Burkys race & training blog

GSC #4 West Point, Ga.

2010-05-30T18:15:00.000-07:00

West point is almost like a local race. It is only about 40 miles north of Columbus. This was good in that I was able to actually go up there 3 times and ride the course before the race. It is a very typical course, about 10 miles with it's share of up and down hills and fast flats.

I had a flat front tire the week before the race, so I decided to buy 2 new tires instead of just trying to fix the flat. I got the Kenda Blue Groove for the front and the Kenda Nevegal for the back. Both are a lot more aggressive than the tires I had on the bike.

The new tires turned out to be a very good thing as it rained hard the day before the race. The course was very slick in the corners and on the bridges. The start of the race a 250 yard flat sprint, then a 90 degree right hand turn up a 100 foot steep hill that was very muddy. So my plan was to hopefully get the hole shot and be the first to the hill. I didn't want to get stuck behind anyone and take a chance that they screw up on the hill. I would hate to have to walk the bike up it.

As the gun goes off, I sprint out to the lead. I was challenged by a new guy riding for the Cycle Youth team. Luckily I was able to hold him off right before we hit the hill. I motored right up the hill and sprinted back down and into the woods. They were not too far behind me tough. I also wanted to get to and over the first bridge in the lead.

As I get to the bridge I see a lot of people watching it. I am sure they wanted to see a crash. As I carefully cross the bridge and sprint up the hill and around the corner, I hear what sounds like a crash. I have no idea what happened and I never look back. I am hoping that whatever happened slowed them down.

As I am racing through the woods, I am able to eventually catch a glimpse back when I do a few switchbacks. I have a good lead on them! Maybe I can hold them off. I am in the hilly part of the course, which is good for me. I know that Curtis is back there and will giving it everything he has to catch me. I really don't like being in the lead as I have nothing to judge myself to. All he has to do is keep me in his sites and try to catch me.

Shortly after I reach the top of the hill section, I hear someone coming up behind me. I am about halfway through the course by then, but I know it probably is Curtis. Shortly there after he passes me. We are on a long slight down hill section so I try my best to keep up with him. I am able to do it for a while, but my legs are almost short so I have to back it off a little. Curtis is very strong and I will kill myself if I try to push it too hard.

Shortly, another guy passes me. I don't pay any attention to his race number and just let him go. He is on a single speed bike so I was thinking that he was in that category. Well I was totally wrong! It was Bob Saxon and he is now in 2nd place. Dang it!!! And I just let him go without a challenge. Oh well. I will not let that happen again. Learned the hard way.

So anyway, the race a good one but still pretty slick. I did manage to finish without any problems. But I did do a lot of sliding around in some corners. I ended up finishing 3rd. Still in 2nd place for the overall series.

Here are the RESULTS

SERC MTB Race #5 - Monte Sano St. Park Huntsville, Al.

2010-05-02T20:37:00.000-07:00

Well this one will be a short story after a long haul!!! I drove all of the way over to Huntsville, Al. (5 hours) on Saturday with the intention of racing the SERC race on Sunday morning. I get to the park early Saturday morning for a pre-ride of the trail. After about 3 miles into the course I scrape against a rock and break my deraileur hanger!!! Shoot, dang it!!!

I have to walk it out the 3 miles. When I get back to the start line I start asking around for help. No one has a hanger that will match, but someone tells me to go to the local bike shop and see if they have one.

So off I go and find the bike shop. After about an hour of them looking around, nothing! They even call all of the other shops and they have nothing either. The closest shop that has one is in Birmingham, 2 hours away. Oh well.

So I just decide that it wasn't meant to be. I have to go break down my camp site, pack up the car and head back home. Another 5 hour drive. For some reason I feel as though this race wasn't meant to be and therefore I am not mad. Hmmmmmmm... And the part only cost $30.

GSC #3 Fort Yargo State Park, Winder, Ga.

2010-04-26T19:58:00.000-07:00

This was the 3rd race of the GSC series and I am now standing in first place in my age group and cat, by only one point mind you. So I have to everything in my power to keep this lead, all be it might be hard to do. My bike is broke again and there wasn't a quick fix this time. So I am having to borrow a bike and luckily Al Pickens is letting me use his spare.

It is a full suspension bike but it weighs in around 30 pounds. It fits me fine and I able to pre-ride the course on it the Saturday before the race. I have no issues with the bike during the ride so I feel as though I am good to go.

For the pre-ride I met up with Al, John and Mike. We started on the trail not too long after the Xterra race awards was over with. The course was clear but the weather wasn't so much. The forecast had threatened rain and we knew it was on its way. About halfway through the ride the skies opened up and the bottom fell out. And it fell out hard, with lightening too! There was nothing that we could do but keep on riding. No where to hide. The rain didn't last too long and we actually finished in the dry.

Later on that night, after we all got cleaned up, we met in Athens for the Twilight Crit race. We first went to eat at the local Carabbas. The crit was exciting as always and we really enjoyed it. Until the rains returned, that is. Luckily I anticipated the rain and brought my umbrella with me. As did many other folks. It didn't slow down the racers though. They kept on going, and they were probably faster in the rain than I am on the dry pavement.

Fun was had by all, but i now had to go back to the park and attempt to sleep in the storm. The forecast had predicted severe thunderstorms which had me little concerned. But by the time I got back to the camp site, it had all but quit. I quickly changed clothes and went to bed. There were actually a couple other campers there too.

The morning comes bright and early on race day as Dave and Terri Berger crank it up around 7am for pre-registration. At least they are playing some good music over the loud speakers. I lay around for a while, then slowly decide to go ahead and get up. My race doesn't start til 9:30, so I am in no rush.

So the time has finally come a we are all staged at the starting line. I am hoping to get a great start and to be able to hold off the other guys. Not thinking about the "other" bike that I am riding. When the gun sounds, I can't seem to get the bike rolling. It just doesn't want to go. I am in about 4th place off of the line, but I am struggling. This is not a good sign, especially from the start of the race.

The course is 10.5 miles and I am having a hard time keeping pace. I have no idea why it is so difficult. About halfway through I crash twice in the back 40 and am really starting to get pissed off by now. The first half of the course seems to be a lot of up hill trail, but the second half seems to be a lot down hill trail, except for the very end where there is the bill hill climb.

I am now thinking that I can maybe catch up to the leaders some since I am on the easier section of the trail. I have no idea how far ahead they are of me, so at the next road crossing I ask the volunteer. He says that they are only about a minute ahead, so I really start to push it hard. I almost crash a few times on slippery roots, but I don't.

I never am able to catch the leaders and I end up finishing in 4th place. I am very disappointed in my performance. I seemed to be in a struggle the entire race. I never fell into a groove. But that's the way it goes sometimes. 4th place isn't bad, but it puts me back into 2nd place in the series by one point.

Click the link for race RESULTS

GSC #2 Flat Rock Park Columbus, Ga.

2010-04-20T18:54:00.000-07:00

Since this is my home track I was somewhat wondering if I would actually have an advantage for the race. Being that I practice here at least 2 times a week, I feel that I should. The time trial on Saturday surely showed that I have the potential to make it happen (except for the crash at the end).

So the hour has finally arrived and I am feeling strong and confident. My race doesn't start til 11:30, so I am patiently waiting. As I am riding around warming up the legs, I notice groups of riders starting to line up near the start line. Hmmmmm I wondered. Are the races ready to start? By the time I got over there the first group was off and riding! WOW, I almost wasn't paying enough attention and almost missed my start! Doh!!! So we were the next group up by the time I got over and ready to go.

The whistle blew and we were off. I had told the guys that I didn't want to be leading the race right from the start, but wouldn't you know it, I am. But not for long as Robert Wommack got a little impatient and passed a few hundred yards into the race. So it is Robert, me, and Curtis and all of the rest heading off into the first section of woods. It is still a tight pack as we turn on the new berm and head towards the trench.

When we reach the top of trench hill we are hitting it pretty hard and fast. Robert is a little out of control on the dip and crashes right in front of me. Luckily he veers off of the trail and into the woods, so we just keep on going right past him. He is uninjured and continues racing, but is in the back of the pack.

So I am now leading again. I have to keep telling myself not to push it too hard and don't worry if you get passed. I am thinking ahead to what is coming up next on the trail. The chicane and then the rock garden. Neither of which are my favorites, but I have to do them non-the-less! I just hope that I don't crash.

As we come to the top of the hill I glance back
and see that there is now a 4 man breakaway from the group and Mike Nichols is in it with us. So we enter into the rock garden with much anticipation. As I make the first right hand switchback I get stopped on a rock with my front tire and fall over. Curtis passes me before I can get up. As I am getting back on my bike Mike pulls up and stops to let me in. I couldn't believe it. What a great guy and teammate!

As we come around the bottom of the rock garden
I am planning what to do for the climb up the rocks. I decide that I will get off of the bike and run it up the hill. So now I am back in 2nd place and I have lost some ground. I tell myself not to worry as we still have a lot of ground to cover. I eventually catch back up to Curtis as we are about to cross the road at the end of the lake. I stay right on his tail all the way through until we reach the exit of the first back woods section.

As we are approaching the exit we catch up to a slower rider from the group that started ahead of us. Now I am planning my strategy to pass Curtis. As we exit the woods I gun it and pass both guys before they knew what hit them and shoot back into the woods in the 2nd section. I know Curtis is going to be right there so I try to keep a fast pace going.

We are about halfway through the 2nd wooded section when we catch up to another slower rider from the group ahead of us. I ride is tail for a short bit and ask him to let me pass when he gets a chance. He does and I pass but Curtis doesn't get the chance to pass him too! YAY, I think. Now I can really put the pedal to the metal and try to pull away from him. I do this and never look back.

As I am exiting the woods and finishing the low area below the dam I catch up to David Jones. I tell him to look out for Curtis as he is coming up behind me. I don't know how much of lead I have, but hopefully he will get stuck behind David and have to slow down again to pass. David tells me that this is exactly what happened after the race is over.

So I am now flying through the top 2 sections on my way to the finish line. As I round some of the switchbacks I get a glimpse back and see Curtis is a pretty good way behind me now. I just have to finish the race uneventful and I will have the win! I feel that I am blistering the pace just like I did in the time trial. I come out of the last section and no one is behind me.

I cross the finish line in 1st place about 30 seconds ahead of Curtis! YAY My time was 50:29 which equates to 12.23 mph. This win also puts me in 1st place overall in the GSC points series (by only 1 point though). Mike Nichols came in 3rd place.

See complete results HERE

GSC #2 - Time Trial - Flat Rock Park Columbus, Ga. April 17, 2010

2010-04-19T19:03:00.000-07:00

Well this was a much anticipated weekend to see if my 2nd place finish in Thomaston was legit. Curtis Tucker had finished 1st ahead of me by 3.5 minutes. That is a hard lump to swallow and I was out to prove that it was just a fluke.

A little recap of the week before the race to set the stage. Nicki Sutherland and I decided to head up to ride a few laps around the West Point Lake trail on Sunday April 11. It was only my 2nd time riding up there so I jumped at the opportunity to go. We got there around 10am and headed out for our first lap. We were about half way through the lap when I heard a POP from the rear of my bike while going over a dirt mound on the trail. The bike immediately wabbled so I knew this wasn't good. I immediately stopped and told Nicki that something broke. And I was right! The left side chain stay had broken right behind the weld. Can you spell SUCKS?

Well, since I knew this was just part of being a mountain biker, I had to suck it up and start walking. Since I had been up there recently with Blake Melton I knew my way out. I told Nicki to go ahead and ride and I would just meet her at the car. She insisted on staying with me, for a little while at least. LOL

So we had about 2 miles to walk it back to the car. It wasn't too bad as we found the nearest road pretty quick. It was also nice to have someone to talk to for the walk. So this ended our day there, and we headed back to Columbus. Once we got back to her house, we decided to get her other bike and she was going to let me ride her Santa Cruz. So we headed over to Flat Rock for a spin so I could check out her bike. She was going to let me borrow it for the race the next weekend. The ride was good except for the blister that I got from her grip shifters.

So Monday after work I bring my bike to Ride On Bikes downtown for them to look at. They said that they would call Trek and see how much the new part would cost and how long it would take them to get it in. Of course Trek was closed for the day, so the call had to wait til Tuesday.

Tuesday I call down there and they say that the part is in stock and was going to be around $300 installed. So I told them to get it shipped over night and I woul dpay the difference. They said ok and told me that it should be here by Friday and that I could pick up the bike after work.

Well low and behold I get a phone call on Thursday and it is Kyle at Ride On Bikes and my bike is READY!!! YAY So of course I run down there and get it so I can take it for a spin. I was supposed to meet Paul and some other people at Flat Rock around 6pm anyway.

So I get myself and the bike to Flat Rock right at 6pm and Paul and the gang are ready to go. So I tell to go ahead and I would try to catch up to them. I still had to swap pedals and get all of my gear on. After about 15 minutes or so I am ready to go. Everything on the bike is perfect and I have a great ride. I am so very stoked to have my bike for the race!!!

So back to the race. Saturday presented a beautiful day for a time trial. There were 74 people registered and the park looked packed with racers.
The time trial started at 5pm and went by race category with each racer blasting off in one minute increments. The course consisted of just the top 2 loops of the trail system which was around 3 miles. A time trial is just a blast as fast as you can go for one lap. There are series points on the line here too. 5 bonus points for the winner and so on down to 1 point for all of the rest. I had a feeling that Curtis was going to be here so I knew I had to do good.

I was 37th in line and was hoping for a smoothe ride with no crashes. When in race mode I then to put all fears aside and just go for it. I know that this can and probably will get in trouble one day, butit is what has to be done to get better.

So the clock ticks down and I am off. The entrance in to the woods is a hard left turn on the loose leaves and oine straw so I had to be careful not to slip down. I slid out a little bit but nothing was lost. It usually takes a half mile or so for me to get warmed up, so I actually take it a little easy on the first stretch parallel to the railroad tracks. After that I crank it up.

About halfway through the first loop I have no problems other than brushing a tree with my right shoulder. I was concerned that the ground would be too dry and slippery, but it wasn't too bad. I felt that my speed and handling was good and that I would really be able to turn it on in the 2nd section. Towards the exit of the first section I hit a root and get a little sideways and slid out to the left a little missing a large pine tree and then over correcting and rode off the trail on the right side. I don't think that I lost much time here but it sure was a little scary.

So I survived the first section and am heading out and on the 2nd section. Terry Witbeck is standing right at the exit and is trying to take a photo. So I yell yeehaw and put the pedal to the metal. I am flying and hoping that I don't make any mistakes, especially in the loose dirt and rocks. I hit the new berm and shoot off the end without loosing much speed. The hairpin turns slow me down a bit but the addrenaline is high. I fly down the revine and blast up the hill towards the finish line.

The approach to the finish line is a slight down hill and I know I am flying. So I decide that I'm NOT going to slow down and I am going to take the ditch full speed ahead. I have hit it pretty fast before, but not this fast. My plan fails misearably
and I crash big time right at the finish line in front on EVERYONE!!! I think I actually hit the up-hill side of the ditch and flew over my handlebars. The adrenaline was so high I didn't even care. Nothing was broke so I jumped up and tried to carry the bike to the top of the hill. I slipped and slid back down the hill, so I just threw the bike up and over it. LOL The whole time Dave Berger was yelling at me to not worry about it that my time was already stopped. And I didn't even hear him at all. I was just wanting to WIN.

So I did just that! I won my age group with the time of 13:32. See the resuls below and also check the full RESULTS HERE.

Wheels of Fire Charity Ride

2010-03-28T18:17:00.000-07:00

This year for the first time in the history of the Wheels of Fire ride, they are offering a mountain bike course. It is a 15 mile trail on the property of Hal Avery in Harris county. The property is located off of Hwy 18 west of I-185. It is an 1100 acre farm that has woods, pasture land, several creeks and a lake. I have been wanting to do the course this year, so I asked around and found a couple local guys that agreed to do it with me. Yves Roskam and Tim Boucher. The start time didn't matter to the organizers so we decided to sleep in. The only rule was that we had to start before 11am. The day was nice and a little cool, but overall a perfect day for a ride. We met around 9:45, registered and headed over to the course. The course coordinator there said that there were 20 people ahead of us and that we would be the last people out on the course. So we head out and start our leisurely ride. The property was beautiful. .Gently rolling hills. The trail mostly followed the edges of the pastures and headed into the woods several times. We crossed 4 creeks and climbed a couple hills The ride took us 2:38 hours and we traveled 14.93 miles. I considered this a training ride but it was a little slow for my tastes. It was quite enjoyable though. Here is the official GPS recording.

GSC #1 - Camp Thunder, Thomaston, Ga.

2010-03-21T12:27:00.000-07:00

So the first official GSC race of the new season has arrived and I am ready to take on the challenge. I have been training most of the winter in anticipation of this day. Last year I did 2 mountain bike races and fell in love with the sport. So I decided to buy a bike and give it a try this year. After hurting my shoulder back in September, I really didn't know what to expect. Not being able to ride all winter as I had planned would be the big "am I ready for this" question.

I have been riding a stationary recumbent bike since about 2 weeks after my surgery. I started doing spin class in February and started riding my bike on March 1st. All of this was strictly enforced by me as directed by my doctor and physical therapist. I tend to abide by the rules and listen to authority. After all, they know what is best for me and my recovery.

So I decided to go up on Saturday afternoon to give me enough time to set up camp and go for a pre-ride. I like camping as it gets you close to nature and it also offers the opportunity to meet other racers and socialize some. Plus we can usually camp right on the property where the race is taking place.

Camp Thunder is an Official Boy Scout camp that is located between Woodbury and Thomaston, Ga. Approximately 50 miles north east of Columbus. Comprising over 2400 acres of land and many miles of trails. It lies right on the Flint River and is heavily wooded. It also contains some of the highest hills south of the north Georgia mountains. Beautiful, majestic and "steep" are the first words that came to my mind when I arrived.

