Oh the crazy things i do...

Today sounded like a good day to hike humphreys. Except hiking might be an understatement. I have always wanted to run it. Yes, run it. It was more like going as fast as i could without dying or feeling bad, but i guess we could call it jogging.
I once warmed up with an olympian who said that he had made it to the summit in 30 minutes. I was blown away because the fastest i have ever done it was 2hr 15min to the saddle and back down which is over an hour up to the saddle, let alone all the way to the summit. Since then, and this was junior year in high school, i have wanted to try it myself. Today was the day.
I started out at about 10am and didn't stop at all until i got to the top. I passed a few people. Mostly the ones who were more ambitious than me and got up a lot earlier then i did. Never the less i still made it up in 1hr 17min 42sec. I felt unbelieveably good surprisingly. I haven't run that far for months let alone up a mountain.
So, i was glad i made it.I was very flattered when a woman i passed going up stopped me as i was going down and asked if i was an olympian or something. I said, "no, just crazy" and thats exactly how i feel. By the time i got down i was so done with that mountain. It was a bad choice overall. I rushed back home, ate a popsicle, a cold glass of ice water and took an ice bath. I ate lunch and took a nap. The morning pretty much drained my whole day. I made it from trailhead to summit and back down in 2hr 21min 51sec. Not bad.

Mountain man triathlon 2008...

I have felt really blessed over the last 24 hours. I have gotten numerous texts and calls asking how i did yesterday at the triathlon. I wanted to update everyone and thank everyone for their support of myself and the one and only Dave Tessmer, who also completed this triathlon with outstanding results!Sorry its long! Please read all of it. This is my biggest accomplishment so far in triathlon and i am very proud of it and Tessmer for doing it with me.

Let me tell you about Dave. This was tessmer's first real triathlon. He had done the FAC sprint tri last year, but it was nothing compared to this. He has been training so hard for this race and he ended up 77th out of 302! He swam 700m in 19:24, Transition 1 in 2:56, 18K bike in 37:00, T2 in 1:07 and finished it out with a 5K run in 26:20 for an overall time of 1:26.44! And, he might not want me to say this, but, he had to pee the whole time. In fact, he crossed the finish and we were looking for him. I mean, come on, how do you miss tessmer? He ended up being in the bathroom. Fantastic job by him!

My race was also just as great. I felt very calm the morning of. The transition area opened at 4:30am i was the second person there at 4:20. I checked my bike and gear and headed to the transition to set up my area. Once that was done, sitting around ensued as i still had over an hour and a half to wait before my race started. I found tessmer about 5:45 and we went over last minute questions that he had about the race and watched the other races before us start. We walked to the start boat ramp and said a little prayer. A gentleman next to us listened in and told us that he was going to be a campus crusade leader next year. I thought that was really great that other christian's were doing the same thing i was. It really strengthened my faith. The race started. Last year, i struggled immensely with the swim portion. I was not prepared for the open water swim and i lost my head. I honestly have never been more scared in my life. I hyperventilated out in the water and thought a couple times about quitting. I don't quit. I ended up finishing it and had a terrific bike split last year. God picked me up from a struggle and gave me strength to accomplish much more than i expected after faultering. I vowed to change that this year. I prepared myself better by swimming in lake mary a few times before race day. This helped a ton. I swam freestyle the whole way, i only stopped once to check if i was going towards the bouy. I finished the swim in 15:51. Transition 1 was a little slower than i wanted but i was in and out of transition in 1:27. An improvement of 36 seconds from last year.The bike was the only portion of the race i went slower on than last year. I know, I know, it shouldn't have been. I think i got caught up in my excitement and went to fast at the beginning. The whole way back on the out-and-back course felt slower. But, no one passed me. In fact, no one passed me at all after i was out of the water. About three minutes ahead of me was the kid i wanted to beat. Transition 2 is coming. My bike split was 31:05, 32 seconds slower than last year.Transition 2 was fast! Had some struggles with my shoes but still only took me 1:03 to get out on the run course.Remember the kid i wanted to beat? He was only 20 seconds ahead of me out of T2. I passed him and 4 others in the first mile of the run. One of those four, was a teammate of mine on FCA Endurance. Again, it gave me strength that others are out there racing for God. It gave me an extra push to do well. The run course was also an out-and-back course, which gave me an opportunity to see who was beating me. I was the sixth man. A couple times on the run i wanted to start crying because i knew all my hard work and training were paying off. I couldn't believe that i was going to be top ten and win my age group. It was way more than i ever imagined. I ran the last 2miles through a cramp in my right side. I still finished the 5k run in 21:40, which ended up being 1:41 better than last year and the fourth fastest 5k split out of everyone yesterday. The closest person behind me was over a minute back. I had done it! After the race my mom came up to me crying and congratulating me because she knew how much this meant to me and how much time i have put into training for this race. It made me cry too.I finished the race 8th overall (two women beat me, they started 5min after the men, which meant they didn't physically cross the finish line before me but had faster times) 1st in my age group, in a personal best sprint triathlon time of 1:11.04

My new 10K PR

I ran my first 10K in about two years on June 7th. It was probably the most difficult course i have ever run for a 10K. It was all on trails and up and down hills. The race started and you went right up a very long hill. No time to leg your pace set in or anything like that, just straight into the hill. I looked at my watch at the top and we were already 7:30 into the race, meaning the first hill was more than a mile long! The rest of the race were rocky rollers through the forest and the last bit was back down the hill we first came up, which was a nice reprieve. My goal was to break 40 min. I had never done it before and i just barely made it in 39:58. I got 9th overall and first in my age group, which was a nice bonus to a hard day of running. I have super bad allergies right now and i am kind of drained because of it.
The Summit Center Classic is in a couple weeks. It is a two-day, two-stage road bike race and i am looking forward to it, but i might have to work and that would kill my plans to race it. We will wait and see. Until then i have to get over the pollen attack and hopfully feel good enough to get back out and keep training. Only 5 more weeks til the Mountain Man Triathlon!

my representation...

