"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

Monday, February 18, 2008

Gasparilla, Sick, Chilly Willy

Well, Gasparilla went off fine. My knee was good even if my speed wasn't. It was easily my slowest 15K ever but seeing how it was only my 3rd run over 9 miles since August 4th, I can't complain too much. Actually felt pretty good until about mile 6 and then just slogged my way to the finish.

Then, a couple days later, I woke up with a cold and had to take 3 days off. Was able to get in a 30 mile ride on Saturday before doing the Chilly Willy du(5k run, 10 mile bike, 5k run) yesterday. This is the 3rd time I've done the race and it's easily one of my favorites. Not too long to wear you out but long enough to make going full speed a challenge. I was able to run steady and bike pretty well for a PR on the course. Since the race is on Ft DeSoto(an island), it's always winding out there. The bike goes south to north and back so you usually get the wind in your face one way and at your back the other. Luckily it was in my face going out and I was able to really make up some time coming back. I PR'd the course by over 4 minutes so I was happy and surprised since I've been under the weather this week.

Currently, I don't have any other races on the schedule and just a metric century ride coming up late March. I may try to get into an Olympic distance this spring as well as a 1/2 this summer, but weekends are going to start getting tough with long distance stuff soon enough.

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