I arrived in the early afternoon and set up camp. Knowing that there was a good chance of rain that evening and on race day, I brought all of the rain gear including tarps. The camping area was very nice with permanent scout tents set up for rent. I had my own tent so I just picked out a clear flat spot and popped up the tent and tarps. While doing so I met some nice folks from Albany and the South Georgia Cycling Club. I think that there were 6 or 7 of them here with 3 guys actually racing.

They were very cordial and invited me to join them that evening by the camp fire. Vonnie has been racing many years and knows some of the Columbus racers too. So we at least had some things in common to talk about, including racing. He decided to race his single speed bike for this event. Something that I wouldn't have even considered because of the steep terrain.

So after I set up camp, I get my bike gear on and head out to ride the race course. The only thing that I know about it is that it is steep. I am somewhat of a good hill climber, so I think, so I shouldn't have too many problems with it, or so I thought. Well that was the last time that I thought that particular though! LOL The hills weren't the problem at all. It was the down hills that kicked my butt. They were just as steep and probably more narrow than the up hills. I was just praying that my brakes didn't give out!

The first part of the course, 1.25 miles was flat and followed the banks of the Flint River. Flat with loose rocks, deep sand and several water crossings I should say. The rocks and water crossings were not too much of a problem. Just stay away from the BIG rocks and I should be ok. It was the sand that was the problem. As long as you can maintain your speed, you won't have much of an issue. But slow down too much and it will be hard to control your steering and could possibly fall over. I had no problem with this section at all.

The flat transitions into the first Big hill with a quick swoop up to a very narrow off angle trail. After about 100 feet or so you arrive at the first switchback. The trail is loaded with rocks and roots and close trees that you have to navigate carefully. The first switchback is probably one of the hardest ones because it begins the steep climb and is loaded with rocks. If you loose too much speed you will fall over, and I did just that. Not hurt too bad, mostly my pride, I try to get back on the bike. I can't get started so I have to walk up the hill until I can find a tree and a flat spot so that I can get on the bike and get clipped into the pedals.

So off I go again with a large appreciation for the rocks and roots. This hill is a monster and larger than any hill I have ever been on. According to my GPS it is over a mile long and over a 600 foot climb. Woooooooooooooo!!! My heart rate monitor is freaking out and I am finding it hard to breathe. I have to really concentrate and talk to myself and remember my training. Slow and easy is now the new theme of the day. This hill is going to wipe me out if I am not careful.

I finally reach the top of the hill so I decide to take a short break and take in the view. Since the leaves haven't arrived on the trees yet, the view is spectacular. I don't know how far I can see, but the Flint river is way down below me now. I start back on the trail and quickly hit my first down hill section. It is as steep or steeper than the up hill and it is very narrow. I am not used to this and am somewhat nervous about it. Brakes don't fail me now!!! You can't even let off them for a second or you build up too much speed.

Arriving at the bottom unscathed I reach the first creek crossing. It is a small stream and it is not too bad or muddy. At the second crossing there is a small bridge that someone has made over it. The third crossing is very soft and muddy but I maintain my speed and cross with no issues. The trail immediately starts climbing up the next hill.

This hill is somewhat different than the first one in that it is not going straight up, but transversing at an angle. The climb is just as hard though and it littered with rocks and roots again. According the my GPS it is about .75 of a mile to the top.

When I get to the top I am greeted with a long logging road. What a welcome relief it is too! It is about 2.25 miles long with several rolling but smaller hills. I think this is where I reach my fastest speed of the day at 21 mph. The relief is quickly over with and I reach another down hill section.

This time instead of being long, fast, narrow and scary, it is very winding and technical. It also has all of the rocks and roots just like the up hill climbs. This in itself can make it dangerous. Putting on your brakes in loose rocky dirt laden with roots is not a very comfortable thing. I just have to make sure that I do not use the front brake like I did on the first down hill. It wouldn't take much for the front tire to slide out from under me.

At the bottom of this hill is my worst nightmare! A 90 degree off angle right hand turn between 2 trees. I am pretty good at left hand turns but not so good going to the right. So what do you think happens? Yep you guess it! I crash and burn, badly. On the way down I get a bright idea and try to grab the inside tree to help slow me down and hopefully stop me from crashing. Well it worked as far as the slowing down part went but I still crashed and the tree shredded my right forearm when I over shot it when trying to grab. OUCH is now the new word of choice!

So I am now laying on the rocks, still in one piece and wondering how I am going to maneuver this in the race tomorrow. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm? Swing out wide to the left and make the corner bigger than it appears. Might work, might not. I will have to wait until tomorrow to find out. So I gather myself up and check for any missing body parts and broken parts to me and the bike. Other than the chain coming off, all is well (well besides all of the missing skin on my right forearm).

So I re-establish my chain and my pride again and jump on the bike. I am only 10 feet from the bottom of the hill so I try to use the quick speed gain to maneuver up the next hill. This works out fine until I hit the first set of roots. The trail is not very steep but it is off angle and just covered with roots and some rocks. Every time I hit a root my tires shoot out from under me and I go down. Not hard but down anyway. Ughhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! I am getting very frustrated with this and wondering why they couldn't have flattened out the trail better. LOL

So I struggle through what seemed to be a "not so hard" section. I reach the top of this short climb to find a rock garden. The trail is lost and looks as though it goes straight between 2 trees that are not wide enough to get my handlebars through. So I attempt to go around the trees and spin out my tire! WHAT? It was as if it was in slow motion. I am fallllliinnnnggggggg... And right into a tree I go. The bad thing about this fall was that it was down the hill and onto big rocks. Luckily the tree that I fell onto was small and I actually rode it all the way down. It broke my fall enough that I wasn't hurt too bad. A little cut on my leg and right chest. Just more frustration than anything.

I am now telling myself that if I fall one more time I am going to pack it up and go home! LOL I would never do that, but it did cross my mind. So after the rock garden I get back on the bike and continue up the hill. With the rocks quickly behind me, the trail works its way into a Pine tree forest. Up and over a small rise, through the pines and onto another long up hill. This time the hill is what we call double track. Simply put it is wide enough to get 2 cyclist on it side by side. This hill is also very clean with no roots or rocks.

The top of the hill brings another flat section and some smooth sailing for a short while. The trail soon becomes rocky again as it starts heading down hill. You can build up a little speed here so I have to be careful again as to not get caught by a larger rock and go down. I hit 20 mph and it is scary just thinking about the crash if it was to happen. Things would break for sure here!

The down hill quickly bottoms out to another steep up hill climb. I am hoping that this is the last one as my legs are really starting to feel the burn. I don't want to over do it today. I have been on the course for an hour and should be getting close to the finish. This hill is a straight up shot. And I mean straight up buddy. No turns, but some rocks scattered around.

The top brings another logging road that meanders through a mature pine forest for a short stint. Another short and somewhat rocky trail and it then opens up to a large clear cut area an a large clay down hill road. It is steep and fast and straight down too. Filled with washes from the rain but not slick. This will be a big mess tomorrow if it does rain. Hard clay and water make for a very slick track. I must maintain my hand on the brakes all of the way down.

At the bottom the road takes a sharp 90 degree turn to the left and continues on for another 100 yards or so. I can see the camp ground now so I know that I am almost through. The road stops and I enter the trail again. This is a new trail that tracks around the left side of the camp ground through the woods. It hasn't been worn down and flattened, so it is off angle and slick. I know that I will bust it here in the race tomorrow because of that. Especially if it is wet.

The trail goes around the camp for about a quarter mile or so and comes out right at the start line. WHEW! I am finally done. Well almost that is. I have to continue on around the bathrooms and camp office buildings and loop around to the actual finish line. Ok! Now I can say whew and I am finally done. Nothing broken, so all is well. I get out my GPS and check what the results will be. 8.75 miles, 1:18 hours, 6.7 mph average, base elevation 662 feet and top elevation is 1112 feet. I am told that the course has over 2500 feet of elevation climb! Wooooooooooo!!!

My next task at hand was to get something to eat and to take a shower. So made a turkey and cheese sandwich and ate it with some corn chips and Gatorade. I then head up to the showers to get cleaned up. The showers looked cold and only had one pipe leading to the shower head. Hmmm I wondered. Can they only be cold water showers? Well it didn't really matter as I had to take a shower. So I pull the draw string and what I feared was right! COLD water. Well this is not going to be pleasant experience. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr... Well at least I was able to shave and get clean despite the cold water. I think that I might skip my shower in the morning before the race! LOL

So I see my new found friends from Albany getting their fire ready, so I head over to say hey and see what their plans are for the evening. They are in the process of cooking their supper on the grill so we just stand around the fire while it is cooking. They are having steak and other fixins!!! Yum I thought. So they eat and we sit around the fire til about 11pm or so. It is actually getting pretty cold out by now, and I am getting tired so I head off to the tent and call it a day.

The rains start sometime in the middle of the morning before the sun comes up! It wakes me up but it is still dark so I try to go back to sleep. It is not raining hard but it is steady. I think I finally fall sleep but not for sure. The sun comes up and the rain is now off and on at times. I am dreading having to race in it, but I am here and the show must go on. I get up around 8am and attempt to eat something, anything, but I can't do it. Just like every other race I have been in. I just can't do it. We have a mandatory meeting at 9:15am with the race director to go over final instructions. I am in the first group of racers and we blast off at 9:30.

After meeting I head back over the my camp and get dressed and ready for the race. The rain has slacked off and I can only hope that it says away, at least for the start. I am hoping that the course is not too muddy and slippery. Maybe the first groups of racers will make it better for the rest of us by packing it in.

So I am now at the line ready for the gun/whistle to go off. 3, 2, 1 blastoff!!! There are 12 guys in my wave and I am in 3rd position off the line. We are going alone side the river and the #2 guy gets caught up in the sand and goes down. He gets on his bike and starts back going before I can pass him though. Then all of a sudden the guy in 4th passes me. Ok I tell myself this is ok. Maybe I am a better climber than they are and will get them on the hills. I am just trying to get my legs warmed up and my mind into race mode at this point.

As soon as we reach the first hill we run into traffic. The wave before us is jammed and crowding the trail. I have to holler ahead several times for them to get out of the way, which they do. I soon catch up to the 3rd place guy and pass him. I can see the first and second place guys ahead but they have a pretty good lead on me. I tell myself to not worry about it as the race is still early. My goal is make it to the top of the hill without dieing or hyperventilating.

I soon see David Jones from Columbus and pass him. He is having chain problems and is walking his bike up the hill. I eventually catch and pass Mike Nichols which is in the wave ahead of me too. I am also gaining on the 2nd place guy in my wave. By the time we reach the top of the hill he is just a few yards in front of me. The first place guy is now gone.

I finally catch and pass the 2nd place guy after I reach the top of the 2nd hill and are on the logging road. He is not paying attention and is trying to remove the sleeves from his cycling jacket. I guess he is over heating or something. This is good for me and I am ecstatic that I am in 2nd place!

As I am going down the next large hill I here him gaining on me. I am faster up the hills but he fast down the hills. Shoot I think but I will get out of his way if he catches me. Well this the hill where I had my major crash at the bottom, so I am going to swing wide on the nasty corner. Well it just so happens that this is where the guy catches me and wants to pass! Dang it! I swing wide but he is now in my way to cut back into the corner. What to do now? Oh, well I guess I will miss the corner and go off into the woods and hope for the best! LOL There are no trees in the way but no trail either. So I just sit way back on the saddle and hope that I don't hit something I can't see.

I made it!!! Swoop and I am now climbing up the now very nasty rock and root covered off angle hill to the rock garden. I immediately go down on the first root. I decided that if this happened I would just just get off and run up the hill pushing my bike. So this is what I did. I can catch the now 2nd place guy going up one of the next 2 remaining hills I thought.

Going up the 3rd hill I can see him and I am gaining. I hope that I can catch him before we go down the other side but I don't. He and another guy from the wave ahead of us are going down the fast rocky down hill to the last big hill. I have told myself in previous races to conserve energy going down the hills and pour it on going up the hills. The 2nd place is right there in front of me so this will probably be my last chance to get him.

I am flying down the hill and scared out of my wits. If I crash now I will be hurt very bad, I think. Just keep your eyes focused on the rocks ahead of me and avoid any of the big ones that can cause you to crash. I do this with seemingly unwavering out-of-controlness and catch them right at the bottom of the hill. I pass the other guy and quickly pour on the gas. The 2nd place guy has already started up the hill but quickly catch and pass him. I am now in full race mode and no one is going to slow me down now! As I pass him he tells me good luck as I guess he is conceding it to me.

So I never let up again. Coach told me to never look back so I don't. There is only one more down hill and he isn't going to catch me there! I am ecstatic and flying now. I hit the last logging road downhill and I am going as fast I can without being out of control. There are people there cheering me on and taking photos. I holler at them with glee as I am flying down the hill. I tell myself to don't get too crazy and stay in control. There is a huge left hand turn at the bottom and then you have the new trail to manipulate.

So as I am turning the left hand corner I glance back and I see no one! YAY. I turn off the gas a little bit as to not crash on the new trail section. Well just as I thought that day before, I wipe out about halfway through it! My back tire hits a slick root and spins me out. I am not hurt and no one was there to see it and no one was there to pass either. I exit the woods and quickly fly through the loop to the finish line. I can't freakin believe it! I took 2nd place in my very first GSC race of the season! WOW What an awesome feeling it is.

Click here for the official Results

Chasing the Cure MTB Race

2010-03-10T13:17:00.000-08:00

Saturday March 6 was my unofficial first day of racing for 2010. Paul Hein of the Columbus Cycle Club and Columbus Bike Racing did a great job of rallying the troops and organizing the First Annual Chasing the CURE for Childhood Cancer mountain bike race. It was held at Flat Rock Park in Columbus, Ga. It included races for all ages and all abilities. Racing started around 9:00am with the kids/beginners and ended with the Men/Women 18-39 Sport category.

The weather was a little chilly early in the morning, but it warmed up and the conditions were perfect at race time. There were about 50 racers that participated as well as several spectators. At last count there was close to $3000 raised for the CURE. I think that it was unanimous amongst the troops that Paul make this into an annual event.

My event was the Sport Men 40+. Having been the only one in that category, Paul combined me with the 40+ Beginners. I think that there were about 7 of us all together. It was to be a 30 minute plus 1 lap race.

I was a little nervous at the start line, but as soon as the gun went off I went into race mode with no problem. .I had no idea who my competition was but I knew that I wanted to be near the front, but not in the lead. At least I didn't want to be in the lead at the very start of the race. I have a problem with pacing myself and tend to want to go all out, right from the start.

So when the gun went off, I took it slow and let someone take the lead. I was in second place and hoped to stay there as long as I could. The first and second laps went quite well, but at a fairly slow pace for me. Both times as we came around to the finish line banner, the lead guy up-shifted and missed a gear.
We almost ran over him when he slowed down that fast. So after this happened at the end of the 2nd lap, I decided it was time to get around this guy before something bad happened.

So I quickly down shifted and jumped on the gas and passed him. I guess a couple of other guys had the same idea and we pulled away form him fast. I was now in full sprint mode and took off. I am now is first place and loving it! I was told by my skating coach that you never look back to see where your competition is, so I didn't. I just kept focusing on the job at hand, winning and not making any mistakes.

The race quickly became a personal challenge to me. I wanted to see how hard I could push myself and still maintain position and stay in control. I soon realized that I was about to start lapping the field. Not my plan nor intention, but true non-the-less. I ended up lapping all but 2 guys and won 1st place.

At the end of the race I officially completed 11 laps in 34:26. An average of 3.11 minutes per lap. I was told it was a .7 mile course, so that puts my speed around 11.14 miles per hour. Not too bad, but it was a relatively flat course.

I really enjoyed the race, the swag, the competitors, and the opportunity to be able to support a very worthy cause. Hats off to Paul again for an outstanding job. And I would also give a shout out to the wonderful volunteers that help make it all come together too.

Here is the link to all of the race photos.

The Olympics are here!!! GO USA USA USA USA

2010-02-16T11:36:00.000-08:00

Check out the following links for all of the latest action and results.

Team USA

Team USA news

The bands are here and I have been playing that tune

2010-01-21T18:57:00.000-08:00

It has been 3 weeks now since my first visit back to the physical therapist to start my strengthening exercises. She (Sachi) gave me 3 different bands to start doing. I am doing 5 different exercises with them about 5 times a day. This week she gave me 2 more harder bands and 2 more different exercises to add to my regime. She also said that I can start doing bicep and tricep curls if I want, just don't over do them. Light weights and a lot of reps.

The training is coming along very well and I'm getting excited about getting back to full strength. I am pretty tough on myself and I do what I am told. The doctor said that I should be ready to start swimming by the first of March. YAY

My potential first race is a mountain bike race at Flat Rock Park on March 6. Here is the web site to the race Chasing The Cure. So I hope that I am ready for it. I plan on starting spin class the first of February to enhance what I have been doing on the stationary bike.

Tonite I had an excellent workout at the Y. I did 20 mins on the elliptical machine at level 8. Then I did 30 minutes on the bike at level 8. Then 5 minutes of stretching. Abductors, hamstrings, guads, biceps, triceps, crunches, back extentions, stretching, then 5 more sets of crunches. Woooooo. I need to bring another shirt to change into after all of that! And I feel great right now. Can't wait to do it again tomorrow.

Check this out and DO IT...

2010-01-21T18:56:00.001-08:00

Rehab

2009-10-27T20:42:00.000-07:00

So the tough part is over (surgery) and the rehab has begun. I was instructed to wear my sling on my right arm for 6 weeks. Well it has been 5 weeks now and I have followed orders as good as I can. I did start back working out about 4 weeks ago, but only doing leg exercises.

