Like throwing darts....

I thought it might be fun to track on a daily basis how much the weather forecast changes from day to day leading up to the event.

8/30/2007 - Temp: 62 degrees Precipitation: 50% chance of Rain
8/31/2007 - Temp: 73 degrees Precipitation: 10% chance/Partly Sunny

Temp Change: +11 degrees
Precipitation: Rain to Partly Sunny

I honestly think that when it comes to the 10 day forecast, (Well, heck, any forecast for that matter)the weather folks just sit around and throw darts. It is probably the best way of predicting weather.

The posts are going to become more and more frequent as the day gets closer. I am so darn excited and have so much to write about, but I'll save that for later tonight.

You know you are a tri-geek when: You are absolutely ga-ga over your bike getting brand new bar tape and a much needed bath! Stay Tuned for a picture of the current love of my life - the Diva!

Pray to the IM Weather Gods....

After checking the 11 day forecast on AccuWeather.com, the forecast for Sunday September 9th is Rain, 62 degrees! I'm asking all of you to start praying to the weather gods. I don't care what the temperature is....but please, please, NO RAIN!

1 week, 3 days and counting....

Seriously folks, it can't come soon enough! I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas morning. The days seem to drag by, when in reality they are flying by. I know it will be here before I know it. I'm just so anxious to get this show on the road!

I had my last 'long' run tonight. Peter and I set out to run about 10-11 miles or so. It pretty much sucked. My legs felt awful. I could never really shake the soreness out of them the whole run. We made it though.

My friend Steve asked me the other day what scares me about Ironman. At the time I said, I'm scared that it won't be fun and that I'll hate the whole event. Today's run reinforces this idea. If my legs feel that sore during the IM marathon, it's going to be a long run. Now, I know they won't feel great but I'm hoping that adrenaline masks some of the pain.

The next few days bring a bit of a break for my legs. I get to swim in the lake tomorrow and the pool on Friday. Then it's back to some running and biking over the weekend. Sunday will come and go and soon enough the countdown to the big day won't include the word 'week' in it. It will just be days. It can't come soon enough....I'm ready for it. (to be over with!!!)

It's Taper Time!!

It's official...my Ironman taper has begun! A 'taper' is when you reduce the amount of training prior to a race or event. The traditional Ironman taper is 3 weeks, but since my coach isn't a high volume coach, we felt that a shorter taper would be ok leading up to the big day (2 weeks to go - but who's counting?!).

My last 'big' workout of the season was on Saturday. I was scheduled to ride for 6 hours - wearing my race gear, eating race food and pacing as though it were race day. Oh and I had to do all this - ALONE! That's a pretty good chunk of time to be alone on your bike. I admit, I didn't want to ride for 6 hours when I got up on Saturday morning. I especially didn't want to ride 2 loops of the IM course. The morning started out cloudy and gloomy. Great, I thought, another icky day in Madison. The last week has brought nothing but rain, storms, clouds and humidity. I was ready for that to be over.

The first half of the first loop sucked. Mentally, I wasn't in it and my legs weren't really cooperating either. I kept going though. After all, I was already 25 miles away from home. I would at least need to ride another 25 miles to get home. I definitely thought about cutting the ride short for most of the first loop. The sun did finally come out, which was GREAT! It definitely lifted my spirits and my legs even started to feel pretty darn good. So, I decided to suck it up and start on that 2nd loop. Once I was into it, there was nothing I could do but finish it.

The wind had picked up by the time I started the 2nd loop. This really put a damper on the first half of the loop, but once I got Mount Horeb I was relieved. I stopped in at the Kwik Trip where I ran into my friend Tim Kranz. Tim watched my bike while I grabbed a coke, a gatorade and a water. We refilled bottles and set out. Tim and one of his friends stayed pretty much ahead of me for most of the loop. I did manage to catch them at one point and pass them for a bit, but I just tried to keep steady and hang in there. Surprisingly, the remainder of the ride wasn't all that bad. My feet started to bother me with about 40 minutes to go (good to know for the big day), but the best surprise was that my legs weren't all that sore when I got off the bike. In total, I rode 91 miles in 5 hours and 40 minutes. (I rode more miles on my bike yesterday than I drove in my car!) Even as I sit here the next day, I don't feel the soreness and fatigue that I expected.

