"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at the worst, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."

Never, Never, Never Quit.

FIGHT....................FINISH

Countdown to B2B

I CAN

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Passed another test

Other than my running fitness lacking, the 7 mile run on Saturday went fine. The knee felt good with only a little residual discomfort on Sunday. Got in a 50 mile ride on Sunday in some breezy and warm conditions. We've hit 80+ every day for the past week or so. So much for winter. But it beats scraping ice/snow off the windshield in the morning!!

OK, now for a little something different. With most/all my focus for the next 11 months being on getting ready for my ironman, I thought I'd list my top 10 races up to this point. Each race had a different reason for being top 10, and I'll list those reasons after each.

10. Steelhead 70.3 - August 2007 - My 1/2 ironman PR race. 4th 1/2 ironman for me and a race in St. Joe, a town I lived for 18 months 15 years prior.

9. Great Floridian 1/2 Ironman - October 2003 - My 2nd 1/2 ironman distance race and easily the hardest and slowest. I sustained a 1st degree sprain in my ankle playing basketball 10 days before the race and could barely walk on it. Of course the doctor suggested I skip the race and I probably should have. I figured I could swim and bike and see what happened on the run. The swim was slow, the bike even slower on a hilly course I was unprepared for. Then as I started the run, I fully expected to stop in the 1st mile but unbelievably, never felt any pain in my ankle. But the bike had taken so much out of me, I walked most of the last 6 miles. But I finished and learned just moving forward will get you to the finish line.

8. St. Anthonys Olympic Tri - April 2003 - 2nd Oly distance and 2nd St. Anthonys race. Put together a very solid race and took 12 minutes off my year previous time. PR held up until this past October.

7. Crim 10 mile run - August 1996 - Probably my best overall race, running or tri, ever. Crim is a very challenging and hilly course in Flint Michigan. As the miles went by, I kept clicking off 7:10s and 7:20s thinking I was going to hit a wall soon. But as I approached town again and the course flattened for the last 2 miles and I kept moving along, slowing just a little. I ended up running 1:15.30 on the course, which I haven't approached in any race since. Performance wise, still my all time 'A' race.

6. Detroit Marathon - October 1996 - OK, now they start to get my sentimental. This was Beths first marathon and I was very excited for her. We trained every single training run together getting ready for this, including during our honeymoon. I also didn't have to worry about her beating me back then:) I remember running back down Woodward at about mile 24 as I saw her just starting up Woodward. It was at that point I knew she would finish. We actually kissed at that point and I hurried(as fast as you can after 25+ miles) to get to the finish to cheer her in.

Stay tuned for the TOP 5, coming in my next post!!
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