This is my usual routine 4 days a week. 30-45 minutes on a recumbent stationary bike. Stretching for about 5 minutes. Inner and outer abductors, 3 sets of 10-15 each. Leg extensions (curls), 3 sets of 10. Hamstring curls, 3 sets of 12-15. Lower back extensions and crunches. Then I stretch for about 5 more minutes. All of this usually takes about 1.5 - 2 hours.

I have a follow-up doctor's visit Nov 5. Hopefully he will give the ok to start doing some strength training on my right shoulder. Probably start out with some large rubber bands of varying resistance. Doctor says that it will take 3 - 4 months to fully heal and rehab. So one down and 5 more to go!!! I can't wait for spring to get here.

Below are some pre-surgery and post-surgery photos.

NIRA Nats and CRASH

2009-09-10T16:43:00.001-07:00

Well unfortunately I don't have any good news from this past weekend. During my very first race and on the 4th lap I slid out and fell while in 5th place. When I hit the floor I landed on my right shoulder and separated the AC joint! POW, popped it right out and tore all of the ligaments too. Going in for reconstructive surgery on Wednesday September 16 at 8:40am. This basically puts me out for the rest of this year. Hoping for a full recovery and a better season next year. Thanks to all of friends for the support and care. I will be back!!!

2009 Country's BBQ Midnight Express 5K Run

2009-08-31T17:06:00.000-07:00

It has become a tradition between my brother and I and a few other friends to challenge ourselves to run in the Country's BBQ Midnight Express 5K. It is always the last Saturday of August and it starts at midnight (hence the name). This will be my 3rd time racing it out of the last 4 years (I was out of town last year). It always seems to become a rivalry between me and Kent to see if I can actually beat him in a 5K.

This year he has been boasting that he has been training in the 21-22 minute range. I always kid him in that it doesn't matter because I am going to just draft off of him until the final sprint to the finish. I almost had him in the Celebrity Classic back in April, but he caught me right at the finish line. So Saturday night was to be my redemption (yeah right).

Of course my training schedule contains absolutely no running in it. Running just plain out hurts! And I don't like pain, so I just don't run until it is race time. Whether or not this is a good strategy, I don't really know. My legs are pretty sore right now and I figure that it is only temporary, so that is ok. I am in pretty good shape from all of the other training and events that I do. However, I should probably throw in a little running here and there just for fun. My only real strategy for preparing for the race is to stretch. And I stretch every day on the hour from sun up to sun down. I have my Blackberry programmed to go off every hour to remind me. So far it has worked and I haven't had a cramp in a long time.

So anyway, I somehow coerce my good friend Rob to join us this year. He is the fastest in our group, but of course he has to start the smack/trash talk early. It all starts on the Friday before the race and doesn't end until the start of the race. It is all in good humor because I know that his 20 some-odd minute 5K is going to blister me anyway. But of course I have to smack talk right back at him, but about triathlons instead of 5K's. I'm coming to get ya at Tugaloo baby!!!

So anyway, it is game day and I am stoked. I am so hyped up about the run I decide that I need to go burn off some steam and decide to go swim. I head over to the YMCA around noon and do a short 1.2 mile cruise. I don't usually go there on Saturday, but there are several people there that I know and some are running the race too. So my swim takes me around 44 minutes and I head back home.

When I get home, I am starving but I want to weigh myself before I eat. I always like to get my weight down to a certain level before a race. Lighter weight usually equals faster speed. I weigh-in at exactly 185 pounds. Perfect! So now I can finally eat my first pre-race meal. Hmmmm...what shall it be? I need carbs, but not a lot for such a short race. I decide to eat a large bowl of plain corn flakes with a banana and some raisins. This should last me until Rob gets here because I know that he always wants to out to eat somewhere when he is in town.

A favorite pre-race meal for me is grilled fish with rice and some steamed veggies like broccoli and carrots. Light and fluffy but loaded with the good stuff. I have tried to do the pasta like Rob and Kent in the past but it just sat on my stomach like a lead block. Not be ventured there again. Burp...

So I pretty much goofed-off the rest of the day until Rob is supposed to be here around 7pm. So when he finally does call I am starving again. I am just about to fire up the grill when he calls me to meet him and Anna (his daughter) over at Cheddars. I jump in the car and head right over there. We always know what we want and order it right when the waitress comes to get our drink order. Blackened Salmon over rice, broccoli and carrots with sweat tea for me. I don't like to eat too much before a race but I am starving and order the dinner portion instead of the lunch portion. After eating about half of it I start to wonder if I had made a mistake. I still have 4 hours until the race so I should be fine? I can only hope.

We decide to go over to Barnes & Noble after we eat to burn off some more time and calories. Of course we both get the same triathlon magazines to look at. Before I know it, it is 9:30 and I decide that I need to head home to get ready and Rob needs to take Anna home. I want to get there around 10:00 to get checked in and to socialize with all of my other friends that will be there. So I head home, jump in the shower, get dressed, pack up my gel packs and Gatorade and head over to the race.

When I get there it is already packed with hundreds of people. This is the largest race in Columbus and it is growing every year. They are predicting over 2000 this year. The festivities started earlier in the day and go on until after the race is over. Check out the web site to see what all there is to do and see. Country's BBQ Midnight Express 5K.

So as soon as I get there I start to see many of my friends. Mac and his wife, Matt and Ivy, Nicki, Keith and Charlene, Shelia, Brian, Richard, Terry and Valeni and their son Kydon, Michael, Ricky, Brad, Jimbo, David and Chris, and the list goes on and on. And last but not least Rob and Kent finally decide to show up.
Better late than never. My friend Butch is on his way also but I never see him.

So it is time to start lining up for the start of the race. We always try to get as close to the front as possible to try to get a good start without having to wait to get to the actual start line. We are about 3 rows back form the line. I crank up my IPOD with some AC/DC and wait for the cannon to go off. 3-2-1 BOOM, and we are off to the races.

I am right behind Rob for the first 100 yards or so, but I can't find Kent. He had moved over to the left side of the starting line before the start of the race to try to sike me out, I guess. So I am trying to maintain a good pace by staying with Rob for as long as I can. He starts to pull away from me quick, about the 1/2 mile mark. I am still looking for Kent, hoping that he didn't get a good jump on me. Well about mile 1 here he comes up behind me. His first comment is that he thinks that he needs to stop and take a break. Well I know that it is ploy to get into my head thinking that he is struggling. I give him some encouragement to keep on going. It's all about finishing now!!! So we stay together for about another 1/2 mile or so and then he start pulling away from me too. Shoot!!!

I have to keep him in my sites if I am going to have a chance of getting him. I try to pick it up a notch, but my heart rate monitor (HRM) is going off at about 186 beats per minute by now. Down the hill and under the bypass still cruising. A guy runs up next to me hearing my HRM going crazy and thinks that it is a pace setter and asks me what my pace is. I laughingly tell him that it is HRM monitor freaking out and that I am trying to stay on a 7:30 pace. Not knowing what I really am running at this time. It is too dark in this section of the race to see my HRM.

About this time Kim passes me and a guy from the pool passes me. Now I am starting to get a little mad at myself for not being able to pick it up, but I have to let them go. I can only push so hard in a race and this is about all I have. It is really amazing what you actually think about during a race. I wish someone would invent a device that could record your thoughts so you could replay them later. I am now thinking that I have about 1 more mile left.

I can still see Kent, but he is still slowly pulling away from me. As we turn back onto Sue Mack Dr I loose all site of Kent and the tall guy from the pool. I am now in la la land and only thinking about finishing the race. The crowds that line the street are great and offer tons of encouragement. I give several of them high fives which always is a great pick-me-up! So my next goal to see what I have left for last half mile. As I turn the last corner heading towards the home stretch, I can finally see my HRM again and change it to the race timer. It says 22 minutes. So I know that I am not on a personal record pace now but still want to finish below 24 minutes. As I am running back on Auburn Ave now I finally see Butch and he cheers me on to the finish line.

There are thousands to people cheering you to the finish line. I actually here my name yelled out but have no idea who it was as I am focused on the line. I finally see the official race clock and see that is 23:30 so I put the hammer down. I sprint the last 100 yards or so and finish the race in 23:58. My HRM is still going off and continues for at least another minute until I remember to turn it off. My average HR was 183.

My official placement was 12 out of 62 in my age group. 232 out of 1892 that finished the race. The 23:58 ties me for my 3rd best 5K time. Kent ran a 23:34 and Rob ran a 20:25. Congrats to all of the finishers. Special congrats to Valeni Witbeck for taking home 1st place in her age group and in her first race!!! You go girl.

Check out all of the Results.

Georgia Veterans Triathlon

2009-08-21T16:53:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since I have had an entry in here because this is the first race that I have done in a while. I hurt or shall I say busted my left shin bone very bad about 2 months ago. I had to wait a long time for it to get well enough for me to even start back training. I missed the Callaway Sprint tri and the Inline Speed Skating National Championships during this time. I have been training hard since then and was ready to do something soon.

I had not planned on doing this triathlon this year because of my experience in last years race. It had to be the worst race I have ever had. Everything sucked from the swim to the run. I couldn't breathe, my transitions sucked and my calves cramped in the run! Not to mention that the knats down in Cordele were just as bad! I told myself that I would never come back.

Well I started thinking about this race about a week before it was to happen and kind of talking it up to my friends and to myself. This kind of got me excited about doing it again and with the thought that I might able to redeem myself from last year's disaster. So at the last minute I decided to go. There was going to several of my friends competing in it too.

So Friday I was off of work, I loaded the car up early and took off for Cordele around 3:00pm. I wanted to get there before registration closed around 6:00pm. Plus I was going to camp and needed to get all of my gear set up before it got dark. I couldn't find anyone to go with me so I drove down by myself. It only took about 1:45minutes.

So I get there around 5:00pm and head over to registration and sign up. I am assigned race bib number 326. I am glad I got there when I did because about 20 people came in right after me and had to wait for a while. So I now head over to the camp ground and set up my tent. Then I head into town to try to find something to eat and to waist some time. Well it is now time to hit the sack, around 10:00pm, so I can fully rested for the race.

I get up around 5:45am and head for the showers. I didn't sleep as good as I was hoping to, but I got enough I think. Transition area opens at 6:00am so I want to get my stuff over there with plenty of time to spare, just in case something goes wrong. And of course something does! I forgot my swimming goggles. But I have plenty of time and walk back over to the camp site and get them.

I see several of my Columbus friends in the transition area while they are all setting up for the race. Ramon Scott, Larry Young, Wesley & Lynn Williamson, and several others. A total of 16 people from the Columbus area ran the race. Well it is now about 20 minutes til the start, so I grab a gel pack and suck it down. I start heading over the start line by the lake. I jump in the water to get a quick swim in and to get used to the temp. It is pretty nice.

I have decided to try a different strategy this time in the swim. Instead of starting on the inside of the pack, I am going to start of the left, outside of the pack. Maybe this way I will avoid getting run over by the faster swimmers and it will give me chance to get into my groove. I have been training hard in the swim and am really hoping for a good result. Last year I had to dog paddle about half of the swim! LOL

So the gun sounds and we are off. My plan works great and I am headed to the first buoy without too many people in the way. It does get a little crowded by the buoy, but that is expected. Rounding the second buoy, the sun is right in my eyes and I can't see anything! So I just keep heading straight into the sun until I can pick out the buoy and the exit sign. I finish the swim in about 9:30 according to my watch and head up to the transition area through the grass. My official time is 10:24 because the chip timer is not at the swim exit but at the entrance to the transition area. I hit the transition area running. I wipe off my feet, throw on my cycling shoes and I am off. Transition time is 1:08. Tied for the fastest transition time.

I am really hoping to have an astounding bike split because I suffered last year. I am pushing as hard as I can. The course is pretty technical at the beginning with a lot of turns. It then opens up and I put the hammer down. I didn't know it but I was leading everyone in my age group by this time. I came out of water 5th, and then passed everyone on the bike. I finished the 13.6 mile bike in 36:13 for an average of 22.5 miles per hour and a first place position so far! YAY But of course I didn't know it at the time.

I head back into the transition area with my feet already out of the shoes and jump off of the bike in full stride. All I have to do is put on my running shoes and I am off into the 5K run. My transition time is :36 and this time I am tied for the 2nd fastest transition time.

With my shoes on and still feeling pretty good, I head off to see what I can do. The run is the hardest portion of the event for me. I don't run very fast as compared to the good triathlon guys. So I am only trying to best my time from last year. The entire run I have to keep telling myself to keep up the pace and don't walk! The temptation is there with every step. Once I get into my groove I am OK and feeling better about it. No cramps is a great thing too!

So I am running along at my pace and not knowing what position I am in, and a guy in my age group passes me. I am only about a third of the way into the run so I don't even think too much about it. Well a little past the halfway point another guy in my age group passes me. Well there is no way that I can keep up with these guys because there is just too much distance to go yet. So again I am not worried about it. So I start my kick with about 300-400 yards to go in the race. I am flying now and I cross the line in 1:14:41. Amazingly 6:04 better than I did last year!!! I am really stoked about this to say the least.

So the race is over and I am now looking for some of my friends and something to drink and eat. I find Ramon and Wesley over by the food and get me something to eat. After I eat I gather my things up and take it back over the camp ground. I grab my protein shake and head back over to the finish line to see who else has come in. I am also waiting for the race director to post the results. He eventually comes on the microphone and says that they can't get the printer to work, so they are just going to start handing out the awards. So I decide that I am going to go back to the camp site and get ready to go home.

Well I am talking to Ramon and he convinces me to stick around and see who gets an award. He thinks that he might be in the running for one, so I stay. Wesley ends up getting 3rd in the Master Men division and Lynn gets 3rd in her age group. Ramon ends up 4th in his. Then all of a sudden they call out my name for 3rd place in my age group!!! Check that out! WOW. I would have never thought that I would ever place in a tri. I am so stoked now I can't hardly stand by myself. 3RD PLACE...

Check out the RESULTS

2009 Fort Benning Reverse Sprint Triathlon

2009-06-09T20:13:00.000-07:00

The reverse sprint is exactly what it says. You run first, the bike, and then swim last. It, for some people seems a lot harder than a regular triathlon, but for me, it actually works out to my advantage. You see, my worst event out of the 3 is the run. So if I can run at the beginning of the race while I am fresh, my time will be alot faster.

Last year my splits were as follows: 5K run - 24:36, T1 - 1:20, 20K Bike - 36:36 (20.2 mph), T2 - 1:45, 550 meter swim - 16:45, Total time - 1:21:00. Placed 6th out of 12 in my age group and 48th out of 116 overall. So of course my goal was to beat my times from last year and hopefully place higher than last year too.

The weather was very nice and sort of cool that morning of the race. This is always nice because the temps and humidity can be brutal this time of year. It had rained the day before, so I thought the humidity would be a factor, but it wasn't.

I got up around 6:20am and loaded the car and headed to Fort Benning at about 6:45. All visitors have to go to the check point off of I-185 and get a one day pass into the base. So I have to do this and get there and get set-up before 7:45. The race is to start at 8:01 sharp. I get there with plenty of time so I start to look around to see if I recognize anyone.

I see Terry Miller, Brian Abeyta, Joanne Cain, Gabe Denes, Jose Solis (both), Brad Spenney, and Wesley Williamson. Brian, Brad and Wesley are in my age group and usually beat me. Gabe and Jose are on teams and only doing the cycling part of the race.

So now I am all set-up, signed-up and ready for the race. The pre-race speech and rules description and announcements are given as well as the National Anthem is played. And of course this race will have a lot of military people participating in it and they are usually very fast.

Ok, they tell us to head over to the start line and the count down begins. We are off! I start on the second row this time so I won't get run over by the fast guys. I set into my pace (whatever that is) and think about being consistent. About a mile into the race my left side begins to hurt a little, but I try to not let it bother me. As long as it doesn't get any worse, I can live with it. I am now wondering if I ate too much that morning. Oh well, maybe it will come in handy for later on in the race. I even took an extra Potassium pill to help ward off the cramps.

About mile 2 my heart rate monitor starts to beep as we start going up a very slight hill. I look and it is reading 183 which is not too bad so I keep on my pace. While running I always try to keep my eyes on a competitor in front of me to sort of give me something to follow and try to chase down. So I have no found this person and I am going to try catch them before the end. I do catch him on the home stretch, but I think that he now has the same thought as me and so the race is on. I cross the finish line into the transition area in 23:58. My third fastest 5K time! YAY

So now I have to find my bike, throw on the sun helmet, change the shoes and head out the gate. I do this without any troubles and am out in 1:13.

The bike being my best part of the tri I race out of the transition parking lot and immediately start passing people. It is the funniest thing, but there are 2 guys on a tandem bike racing!!! I have never seen that before. I now see Terry Miller and he is having trouble getting his feet into his bike shoes. So I blow by him and never see him again.

The first half of the bike section starts out with a slight downhill. I hit around 27-28 mph and hoping to maintain a 22 mph pace as long as I can. I turn left onto Sunshine, which is very flat and start to crank it hard. I look up and there is Terry Witbeck. He is not in the race so I pull up next to him and we start to chat. I can't talk much while riding as it takes my precious oxygen away! LOL I end up dropping Terry when we get to the hills past the steel bridge. By now I am still averaging 22 mph, but it is starting to go down. I can handle the hills, but it does take the speed away.

So I hit the turn around and head back to the transition area. Terry turns around ahead of me and we again ride together for a short while. I drop him again as we climb the next hill and never see him again until I get into the pool. The last part of the bike is going back up the long hill by the airport that I came down so fast earlier. My speed has now slowed down to 21 mph. By the time I get back it has decreased to 20.7 mph. Still faster than last year though.