So here it is - TAPER TIME! I'm so relieved and excited to have shorter and fewer workouts. And to have Ironman Sunday on the very near horizon. It was nearly one year ago that I registered. I'm definitely ready to tackle this challenge. I know it's going to hurt. I know I'll have moments of impatience and frustration. But, what I won't have is doubt. I have done what it takes to participate in this race and I can complete it.

The next 2 weeks bring lots of excitement...

1) My 29th Birthday!
2) My mom arrives in Madison....and we haven't seen each other in 3 years!
3) My friend Peter is having a house warming party.
4) Registering for Ironman.
5) Attending the Athlete Meeting/Banquet.
6) Participating in the Gatorade Swim (a practice lap of the course!)
7) Checking in all my Gear for the Race.
8) Pre-IM dinner with Family and Friends

IRONMAN WI - September 9th, 2007

Stay tuned for important race details! Thank you all for following my journey so far. It's been wonderful to share it in this way with all of you. Also, results of the haircut poll later this week!

Epic Run with Peter Nelson

Well, I've had a few epic bikes and swims this season. It was only fitting that I have an epic run as well!

Prior to this run, my longest run had been about 2 hours. This breaks down to about 14 miles for me. In fact, my longest run past 15 miles last occurred in October 2004 when I ran the Chicago Marathon. I definitely was curious as to how this run was going to feel.

Lately, the weather hasn't been very cooperative around here. We have gotten lots of rain accompanied by some pretty wicked lightening and thunder. Wednesday was no different. Several storms had already rolled through during the afternoon and you could hear the rumbles in the distance. More than likely, we were going to get rained on. But, rain or shine, I needed to get this run in. It was the last critical run before the big day.

My friend Peter, an Ironman veteran and fellow trainee, met me at my office on Madison's near west side. We were scheduled to run for about 2.5 hours, which could come out to 16.5-18 miles. We set out around 515pm with some pretty wicked humidity and some rumbling thunder and massive grey clouds.

We started out on the Capital City Bike Trail until it connected with Seminole Hwy. At this point we headed down Seminole Hwy towards the Arboretum and Downtown Madison. The first half of the run was great! We had 'girl talk' and were cruising right along. In fact, we were probably running about 30 seconds/mile faster than we should have been. But, it felt good, so we went with it. We turned into the Arboretum where we ran into an old college roomate of mine, a deer and a few wild turkeys.

As we headed out of the Arb, it started to drizzle just a bit and there was an occasional flash of lightening but it still hadn't started to storm on us. We continued to chat about Ironman Sunday - food, the finish, cheering, the bike, etc...We both definitely were starting to feel how close the event really was. Just as we hit the halfway point in the run, it started to rain - HARD! And, the lightening really picked up. It just figures that this type of weather starts when we are the absolute furthest point away from where we started. Not much we could do except push on.

We ended up connecting with the John Nolen Bike Path and followed that around the lake until we connected back up with the Wingra Bike Path. We headed back for the arb. This is about the point in the run where things started hurting - feet, glutes, quads. We kept pushing though and maintained our steady pace. Once we hit the arb, the rain was really coming down. The streets were flooded and we were often zigzagging between each side of the road to avoid going through areas of standing water. It didn't matter much anymore though - we were soaked. The lightening was also becoming more frequent and more vivid. Yes, it was stupid to be out in it, but all we could do was keep moving and run back. Luckily we were in a heavily wooded area, which at least provided some feeling of safety.

About 2 hours into the run, we were suffering. Our legs hurt, everything was soaked and our pace was slowing. This is about the time I started thinking 'I'm crazy! Why am I doing Ironman again? Someone please remind me.' If nothing else this run gave me a window into the pain I'm going to experience on September 9th. And, it is manageable, but definitely not very fun.

The last 20-30 minutes of the run was painful and we were counting the minutes until we got back. It was still storming like hell and we must have seen every frog (or toad?) in Madison. Many of them were pretty tiny, but we saw one HUGE one! Even Peter was like 'Whoa!'.

We made it back - exhausted and sore, but feeling like we accomplished something. As much as race day is going to be a huge victory for each of us, it's the small victories that we have every week that make us what we are - crazy, determined, focused, future Ironmen and Ironwomen.

I'm pleased to report that I am far less sore today than I anticipated being. Last night I thought I was going to be hobbling around for days. Hooray for being more fit than I thought!

