My goals for the 2010 Allerton Park Trail Race were #1: not finish behind anyone in costume and #2 beat my time from 2007.  While I achieved goal #2, I'm not sure about goal #1. This race was not an A race but one I had focused on since my Ironman.  While I had good intentions my training did not match my desire.  However, I did put in more effort than usual for the this time of year for … [Read more...]

The euphoria of the Ironman finish has turned into aimless wandering without focus.  I decided to try and get out of my funk by targeting some late season running races.  One of those is the Allerton Park Train Run on Halloween.  In my search of the Allerton Park Train Run I happened upon the first annual Sand Creek Trail Race in support of Special Operations Warrior Foundation.  The … [Read more...]

Dan and I made the last minute decision to drive up to Madison on Thursday instead of Friday.  This turned out to be a critically important decision.  Because we made it up to Madison early we were able to get through registration before the crowd and had time to ride portions of the course. The drive was uneventful.  Having someone to talk to made the time pass and relieved some stress.  … [Read more...]

It's been 1 week since I last had caffeine.  I'm going caffeine-free in an effort to gain all the benefits possible from caffeine during portions of the Ironman.  Hopefully it will give me the extra boost I need to get through some of the low points during my 13 hour event.  Not the smartest thing to do before the biggest race of my career but noone has ever accused me of being smart. This … [Read more...]

My feet will be happy when this Ironman training is over.  Every long run ends with black and red toes.  In all seriousness my feet are starting to hurt on long runs and I just hope that it won't affect me for IMWI. My weekend was full of continuing education.  I took Saturday off so decided to go for a long run on Sunday.  It was hotter than I anticipated.  By mile 7 my socks were wet.  … [Read more...]