As I am coming down the last stretch to the transition area, I decide to take my feet out of my shoes so that I can get a quick dismount and transition time. As I pull my right leg up and reach down to release the Velcro, my calf cramps! Shit, I knew this was going to happen, just not right here. So I push my heel down to stop the cramp and am about to get the shoe off. I do the same thing with the left shoe and my left calf cramps too! WOW, this can become a very serious problem real quick as I had the same problem in the swim last year.

So I hit the transition area running right off of the bike. I hang up my bike on the rack and throw off my helmet and sunglasses. Take off my shoes and socks and grab my swim goggles and run out to the pool. My transition time is 1:38. It is about a 100 yard run over to the pool, so I decide to take it a little easy so that I might be able to catch my breath some.

I get to the pool and there are 3 guys in front of me waiting to get in the water. It is a single file entry one at a time. My legs are feeling ok now and I hope that they don't cramp as soon as I start to swim. So I hit the water and take off. I can feel them trying to cramp so I decide to not kick and just drag my legs for while. This seems to work and soon I am able to begin my kicking.

I am going at a pretty good pace and I am trying to keep my focus on my breathing. I swim about 4 laps before I decide that I need to slow down and take a little breather. So I stop swimming and start walking in the water for just a few feet. I have to do this about 4 times before the swim is over. My time was 13:46! 3 minutes faster than last year!!! A BIG YAY...

My official finish time was 1:16:26. 4:34 faster than last year. I finished 10th out of 22 in my age group and 53rd out of 171 overall. I though that this was a very good race for me and I really enjoyed it, especially besting my time from last by so much.

Ga. State Mountain Bike Race #3 - Winder, Ga.

2009-04-29T20:00:00.000-07:00

Well it doesn't seem as though I get much sleep as it is pretty warm inside the tent all night, but I do get to sleep in. I finally get up around 8:00am head to the showers. I plan on eating on the way over to the mountain bike races. I am not in a rush, so I just take my time. After my shower I take down the tent and put everything up for the trip. I leave camp around 9:00am.

Fort Yargo State Park is the venue for the mountain bike race. I have never been or raced here before yesterday. The course is very hilly and technical with a long winding hill towards the end of the course.

I get to the park in time to see Nikki and wish her good luck. She is racing in the pro women category which does 3 laps around the course or 30 miles! I can barely complete 1 lap or 10 miles. I guess you just have to pace yourself and have plenty of food and drinks available. I talked to Jose Mendez recently and he says that he has a small cooler set-up at the start finish line with his food and drinks in it. When he goes by, he stops long enough to slam a sandwich and a cold beverage and hits the trail again.

So now I have to wait about 2 hours before we can start the race. They won't start us until all of the pro's have started their last lap. For some reason the race is running a little behind so we have to sit around a wait longer than expected.

Well the time is here and we are ready to start. 3, 2, 1 and we are off! I start on the front row like always trying to get into a good position early. Well for some reason I can't get my left foot into the pedal and am getting passed by everyone. By the time I get going, I am almost in last place. So I now have to kick it in passing gear early on and get back to where I belong.

The first part of the course is relatively flat some rolling hills, but pretty technical. The field has spread out a good bit, so I follow a small group that is ahead of me. I don't get a chance to pass until we get to the first big hill. Since I am pretty string on the hills, I take full advantage of this. I pass several guys on the way up and even a couple on the way back down the other side.

We are now coming to another flat but open area towards the back side of the lake. The guy in front of me has asked me if I wanted to pass and he would pull aside, so I tell him that I am going to go for it now. I see a group of guys ahead and hope to catch them before they go back into the woods. I put the hammer down and am able to catch them and pass about 6 guys in the process! YAY

I hit the woods full steam ahead, but it quickly starts climbing up another incline. Small but long and winding. I feel my heart rate climbing too and soon my heart rate monitor starts beeping meaning that my heart rate is over 180 beats per minute. I slow down a little to try to get it under control, but can't slow down too much. This section of the course is heavily wooded and has several power line crossings.

As we head deeper into the woods the course has some pretty deep revenes. They are pretty close to each other and about 8 feet deep. You really have to be very careful as you can get thrown off of your bike. These a very steep too. You could fly over the handle bars too if you lean to far forward. I hit them almost prefect every time and come out unscathed.

Coming out of this area is another long winding hill to climb. I actually am really close to the guy in front of me and my front tire bumps his back tire. No one is hurt and I don't even think that he felt it. I do eventually pass this guy and continue on to the next area.

I soon catch up to another guy and notice that he riding a single speed bike. I make a comment to him about it and he quickly announces that his bike is also a hard tail and hard nose! Meaning no shocks at all!!! I am quite amazed and tell him that he is crazy. He just shouts back that he loves it and starts to pull away from me! WOW I better keep my mouth shut next time. LOL

We now come to a road crossing. There are several volunteers there to control the traffic. We fly down a small hill dropping down to the road catching a little air for the audience and quickly heading off into the woods again. This section is pretty flat and not so technical. I am still with the single speed guy and we are flying through the trees.

This section comes out at the bottom of the hill and we have to cross a wooden bridge over a creek that feeds the lake. On the other side of the creek is the first of the big hills! It is pretty steep and several switch-backs. We have caught a couple of other riders and have to pass them going up the hill. It is pretty touch, but we make it up with no issues. We are out of the woods now and it is really bright and hot. The top of the hill comes out right next to the main entrance of the park and follows the main road for about a mile or so it seems.

We come to a small section that I call the rock garden. It is probably the area that actually has a large gathering of exposed rocks. These can be very technical to cross as some of them are pretty large. Don't want to fall around them! This section comes out and parallels the road again. We soon go over another bridge and have a 90 degree left turn heading back towards the main part of the lake and the BIG hills.

We are now back into the woods and are taking a long flat and pretty straight trail. But I know that the hills are rapidly approaching. This trail leads right to the bottom of THE hill. This is the hill that I had to get off of the bike and walk it up yesterday. The single speed bike guy is still right in front of me but I think that I can pass him on the hill. As I suspected, we get all of the towards the top and he has to get off of the bike because he doesn't have any gears!!! I quickly go around and take off again.

This section quickly ends and I cross the main road and head into what is the last section of the race. This section is pretty flat but very technical. Only one more small hill towards the end and I am home free. I can't remember if I pass anyone in this section or not as my mind is pretty blurred by now. The start/finish line is right by the main camp ground parking lot and pavilion. There is probably 100 people gathered around watching the finish line. I come flying out of the woods and here all of the cheers. Are they yelling for me? I don't know, but it does bring a smile to my face.

I finish the race in 59:27 with an 8th place out of 20. Not too shabby if I say so myself. The race was pretty grueling and I have an average heart rate of 164.

Official raceResults

Another weekend of back-to-back races - cycling

2009-04-28T15:31:00.000-07:00

Well about 2 years ago I was fortunate enough to go watch the Athen's Twilight Crit road bike races in Athen's, Ga. I was so impressed with the racing and how fast they went that I said that I would like to try it one day. Well that one day came last Saturday. I have been training for the past 2 years and I felt that my time had come. Although I didn't really feel as though I had a chance of placing, I was up for the challenge, or so I though.

I also noticed that there was a mountain bike race the same weekend, but on Sunday, in Winder, Ga. at Fort Yargo State Park. This is only about 30 miles from Athens, so I might as well give it try while I am up there. I have the bike and the experience (1 race).

So I planned out my schedule as it would be a long weekend. I would leave right after work on Friday. I would be camping so I needed to go there first so I could get my tent set up before it got too late (no noise after 10pm). Butch was supposed to go with me but backed out at the last minute. So I am once again going alone!

Well I am now in Athen's Friday night after setting up my camp site. This is a real party town and everyone is out and about in downtown. There are vendors set-up and the pro's are having a stationary bike race to set the starting positions for their race on Saturday night. Everything related to the race is starting to close up for the night, and I am tired so I head back to the camp ground to get some sleep. My race is at 9:30am.

I have signed up for the Cat 5 race but it looks as though they are combining the Cat 4 and 5 together. I don't understand this as I am not a Cat 4 cyclist, but all I can do is hope that we still race in our own Cat. Well I guess I am wrong as I find out early Saturday morning at Jittery Joes when I pick up my race pack and bib number. Cat 4-5 combined and top 10 go to the finals. The finals are to be at 5:45 on the crit course downtown. We are racing this morning off site around the Greenway Loop. It is a 1.3 mile loop around a stretch of the Oconee River just north of the downtown area. It is mostly flat with one slight up hill and downhill.

So I set up my trainer and ride it for about 15 minutes to get the legs warmed up before I have to go to the start line. There are several other guys and girls doing the same thing in the parking lot. So I am now warmed up and getting ready for the race. I have about 15 minutes before the start time so I head up to the start line.

There are other races going on before us, so we have to wait around until they are finished before we can start. While I am waiting, I see Jose Solis and his son and say hello and wish them luck on their races. Jose Sr. races in the 40+ Masters age group and Jose Jr. races in the Cat 4-5 Under 35 age group.

So we are now set to go at the starting line. The count down starts and we are off. I am staged about 3/4 towards the front of the pack. I have trouble getting my left shoe locked into the pedal and loose alot of positions. I am now heading down the first hill and we hit the first turn at about 30 miles per hour. The second corner comes up real fast and a guy cuts me off and I have to hit the brakes real hard. My back tire locks up and skids out a little before I let off and regain control. By this time I am getting passed by everyone! I try to look for a break so that I can get back into the pack, but there is none. I go straight to the back! This sucks and was my worst nightmare. I struggle to keep up and am dropped on the back straight away.

So now I am all alone and sucking wind fast. Although my first lap was a whopping 27 miles per hour, I am now struggling to maintain 22. This race is a 30 minute race plus 3 laps, and I am only on lap number 2. Oh well, that is the breaks. I am not going to quit, so I keep telling myself to keep going and do the best that I can. I am actually not in last place either. So I keep pushing along and even get some cheers from the crowd watching. This is quite inspiring. I even start talking to a couple of cute girls on the back stretch as I go by every lap.

Well the agony is short lived and the race is now officially over. I finished 28th out of 30 riders. Time was 43.5 minutes. Averaged 21.5 miles per hour with a heart rate of 172. I go back to see the girls that cheered me and give the a well deserved thank you and hi-five. I head back to the truck a little disappointed but glad that I gave it try.

I am now on my way over to Fort Yargo State Park to go check out the mountain bike course. It is only a 30 minute drive and it will give me a little time to rest the legs for a short while. I want to ride to course to see what it is all about. There is an Exterra (off road triathlon) race there this morning and was hoping to see some of it.

So I get here a little too late and they are giving out the awards for the Exterra race. I look around to see if there is anyone that I might know, but I don't see anyone. I might like to give this race a try next year too. There isn't many people here, so I watch the awards and go get my bike out to hit the trails. I have to get back to Athens by 5:45 to watch the start of the finals. I plan on taking it slow around the course, so it will probably take me over an hour to do it all.

The course is 10.8 miles and is pretty hilly. It goes all of the way around the lake. Towards the end of the course is a series of large hills. My legs are starting to cramp on me so I have to get off of the bike and walk it up them. I really hope that I don't have this problem tomorrow!

So after my ride I decide that I am going to do the race and sign up. I now have to take a shower and head back to the camp ground. So I grab a bite to eat and talk to a couple of people there. Head to the showers and head back to the camp ground.

I have a little time before the finals start so I decide that I am going to take a nap. I try to lay down in the tent but it is just too hot in there. So I set up one of my chairs and sit outside in the breeze for a while, but don't get that nap that I wanted. I decide to make a few phone calls and let everyone know what is going on.

It is now 5:30 and I head back over to Athens to watch the finals. There is all kind of races and festivities going on all day. Kids races, a 1 mile sprint for $1000 cash, a chariot race, recumbent bike race, etc...

So after all of that is over, I finally get to see the Cat 4 finals. Jose made it so I am looking for him. I never find him or his son so I have no idea how he did. I did see a couple other guys from the Columbus Bike racing team and said hey to them. I don't think that they knew who I was either! LOL

So I hang around waiting for the big finally race, the pro men. It isn't supposed to start until 8:45, but actually starts around 9:30pm. I watch it for several laps, but have to leave before the finish as I am just too tired to stay up late. I have to be over at the mountain bike race by 11am, plus I have to take down my tent and pack everything up.

So I head back to camp and hit the sack. After I get my McDonald's ice cream cone that is! Yummy...

View the Athen's Twilight Crit Results

The Noob

2009-04-21T20:15:00.000-07:00

Georgia State Mountain Bike Race #2

2009-04-19T15:58:00.000-07:00

This week I decided that I wanted to try a mountain bike race. The Columbus Cycle Club plays host every year to the Georgia State Mountain Bike Championships Race #2 of an 8 race series. It is held at Flat Rock Park, which has a pretty technical and challenging 10 miles course. I thought about doing it last year, but I didn't have a bike at the time. So this year I have been looking for a bike to buy, but with not much luck as the monetary funds are rather low. So I decided to ask brother Kent if I could borrow his bike. To my surprise he obliged and let me take it out for a spin.

I picked up the bike on Tuesday and took it over to the park to see what happens. It was my first time ever on the bike or the course. I had no idea what I was doing nor did I know where I was going. So I just tooled around and found my way around without getting too lost. It had rained a couple of days before so the course was pretty wet in some spots, but not too bad. Kent told me that he had never taken the bike off road before, so here was my chance to show the bike how dirty it can get. Not only did the bike get dirty, but I had quite a bit on me too. My first ride went good and I survived the course. But I really needed to get some more time on it and hopefully with someone that knew what they were doing. I talk to some friends at skate practice on Wednesday and they tell that some guys are going out there on Thursday to ride the course, so I decided that I will try to meet them out there then.

Well Thursday comes around and I head out to find out who is riding. I meet up with Gabe Jr and he tells me that some guys are already out on the course. So he calls them and they tell him that they are headed to the bridge and we should try to meet them there. So we hop on the bikes and head out. Gabe doesn't tell me who we are going to meet, so I don't think much of it. So we see them coming off of the trail onto the road right at the bridge so we hop in line right after them. I am here just to try to figure out the trail and maybe get a few pointers while I am here.

So we head up the trail and are going at a pretty pace. There is a girl leading us up, but I have no idea who she is. She soon starts pulling away from us and has a pretty good lead. Now I am really wondering who the hell this girl is. She is strong. Well about that time, the guy ahead of Gabe starts pulling a gap and before I know it he is gone. So I am now all by myself again! :( Oh well, all is good I guess. Well it was good until my chain comes off. So I put it back on and start riding again.

I am now in one the most technical and hilly parts of the course. I am going up some steep hills when the chain comes off again. Now I am starting to get really pissed. So I put it back on and start again. Now the gears start to shift/hop around on their own. I am really pissed and decide to head back to the car. As long as I am not getting on it really hard, the bike/gears do fine.

Well I get back the car and find Gabe and tell him of my problems. He tells me that he can fix it for me if I could bring the bike to the shop on Friday. So I agree and ask him who those 2 people were that we riding with. He tells me that it was Jose and Nikki. Jose and Nikki?!?! They are the top male and female riders in the state! No wonder they left me in the dirt!

So Friday comes and I take the bike over the The Bike Shop of Columbus and get Gabe to check it out. He tunes it up in about 10 minutes and I am on my way. He assures me that it is not going to give me any problems during the race on Sunday. So to check it out, I go the park on Saturday, just in case. He was right and I have a good, slow paced ride just to hit the high points of the course.

Well Sunday is now here and it is time for the races. I get up around 7:30am and head over to the park. The pro bikers are to start at 8:30 or so I though. There is a 50% chance of rain, so I bring all of my rain gear and my Georgia canopy just in case. I set up camp and go over the start line to see what is going on and to see if I know anyone that is there.

I do see alot of the CCC members and so I talk to a few of them before the racing starts. The first races of the day are the kids. They are just too cool! I didn't even know that they made mountain bikes that small. They are only going to 1 or 2 laps around the green 1 mile loop of the course depending on their age group.

The next groups up are the pro men and women. They are going to do 3 laps around the 10 mile course. The last groups to go are the beginners, which I am in the 40-49 age group. We hit the trails at 11:30am.

So here we go. We line up at the start and I get on the front row. The whistle blows and we are off. I hit the trail in about 5th place out of 14 guys. The trail starts out with a slight down hill and then back up hill. My legs are already burning as I start up the hill. I know that they will be fine after a while so I just try to keep up with the leaders. The first area of the course is relatively flat with about half open area and half wooded.

We come out of the first area and go through the finish line gate and have to turn a sharp 135 degree right and head down the hill to the chicane. The chicane is a twisting snake-like path going from side to side down what looks like a drainage ditch. It is very fast as we are flying from side to side. Alot of on-lookers are there to see all of the action too. It is not a hard section, but it is somewhat technical as you really have to pay attention to what you are doing.

The next section is a long couple of switch-back going up the side of a hill. It is not that hard, but it does have a lot of loose rocks all over it. There are also a couple of gullies that you have watch out for. At the top of the hill is a fallen tree that has been cut for the bike path to go through it. It is only about 3 feet wide so you have to be careful here too as it is on a slight left hand corner. You don't want to catch your pedal on the tree.

Over the top of the hill is the dreaded rock garden! I had a lot of problems with this area the test rides I had over here, so I was not looking forward to it at all. I told myself it is better to walk the bike through it than to get hurt. So I hit it flying just like the leaders right in front of me. My adrenaline is pumping so hard I don't even slow down. I have absolutely no problems going down through the rocks. A guy right in front of does though. He hits the bottom of the garden which is a steep drop-off over a series of large roots. You have to basically jump it with all of your weight on the back of the bike. Well I don't know what he did wrong, but all I see is him going head over heels flipping into the woods. It is a huge reality check as to the dangers of the race, but I keep on riding ahead. I don't want the loose the leaders.

