Francisco, a continental cup race, should be exciting. More updates to come. Always Dream Big!!!