Are You Living It?

The Triathon at Pacific Grove, CA was a major success for all involved.  Once again we had a superb time watching the competitors push themselves and ACHIEVE, and of course it was also quite gratifying to see people respond so positively to our message of LIVE YOUR PASSION.  The course involves an infamous swim start called “the kelp crawl” … there wasn’t much the racers could do but dive right in and plow through it as fast as possible. Watch this short video of the men’s 25-29 start to and you can see how it earned its name:

Last Sunday I swam, biked, and ran (and let’s be honest here…walked too) 140.6 miles.

Today…I couldn’t make a mile.

Swimming and yoga and walking around in flip flops or bare feet has been ok this week, if a little painful. But as soon as I try to put on sneakers, the outside bottom and side of my left foot screams. It feels like a bone bruise every time I put my foot down. I think I am so flat footed at this point that in bare feet the outside of my foot barely even touches the floor, so that spares me. In athletic shoes that correct my pronation, even a bit, it’s a no go.

Note my bro’s t-shirt…

It felt like being herded off a cliff…

Ouch…

Ok…I’m still alive, but life is catching up to me so there’s no time to post. I will go into more depth later, but basically I could not have done that race yesterday without all of you guys in my head helping me along. It was a long, painful, lonely day that was also one of the greatest in my life. While I would do it again in heart beat (OK…maybe two) I think there is a long road of healing ahead and I am looking forward to getting my body right and getting some balance back (yeah right!).

Last post until after the (other) big day. I am psyched and in a really good place and happy to be with and see my family. What a gift to get to do this…I am gonna soak it all in! Thanks to everyone who’s been calling and emailing…and thanks to my coach for really working through all the bumpy patches with me. You’re the best man!

Except for Pete - he’s the most best

Sitting with my friends Cindy and Jess and Donna tonight (who rocked me with awesome prerace gifts!) I realized just how psyched I am to do this friggin’ race! I remember when Jess did the Boston Marathon…I envied her so much. Her day to fight had come and she got to take it on…and she did tremendous, as did our friend Karen. Now I finally get to make it happen. It’s so cool…

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Call it trial by fire. I’m five weeks out from the IronMan World Championships in Kona, Hawaii. There’s no hiding from here on in. Since qualifying in Arizona in April, I’ve had a number of training setbacks. Some of them physical and some of them mental. Today is September 1st, so I’ve decided that there are no more setbacks allowed.

I finally had my spaz out last night. I knew it was coming and it was relatively painless once I recognized it and just dealt with it. I’ve had a panic attack before (in the hospital after Morgan was born - I DON’T like hospitals - and she’d been crying for 26 hours straight) and this was no panic attack. But it was definitely a little mental breakdown.

OK, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t wish things were going a bit better one week out. Bulging disk is still kicking my ass and eliminating running and limiting biking. Allergies suck, and I’m stiff and sore from not working out enough. Plus it looks like I won’t be doing the race alone…my Aunt Flo will be coming along for the ride. AWESOME!

Cranberry Olympic completed…

Huge props to my bud Robbie who did his first Olympic distance tri today, sticking it out for a great time despite some prerace complications (why does everything always seem to wait for the last minute to go wrong?).