I am now at the hardest section of the rock garden, climbing up the hill. I have only seen a couple of the pros do it earlier in the race. It is very steep and technical, not to mention the loose rocks and leaves covering the path. So I immediately jump off of the bike and run it up the hill. There is a large crowd watching us on top a large boulder near the top of the hill. My friends Butch and Kathy are there to cheer me on too!!! YAY

So I fly up the hill and I am gasping for every breath that I can get. The top of the hill is flat and drops off slightly into the next section.

The next section is again pretty technical with some rolling hills and a sand pit. So I have to maintain a good pace going into it as I don't want to bog down in the sand. The sand is all chewed up from the earlier racers and is a total mess mixed with some mud too. I hit it fast and don't bog down too much. I just keep my legs moving and power my way through it. It is a relatively short section with a few tight turns and a couple steeps narrow hills on the other side. I blast through the hills and hit the switch back a little too fast. I get a little bit off of the course but am quickly back on it and heading back up the hill again and to the next section.

This section is pretty flat with a slight down hill most of the way. It too can be fast, but you have to watch out for the roots and rocks. It goes down and back with 3switch backs. The hardest one is at the end where you have a hard left hand turn as you are going up the last part of the hill back to the top. This section doesn't give me any problems and I blast right through it.

The next section is pretty easy with several switch backs through some dense under brush and trees. At the bottom is a drainage creek with some rocks piled into it for us to ride across. This could be another problem area, but isn't. I am still right behind the leaders and hanging tough. My legs are feeling a little washed out by now, but I am able to get a little rest going down the previous 2 sections. The next sections are open but long and hilly.

The first part goes through a small group of small pine trees as we hit the first of many hills. We quickly come out of the trees and hit the open area. It has several rolling hills. Some of the down hills are very fast but the up hills are rocky and pretty steep and long. I am actually able to pass a guy going up the first big hill! YAY. I have always been strong on the hills.

We entry the next section and I have a good lead on the guy that I passed. This section is pretty technical and has several steep dips criss-crossing through a drainage ditch. This is where my chain came off the other day, so I have to be careful here. So far so good and I blast through another section with no problems.

Next comes the flat rock section. It only has one technical spot and it is a rock that you have to jump up on over a 16" vertical rise. I have never been able to complete this and have chickened out many times. But I have to do it if I am going to keep up with he other guys. They are starting to pull a good lead on me by now. So I hit the rock full speed ahead. I make it over the vert, but as soon as I try to pedal up the tires spin out and I go down. No problem as only the bike hits the rock and not me. I quickly hop back on and take off. Right around the corner is a pretty steep climb over some small loose rocks and then a steep decent down the other side back on to the flat rocks again.

The guy that I passed has now caught up to me again and is right on my tail. He follows me for most of the way through the large open area as we head back towards the main area. We go down a steep hill and he passes me right after the bottom. But wait, it is not him after all. It is someone else from the group that started behind us. WOW, he must be really fast.

So at the end of the open area is a very technical and tight section of heavy woods. You have to be really careful here as a tree will just out and grab you handle bars before you can blink your eye. I am about halfway through the section and another guy comes up behind me and wants to pass. So I pull off wide going around a switchback and he passes. Well I keep going and then another guy comes up behind me and wants to pass. So I do the same thing and guess who it is. The guy that I passed earlier. He has finally caught me and is ready to go. So I get through this section again with no problems, but I do pass a guy and one of the steep hills and I see a guy sitting on the ground fixing a flat. What a bummer that would be!

So we come out of this section and head back over the creek and up the right side of the hill and to the long flat straight-away. I am thinking ahead and hoping that I might be able to catch some of the leaders here. Well by the time I get to the top of the hill to the flat area, my legs are about waisted! I have almost no energy left in them except to just maintain a forward motion. Luckily there isn't any of my competitors right behind me to pass, but I have the feeling that I am now not going to be able to catch anyone ahead of me either. They have a large lead on me by now.

I have my tent and chairs set up near the end of the long straight-away and am hoping that Butch and Kathy are there by now to cheer me on. Yep, there they are. It is so nice to have friends to come out to support you when you are trying to kill yourself!~! LOL Well in the blink of your eye I am gone and into the next section. Only 3 more miles some one yells! YAY, the home stretch. Hopefully I don't completely run out of steam in here.

This section is the last new section before we hit the first section of the race again right before the finish. It is real flat but very technical with a lot of switch backs. It can be very fast if you are willing to take the risk of a tree grabbing you. I am almost all out of energy, so I decide that I have a good lead on my next competitor and am going to take it somewhat easy through here. Well as soon as I get that out of my head and guy catches me and wants to pass. I look back and see that he is not in my age group and let him go. Another guy soon catches me and again he is not in my age group and I let him go. Well I have had about enough of this passing and I am ready for the race to be over, so I hit the gas again.

I hit the last (first) section and there is only one guy in front of me that I can see. Now I have new challenge, catch that guy and try to beat him to the finish line. The race is on and I am catching up to him. We hit the last down hill and am flying to the finish line. I am right on his heals and we go through the last dip in the trail but he gets me at the line. After we cross the line I realize that he is not in my age group and all that effort at the end was for nil, but it was fun.

The race is now over and I think that I finished in about 5th place. I am looking for my friends and wanting somewhere to sit down and rest. It is really amazing that I can exert so much energy for an hour and still be able to stand up and talk~! LOL

I think that I had a really good race and will probably do more of it in the future. The final results are in and I come in 6th place in my age group(40-49). Not too bad for a first timer I think. My official time was 57:33. My heart rate monitor averaged 172 for the race.

Click here for the Results

Celebrity Classic 5K Run

2009-04-18T12:53:00.000-07:00

As a tradition between Kent and I, we run again in this race. This is the race that I ran my first 5K in 3 years ago. I have placed 3rd twice, so I am looking for a higher placement this year.

The course is a pretty flat run with 2 small hills on it. We start at the Bulldog Bait shop off of Victory Dr. The run goes out half way and turns around and comes back to the starting line for the finish.

It is typically a small race, but there are usually more people entered into the 10K run than the 5K run.

SO the 10K runners go first and then we go. I always tend to have a fast start out of the gate. So when the cannon goes off, I am ready to go strong. I really would like to beat Kent for once. He is a strong runner, but has a slow start.

So I get a good jump on him at the start, but I don't how far back he is. Last year he caught me at the 1 mile marker and I wasn't able to keep his pace. So I get to the first mile marker and he isn't there. My time is 7:22, which is very fast for me. But I have planty of energy and keep on my pace.

I hit the turn-around and see Kent. He is about 100 feet or so behind me, but I know he will try to catch me if he can. I hae to maintain my pace and try to stay that distance ahead of him. I hit mile 2 at 14:20. I am actually faster than my first mile. Alright, this is great!!! Kent is going to have to bust his balls to catch me now! LOL

Well I am heading down the last hill towards the finish line when I hear foot steps coming up behind me. Yep, you guessed it, it is Kent and he has that look of determination on his face. I take a quick look back and kick in the afterburners! Whatever I have, I am giving it my all. Kent has the same idea and we are fighting head-to-head to the finish line.

We are hitting the pavement stride-for-stride and cross the finish line together and record the same exact time, 23:28. I can't believe it. It is my second fastest 5K time ever, and my fastest on a non-down hill course. I am guite amazed that I was able to maintain that pace and almost beat Kent for the first time.

I actually had a lot of fun racing Kent and I will (hope) to get him next time. Kent and I both record our first 1st places in a 5K run in our age groups! YAY

Tampa Classic Inline Speed Skating Races

2009-04-13T19:27:00.000-07:00

The 2009 Tampa Classic is a 3 day event consisting of indoor and outdoor short and long distance speed skating races. Indoors I race the Elite Veteran Men (45-49 age group) and the Novice Master Men (35+ age group). Outdoors I race the 45+ age group. Indoor races consist of 2 races in each division, a 500 meter race and a 1000 meter race on a 100 meter oval track. Outdoor races consist of 2 races on a closed 500 meter asphalt road course, a 1500 meter race and a 10,000 meter race.

Indoor races started Thursday evening with the 3-person relays. Friday morning (6am) starts the Elite division individual races. My first race is the 500 meter Veteran men race. I start the race off of the line in 2nd place. After about 3 laps, I pass up to 1st place. I have so much momentum going into the corner that I have to go out wide. When I do this 3 guys pass me back and I am now in 4th place. After a couple of guys get together on the last lap, I am back in 2nd place and going for the lead. We hit the last corner and I try to pass him and he hawks me at the line for the win by inches. I finish in 2nd place.

My second race is the 1000 meter race. I start off of the line in 5th place. I hold my position until about 5 laps when I start to move up. I pass every guy one by one until I get back into 2nd position. I can't quite get him and finish in 2nd place again. So I finish with 2nd place overall in the Veteran Men division.

Saturday morning starts the Novice division races. I start my 500 meter race in 4th place and am catching the 3rd place position when I slip and fall down with only one lap to go. So I get a DNF for that race, which really pissed me off. I know that I can beat these guys, so I have to really go for it in the 1000 meter race.

The 1000 meter race starts and I am in last place off of the line because I slip on the start. I slowly start to pass up during the race and am in 3rd place with 3 laps to go. I am getting set-up to pass up to 2nd place when I slip again and fall. I jump up and take off to try to finish the race, but am too far back and finish in last place. So I do not place at all in the Novice division.

Sunday concludes with the outdoor races. I have a 1500 meter (3 laps) race and a 10,000 meter (20 laps) race. The first race is the 1500 meter race. I come off of the line in 3rd place. I decide to stay there and draft behind them until the last lap. The 4th place guy passes me on the last lap and we hit skates as he goes around me. I thought that we were going to fall down, but we didn't. I am in last place when we come around the last corner. As I am setting up the turn, I am crossing over as hard as I can. I am right behind the guys as I hit the corner with a lot of momentum and sprint to the finish line passing all by the leader for 2nd place.

So now it is time for the last race of the weekend for me. They are going to run all age groups 17 years old and up together because the race is too long to run each age group separately. So we are off and I am somewhere towards the middle of the pack. I goal is to try to stay close to the other guys in my age group. I am right behind the 2nd place guy and stay with him for about 5 or 6 laps. The lead pack to going way too fast for me and I have to back off if I am going to finish the race. My heart rate monitor is reading 183 after only a half lap.

So I back off some and get dropped in the process, but I am maintaining my pace. I know that I can finish the race as long as I don't do anything stupid. I am skating a fast pace for me, but don't know how fast it actually is. Slowly people start to drop off their pace and I start passing them. I am skating the rest of the race all by myself now. After about 17 laps, the leaders finally cath me and pass me. I try to just in behind them but just can't keep up with their pace. I never see the guys in my age group again.

I finish the race in 18:01 at an average speed of 20.66 miles per hour and a heart rate average of 182. I get 3rd place in my age group and 3rd place overall for the outdoor races.

So this brings the end to another long weekend of tough inline speed skating races. I accomplished some goals and am disappointed in some others. Overall I had a great time and came home with 4 medals, a t-shirt, bike jersey and an insulated water bottle. Congratulations to all of the other skaters and thanks to the good folks at United Skates of America and the Stardust Speed team for hosting and sponsoring the Tampa Classic.

The Red Hills Triathlon

2009-04-04T16:14:00.000-07:00

1/3 Mile Swim 16 Mile Bike 5K Run

Well with much anticipation and lack of sleep, the day has finally arrived. My first triathlon of the season and with great competitive spirit against by friend Rob, head-to-head for the first time. This has been the much touted best friend rivalry for quite a while and now we are to actually go at it together, and in the same wave no doubt. The wave is the 40+ men and women. While I give Rob alot of credit for being and awesome runner, he is actually NOT 40 yet, but due to USAT rules he has to race in the age group of the year of his birthday. HA! An official "cheater"...LOL

So, there is much of a bragging right to be won here today. Rob with his 20 something 5K time and me with my 21+ mile per hour bike speed, it will all come down to the swim and transition times, or so we think anyway.

The Red Hills triathlon gets it's name from nothing else but the hills from around the Tallahassee area. They are not monster in nature, but they are hills none the less. For some good reason, I LOVE hills and Rob hates them. So I plan to take this to my advantage, if I can that is. I know that Rob can blow me away in the run, so this is my only advantage and I will have to capitalize on it.

Well it is Friday, April 3rd and I am heading down to Tallahassee early to get there before 6 so that I can get my race pack and possibly go over to the race site and check things out. I get there around 5:30 and pick up my race pack and head over to MaClay Gardens State Park where the race will be held. Luckily the park rangers are leaving as I pull in to the gate and I don't to pay the $4 entry fee. I am only going to be there a few minutes anyway so why should I have to pay, right? So I scoot on in and follow the signs to Lake Hall where the race will start. As I pull into the parking lot, I see quite a few people there and some of them are actually swimming in the lake. The water temp is supposedly around 70 degrees, so that is pretty cold to me. So of course I have to go down to the lake to check it out and feel the water for myself. It is actually not as bad as I thought it would be.

So I am standing around admiring all of the people and the beauty of the park when I guy comes up putting his wetsuit on. Aha, what a great idea! I will go get mine and hit the water for a quick swim. Couldn't hurt to get a little head start on the competition, right? So I head back to the car and get my stuff and go change. I hit the water running with the intent to just swim out a few 100 yards or so and come back. The water is actually perfect for me and I cruise out like a battleship, armed and dangerous. This being the first time I have actually swam with the wet suit on, I am totally amazed at how buoyant I am. This is awesome!!! I am going to tear up the swim so I think. As I am swimming back to the boat ramp, a small group of 20 somethings have arrived to check things out and are now watching me. Me? Why me? I am nobody. They are curious on how the water is, so I tell them that it is wonderful. The only problem that I had was my goggles fogged up a little.

So I am now off to change back into my street clothes and call Rob to see if he brought any anti-fog stuff for our goggles. He does have it! YAY. No problems. Well I am starving now and I really need to go check in to the motel. So I head over to it and check in. I ask the clerk where a good seafood restaurant was. My traditional pre-race meal is grilled fish, rice, and steamed veggies. So I have to find it somewhere in town. The clerk highly recommends that I check out Barnacle Bills. It is about 2 miles right down the road.

So off I go to find the local treasure. He is right and it is packed. It is Friday evening so it is normal. I go in and it just like I though. A hole in the wall with great food. Just like I like it. So I head right over to the bar where I am going to eat. It looks as though there specialty is raw oysters, but I don't know if that is a good choice for a pre-race meal so I ignore the temptation. I really need carbs and protein, a complete meal in other words. I choose the grilled Salmon with some kind of Greek sauce cooked on it. It is very good as I expected and so was the sweet tea, rice and veggies. I am stuffed, especially after 4 glasses of tea!

So I now head back to the motel to check out my emails and the latest news online, which usually takes all night. I do need to try to get to bed a little earlier than normal though. Rob and Lisa are leaving late and won't arrive until around 1:00am. So I check out my online necessities and head to the room. It is now 11:00pm and I decide to try to go to sleep. Well after much brain activity, I am unable to fall asleep and before I know it Rob and Lisa arrive. It is now 1am and we have to get up at 5:45 to get ready and get to the race and set up.

So we chit-chat a while finally go to bed. I think that I got about an hour to sleep before the alarm goes off. So I hop up and hit the shower.
My nerves are starting to get cranked up, but I don't feel nervous. This is supposed to fun! Rob says that he is getting a little nervous too. It is going to be a great head-to-head race between us. I am really stoked to finally see how it goes too.

So now we are at the race looking for a place to park. We finally end up about a mile from the starting line and we have no lights to see what we are doing! GREAT!!! Well everything is OK because we have plenty of time. We gather everything up and ride our bikes to the transition area. It is already packed, but the excitement is filling the air. Not to mention that there are lots of pretty girls to look at! LOL Tallahassee being the home of Florida State University has plenty of them. I figured that some of them would be in the race too.

So I set up my transition area and put on my wetsuit halfway.
The race director comes on over the megaphone and says the they are going to play the American flag song. So we listen with anticipation with our hands over our hearts. We now head over to the lake and get ready for the start. There are 5 waves and we are in the last one. Which is good for me because that means there is less people behind me to run me over!

Well the gun finally goes off and we are running in the water. I dive in and start churning it up. I think that I am going at a good pace, but I can feel my heart rate starting to climb rapidly. I am not in MY pace so I start to back it down a little. Well I immediately start to get run over, bumped, and everything else that can be thrown at me. If I was only a little faster this all would go away. I wish!!! So I have to deal with it for a while until they all pass me. LOL I am now not feeling good and I feel as though I can't breathe. I am starting to panic and am trying to decide what to do. I can't stop, so I look over at the safety crew that is all around to assist us. A girl spots me and asks if I am OK. Of course not! Can't you tell that I am about to drown? I refuse her help and flip over on my back to try to take a break and catch my breath. I do this for probably 100 yards and start to feel alot better. I am now at the back of the pack and the water is not as rough and crowded. I am at the second turn so I flip back over and am going to try to make all of the way back without stopping again.

This works great and I am back to full steam ahead.
Maybe I need to start in the back next time?!? So I finally arrive at the boat ramp and walk out of the grueling water. I finish the swim in 12:31, 9th in my age group. Lisa is standing right there and is taking my picture. She tells me that Rob is just in front of me and of course I don't believe her. But she is right and he has just entered the transition area. So now I am pumped and run to get on the bike. Rob is only about 10 seconds ahead of me and I know that I have the advantage on the bike. It is now my time to shine.

