More to come...

It is the last day of november, and i am counting the days til the end of the semester. Review, finals and a few papers for good measure are all i have left. The end of this week could not come soon enough. The academic aspect of my life is coming to another 4 week halt, but the training is just heating up.
The Tucson half marathon is next sunday, a week from today. I am slightly resting this week. My legs have felt pretty tired the last few days from the longer miles i am not used to. After that, it is the final 6 weeks til marathon day. Oh goodness, do i hope i don't just fall apart during the marathon. I could have a fabulous day, or i could just blow up and not be even close to my goal time. The next few weeks are going to be imperative to the success of January 18th.
I have also caught a small duathlon bug. The Desert Classic Duathlon looks to be the next big race after the marathon. Its in Phoenix and its a US world duathlon qualifier. I have an outside chance of qualifying and i hope to put on a good show. I definately need to work on speed after the long monotonous miles of the marathon. I don;t have any zip in my legs during workouts, which could be a side effect to the longer miles i am doing as well. Either way, i need more speed and some good rest after the long weeks of training.
I am pretty excited about the Tucson Half because i haven't raced since the end of september. The racing keeps me motivated to train, so a couple months of training is ready to be released on the roads of oracle.

Yo, Yo....

I think i speak for a lot of college aged adults when i say that i can finally feel the end to the semester. It is still 3 1/2 weeks away, but the general feeling is gaining momentum. Along with the end of the school semester, means the holidays, as well as more races to look forward to.
I am officially registered for the Tucson Half Marathon. I am pleased to say that my friend Cody Elzey is running it with me. I couldn't ask for a better partner in crime.
I am also rejuvenated in the prospect of running for the glory of God. It is easier for me because I race for a team of christian athletes. But, i still do not feel like i give enough to God, who gives me the talent and strength to compete in the first place. After watching Ryan Hall's (olympic marathoner) video testimony, i am excited to be running for God and can not wait to share in his glory with non-believers. Or for that fact to help strengthen the faith of believers.
I am starting to feel better about running. I am starting to see improvements and am glad that the weather is holding up for a little bit longer this fall. My long runs still bring me some apprehension. I don't tend to feel very good about them and i think it is mostly mental. The prospect of having to run 16 or more miles at once seems very far. Which is odd because i just went out for an 8 mile run on monday at a fairly quick pace and that was nothing. Long runs are not fast and i shouldn't feel so bad about them. But, i am a very mental runner and i need to get over that aspect of my training.

Check up...

It has been over a month since i worte last. Been a change of life, as far as school and work and all that is concerned and the blog kind of dropped off the radar. I am going to try and fill in the holes of the last month and the new goals i have for the next few months.
At the end of september i ran in the 3rd annual Flagstaff half Marathon. It is an off road race at the local cross country skiing venue outside of flagstaff. It is located at 8000ft of elevation and the course itself had over 1100ft of elevation gain. It started off good. I am not really great on hills but i was in 5th place after the first two miles and stuck there for the rest of the race. I was splitting under 7min miles until mile 9. Miles 9 and 10 were clocked in at 17min, because they were all uphill. I couldn't believe how long that hill was and when it was going to come back down. I finished in 5th place with a personal best time of 1:30.08. I wanted to break 1:30 but i was pleased to have gone under 7min mile pace on such a hard course. That has been the only race i have done since my last post.
I have been nursing some knee pain the last few weeks. I took the two weeks after the half marathon easy to try and rehab my knee. I am still feeling pain, but it isn't getting any worse, so i have resumed training on it.
As of this week, i have about 11 1/2 weeks til the PF Changs Rock n Roll Marathon in Phoenix in January. As stated above, i have resumed training and it is going good so far. Yesterday i ran 1000m repeats on the new track at my old high school. They were in 3.55, 3.50, 3.40 3.31, 3.24. I purposely started my first 1000m in 6:15 mile pace (since that is my goal pace for the marathon) and increased them each time. I meant to go 5 seconds faster every 1000 but after my third one, i was feeling really good and went a little faster on the last two. I have an 11mile long run on thursday and am increasing my long runs by 1mile every week until i get to 20miles which will be two weeks from the marathon and then a two week taper.
I am also planning on running the tucson half marathon on december 7th as a tune up run for the marathon. I want to see that i can hold the 6:15 pace and get more accustomed to a road race in the desert.
I do not have any plans passed that. Tentatively i am looking at racing the Desert Classic Duathlon in February and perhaps the Tempe International Triathlon in May. That is it.

Future Endeavors...

I do triathlon because i am selfish. I like looking good when my shirt is off, i like competing and having others bring out the best in me, i like crossing the finish line and accomplishing something and most of all i like trying to inspire others to make their life better as well. I know that friends of mine have taken a liking to triathlon since my first one in july of 2007. Whether it was because of me or not, i might never know. Its one of those cliche sports that 75% of people do, just to say they've done it. And thats ok. Because they still had to train and accomplish something that 95% of the world has never done.

I have always said, when someone asked what i want for my birthday or christmas, that i just want a call or to hang out, maybe some homemade cookies. Something that means more than just a store bought object that has no real meaning. That is kind of why i am writing this note. I have races coming up in the next 12-14 months that are really going to mean a lot to me.

Everyone knows i race, probably too much. And, to ask friends to come to every one of those races would be more selfish than my justifications for doing triathlon. But, i want to put the power in your hands and give you every opportunity on my part to share in my mile stones.

When a group of friends showed up at the butt crack of dawn to come watch me race in this year's mountain man triathlon, i was so over joyed that they felt the want, whether begrudgingly or not, to come and watch. Eventhough, i know how boring watching my races can be. Everyone could see how much that race meant to me when i started crying because my mom was so proud of me for winning my age group (finally). I put a lot of effort into what i do and i don't race without the intent to accomplish something great.

The bottom line is: if you feel the need or want to come and watch me race this year, i am giving you all the information you need to get the wheels turning.

September 27th: Flagstaff Half-Marathon
Flagstaff Nordic Center 8am

November 22-23: Ironman Arizona sign-up
Tempe, (this isn't an actual race, just a sign-up for one, but feel free to come keep me company in line as this is the first step to completing Ironman next year.)

December 7 (tentative): Tucson Half Marathon
Tucson 7:00am

January 18: Rock n Roll Marathon
Tempe 7:40am

November 24(?) 2009: Ironman Arizona
Tempe 7:00am

Goals...

I was thinking about how much my plans have changed, for the better, in the last few weeks. Some of the plans maybe far fetched and unreachable but without goals, nothing gets accomplished.
I wanted to study in Greece in the fall of 2009, but i also want to race Ironman Arizona in November of that same year. Doing Ironman is much more important to me. That is the first change. In order to do reach that goal i want to run a marathon, the Rock N Roll marathon in phoenix in January. Doing that requires that i not race a couple triathlons in September and December. There is the second change.
The third goal i have is probably the most far fetched idea. I have caught the olympic bug and want to try and qualify for the 2016 olympics. The problem with this idea, is the time it is going to take to train for the olympics. It is a full time job and i need a coach to help me train. Coaches are explensive things. And i have to stay i don't have the best motivation. Everyone i have talked to think that i have a chance of qualifying and i think that i do if i can put the effort in.
The only thing that i can do know is see how things unfold along the next few years.

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