Are You Living It?

http://www.arcevents.co.nz/k2cycle/content/

And when great souls die, after a period peace blooms, slowly and always irregularly.

Our senses, restored, never to be the same, whisper to us.

They existed. They existed.

We can be. Be and be better. For they existed.

- Maya Angelou

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/28/voices-of-crohns-disease/

I feel like I’m reliving the nightmare of trying to get in IM after IM and repeatedly getting shut out when registration sold out before I could even refresh my browser. Only this time, it’s just for the Level I USAT Coaching Certification Clinic! I mean, my gosh, pretty soon there is going to be a one-to-one ratio of athletes to coaches if these clinics are going this fast!

The process of training for and competing in an IronMan needs to be experienced to truly appreciate it. We spend months (and years) building up our training volumes and intensities in an effort to hit the starting line at peak condition. The physical training is long and hard, but I believe it’s the mental focus that sets athletes apart.

I’m sitting on the couch watching some Monday night football and relaxing after my first day of training at the US Ski and Snowboard Team’s training center in Park City.  I packed up and made the “beautiful” 11 hour drive yesterday from Mt. Shasta.  For those of you who have never been on the stretch of I-80 from Reno to Salt Lake City I can only compare it to driving on the moon.  It’s a desolate landscape accented by white salt flats and the occasional truck stop/casino.  I will head to Steamboat Springs on Friday for Halloween (my favorite holiday) with my friends and teammates Justin Reiter and Erica Muller.  After a proper celebration we will head back to Park City for our annual fall physical testing camp with the U.S. Snowboard Team.

Awesome tool at runnersworld.com. Helps you prevent, diagnose, and treat injuries effectively. Check it out…

http://www.runnersworld.com/runnersbody/

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So much has been happeningin the past month.  I have been completely missing in action from posting updates. Taking a little bit of a break before jumping back into it full on.  Right now I am juggling my Cyclocross season, trying to get on a road team for next season, and then the thought of actually hanging it up.

Yes, I just finished another Life Goal… To Run a Marathon! Now here are some tips from a newbie runner on how NOT to go about doing this: First off, it’s probably not the best time to decide you WILL run a Marathon once you’re all healed from breaking your pelvis in 3 places only 6 months prior… Next, after deciding this on your very first walk one would think it smart to set a goal for doing one in 1 year and to give yourself more than only 1 month of training! Yep, I decided to tackle the Silicon Valley Marathon 1 month ago and literally signed up a week ago… crazy, I know. Some more things not to do would be buying your first real pair of running socks the night before, though they worked marvelous (asics socks rule).

I might not have all the fancy Nike running gear… but with a message like this one I was inspired all the way to the finish!