I head off up the hill and start looking for Rob. There he is and I catch him around mile 2. He knows that I am coming and is dreading it too. I pass him going up the first hill, but he gets me going down the next one. The battle is on now!!! The next hill is mine and I am not going to let up. I smash the hill and never look back. So now that I got rid of my nemesis, I have to concentrate on passing as many people as I can. I loose count at around 30 as this 59 year old man passes me like he is on a mission! Damn it! Who does this old man think that he is? He can't do that to me. So now I have another mission, To keep up with this guy and not let me beat me.
Well that is all fine and dandy until a 60 year old guy passes me! What the hell? They must have taken a double dose of Geritol this morning. I am in dead trouble now. Push, push, push I keep telling myself. These guys really know what they are doing, which is kicking my ass! I hang with them for quite a while but they eventually drop me. Oh well. What is a young pup like me to do in this kind of situation? Take it like a man and just hope that I am still alive and able to compete when I am their age. LOL

So on we go. I am maintaining a good pace and averaging 21 miles per hour. I just wonder how much of a lead I have on Rob? Where is he? Do I have enough lead so that he can't catch me in the run? I hope so because here it is. I finish the bike in 45:35, which is 21.1 miles per hour. 4th in my age group too! I have not finished the bike section of any tri lower than 5th in my age, ever; and I am proud of it too.

So I fly into the transition area and throw on my running shoes and take off. I see Rob coming in as I am leaving out and know that he is going to be about 2 minutes behind me. I know that he will catch me somewhere on the run, but don't know where. I am still stoked that I am leading him at this point and give it my all. I have been wearing my heart rate monitor the entire race and it gone off a couple times during the bike. It sounds an alarm when my heart rate gets over 180. I look down at it and it is reading around 176. I am running a good pace for me as I don't want to burn myself out trying to stay ahead of Rob.
If he passes me it will be OK. So I am about half way into the run and I turn a 90 degrees corner to the left which gives the chance to look back for Rob. SHIT, there he is about 100 yards behind me and he is coming strong! Oh well, I will just have to eat it and mess with him as much as I can.

I hear him running up behind me so I holler back at him to slow down. There are a couple of other guys close by and start laughing at us. We start yelling at each other in a friendly way and I try to block him. LOL My heart rate monitor is now freaking out as I am talking while running and also trying to mess with Rob. I look down it is says 196~! SHIT, I am going to die...I have to slow down. So I say good by to Rob and he is gone. I keep going and now my heart rate is saying 201...OMG!!! I have never seen it that high before. What the hell is going on? The beeping is loud and it never stops until I finish the race! I finish the run in 27:01, 2:21 behind Rob.

Well he got me this time! So I am heading back to the pool and with the wetsuit this time. LOL Although I won't be using it again until August, I still need to get used to it. Maybe I can go to the lake and swim there before the water gets too warm. Only time will tell.

So in conclusion, Rob ran a 1:25:29 and I ran a 1:27:50. Here is the breakdown:

Swim Adv T1 Adv Bike Adv T2 Adv Run Adv
Rob 11:54 +:37 2:03 +:10 47:08 2:00 22:26 +2:23
Scott 12:31 1:36 45:35 +1:23 1:10 +2:13 27:01

For the official results go to Results

St. Patty's Day Inline Invitational

2009-03-24T21:06:00.000-07:00

Well hey there ya'll. Last weekend was my first inline skating race of the season. It was held at the Sparkles Skating rink in Lawrenceville, Ga. on March 20-22. Steve, Matt and I headed up right after work on Friday. We didn't have any races on Friday but we wanted to get up there and watch the time trials. A time trial is a one lap "rolling" start. A lap is 100 meters. The fastest time wins the pot of money, $200. The fastest time was 8.89 seconds, which is 25.2 miles per hour!!!

So the races are over for Friday evening and we decide to head out to find our motel. We find it and guess what? The office is closed and no one is there to check us in! So we just go across the street to the Best Western and get a room there. Who has ever heard of a motel closing their office at 7:00pm? Oh well, they lost our business.

So we check in and find our room. We have to head straight to bed because we have to be at the rink at 5:00am for warmups as racing starts at 6:00am. Of course I can't sleep being all nervous and tense about my races. I think that I finally got about an hour of sleep before the alarm went off. Another long day of racing!!! So we get up, hit a quick shower and head to the rink.

My first race isn't for a few hours, but I want to get some more time out on the floor. It is very sticky and fast. I need to try to get used to it before I have to race, so I get out there every chance that I can. You can never be too prepared for a race on a newly coated floor, especially one that you have never raced on before.

So my first race is finally here. Veteran Men 500 meter final. There are 7 guys in this division to race against. I come off the start in 3rd place. After a couple of laps I pass up into 2nd and that is where I finish. My second race is the 1000 meter final. I come off the start in 5th place because my left skate slipped!!! Now I have my work cut out for me. I really need to place at least 4th to get a medal. So after a few laps I pass up to 4th. A couple of guys are fighting for position and get together and I am able to pass both of them for 2nd again. So now I have to try to catch the leader, but he is too far ahead already and I finish in 2nd again.

My next set of races is the Novice Master Men division. There are 15 guys signed up, so we will have to race in heats with 3 to qualify for the finals. The first race is the 500 meter heat. I come off of the line in 3rd place again. But get passed pretty quick! Wow, these guys are faster than my first races! I have to pick it up a notch. A couple of the guys are pretty big fellas, so I get to pass them as they quickly run out of steam. I am able to finish the heat in 2nd place.

So we go to the 500 meter finals. I come off the line good and am in 3rd place. I am skating a good clean race when I get passesd. I will need to pick it up a notch again. Well a notch too late and I finish in 4th place. So I now have to do much better in the 1000 meter race to finish on the podium. I know that my training will payoff and I can beat these guys in the longer races.

The start of the 1000 meter heat is clean and I actually finish in 2nd place again. If I could just catch that guy in front of me!!! The 1000 meter final is here and I must finish at least 3rd or better to get on the podium. So we are off to the races again and I am in about 5th place again!!! I know that these guys are going to fight for position, so I am going to wait a few laps and see what happens. Well again 2 guys get together and fall down. Some guys start to poop out and I finally finish in 3rd place. So my final placement is 3rd for the Novice Master Men.

Another end to another great weekend of racing. More to come...

Callaway Gardens 5K

2009-01-25T20:54:00.000-08:00

Well all I can say is Brrrrrrrrrrrrr!!! This was by far the coldest it has ever been for a race that I have participated in. I think that it was around 32 degrees at the start of the race, and not too much warmer at the finish of it. My official time was 25:31 and I felt every minute of it. It was only the second time that I wore my leg tights to stay warm and sure am glad that I did! I just wished that I would have worn my gloves too. It was just freezing, literally! I don't even think that I broke a sweat until the race was over and I was standing around waiting on the results.

Well I was elated when they finally came out because I finished in 3rd place in my age group! Cool, well I mean freezing!

It was a good race for me and I got to see several of my friends up there too.

Me & Mickey kicked ass in the Marathon

2009-01-12T17:41:00.000-08:00

Well my most dreaded Sunday is finally over and now I have to learn how to walk all over again! Kent, Rob and I made our way down to good ole Disney World and opened up a great big can of WoopAss on that little Mouse. My first Marathon started off as a good trip with Kent as my riding partner. The trip down was good as I had someone to talk to. It really makes the time go by. So we get down to the Expo and find Rob after we pick up our race packets. We only had about 15 minutes to check things out before they closed up, so just looked around while Rob shopped, like always! We were starving by the time they ran us out, so we headed over to Celebration to find us some carbs. The Maccoroni Grill caught our attention, so in we go. It is similar to Carabbas (my fav) so all was good. Pasta and sweet tea is always a good pre-race dinner, although I really wanted some rice.

So we head back over to Lake Beuna Vista drive to find our motel the Orlando Vista to check in. An older motel but pretty and nice. There were a lot of racers staying there too. Everything was good until we heard the barking dogs! What the hell is that all about? So we call the front desk and find out that it is a pet friendly motel. So we complained and hoped for the best. Well I guess the pet owners finally arrived, because we never heard them again (at least not that day).

Well Rob has to get up early in the morning to run the half marathon. So we get ready to hit the sack. Kent and I decide that we are going to sleep-in and hopefully get up in time to see him finish the race. He said that he was going to run a slow pace to finish in around a 2:30 half marathon.

So it is now 7:45am and Kent and I are wide awake. So we hurry and get ready to go see Rob finish the half. We figure that he will be finishing around 8:15 or so. So we rush over to the family reunion area and start texting and looking for Rob. After about and hour goes, Rob finally texts us back and says that he is over at the finish line watching the racers come in. So we go meet him and ask him what his time was. Well he was way off of his guestimated time and finished in 1:45! So we rushed to get ready and get there for no reason because he was finished before we ever left the motel. Oh well, sorry Rob. But congrats on the great time. Hope you have enough left for the marathon tomorrow!

So we get Rob and head back to the motel to get cleaned up to go eat. Rob wants to go to Downtown Disney to find food, so we head over there. We decide to eat at Wolfgang Puck's Express Grill and of course we are looking for more carbs. I get the kids peperoni pizza, Kent and Rob get the chicken penna dish. All was quite good. So what are we going to do now?

We decide to head over to the Magic Kingdom to hit some rides and possibly see the fire works show. So off we go, hi-ho hi-ho hi-ho. Space Mountain, the Haunted Mansion, Buzz Lightyear, Monster's Inc comedy show, Swiss Family Robinson treehouse, and woooeeee we are getting tired and hungry again. So Kent decides that we need to check out Tony's restraunt within the park. So we head over there and get right in. I get the Grilled Salmon with orzo pasta which was excellent. We get talking to several other people eating next to us that are also running in the race. That was nice because we got to get their perspectives and experiences about the race. One guy was doing the Goofy like Rob and actually finished the half just a few minutes before Rob did. So we are through eating now and are trying to decide what to do next. We are all pretty tired so we decide to just head back over to the motel and maybe try to turn in a little early. We do have to get up around 3:00am to get ready for the race. Start time is at 5:50am and all of the roads will be blocked off well before that.

So we go back to the motel and watch a little tv and check my emails. We finally hit the sack around 10:00 or so. I slept pretty good but we both kept getting up to go to the bath room because we had been hydrating all day and night. I must have gone 5 times.

Ok, the alarm clock goes off at 3:00am sharp and I hit the shower running. I am kind of excited and apprehensive at the same time. I have never ran this far before and don't know if I can actually do it. Well I am here and I am going to do it no matter what. I am feeling 100% and somewhat confident even though I am not looking forward to it. I am planning on doing the "run a mile walk a while" thing and see how it works. All I want to do finish, and if I get a respectable time doing it, then all the better. So we are ready now and try to call Rob, but no answer. He is still asleep and isn't getting up. He finally answers and says that he will meet us over there at the race area.

So I grab a banana and we head out toward the race area. I also take 2 ibuprophren to preempt the on-coming pain. We get near the EPCOT parking area and it is a total log jam with cars trying to get in. We have plenty of time and at least the line is moving some. About the time we get parked, Rob calls and says that he is almost there. So we go ahead and head over to the baggage drop off area and wait for him before we head over to the starting line. He meets us there is just a few minutes and we head over with 15,000 of our closest friends. It is quite a long walk to get there and everyone is trying to get their last bathroom break in before the race starts. It is really funny how everyone just throws all of their morals out the door when you do want or can't wait to go. So we get to the starting line and it seems to be backed up a mile. We are all in different starting corrals so we wish each other good luck and head to our differnet corrals.

Rob is in B, Kent is in C, and I am in D corral. D just happens to be the front corral on the outside lane of the starting line-up. A, B, & C are all on the inside lane with the Pro-Elite about 300-400 yards behind us. We must have the longer route to run before the race merges back up at the 4 mile mark. They do this to enable the field to get spread out so their won't be that many racers on the road at the same time in the same spot. It is a pretty good idea I think and it does work. Can be kind of confusing though for some people. But I guess it all works out in th e long run, literally!

Well I finally make it to my corral and I am probably 100 yards from the starting line. The race director makes some last minute announcements and the count down begins. When it gets down to zero, a whole lot of fireworks go off and lights up the sky. And we are off to the races. Well at least the people at the front of the line are. It takes me about 3 minutes to actually get to and cross the start line. But I am finnally on the road and running. Everything is good as I don't run over anyone and don't get run over either. I quickly spot an older guy that a t-shirt that says he is member of the 50 states marathon club. Well of course I have go over and ask him what that is all about. He tells me that he has ran a marathon in every state and has a total 156. WOW, I am dumbfounded! That is incredible and an awesome accomplishment I told him. I wished him good luck and continued on. I wonder if he beat my time? LOL

So I am running along at an easy pace which is about the same pace as everyone else. I have brought my camera with me with the plan to take a picture at every mile marker. My other plan is to run to every mile marker and walk though every water break. Which I will definitely stick to.

So I see mile marker one coming up ahead so I go ahead and get my camera out of my pocket and out of the zip-lock baggie that it is in. I don't want to take too much time taking the photo. I take a quick picture and walk about 100 yards before I start back up. My time is 13:10. Officially my time is 10:10 since it took me 3 minutes to get to the starting line.

So I am off again looking for mile marker 2. I see it far ahead and get prepared just like mile 1. So when I get real close I merge over to the left side of the road to get out of everyone's way when I slow down. Well there is girl in front of me and she just stops without warning! I almost fun right over her. Jumping to the left of her right at the last moment, I miss her. There are several people taking photos so I fit right in. I ask someone to take my picture with me in it and they do. My time is now 24:34.

Mile 3 is now 37:40. I am sticking to about an 11:00 minute pace, which is fine.

Mile 4 is 49:09.

Mile 5 is 1:01:13 Still on an 11:00 minute pace! YEAH!!!

Mile 6 is 1:12:43 and I am starting to feel a pain in my left little toe. It is the first time that I have worn these shoes so I suspect that I am getting a blister. But what can I do about it? Not much out in the middle of no where! Oh well, I will have to just keep on trucking.

Mile 6.5 and I have got to go to the bathroom, and it is not to pee! There is a water break coming up ahead and they have porta-potties. So I will stop and do my business. This takes approximately 3 minutes as I have to wait in line.

Mile 7 is 1:27:59 so I am now up to a 12 minute pace.

Mile 8 is 1:41:36

Mile 9 is 1:52:44

Mile 10 is 2:04:15

Mile 11 is 2:16:38

Mile 12 is 2:28:54

Mile 13 is 2:41:16 But my official half marathon time is 2:40:05

Mile 14 is 2:56:01

Mile 15 is 3:09:09

Mile 16 is 3:20:35

Mile 17 is missed somehow and I didn't even get a photo!

Mile 18 is 3:46:07 and I am still on a 12 minute pace!

Mile 19 is 3:58:21 and I am starting to really hurt in my hips. I decide to walk more now.

Mile 20 is 4:11:12 and I walked a lot and it only pushed my pace to 13 minutes.

Mile 21 is 4:22:43. Oh look, I must have found so extra energy! My pace went down to 11 miuntes.

Mile 22 is 4:35:26 and everything is really starting to hurt now and my pace is back down to about 12.5 minutes.

Mile 23 is 4:49:44, a 14 minute pace and I am hurting alot!

Mile 24 is 5:02:28 and I decide to try to run the rest of the race without walking. Except to take pictures.

Mile 25 is 5:14:33

Mile 26 is 5:26:38

Finish line is 5:29:07 and officially my time is 5:26:50. an average pace of 12:48. Not bad for a first (and last) timer I think.

Mickey Mouse - Here I come....ready or not!

2009-01-07T19:59:00.000-08:00

Well the time is here and the marathon is only a few days away. Am I ready? I don't think so, but I will give it a shot anyway. Who knows, maybe I will finish and in a decent time. As long as my back holds up, I should be fine. Famous last words my legs say! I feel as though I am 100% even though I haven't been running much. Only time will tell.

I have been hitting the Y pretty hard since the holidays began, and wouldn't you know it, the Y has changed their schedule for the new year! I haven't really figured out what or how I am going to do what I really want to do yet. So here is a rough plan:

Monday - Turbo Kick then Body Pump
Tuesday - Body Pump then Swim
Wednesday - Skate Practice
Thursday - Body Pump then Spin class
Friday - Body Pump then Swim
Saturday - Skate Practice
Sunday - Skate Practice

Tried the Turbo Kick class for the first time this week and it was a real challenge to keep up. But I was soaking wet when I finished so at least I did get a good workout. Very fast paced and high energy class, which is what I like and need. They actually started a Ballroom Dancing class on Monday too, but I need a partner to do that. Anyone interested (female that is!)? I need to learn how to be light on my toes! LOL

I really think that all of the core strengthening that I have been doing is starting to pay off. My last 2 skate practices have been really good and I can see my speed and control increasing. I think that the turbo kick class will help with all around quickness and agility too.

I just hope that the Mouse doesn't get in my way this Sunday!!!

Can you sing "YMCA"

2008-12-16T19:57:00.000-08:00

Well it has been a while since I wrote anything, mainly because there hasn't been much to write about. Almost everyday I go to the Y after work to get my workout in, except for the days that I have skate practice. Here is the routine:

Monday - Body pump class 1 hour then swim 1000 meters
Tuesday - Body pump class 1 hour then spin class 1 hour
Wednesday - Skate practice 2 hours indoors
Thursday - Body pump class 1 hour then swim 1000 meters or something else
Friday - Body pump class 1 hour then swim 1000 meters or take a day to rest
Saturday - Do something else to have fun - A day off!
Sunday - Skate practice 2 hours indoors

I know that it sounds a little mondane and boring with the same ole routine, but it is winter time and it sucks outside. The weather has been really shitty to say the least. Freezing 2-3 days, then it warms up and rains for a day or 2, then it gets cold again! No daylight hours to do anything outside even if the weather did cooperate.

I do have one little note of exciting news. I actually did do something different last week! I played racquetball for the first time in about 10 years. I saw an old friend at the Y and she invited me to play a few games with them last Thursday. It was a lot of fun. I actually didn't play as bad as I thought that I would! The only down side to the day was that I played in my running shoes and both of them ripped through the mesh on the outside edge towards the toes! Oh well. The good thing is that I have another back-up pair to run in. I also ordered me a new pair of Ektelon racquetball shoes too. So I am good to go as they came in today. Yea!

