But I digress, I am sorry, sorry for being away for 2 months.
"It's easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission"First an update, we are in week 2 of our 38 week training plan, so far its pretty simple, about 8 hours a week of full cardio, certainly about to ramp up. This weekend we have a 90 miler on the nicest day of the month so far!
The past 2 months have been....well a bit of a mad house.
41 days on the road, 25 cities and nearly 37000 miles in the air and a few thousand by car.
That doesn't even include the first half of September when I started to track my travel, on the brightside I am only a few flights away from Platinum level, which is awesome. That being said we have had an incredible few months of really exciting places to work out and exciting races.
Beast! |
- Carolyn took top honors at the Boston Sprint Triathlon, Second place, just getting edged out by a real beast, see caption of MTB shot, explains everything.
- We both set PR's at the Syracuse Half-Iron at the end of Sept. Carolyn was able to add a nice little trophy to the cabinet, 4th place in her age group WOOT!
- My arrival itself was a miracle. 3 days, 8 flights, 700 miles in a car and 9 cumulative hours of sleep I made it to Syracuse just 4 hours before our alarm went off to get up for the race.
- 67.3 miles later I ran out of juice leaving me with 2 miles to walk and 1 mile of the most grueling walk/run/jog of my life.
- If you have not heard the story, I would love to tell you, its a blast.
- At the finish line of Syracuse I promised myself I would never ever put myself in that position again.......see Jacksonville.
My little brother Gavin is a real beast, picture me but add a bit more muscle, wider shoulders, the ability to grow facial hair, chest hair and roll some dice and there you have it. He gives me a call and says, "So...I was thinking of rolling some dice and doing an Olympic distance race Oct. 17th" In about 10 minutes I had re-organized my flights, hotels and rental cars so I would make it there just in time to show the little bro how its done.
Oct. 16th, 3:00pm CST: I am on the road going about 100MPH towards O'Hare airport, en route from Milwaukee. Fortunately AVIS gave me an SUV that doesn't go any faster, I checked trust me. No time for road rage or flashing the old gentleman in a 1989 Chevy Caprice going 60 in the fast lane, I will pass on the right. I HAVE to make this flight. 40 miles left and the gas light has been on for about 10 minute....We will make it. I forgot to mention I am on the phone with Fed Ex who has been absolutely no help in locating my brand new Specialized S-Works Transition. Its the Ferrari of Triathlon bikes.
"Mr. Anderson I can understand why you would be upset that we cannot find your package, but I'm sorry there is nothing we can do until Monday morning when our facilities open"Ok...Well I don't have a bike, shoes, helmet, goggles or a suit. Doesn't matter I HAVE to make this flight. The gas light is literally telling me to pull over or I will be finishing the trip to the airport by foot. Rubbish I know better than that.
4:00CST: YES! I made it to the airport, I don't care that my flight is scheduled to take off in 10 min, I am at a dead sprint to the ticket counter "I am here, Tell me I am not too late"..."I'm sorry, the doors have closed" she says....thank goodness she said sorry, I feel so much better.
5:00PM CST Time for triage, Gavin is working on getting me a set up to borrow for the race, I get on a 7pm flight and I will arrive in Jacksonville at 10:30 PM, rental car thanks me for giving her gas.
7:00PM CST Lift Off!....The moment the plane takes off the runway is always exciting for a brief second you wonder how something so large, so heavy can be lifted so gently. No matter how many flights I have been on, I am still amazed. Unfortunately I am NOT on this flight. Just 15 mins prior to lift off there I am standing, alone in the B terminal of O'Hare, void any and all feelings. How could it be possible that they left with out me, a moment of zen with Kevin McCallister. "I'm sorry sir there is no record of you on this flight"
7:15pm CST After talking with the woman at United for about 10 min. Explaining that I do not need to be apologized to, all I need is another flight to Florida, or in this case, as close to Florida as I can get.
10:30pm EST. Touch Down!!! Charleston SC, not exactly Florida, but will have to do. I stock up: Coffee, Redbull, Diet Coke and enough Beef Jerky to make a vegan cry tears of soy milk. I throw on the recovery tights (thanks Carolyn!)
2:45AM EST 400 miles, enough caffeine to make four loco seem like lemonade I have made it. I certainly would not be able to pass a field sobriety test due to the amount of stimulants I have in my body, but I am alive. As I crank the heat full blast to make the car/my bed warm enough for the next two hours. Oh I forgot to mention that by "I made it" I mean i have arrived at the race site, which will be home sweet home til the rest of the team arrives in two hours for the race.
7:00AM EST As the rest of the field stood there doing their normal routine of stretching and equipment checks, I was merely holding on to reality, I didn't stretch or even touch the water. My legs hurt from sitting on a plane and then in a car for the last 10 hours straight. I was coming down from the high of Caffeine and Jerky, my eyes were pulsing to the rhythm of the waves. I really had not had any real food in what seemed like days and there was a real possibility of death in the near future for me.
10am EST Well I didn't die, infact, I came in third. I am not sure that even makes sense. I stood at the finish line and if you had asked me to recall the last 2 hours I am not sure I could have. So...there's that...In the words of FDR below, amen!
The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. Let us move forward with strong and active faith
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