run this amazing day

The second half of the Q&A is much more opinion than it is facts about the race, just so you are warned.  The same disclaimers about this being my first attempt at the distance and generally knowing nothing about how to be fast (or generally much at all, except how to pose for ass pictures) still apply. Race Recon What surprised you the most about each discipline at that distance on race day? In the swim, I think I did an excellent job of scaring the crap out of myself about how much contact there was going to be.  On race day I was surprised to find that it wasn't nearly as bad as I had been imagining.  On the bike, I was surprised to feel happy well past the half split - this makes me excited to go race another 70.3, because usually I'm ready to get off at 56 miles.  I was also surprised by how low I felt after mile 60 and how long it lasted.  On the run, looking back I'm surprised at how positive I stayed inside my head, despite the fact that I was hurting p

Ooookay, let's get this party started! I tried to separate out the questions in a way that sorta made sense, and I got a lot of duplicates, so if you don't see your exactly-worded question, look around before you run screaming to twitter about how much I suck.   The obligatory disclaimer: I AM NOT FAST.  I DID NOT WIN THE RACE.  If you want tips on how to do those things, you are in the wrong freaking place.  If you've been around for a while, you know my background, but I'm just a runner that kept getting hurt that fell in love with cycling and thought it would be a good idea to go long.  And this was my first attempt at this distance.  I'm going to answer all these questions with my opinion, but that's all it is.  In fact, you might disagree with my answers or my methods and I am okay with that.  I'm not an expert, I'm just a little blogger with a big mouth that made it to the finish line.   Last disclaimer: I separated this into two posts beca

1. I have officially declared my post-ironman bender over.  Sunday morning I joined a friend for a swim and was pretty shocked to see what was happening against a watch for the first time in a while.  I kicked over my new leaf with a rest day on Monday, but I got my life in order and ate well all day (another "first in a while").  Since then, I've put myself loosely back on a schedule - there is nothing hard at all happening, but I'm just trying to get my feet back under me.  I reintroduced my delicate parts to a bike seat on Tuesday morning after two solid weeks away from the bike (my, do those calluses fade away quickly) and that plus slowly improving nutrition and sleeping habits mean that I am starting to feel like myself again.  The past two months of our lives have been a rollercoaster for so many reasons, and I'm really looking forward to life calming down and settling back into what I consider our normal. 2. You may recall that the poet decided to sign u

Worth it. 100% worth it.  All of it.

I've been talking in broad, sketchy terms about what I want to do next year.  Mostly because IM events fill up within 82 seconds of opening, so you at least have to have an idea of what you'd like to do a year out.  But I wasn't expecting to decide anything until later in the fall, and I was planning for a fairly light year of no-flying-with-the-bike-cheap-local-races.  I've been chatting casually with friends about the possibility of a spring marathon, and a late year IM - maybe Arizona or Cozumel.  And after CdA Sonja recommended a few IMs that are similar in locale to CdA, so maybe Canada (the west Canada).  But I was waffling ( a common IM-signup-theme ) and figured that at some point I'd be hit by a bolt of lightening like I was last year when I fell in love with Coeur d'Alene for no explicable reason. Sometimes, there is no bolt of lightening. Sometimes, you just want to party with your friends (and your NY-residing-family). Sometimes, you just ge