As for this week, I am leaving on Thursday to go to the Bahamas for some Scuba diving. We leave on the 18th and return on the 24th. Going to Nassau and diving with Dive Custom Aquatics outfitters. Then we are hoping to do a little open ocean fishing. They say the Wahoo are really good this time of year.

Well here's to a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

It's indoor time now

2008-11-22T10:00:00.000-08:00

Well old man winter has come early this year and is here to stay I think. So I have hung up the bike and running shoes at least for while. I am totally training indoors now. Started going back to body pump and spin class down at the YMCA. My back is about 95% now and getting stronger every day. Body pump has really helped I think but it is a little sore since I started back. But I think that is a good thing. Spin class has been good too since it really gives me a great workout.

I still haven't started back running since I hurt my back. I have been thinking alot about that lately because the marathon is only a couple of months away now. I really don't know what I am going to do about it either. Any suggestions? I am scared that I am going hurt myself again. The body pump classes are really going to help strengthen my core and lower back, so maybe that will be enough to keep it strong. I can only hope! I will probably start training on the elliptical machine and then move over to the tread mill after a few weeks of that. I'll just have to take it slow and see how my back feels.

Skating practice has been going good with my new skates. My feet are slowly getting used to them and hopefully the break-in process won't be too long. There actually is a skating race this Sunday in Warner Robins, but I really don't think that I am ready for it right now. Steve is trying to talk me into going, but I just don't know right now. I will have to get back with you on that.

Last weekend I had the kids after the Georgia-Auburn football game. Rob and I had planned to take all of the kids to the Callaway Gardens Nitewalk through the Christmas lights. We did it a couple of years ago and the kids had a really good time. Robs girlfriend Lisa and her 2 boys also came, so we had enough kids to keep entertained. The weather was good but cold. The walk went good too but I think that it was just a little too long for the kids. Well all had fun especially after the walk eating cookies and drinking hot chocolate. We also got to see Santa in the big top tent.

Training slowly restarts

2008-10-30T21:35:00.000-07:00

Well it has been almost 4 weeks since I hurt my back and things are really looking and feeling good right now. My back is getting stronger but still a little sore. I decided that since I couldn't just sit around and do nothing every day that I would do some no-impact training, swimming. So I have been swimming almost every other day for the last 2 weeks. It really seems to help alot by stretching out my back muscles. Last Thursday I actually got on the eliptical machine for the first time and did it for 20 minutes and it felt really good. I have also been back on my bike a few times.

Slowly but surely I am getting back into the swing of things. I had my first complete skate practice this Wednesday and I could really tell that I have been off of the skate floor for a while. My legs were really feeling the pain and are still bothering me some right now. It is amazing to me how fast your muscles seem to get out of shape.

I have still not even thought about running again and don't know when I will. I might have to be a specatator at the marathon instead of a particpant. Only time will tell.

Til next time. I'm out.

There here, there here.....Finally !!!

2008-10-21T20:38:00.000-07:00

Well I placed my order way back in June hoping to have them before Nationals, but that didn't happen. And just this week did they finally arrive. My new skates are here! They are so pretty. I took them for a test ride after work today and they are very nice, but they were killing my feet. I went to Cooper Creek Park and could only do 2 laps before I had to stop. Everything from my knees down was hurting me. My feet were going numb too. But I was loving every minute of it because I had my new skates. My back even felt better because my feet were hurting more than it was!

They are Pinnacle Racing custom boots with Lugino Pilot 110mm frames. Thanks Jimmy for doing a great job. Now if you could just get me my skinsuit!

More to come on breaking them in and seeing if I can actually go any faster.

The Inevitable happened - again

2008-10-12T20:53:00.000-07:00

Well I knew it would happen some time because it does it at least once every year and it is totally out of the blue when it does. A muscle in my back just let go and I almost fell to the floor with pain. I was at skate practice on Oct 5th and was coming out of the first corner and attempted to stand up and there it went. Totally unexpected and unannounced. The only thing that stopped me from hitting the floor were my hands catching myself on my knees. I couldn't straighten up at all. Hell I could barely walk. So I just coasted back to where my things were and sat down. That was all she wrote. BAM. I the blink of your eye I was out, and no one knows for how long either. I thought that my back was pretty strong because of all of the training that I have been doing over the last 2 years. I really don't like running because I know that it is not very good on your body, but since I have decided to give this marathon a try, I have to train for it. I don't know if that is what caused my back to go out, but it is the only thing that I have changed in my training routine.

So I have laid off the training for the last week to let my back heal up. I have been taking alot of ibuprophren to help with the pain and healing process. I attempted to skate again today for the first time, and it went pretty good, but my back is still pretty sore and tight. So I guess that I still need lay off of the training for another week and see if it gets any better by then.

Hopefully I will be back real soon. See ya.

2nd Week of Marathon training down

2008-09-30T20:16:00.000-07:00

Well I have almost completed 2 whole weeks of training for the Disney Marathon and my legs are really hurting now. My schedule has basically been run every other day, skate 2 days, swim 2 days, and try to work in a day of cycling. The last week included two 3 mile runs, a 4 mile run and two 5 mile runs. I was able to actually swim 2 times and I rode my bike tonite for the first time since the Georgia Veterans Triathlon, 1.5 months ago (which was a bit of a struggle to say the least. More on that later).

The best news is that I have been keeping my heart rate around the 150 mark in all of my runs. Although my times are a bit lacking, I feel that this is best way for me to train right now for the long run. Here is a list of the last weeks accomplishments:

Mon 22nd - Ran 5 miles - Time 52:16 - Heart rate 155
Tues 23rd - Ran 4 miles - Time 35:18 - Heart rate 158
Tues 23rd - Swam 1K - Time 36:00 - Heart rate 144
Wed 24th - Skated in door practice for 2 hours
Sat 27th - Ran 3 miles - Time 30:52 - Heart rate 149
Mon 29th - Ran 5 miles - Time 55:36 - Heart rate 151
Tues 30th - Cycle 26 miles - Time 1:25 - Heart rate 151

Yesterday's run was very hard for me for some unknown reason. The only thing that I did different (that I can think of) is I didn't eat a banana 2 hours before my run. My calves started cramping (or something like that) within the first mile. Not exactly a good start to a 5 mile run. So around mile 1 I had to stop running and walk for a couple hundred yards until my calves stopped hurting. I started running again and had to do the same thing around mile 3. After that I basically forced myself to just run through the pain and to my amazement it finally went away around mile 4. So overall I had a slower time than my previous 5 mile run on the same course. I actually thought about continuing my run past 5 miles, because the cramping was gone, but decided that I better quit while the getting was good.

Today's bike ride was almost as bad as yesterdays run. I haven't ridden since the Triathlon on August 13, and felt that it was about time that I did. I felt that I needed to do something instead of running. I thought that cycling just might help stretch out my calves. So I decided to ride today with what I call the BIG BOYS. We have basically 4 different groups of cyclist that ride on different days starting with the Cat 1 or beginners and ending with Cat 4, the pros or big boys as I call them. So they are planning to ride out the River Walk to Fort Benning and back, about 30 miles if they go all of the way around the airport. I figured that I am strong and could hang with them even though I haven't ridden in a while. Boy was I wrong!!! I started out towards the front of the pack, 3rd position, and actually led for a short while. Then I decided to drop back and let someone else do the pulling. Well I dropped back alright and went all the way to the back and got dropped off of the back around mile 5. That really sucked!!! I looked down and thought that my cyclometer was acting up when I saw 28.1 miles per hours! And we were on a flat too. I was doing everything I could to stay on the back but they just kept pulling away from me.

Oh well, no catching them now, or so I thought. However I was able to catch them around mile 6 only because they had stopped to wish a fellow rider a happy birthday. So they offered us some cake and ice cream but we had to go because we had to get back before dark. So we start back again and I attempt to stay close to the front again, but ended up more or less around the middle of the pack. Which was ok with me. So we start up the big long hill into Fort Benning and I know that Terry is going to get dropped on the hill. So I talk to him and tell him that I am struggling and that I will wait for him at the top of the hill and we can ride together if they don't wait for us. Which is exactly what happened. So we continue on and Terry says that he isn't going to make it and that he is going to turn around at the next stop sign. I tell him that I am going on and will see him tomorrow. I was hoping that I would have a good ride and maybe meet up the the other guys on the way back. Well this never happened and I finished the ride by myself.

To my surprise Terry was still at the parking lot when I got back. He said that he had been talking to some of the guys and was getting a little concerned about me. I never saw the other guys and they had already returned and most were already packed up and leaving. I don't know how far they rode or which way they went, but somehow they made it back before I did. Anyway, it was a pretty good ride for me even though I couldn't hang with the big boys today.

So in summary of the last 2 days (the pain of it all), I feel that it is fatigue and maybe over training and maybe a little bit of lack of proper nutrition to boot. More to come...

Training for the Marathon begins

2008-09-21T20:20:00.000-07:00

Well I finally started the long awaited training program for the Disney Marathon. I ran 3 miles on Thursday and another 3 miles on Saturday morning. And yes my legs are feeling just a little sore today, especially after skating practice. I plan on running again tomorrow and to try to run at least run every other day if possible. Kent is following an 18 week training program developed by Hal Higdon. I am going to try to follow it as much as I can, but probably on different days since I will not be able to do my long runs on Saturdays.

Since I am training for an endurance race, I decided to try a different approach than normal and pace myself using my heart rate monitor. Usually when I run my heart rate averages around 175, but that is pushing pretty hard for 2-3 miles as I would in a 5K race. Now I am going to try to keep my heart rate around the 150 mark and see how I feel. I tried this both times this week and it seemed to work much better for me even though my rate did start climbing towards the end of my run. I did sort of expect that too. I feel it is all related to conditioning. I am definitely in good condition but not really for running. At least not yet. I hope, in the future, to see my heart rate stay at the 150 mark for my entire run. We'll just have to see how that works out.

Caving in - sort of...

2008-09-17T19:52:00.000-07:00

Well I finally gave in and did it. I signed up, basically caving in from all of the peer pressure that my brother and Rob have been giving me. It is going to be the hardest sporting event that I have ever participated in up to now, The Disney Marathon!!! Running this time, not skating. And I thought that skating a marathon was pretty hard. I haven't even ran anything longer than a 5K! What the hell am I thinking? LOL Well training starts tomorrow with a few laps around Lake Bottom Park right after work. The weather has been real nice and cool lately, so it should be great for running. I think both my brother and Rob are way more excited about me running in it than I am. But we will see how all of the training works out.

So I have approximately 4 months to get into shape. Kent says that he is following some 18 week training course/plan so I think that I might have to try it too. But wait, there is only 16 weeks and 3 days left to the race (Jan. 11, 2009). I had better get started asap and try to get caught up to Kent. On a better thought, I will never catch up to him, so why try? He has always been a better runner than I, but that is because it's all that he does. So if I make running all that I do, will that help make me as good as he is? Ya know we did come from the same gene pool (now that's a scary thought!!!). Sorry bro but it is true.

Well anyway, the misery and the "agony of the feet" begins tomorrow. I just hope the "agony of defeat" doesn't catch up to me in the race. I will keep you posted on my progress as it goes along.

North Shore Inline Marathon - 2008 Edition

2008-09-15T17:03:00.000-07:00

Well all I can say is that another weekend came and went very fast, literally!!! Matt and I took off for the Great White north on Friday, September 12 around noon. As typical with teenagers, Matt had all day to get ready, as he skipped school, but what did he do? Slept until about an hour before I got there. At least he had already packed most of his gear. But as we pulled out, I began to ask him about some things that he should have packed such as cold weather clothes. And he said why. Well I just guess that you might want to stay a little warm since the forecast calls for the temp to be around 52 degrees the morning of the race. And also, did you get your race ID card. Ya know you got to have it to get your race pack. Oh, but I can't find it he says. Oh well, I guess you just get to watch me skate!!! LOL But as typical as with most teenagers, he wasn't the least concerned at all.

Anyway, off we go and oh, he has made us a music CD for our enjoyment. He says that he actually put some music on it that I would even like this time. Thank goodness because I wasn't listening to that stuff that he calls music again. Well to my amazement he was right. Some good ole classic rock-n-roll and of course mixed in with a little new rock-n-roll. Not bad, not bad at all. I was highly impressed. So he asks me why we have to leave so early since the race isn't until Saturday. Well I say, we only have to drive for 1.5 hours to the airport in Atlanta, eat, pee, then wait around for our flight, then fly for 2.5 hours to Minnesota, eat again, pee again, then get the rental car and drive for another 2.5 hours to Duluth and then we have to eat again, pee again, and do it all before the civic center closes at 10pm. Because we have to pick up our race packs before they close at 10pm. You know, I am just a stickler for the details. And again all he says is oh. With as little care as he could possibly muster. But it's all ok because I have traveled with Matt before and I know what to expect from a 16 year old by now, not much!

So we get to the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport and of course Matt is hungry again, just as I thought. So before we go get our luggage and rental car, we search for food. Matt eats as we walk to find the baggage claim. Ok, we got our bags and now where the hell are the rental cars at? We must have looked and walked around for what seemed to be an hour before we finally asked someone and they pointed to where we started our search originally. So we walk back over there and sure enough there is "one" little sign, in all of the entire baggage claim area saying Rental Cars this way. By then I was starting to get my attitude going and was just a little pissed. So we head down the escalator, down, down to the basement of the airport where we find an underground train. The sign says for rental cars and parking garage, get on the train. So we wait just a minute and the train comes and we get on it. I swear to you, but the train went exactly 100 yards and stopped and we got off and preceded to climb up the never ending stairs following all of the rental car signs. This parking garage was quite the maze and just when I thought that we found the rental place, it wasn't there. We looked around the corner and low and behold there is another sign and another set of stairs to climb. Granted I don't really mind climbing stairs as I see them as another form of training, but hell, I have a race in just a few hours and I didn't really plan of training any more before it either! So we are finally at the very top of the parking garage and low and behold, there it is, the car rental place!!! Of course right next to the elevator that we never saw either!!!

Well we finally get our car, a Black Chevy Cobalt. So I ask the rental agent for a map just to make sure that my Google directions are correct and we don't get lost as we are kinda pressed for time. Well guess what, we leave the airport grounds and we immediately get lost as my interpretation of the map sucks! I am looking at the wrong airport and can't find the roads that I am supposed to be getting on. So we turn around and head back the other direction because the way we are going can't be right as I can't find the road to turn on to. When all of a sudden I notice that the sun is on my right side, which in turn means that we are headed south and it dons on me that Duluth is to the north and we are still going the wrong way! Shit! So I get off again to turn around and ask for directions, finally. We pull up to the stop light and a guy pulls up next to me so I ask him where the interstate was and he of course says go back the other direction and keep going until you run in to it. Very simple you see. So I took off again and too my amazement, after about 5 miles there it was, I-94.

So by then I was starving and had to find food, carbs especially. So we seek out anything that is good for you, tasty, and has carbs and a bath room of course. We find a Subway within just a few exits and stop to get a foot long to go. We get it after waiting on a few other customers, pee and we are off again. Eating and driving is not only a talent but in some cases a form of art. Ya know the driving with the knee thing and all. So we get on I-35E North. What the hell the E for? Is it north or east? Well anyway I figured the Yankees knew what they were talking about and didn't let it worry me too much. Well maybe just a little, but who cares as they are a little confused anyway, right?

So we are now finally heading out of town and on our way to Duluth, 149 miles of open road, or so I thought. Well it seems that everyone else in St. Paul had the same idea as we had and was heading to Duluth also. I'm thinking that it must be some sort of vacation town or something. Then it dons on me, again, that it is Friday and it is rush hour and everyone is headed home or out of town too. So ok, no problem, the speed limit is 70 and I just figured that this is a big city so the people here will drive like they do in Atlanta, right? 85-90 in a 70 zone. Nope, not at all. I think that we averaged 65 with my foot on the break pedal for at least the first hour to hour and a half. These people must not know that I am in a rush here! Where is their sense of urgency? It is about to drive me crazy and I am about to drive Matt crazy too. Not a good combination as ya know Matt is a very concerned dude and all. Yea right!!! Anyway it seems that the locals have this highway driving thing all back-ass-wards as they seem to think that the fast lane is on the right side and the slow lane is on the left side. You would think that if you come up to a car that is in the fast lane (left side of the highway in Georgia anyway) and there is no one in the right lane, that they would be courteous and get over for you. Yea right, think again mister. I can count on one finger how many courteous drivers there are in Minnesota. And yes you are correct, it is the middle finger too. LOL

So anyway, about halfway to Duluth the traffic slowly thins and we are actually going the speed limit (75-80 in Georgia). I glance at the clock and we are actually going to get there around 9pm. Yea!!! No problems as we pull into the Duluth area. We actually find the DECC (Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center) with no problems as it is right off I-35. We park and walk over to the center to get our race packs and go in the wrong door (as there were no signs posted outside for us to follow) and there is a concert of some sort going on. So we ask for directions and they point us in the right direction. We find the Expo and get our race packs. And they actually let Matt get his even though he didn't have his mailed race ID card. Wow, Matt was actually right with the no worries thing after all. We actually have time to look around and find Jimmy Blair and his Pinnacle booth. So we talk to him awhile before we head off to try to find the motel. We actually find the motel with no problems and check in and of course we have to find more carbs one last time.

So we ask the front desk clerk and he tells us how to get to the nearest Italian restaurant where we are sure to find some pasta, right? Well we pull up with 5 minutes to go before they close the kitchen. The waitress looks at us funny like who the hell are we to come in looking for food. But she was pretty friendly as we buttered her up with our southern charm. Matt got his pasta and I just ate some bread sticks as I wasn't that hungry. But I sure was thirsty and must have drank 4 glasses of their "no-sweet ice tea". And then of course I had to go to the rest room again for the 1000th time. As coach Steve aways preaches, we have to stay hydrated!!! Preach on brother Steve as I have heard the word and pissed my way all of the way to Duluth, Minnesota. Hallelujah!!!