My brother asked me tonight about what tattoo would represent me. He, i assume wants to get something to represent his family tattooed on somewhere. It took me a little bit to think about what represents me and this is what i came up with:

this sounds kind of gay but here it is...a sunrise, because you don't know what the potential of the day has to offer, just like me, no one knows the potential of me yet, it brings light and warmth, and everyone can enjoy it, it is understated and people don't necessarily embrace it but they know that every time they see it, god has blessed them with a new day. I think that would be the best description of me

As i think more i have to add this too. A sunrise can be hard to deal with as well, for those going through cancer or another illness, another sunrise means another day of pain but also another day to fight back the demons. The sun could be clouded and a cold wind could blow. No one said every sunrise was going to be gorgeous and i think that explains every human as well.

Not every person has good days, they are not always going to be exactly like you want, but there is always the reassurance that the sun is going to rise and things will get better. God has made a promise to us that the sun will always rise and every day will be filled with new challenges. I think that is a pretty good representation of my life.

Back to swimming

I got back in the pool after a 3 week hiatus. It was nice to get a break to heal and recover, let the muscles become stronger and take a break. I have started running again consistently as well. In fact, i did 4x1mile repeats the other day. I didn't do them on a track because it has always been harder to keep pace on a track, so i did them on the streets around my house. Keeps the pace more realistic too. I ran 6:21, 6:08, 5:51, and 6:12. I figured the last one was slower and it was time to stop. But, i thought about it and it was only 4 seconds slower than my second mile and it was the same direction on the streets. So, anyway it was a good workout and felt good to run (relatively) fast again.
Back to swimming. I got back in the pool. Swam 1300m yesterday and the last 700m was in 13min 30sec. Which is very motivating. I have a triathlon planned for July 20th. And it has a 700m swim and i want to get my swim down to around or under 13 minutes at the very slowest. Ideally a low 12min swim would be great. My bike and run splits are going to be my strong points and if i could drop my swim down, i am looking at, maybe, a podium finish. At least maybe an age group podium finish. That would be the highlight of my triathlon career thus far.

Runners Suck!

Don't get your knickers in a tiffy, i really do not hate runners. I am one myself and i could not imagine a world without running. I have spoken on this very blog about the wonderful environment i live in. The one with all the professional runners meandering through flagstaff. This is a true blessing to have these talented men and women using my home as training for their many worldly exploits. Many of them find great success due to their training at high altitude. I take for granted the absolutely wonderful conditions i get to live in and amongst throughout the year.
I am writing this blog because of those very runners i speak so highly about. Let me preface this story a little: Last year, i was ending my senior campaign on the track. It was two weeks after my last race and there was a 5K, the "Run for the Mountain" to be exact. I decided to run it and ran well, and won the race. I ran last week in Denver and won my age group, and got 8th overall in a 5K. Today was the same 5k that i won 365 days ago. I think i could win it again. I sign up, the gun goes off and as we are running the first mile of the race, i am in the top 10 individuals. The 10K and 5K races start together. The differentiation between the racers is the color of their race number, 5K is red, 10K is black. I am glancing over at all the fit gentlemen around me and find that there are some familiar faces. A lot of the local pro runners are running right next to me and they have red numbers! These professionals are running the 5K! There goes my hope for a repeat title. But i end up running my best, i am 28 seconds slower than last year and am the first non-professional runner to finish. Makes me feel good, seeing as though, including the race, i have only run maybe 9 times since mid march.
Overall, i am bitter that the pros were there but it makes me more excited to train to try and beat them next time. It also makes me excited that they are even there even though my repeat title was stripped from me and went to someone who run professionally. It is also a great show and tell of my fitness right now, and i am excited for the rest of the summer to see just how fast i can go.

SNOW IN MAY

I hate the cold! I can't say it enough, I hate the cold. I like the snow, hate the cold that comes with it. It is May here in arizona and the rest of the world. May is when the weather starts getting nice, the bikes come out and the sun is always shining. Phoenix starts inching toward 100 degrees and here in flagstaff the temps become perfect in the mid to high 70s. The spring winds that flagstaffians are so used to finally stop and the weather becomes down right awesome.
Not today. No. Not today. The wind came back yesterday with avengence. 45 mph gusts and a horrible start to Bike to Work Week. I rode. Don't count me out, i toughed out the wind with fury. 24 miles, half of which were right into the darn stuff. But, not in recent memory can i remember a day during bike to work week when we had snow. thats right, snow! i wake up to maybe a consistent 3 inches on the groud and huge, ominous flakes floating to the ground, heavily. We had a forest fire just yesterday! And now it is snowing! Unbelieveable. I am going to try and tough out the snow and hop on my bike for at least a couple miles today. Its bike to work week and i can't leave snow as an excuse for saving the planet and my wallet from the ravages of gas.