Long time, No see...





I have a confession to make: I am a terrible blogger.  I disappear for months at a time. I am pretty sure that my last blog post was in February of this year.  I am still trying to get the hang of this and living life at the same time. This is not an easy task.  Especially if you are really trying to live life well and to the fullest extent possible.  Do I try to have something funny, pithy and witty to say every post?  Do I try to give you a chronological account of my actual life or what goes on in my head? What exactly am I supposed to write?  Does it need to be a long drawn out post or can it be a quick update to what is going on in a day's time; or a quick thought?

You may ask "Where have you been?"

Well, let's see: Physical Therapy at The Smith Clinic - Michael Smith's crew did a great job of getting me back on my feet as did Dr. Laura Lendermon at Lendermon Sports Medicine so I've recovered from the calf injury. A men's conference at Re: Fuel Memphis - where we explored living our life in faith and taking risks instead of "playing it safe". My youngest daughter graduated from elementary school and has started middle school.  My oldest is in her last year of middle school and has become a teenager.  Mother's Day, Father's Day, Birthday's (all of my family is in the summer or early fall - I call it birthday palooza.  Tri season started and has actually ended for most everyone else.  I got my USAT Coaching Certification.  I have been chasing my kids from soccer tournament to soccer tournament to church camp to weekend retreats, etc.... My grandfather died this summer (a whole post by itself - what a great man!).  I started placing on the podium on the tri scene.   In August I placed 17th overall in the local sprint in Memphis at Showman Shooter Long Course (not Sharp Shooter) and finished 2nd place in my age group.  Second Place overall in the Toad Suck Triathlon in Conway, AR in September.  I placed 1st in my age group in the Goosepond Half Distance Triathlon in October in Scottsboro, AL.  I am actually quite overwhelmed with the success I have seen.  To come from just a few short years ago at close to 100 pounds heavier to this place has been a big jump.  In short, I have been training like a mad man for Ironman Florida!   I have been living life as best I can and haven't had too much time to write.


 



Don't get me wrong, I have lots of things to say, just not enough energy to say them.  I have several post subjects and titles that may get fleshed out over the fall and the winter.  For now I have 14 days until Ironman Florida.  To say that I am excited would be an understatement.  Consumed, is more appropriate.  I dream about it, I obsess over it. I plan for it, I calculate time and splits constantly. I am ready for it to be here.  I have trained and sacrificed. My family has been great and they have put up with me and let me do my thing.  I can never thank them enough.  My wife has been super supportive.  She just showed me the "Team Chris" shirts she had made for the race for our family and friends.  She just bought me race wheels and surprised me with them.  She has been an invaluable support during this journey.

 

 

So much to say and so much I know that I have left out.  I will try to catch everyone up as I can over the last eight months of life. 

In the meantime, I will do my best to chronicle the last 14 days of this journey to become an Ironman.  If all goes well, I will try to post some quick thoughts each day leading up to November 3rd.  Until then, to quote a line from my teenager's "newest favorite movie of all time" (for now) - "May the odds be ever in your favor!". 

OK, Let the Frustration & Panic Begin

As I have mentioned before I am doing Ironman Florida in November. I am very excited and would like to do well.  I have no illusions about winning, or getting on the podium, or even qualifying for Kona.  I just want to do the best that I can and let's face it, I am competitive and I want to fair well against some other people that I know are going to be doing the race.

Here are my problems: 1) I haven't lost the weight that I intended to lose, so that by March I can begin training at a lower and more ideal weight. 2) My training has been very inconsistent over the fall and winter to this point, so I haven't addressed the need to ramp up my running mileage, or swimming technique deficiencies, that I know exist. 3) And the biggest, I am now dealing with an injury.  A couple of weeks ago I felt an explosion in my calf. I am not injury prone.  I immediately started icing it every thirty minutes, put a compression sleeve on it, and kept it elevated. I even did some cold laser therapy for the purpose of speeding up the healing process. And of course, I basically did nothing in the way of training for the last two weeks (except swim a couple of times). An now, over the weekend, I felt the "pop" in my calf again.

This is getting to be a little too much.  I only have 38 weeks from this past Saturday to get all of this done.  It is truly "GO Time".  I don't have time for injuries, I don't have any other margin for error for lack of training or lack of commitment.


Let's see where this lands us.  Until next time....

Are You Kidding Me?

I'm nervous from the moment I wake up.  This feeling has come upon me pretty suddenly.  I mean, I always knew that I may have been pointing this direction.  Realy!?!  What am I doing?  It's almost 12 noon.  Refresh.  Refresh again.  Refresh once again.  Is it noon yet?  Oh wow, it is noon!  What now?  Decision time.  I am sweating.  My heart rate is elevated.  I haven't been this nervous in a long time.  My hands are trembling now.  I can't focus on my thoughts.  I can't type.  What am I doing again?  My hear rate is through the roof.  This is too big.  This is too cool.  I'm not ready for this.  Am I?  Why is this registration form taking so long!  Are you kidding me?  Too late now, here we go!

Big goals, fear, excitement, huge grins, have I bit off more than I can chew.  We will see.  In 11 months and a few days I will toe the line.  I am ready to push myself to places I have never been.  Wish me luck.  Enjoy the video below (what an incredible inspiration!):

2011 Ironman Florida Highlights