I have one more Epic ride before the training slows down. Saturday I will ride for 6 hours and run for 30 minutes following. It will be a great test of my pacing strategies and food/drink consumption. Hopefully, it all works out well and pays off on Ironman Sunday.

IM Sunday: 2 weeks, 3 days....and the clock is ticking!

Slacker....

What should have been one of my biggest training weeks this summer turned into one of my busiest weeks with the least amount of training.

I missed workouts on 3 separate days - Monday, Friday and Saturday...and thanks to the lovely weather this weekend my Sunday workout was cut in half. I'm pretty disappointed in myself for not keeping up with things this week. Between training, the Trek Sales Show and my friends' wedding every moment was booked solid from the time I woke up until I went to sleep.

I just need to regroup and make sure to nail all of my workouts this week. Then, for two more weeks I can cut back and prepare for the big day. The big day is now 3 weeks away and I have to admit, I'm looking forward to life after Ironman.

Congratulations to Ed for completing his half Ironman this weekend! I'm so excited for him - I knew he could do it!

Why we do this

After only 4.5 hours of sleep last night, I managed to drag myself out of bed and to the Lake for my Open Water Swim Class. A whole group of triathletes were gathered and ready to get in a 6am swim.

The lake was dead calm and very peaceful. As we got into the water, the sun was just cresting the horizon. It was a giant red ball lightly covered by some clouds. What a perfect morning and what a great opportunity to escape the world and enjoy how beautiful this summer morning was!

We started out swimming east and it was spectacular. Every time I took a breath or sighted ahead I could see the sun. I felt like I was floating across the top of the water. It was a very relaxing feeling.

For the next hour, we alternated swimming towards and away from the sun. Some of the efforts were tough and some were easy. This is a workout afterall. The one constant is that I could always see the sun getting higher in the sky. As it rose this morning, the color went from red to gold which sent beautiful colors across the water.

I approached shore and there was another group of swimmers finishing up. They were all commenting on how distracted they were by the rising sun. No one was complaining of being tired or having sore muscles or worrying about their next race. It was the perfect morning to simply enjoy what we are able to do on a regular basis. I feel very lucky to be healthy, athletic, and able to enjoy all that the outdoors has to offer!

The perfect end to the morning: Rocking out to a little Bon Jovi on the way home! And now, on with my day!

The best things in life...

Some of the best things in life are the ones you can't put a price on. My life is full of some pretty terrific things right now. Here's my Top Ten List of the best things in my life over the last few weeks and coming up (in no particular order):

10) In just one week, my Mom turns 50 years young!
9) Our family welcomed a new member - Kassidy Joye Paradowski - my beautiful little niece! Congrats to my brother Allan and sister-in-law Stacie!!
8) Close friends - Sean and Jess - will be tying the knot this Saturday, August 18th!
7) Ironman Sunday is only 3 weeks and 6 days away - it's soooo close!
6) Closure!
5) My good friend and training partner, Ed Peirick, is about to compete in his first half Ironman this Sunday. I have the utmost confidence in Ed and know he's going to do fabulous!



4) Trek World 2007 - Bikes, Bikes and more Bikes....
3) Seeing my best friend Sonia and her husband last week in Milwaukee...
2) Winning 4 out of 5 games of Shuffleboard against Jon Francis Lewis - new friend and favorite person to beat in Shuffleboard!
1) Realizing that life is full of endless possibilities....priceless!

(Did that just sound like a Mastercard commercial or cheesy Hallmark card?)


Back to training...

Training is going well overall. I have about 2 more weeks of building my training volume and then we will cut back for the final 2 weeks leading into Ironman. Last week, I had 2 significant workouts. On Saturday, I set out to ride the Ironman loop with my friend Jon. It was blazing hot and pretty windy, which definitely took it's toll on us. Overall, it was a good ride. We had 2 interesting incidents.

As we were riding along Cty G, there were several other triathletes riding along with us. The guy in front of me must have stopped paying attention for a split second because he started to go off the road, hit some gravel and almost wiped out. I was right behind him and was lucky to be able to swerve to the left and avoid going down with him. Not too long after that we were riding on Hwy 92 and I think we both agreed that we saw the weirdest thing ever lying in the road - a large butcher knife wrapped in a towel with some stains on it. Definitely made us both wonder!