Ok, we finally make our way back to the motel to try to get some shut-eye. The beds are pretty comfortable but the room is pretty warm, so we turn on what we thought was the air conditioner. It just blew room temperature air right back at us. Oh well, I just guess they don't have air conditioners in the north because it doesn't get that hot up here anyways, right? So we just suffer through the warm room temperature and attempt to get some sleep. I for one know from experience that sleep is something that probably isn't going to happen as I hardly ever sleep well before a race. So my assumption is right as the alarm clock goes off about the time I finally nod off at around 3am. We have to be at the DECC around 5:30-6am to get on the buses to take us to the start line 26.2 miles away. The race starts at 7:30 sharp and they have to get 3000+ people to the start before then. So we get up after hitting the snooze button about 100 times and get ready and go to the DECC. We easily find a parking spot and get right on a bus. I was really amazed because I just knew that we and 3000 of our closest friends would convene on the DECC at the same time. WOW another no-stress situation!!! YEA.

So off to the start line on the back of the school bus. We strike up a conversation with a couple of ladies sitting behind us and they are both from the local area. One girl has done the race 4 times, but this is her first time in 6 years. She is hoping for a 2:30 time. The other girl was a newby just like us and has no idea what to expect. So we being men and knowledgeable and all try to explain and answer all of her questions and concerns. I just hoped that they could understand Matt and all of his truly southern draw that he was putting on (it was actually pretty funny but I guess you had to be there). I don't know if he actually fooled anyone or not but at least I got a kick out of it (but then again I am easily amused). LOL So we finally get to the drop-off point and head for the start line to see who all is already there. As we are walking we of course pass the port-o-pottys and have to go again. We are an hour early so we have plenty of time talk and warm -up. The temp was supposed to be around 52 but we are informed that it is actually 59, so that makes it much better!!! I have on my jogging pants and a sweat shirt and Matt has on his boots, jeans and a pretty heavy jacket. I told him to get some warm clothes and he did.

So we head up the hill to the starting line and I start to see some of the big names in inline speed skating. Jim Larson, Eddie Matzgar, Bruce Belden, etc... You know all of the big names in my age group that is. And I think they have all come out just to put a little ass whipping on little ole me too. Well thank goodness that I am not skating the Master Men or Veteran division this time as I would get waxed for sure against those guys. I am starting in the Advanced Open group in Wave A. The first group to go right after the Elite groups. So we walk up to the start line to check it out and we find Jimmy Blair and talk to him a bit. The race officials have U-Haul style trucks there for us to put our clothes in to be picked up at the finish line. They even supplied us with bags with our race number on them to put our stuff in. Very nice! So we still have quite some time left before the start so I head back down the hill to find the truck that I am supposed to put my gear in and possibly go to the rest room one more time. I never made it to go pee again as the lines were too long by then and it was getting really close to start time and I had to go get ready.

Ok, the time has come and we are ready to go. The starting/head race official comes on the bull horn and says a few last minute announcements and a prayer and starts the count down for the Pro Men to go, which Matt is in. So I make my way to find Matt one last time and wish good luck and reiterate to him to stay in the draft and conserve energy, and he obliges.I get out of the way
and 3,2,1 and they are off to the races. I go back to my wave and get in on the front row as always. Hoping that I can get a good start and stay in the lead pack. 2 minutes later the next wave is off and skating. And so on it goes until it gets to be our turn. 3,2,1 and we are off. Skating over the timing chip starting pad and running like a bat out of hell and I am in!!! Yea, I am in the lead pack and we are skating really fast. I am probably about 15th position. The road is kind of rough and cracked but not too bad. You just have to pay attention and watch out for the tar patches that fill the cracks in the road. So we are cruising along and we pass the one mile marker in less than 3 minutes. WOW we are really cooking it. I have never skated at this pace for any amount of time. How long can I keep it up? Just stay in the pace line and you will be ok I keep telling myself.

The road doesn't seem to be getting any better as I was hoping but we are still going at about the same pace as we started. It is kind of weird to me as I haven't ever been in such as large pace line. There must be 100 people in the line. I really wish I had my camera and could take some photos along the way. It is quite pretty up here and I would like see what the pace line looks like too. It seems as though every time we come to a hill 3 lines form and then get back together as we start back down the other side. Each time the line rearranges itself and I seem to get pushed back a little every time. I must try to get some of that back I tell myself. If I am going to place in my age I have no other choice. So on the next hill I take off and get out of line and shoot up passing a ton of skaters in the process. Wow it really worked and I probably gained 10 or so positions and it was really easy. So now I have my new strategy. Well my strategy worked fine for the first few attempts but then some people fell, 3 of them and they were not to far ahead of me. Look out and pay attention! That was too close. I hope they are not hurt too bad.

So we are closing in on the half-way point and I am starting to feel the pain of the pace. We pass the 13.1 mile marker in under 40 minutes. That is less than a 1:20 pace that we are going. So I pull out a gel pack and suck it down on the next down hill and attempt to wash it down with some water that I brought with me. This works pretty well but I am really starting to slow. I can't seem to maintain the pace anymore and a gap starts to form in front of me. They are going to get away and there isn't a thing that I can do about it. And just like that they are gone and I am now leading my newly formed pack. Shit! This wasn't in the plans and definitely not what or where I need or want to be. So I pull for a short while and pull out and let some one else lead. I fall back into about 5th position and draft for a while and wait my turn again. Then it is my turn again and I am really feeling the pain by now. I don't remember what mile we were at now but probably around mile 17 or 18. We have a good pack and pace line going with 9 people and we are all working together and pulling. This one guy kind of takes charge and lets us know when we have pulled long enough and tells us when to get off the front. That works really good for me as I tend to over pull and wear myself out early. Ya know being a mule and all. LOL

We are crossing mile 20 and the pavement is now nice and smooth. Boy it really makes a difference and seems like we are going a little faster now. Now there is about 6 miles left to go and I am starting to think about my time in the US10K race (21:41) and wonder if I can skate faster now than I did then. I look at my heart rate monitor and it is showing 193. WOW my heart is really hurting and I don't think that I get continue this pace anymore. I pull out and go to the back of the pace line. My heart slowly recovers and gets back down to a manageble 187. We are right at the 1 hour mark so that would put us coming in around 1:22. That would be a good time, but I would like to do better than that if I am going to place in the top 10. I do not know how many of my age group is in the lead pack but I can't see them any more. We start to loose some people and are now down to 5 of us. As we approach the city, I can see the town buildings down the shore from where we are. We are almost there I think! So we merge onto I-35 and the rough pavement starts over again. The DOT has cut grooves into the cement and it is pretty annoying. The grooves are going perpendicular to the road instead of parallel to it making a humming sound vibrating my skates. I feel that I am starting to slow down again. They have the entire south bound lane blocked off for us. So I am keeping up with the other members of our pack but I am positioned in the back now and am doing everything I can to not get dropped. Plus I want to conserve anything and everything that I possibly have left for the field sprint if there actually is one.

So here we go. I can see the DECC and it is coming quick. I can see the off ramp now and am thinking about what I am going to do. The off ramp goes slightly down hill and then back up the hill to the stop light. I am going to wait until the bottom of the hill and then when the group starts to slow down, I am going to start my sprint. We are probably only about a half mile from the finish line and I need to beat these guys! So I start my sprint up the hill and pass the group with somewhat ease. I briefly look back as I turn the hard left at the stop light and see that they are not going to be much of a challenge to me. So I continue my sprint over the bridge and down into the DECC parking lot catching a guy on the way down. I catch him and pass him on the next hard left turn that goes around the back of the DECC to the finish line. I see a sign ahead that says 300 meters to the finish line. I start my so-called long stride double-push and am feeling strong! I am all by myself and the crowd is cheering me on screaming and ringing their cow bells. It is quite a thrill even though I am totally spent and don't actually know where I am getting the reserve energy from. I can only guess that it is the adrenaline and rush of the finish. Just one more left hand turn and I see the 100 meter sign and the finish line. I made it!!! My right thigh actually locks up within the last 50 meters of the line, so I just cruise over with my fist in the air screaming YEA!!!

My official time came in at 1:20:23. Overall I placed 118th out of 2281 and 30th out of 208 in my age group. I skated over 9 minutes faster than my previous fastest marathon time (Disney 1:29:40). WOW, what an accomplishment!!! I had written down a guestimate time of 1:25 before I left Columbus for the race.

Matt finished the race with a personal best of 1:05:17 and 8th place overall. Good going Matt!!!

If you do the math, Matt's time calculates out to be 24 miles per hour and my time calculates out to be 19.5 miles per hour. That is pretty incredible as cyclists can barely maintain that kind of speed. Amazingly though, the course record is held by Chad Hedrick (who won a gold medal in the Olympics in ice speed skating), at an astonishing 27.5 miles per hour!!!

If anyone has any photos or video of bib number 542 please let me know as I would love to see them.

Results

Newspaper article about GT Speed Speed Skating Team in Columbus Ledger

2008-09-11T12:49:00.000-07:00

Training for the North Shore Inline Marathon

2008-09-08T19:55:00.000-07:00

Well another race has come and passed and now I must continue training for the NSIM. It is the largest inline marathon in the world. Over 3000 skaters will convene on Duluth, Minn this weekend for the 12th annual race. I have looked at the previous results and have heard that the course is fast, so I am looking for another personal best. Hopefully an age group placement too.

So last week I took a couple of days off after the Us10K and then started back skating on Wednesday. Skated 14 miles over at Cooper Creek park Sunday morning and man was I hurting. I guess my legs were still feeling the pain from the 10K. Then I had indoor practice Sunday evening too which didn't help my pain go away. But it was all good and worth it. I took today (Monday) off and just swam. Gotta keep training for my next triathlon too ya know. But it was good to give the legs a little break.

Anyway, we are back out to Cooper Creek park tomorrow evening for another round of long distance training. Hopefully I can make another 14 miles. Then indoor training on Wednesday evening. Maybe another swim on Thursday and that will be all for the week.

Matt and I leave Friday afternoon for Duluth and have to pick up our race packs before 10pm. The weather forecast is partly cloudy with a low of 52 and high of 62. We will have to bring something to help us stay warm until start time, which is 7:30am Saturday. Matt is skating with the Pro Elite division and I am skating in the Advanced group in Wave A.

So wish us luck and I will follow up Sunday with the results and some photos.

News Paper Article about the US 10K

2008-09-02T20:09:00.000-07:00

US 10K 2008 Atlanta

2008-09-01T14:00:00.000-07:00

Well the big day finally came and went and it only took 21:41 minutes!!! It is touted as the hardest 10K in America and I have to agree with that statement. Even though it is the hardest race, it is also the shortest (thank goodness!!!). This being a personal best for me also. This was my 3rd time skating in this race (which was also my very first inline race ever, 2 years ago). I finished 12th overall and 1st in my age group. The last 2 years I finished 5th and 3rd, so I really wanted that #1 spot this year. Accomplished 2 goals in one race! Man what a rush!!!

I have to also say that I am very proud of our GT Speed Team from Columbus. We dominated the field for a team. If there was a team competition, we would have won 1st place hands down!!! All 5 GT skaters today finished in the top 12. How great is that. So here goes the finishing order for us:

2nd - Matt Stewart 18:03

3rd - Kamani Griffin 18:08

7th - JD Coleman 19:34

9th - Teymur Etimadi 21:15

11th - Jacob White 21:20

12th - Scott Burkhalter 21:41

So here are the official results.

I am also proud of all of the other skaters and thank them for coming out and participating. It was great to see some new and old faces again. Hope to see everyone again next year.

Well I guess it is time to start practicing for the North Shore Inline Marathon coming in less than 2 weeks. Well maybe start tomorrow that is. Gotta start putting in the miles now and hopefully get another personal best!

Training for the US 10K race in Atlanta

2008-08-27T08:17:00.001-07:00

Started training last week for the US10K race held each year on Labor Day in Atlanta. The race starts at Cumberland Mall and goes straight up Hwy 41 and finishes at White Water, 6.2 miles. It is touted as the hardest 10K in America because of its monster hills, 6 of them to be exact!!! This will be my 3rd year in this race. I placed 5th in my age group in 2006, 3rd in 2007, so guess what I am going for this year.

Of course our training must consist of the hills. It doesn't matter what hills as long as they are long and steep. We reach speeds of up to 45 miles per hour going down them! Oh, did I forget to tell you that I am inline speed skating this race? Yes I am an inline speed skater. I am a member of GT Speed skating team in Columbus, Ga. So we started training over at the Northside Elemetry School entrance road last week. It is a 1 mile loop or lap, meaning that it is a 1 mile round trip up and back down. And it is a killer to say the least.

I did 4 laps on 2 different days last week and did 7 laps last night. I felt pretty good except for my heart rate getting as high as 187. It averaged 166 for the entire 7 laps which took 35:42 minutes. This is what I call extreme training, but it has to be done for this race.

Some of my fellow skaters joined me last night to train. They included Matt Stewart, JD Coleman, Teymur Etimadi, and coach Steve Stewart. They only did 5 or less laps (ha, ha, ha). I thought that Steve was going to puke!

I am really looking forward to this race because I really want to try to inprove my time from last year. Even though I finished 3rd in my age group, my time was 1:30 slower than in 2006. I attribute that to not being able to get into a pack or pace line early into the race. Oh well, I guess I will have to wait to see what happens this year.

I also just signed up for the North Shore Inline Marathon held in Duluth, Mn. on September 13, so this training will be a good start for that race also.

Georgia Veterans Sprint Triathlon 2008

2008-08-21T11:52:00.000-07:00

For some reason this triathlon was very hard for me. I thought that my times sucked as compared to what I wanted to accomplish. Of course my training was lacking due to other commitments and training. It all started with the 400 yard swim. I was in the 2nd wave and started on the front line. My start was good, so I thought, but quickly turned into a nightmare! It felt as though I was in a hurricane! I couldn't breathe and was constantly being run over, hit, kicked, and bumped. Anyway, after 9:20 minutes of pure agony it was all over and I came out of the water 15th out of 18 in my age group. I was hoping for an 8:00 minute swim. So off to the transition area for the bike.

My first transition time sucked and was very frustrating at 2:54 due to the fact that I couldn't get my cycle jersey on. Plus I almost ripped my race number totally off of it (required by USAT rules). But I survived and ran out to get on the bike. Was hoping for 1:30 time.

So I get on the bike and take off like a bat out of hell. 13.6 miles. This being my strongest event I knew I had a lot of ground to make up. I immediately realized that I forgot to reset my cyclometer so I reached over and reset it. So after a few minutes I noticed that I was only showing 0.0 and I couldn't figure out why. So I took it off of the mount and remounted it. It started working then and to my amazement it was actually recording even thought it said 0.0. I thought that the course would be somewhat flat so I was hoping for really fast time. The first half was very technical with a lot of courves and turns so my pace was only around 19 mph. But once I got into the flat straight area I put the hammer down and averaged around 22-23 mph. I knew that I needed to get some fluids into my body so I drank probably half of my Gatorade in 2 separate occations. The second occation was not very pleasant and I thought that I was going to puke. I also brought 2 gel packs with me but couldn't/wouldn't attempt them after the Gatorade event. Anyway, I averaged 21.1 mph with a time of 38:45 and finished 5th in my age group. Must have passed at least a couple dozen people and only 3 people passed me, including the winner of the womens division! That sucked because I had a 9 minute head start over her, but I knew it was coming at some point. Anyway, I was pretty happy with my cycling and headed back to the transition area for the run.

My second trasition went really smooth. Out of all of the the parts of this race, I am most proud of this time, 0:50 seconds!!! I actually got my feet out of my bike shoes before I dismounted the bike. I ran into the transition area, slid on my running shoes and took off. A proud moment.

The 5K run started out pretty well considering that I pushed almost as hard as I could on the bike. I had only ran a couple hundred yards when the inevitable happened, again. Both calfs started to cramp! If only I could figure out why and how to fix it. So I thought that I could slow down and suffer for a while and hoped that it would somehow go away, but it didn't. It actually got worse so I had no choice but to stop and walk. This was actually a good thing as my heart rate was way too high and needed to come down too. So I walked for probably 200 yards and it felt pretty good. Hoping that my cramps were gone for good, I start running again. To my amazement the cramps never came back and I fell into a good pace. I did not know this at that time, but I was currently in 6th place in my age group. But I soon started getting passed by all of those guys that I passed on the bike. A total of 5 guys in my age group passed me before I reached the finish line. The last quarter mile was kind of a funny moment for me. A guy in my age group passed me and I was determined to not let him get away. I thought that I could draft him and get him at the finish line. To my amazement I actually had enough reserve energy to make an attempt at this. I figured that beating at least this one guy would somehow have a redeeming effect for me. So we are going down to the last few hundred yards and I pull up beside him, hoping that he is well spent and won't make it a race, but he does! So we are now off to the races like a spring chicken. He also knows that I am in his age group and has the same thoughts as I do. So we are coming down to the wire and he starts to pull away and I have nothing left to give or take. He beats me by :02 seconds. Damn! I did finish though and better yet I survived! My run was the second slowest I have ever run in a 5K race, 28:54, barely surpassing my very first first 5K of 3 years ago. Oh well! The end to a rather frustrating race.

In the end I finished with a time of 1:20:45. 11th out of 18 in my age group and 173 out 347 total participants that finished. Not too bad but way worse than I had hoped for. The best thing out of the entire weekend was spending time with my girlfriend, her family and friends. There were actually a lot of people there from the Columbus area. We went to Wild Adventures Park in Valdosta after the race and on Sunday to close out a good weekend.

Check out the results