Well, here goes.....

So I was reading in the running magazine an article called '101 kicks in the butt' which gave 101 suggestions to get off your butt and start exercising. One of the suggestions was to start a blog, give out the address and have others follow your progress. I suppose the motivation is that if others are checking up on you, it would be bad to not have something for them to read. Also, because I'm forced to 'blog' I guess I need somthing to blog about...(or bitch about).

So, today I'll begin and track my progress as I get closer to the Xterra Mountain Triathlon on August 18, 2007. http://www.xterraplanet.com/races/race.cfm?race_id=543

2005 time was a bit of a suprise. Yeah, I knew that I would have to swim, bike and run. However I wasn't prepared for the 10 mile uphill bike ride, followed by a 4 mile run up a mountian. At least the swim part of it all was level! Of coarse I finished the race but I pretty much brought up the rear of the race. In fact I think they had given all of the awards and people were heading to their cars when I crossed the finish line. I guess these races don't have a last place award.

The swim that day was actually the easiest part of the day. I had trained hard for the swim and it paid off. Unfortunately I think I let my adrenaline take over and I went a little too fast. I was a little tired as I ripped off the wetsuit and got started on the bike. The bike was rough. Slowly but surely I peddled up, and up, and up and up. Then there was about a mile stretch after 6 grueling miles that was downhill. The only bad part of the downhill was remembering not to run into a tree as I went from turn to turn (I've had too many tree sap experiences). After that breif breather, it was up and up and up. The good news is that as I was finishing up the bike portion (last mile or so), I saw a biker 100 yards in front of me collapse. A minute later the police, ambulence etc. zoomed by me and by the time I got there they had the shade tarp up and were working on rehydration etc. That gave me a little bit of a boost as I new at that point I wouldn't finish dead last. The run wasn't too bad as at this time I was just focused on finishing. However the first 1/2 mile up the mountain my calves were on fire. When I reached the peak two miles later it was literally all down hill. Allie said that as I was running she had the finish line check my GPS chip to see if I was still moving (alive). Maybe she thought I was eaten by a bear.

So, the race is a little over 4 months away...time to get started.