After 3 long hot hours on the bike, we called it a day. We enjoyed some food and I promptly beat Jon in Shuffleboard. If this whole triathlon thing doesn't work out, I can always take up shuffleboard!

On Sunday, the Madison Multisport crew went back to Devil's Lake to swim across the lake and back. It was an awesome swim for the most part. The waves picked up on the way back and pushed me out into the lake and again I had to make a hard left to get back to shore. Nothing too interesting on this swim - I did run into a giant stick and pile of weeds in the middle of the lake. After the swim, we set out to run. The run was hot and humid. Ed and I ran together for 45 minutes and then I ran an extra 15 minutes to hit the hour mark. After the run, I jumped right into the lake - running shorts and all! It felt so refreshing. I am really ready for a break from this heat and humidity.

The week ahead is going to be insane - lots of training, Trek World, Sean and Jess' wedding...every minute I have is pretty much booked through next Sunday. Phew!

Check out my photos for some of the latest happenings!

Steelhead 70.3 Race Report - The 2nd time is sweeter!

I've been thinking about what the theme of this entry was going to be all weekend. I don't think that there is one theme that I can zero in on. I can summarize the weekend and tell you that it was truly amazing from start to finish. I learned that no matter what happens in a race - you have to adjust, make smart choices and keep putting one foot in front of the other. So here goes...my weekend in the Hamptons of the Midwest and the Steelhead 70.3 Race Report!

Friday

We had to leave Madison on a Friday since the race was on Saturday. It's unusual that a race is on Saturday, but it was a really nice change of pace for all of us. It meant having a full day to recover before going back to work.

Caitlin, Amanda and Seth picked me up at home around 9am on Friday morning. We headed out of town and made it down to Chicago in good time. Due to heavy traffic, we ended up missing the ramp for the Indiana tollway. I had the brilliant idea to take a 'shortcut' through the south side of Chicago. We drove through a pretty interesting and sad part of Chicago. It definitely made us appreciate our own lives all that much more. Once we made it back onto the highway, we made great time getting into Michigan. Of course, we didn't account for the time change and arrived at Caitlin's family's beach house in Benton Harbor around 4:30pm.

It was amazing! The house was right on Lake Michigan, but you felt as though you were in the Hamptons. The water was a beautiful blue with small waves crashing into the shore. There was tall beach grass everywhere and white powdery sand. If you looked up and down the beach it was gorgeous! How lucky were we! And how awesome was this going to be after the race?!



After admiring our new surroundings, we set out to the race expo to get registered and rack our bikes. The race expo was about 1/2 mile down the beach from where we were staying. It was perfect! We got our race packets and headed off to transition to rack our bikes. To ease congestion race morning, they have everyone rack their bikes the evening before the race. This is a bit nerve-wracking, but they do have guards watching the transition over night.

This was by far the biggest race I had ever done. There was approximately 2000 athletes registered for the race. It was pretty intimidating and very obvious that this event would be more competitive than what I was used to. This race was also an official qualifier for the ClearWater 70.3 Ironman Championships. Basically, it's the equivalent to the Hawaii Ironman, except half the distance.

In the evening, Catilin needed to head to Grand Rapids to pick her husband up at the airport. Seth, Amanda and I set out for the grocery store to pick up some essentials for the race....and after the race. We went out for pizza with Caitlin's cousins - Richard and Tracy - after our shopping excursion. They were fantastic hosts over the weekend and we genuinely enjoyed their company!

Saturday

The alarm went off at 5am. I had laid out my race gear the evening before, so I was ready to go. I did the usual - brushed my teeth, got dressed, prepared a bagel with peanut butter, ate and double-checked my gear. Our goal was to leave the house by 5:30am to head to transition to set-up our gear. We managed to get out of there by about 5:45am. Seth, Amanda and I headed down the beach in the pitch black of the morning. The sand was cold on our feet and the water was pretty calm. We could see the buoys and figured that we would be swimming from the south end of the beach to Jean Klock Park. The start of the swim changes based on the current. That morning the current was headed north...and so we would too.

Transition was filled with people. It was a little tough to see initially, but as the sun started to come up we were able to see things more clearly. Amanda and I got things all set-up and decided to head towards the swim start. We would make a pit stop at the beach house to make a final bathroom trip and get into our wetsuits. It was a beautiful morning!


