Saturday, June 16, 2012

Fort Worth and CapTexTri Weekend


Going from one race to the next, training, family, and keeping food on the table has made it hard to update the blog the last couple of weeks. Lot of good things have been going on, but just no time to sit down to update.

Let’s start back with our trip to Fort Worth and Austin. The day before we left we found out that my Mom had fallen off of her friends porch. At first it didn’t sound too bad. When we finally got there to see my Mom on Friday I knew after looking at her swollen knee and ankle that she was staying home. She was adamant that she would be fine and meet us in Fort Worth on Saturday for the wedding. When we called in that evening we found out that my Mom had broken her right knee cap, torn ligament in her left ankle, and a sprained wrist. Thankfully, Susan talked her into staying home and getting as much of the swelling down over the weekend. She hated missing my cousin’s wedding, because we so rarely are able to get together with our extended family. Sometimes life just has a different agenda for what we are going to do, and we just have to roll with it. In my Mom’s case it just happened to be in a wheelchair. We missed her, but it was still a great wedding and our girls just loved getting to see it, and of course they loved the dancing and cake at the Stockyards. Now for a few quick highlights of the rest of the Fort Worth part of the weekend:

- found out borrowed race wheels had a flat - luckily found a bike shop within walking distance
- had a 40 minute run that made me feel like I was running in a wet blanket
- got to see some friends and family
- (almost forgot) - stupid valet from Marriot Courtyard in Downtown Fort Worth stole money from our car. I thought I was being sneaky where I hid it, but turns out he was sneakier! I hope he had a massive hangover the next day.

I won’t bore you with the details from all the race, but this race was really a perfect example of where I was fitness wise 4 year ago to where I am now. It was the kind of race that makes you forgot all of the sacrifices, hard work, and times that I want to go back to old me. We came to this race in 2008 with the Hurst’s, and were once again racing here with them as well. We are all a little older, another kid per family, but still all trying to live healthier lifestyles and still have fun. One extra addition to the group this year was my good friend Steve. Who I was really glad to see, and another great example of someone that is really trying everything he can to stay healthy. The funny thing was that when I saw him standing by Susan and the girls I was wondering who the bearded dude was hangin out with my wife and kids (I just figured that Susan had decided I was going to croak and had already replaced me). When I did this race 4 years ago I had only been doing tri’s for a couple of years, and this was the longest and biggest race I had ever encountered. I remember most of all how the heat and humidity just killed me at the end, and it felt like a death march. Even though I knew I was in much better shape this time I was still worried that it was going to have the same thing happen again. It turned out to be the exact opposite.

In 2008 I finished in 3:07:28 and barely made it, but this year I finished in 2:27:55 and felt great. Not only that I was 15th in my AG out of 108th and 96th out of around a 1000 folks. I never imagined I would have been able to finish like that in a race that large. Everything went as planned and I was even able to outrun this goober at the end that had been half stepping me for most of the run.  

The best part of the whole weekend  was that we were able to spend some family and friend time (even if it was rushed), and I hope that we can soon slow down enough to see some more friends and family it really helps to recharge. After all it isn’t about racing for me, but really about staying healthy so that I can be around to do these things with those we care about.

Lot’s of great news coming over the next few posts about things to come. Remember everyday just keep trying to do something to keep moving.

Next stop Buffalo Springs 70.3!

Keebler

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