Amanda and I made it back to the house. We got our final bathroom stop out of the way, took a few photos, got in our wetsuits and headed for the start, which was only 1/2 mile down shore. As we headed to the start, I thought the water looked really calm and that the swim was going to be amazing. It looked peaceful. Little did I know, what looked calm was actually a bit wavy.

Amanda, Caitlin and I started together in Wave 5. Each wave had approximately 200 people in it. This was the largest wave I'd ever been in...and it was a true beach start. At 7:10am, the horn sounded and we were off!!

The Swim (1.2 miles)
Given the number of people in my wave, the swim started out amazingly calm. There wasn't a ton of contact and that comforted me initially. I got ready to start swimming when I saw how high the swells in the lake actually were. I had a really difficult time calming down. My heart rate was way up and I just couldn't put my face in the water. I expected some of this for a few minutes, but this went on for nearly 10 minutes! I was extremely discouraged. To top it off, my goggles were fogging up, the sun was bright and I couldn't see the next buoy. I knew I was a better swimmer than how I was doing, so I finally put my face in and relaxed.

Once I was going, I was moving. I could feel the current pushing me along and before I knew it we were making the final turn towards shore. I was relieved to have the swim turn around for me, but disappointed that I struggled for as long as I did.

After exiting the water, you had to run uphill through the sand and then about another 400 yards until you hit transition. This was a long transition!

T1: What can I say about transition, other than it was long. The distance you had to run was so much greater than what I was used to. I paced myself, but got in and out as quickly as possible.

Swim: 37:13
T1: 3:21

The Bike (56 miles)

I had no idea what to expect for this bike course. I knew it was rolling with some hills, but I didn't know to what degree. I definitely wanted to creep under the 3 hour mark, but wasn't sure what challenges I'd face on the bike.

I started easier that I wanted to go, but knew if I went out too hard that I would pay for it later. Like at High Cliff, I needed a bathroom stop about 10 miles into the ride. Fortunately, there was a porta potty open and I was able to make a quick stop. I just kept thinking, well there goes 2 minutes.

I was amazingly focused for the remainder of the bike. I felt great, focused on maintaining a certain wattage, minimizing the time spent coasting and sticking hard and fast to my nutrition and hydration plan. Starting at 15 minutes into the bike, I ate every 30 minutes. For the first 1.5 hours, I had croissant sandwiches (Thanks Allen!!!). For the remainder of the bike I stuck to a balance bar and Gu. I drank 2 bottles of gatorade and half a bottle of water on the bike. I know that I need to try and drink more on the bike, but every 15 minutes I drank like clockwork. I didn't have any stomach issues and felt great about my plan leading into the run.

The one thing that was different about this bike was the competitiveness. The men were flat out jerks. Many of them wouldn't even warn you when they were passing and would come very close. This can be incredibly dangerous when you are riding 20+ mph and may have to dodge a dropped water bottle, pothole or another biker at the last second.

Also, due to the sheer numbers of people, drafting or avoiding drafting became an issue. The rule is that if you are passed by a cyclist, you must drop back 3m and wait 20 seconds before attempting to pass back. Many times, I would be passed by someone going just a hair faster than me. I would then be forced to slow down and wait to pass them back. This became annoying very quickly. I had been going back and forth with this one woman for most of the ride. She wasn't very good at handling her bike and quite often rode right down the middle, which made it hard to pass. I finally made a hard pass at around mile 40 and never saw her again.

The last 10-15 miles of the bike were into a head wind. It was kind of annoying at that point, but I knew that I was going to break the 3 hour mark as I hoped. In fact, I was going to break it by more than I thought I could. With the bathroom stop and all, I cruised on in!. It was an awesome bike - the course was beautiful and easy to ride. It flew by!



T2: The transition to the run wasn't quite as long as the one from the swim, but there was still some distance to cover. I spent a little extra time digging through my Transition bag, as I forgot to put out my socks. I could have tried to run without those, but I have a feeling I would have had blisters. I decided that spending the extra seconds was worth the payoff.

Bike: 2:52:36
T2: 3:08

The Run (13.1 miles)
The run....this was something I really wanted to improve on over High Cliff. I completed High Cliff in 2 hours and change and walked all of the aid stations. I was hoping to shave 5 minutes off my run time at Steelhead and to do this, I would need to walk a bit less.

I started out of transition and looked at my watch - 3:35. I started doing the math...if I ran the same as last time, I'd set a personal best at this distance. I had hoped to sneak under 5:30 and the goal was definitely attainable, but you never know what is going to happen on the run and I didn't want to put the pressure on too early.

I forced myself to take the first few miles slow. I didn't want to blow-up mid run and starting out blazing was a sure way to do it. I wasn't sure how I felt the run was going to go for the first few miles. I cruised through the first few aid stations, grabbing water and gatorade without walking. I started chatting with a gentleman around mile 3. He (and about 20 other runners) asked me how I liked my Newton's. They are a new running shoe that is supposed to force you to run more anatomically correct. The jury is still out....

Around Mile 4, I realized I was cruising and it felt fantastic. I kept up the pace, passing people left and right. I also stuck hard to my plan of keeping cool and drinking at the aid stations. I only walked when I took my gu.

The course itself was a 2 loop stem course. We ran out about 2 miles and then did two loops before running back. Still cruising along I was nearing the turn around for the 1st loop. As I hit Mile 6, I checked my watch. I was 50 minutes into the run already! I was flying! At this pace, I could definitely break 5:30. It was still too early though to get too excited.

I maintained a steady pace mile by mile and was very focused. Any time I started to get tense or feel exhausted, I backed off the pace until I was comfortable again. I continued to stop at all the aid stations and take in fluids. If I waited or skipped an aid station, I would certainly pay for it later. I got to see Amanda twice during the run, which was awesome! She looked great and was running very strong.

I was closing in on Mile 11. If I was going to break 5:30, I would need to hit Mile 11 by 5:12 AND maintain a 9 minute/mile pace. At Mile 11, my watch said 5:09! I had a 3 minute cushion and knew that no matter how tired I was I needed to push. What I thought was impossible during the early moments of my swim was very possible.

The last 2 miles felt so long. I kept pushing and kept passing people. I felt pretty good overall, but was definitely ready to stop. The final turn towards the finish was awesome. We ran between 2 giant sand dunes that were lined with people. I could see the finish and I started sprinting and smiling. I was done and I had kicked ass! I couldn't believe that I met my goal. It felt awesome. I heard the announcer say my name.

Afterwards, I realized they were playing music during the finish. Only, I had completely tuned it out. I had no idea what was playing when I finished. I immediately went to the post-race tent and began refueling - root beer and plum. Yum!

Run: 1:51:15
Overall Time: 5:27:32

Age Group Place: 19/92
Gender Place: 89/517

I knocked 12+ minutes off my time from High Cliff. I had a kick ass run and an awesome bike. I struggled early in the swim, but recovered and pushed forward. This race definitely taught me that it's not over, until it's over. You can always push yourself farther than you thought. Quite often, I think we can amaze ourselves when we least expect it.

I stuck around and watched Amanda finish. She was awesome! I am so proud of her efforts. She looked strong and I have no doubts that she will rock the Ironman on September 9th.

We missed Caitlin finishing while we were gathering our gear from transition. This was a first for both Caitlin and Amanda. Both became Half-Ironwomen! And both were truly amazing!


Post-Race
We hung around post-race, grabbed some food and started to head back. For grins, we all decided to check the results. I checked the Clearwater 70.3 Championship slots and was surprised to find MY NAME on that list. I couldn't believe it.

The way it works for qualifying slots is that each Age Group is awarded a certain number of slots. In my case, it was 4 slots. The slots are automatically awarded to the top 4 finishers in each age group. If any of these athletes chooses not to accept the spot, it rolls down to the next participant. This continues for a certain number of individuals. I was 19th in my age group, so it was unlikely that it would have rolled down to me, but I was honored and overjoyed to be on that list.

We went back to the house that evening. We enjoyed a trip to the beach, a great lasagna dinner, ice cream and beer in the city and a good night's sleep!

What an awesome experience all around - a fantastic race, great new friends, beautiful surroundings!

IM WI is now 5 weeks away and it is my next race. I'm more excited than ever for this event. I know I'm going to have my ups and downs that day. I know I'm going to have moments of panic and pain...and moments of joy and amazement. It's currently 6:45pm in Madison, WI. 5 weeks from this moment, I should be in the final 10 miles of my Ironman Marathon. I can't wait!

Next Race: Ironman Wisconsin 2007 - September 9th