Here's the rest of the day in pictures. I ran with Kona and went on a picnic!

This little picture sums it all up for me.  I started the new year like so many people, full of steam, only to break and wind up doing more sleeping in than working out.  Even right now, it is almost 11:00 on Sunday morning and I am on the computer when I should be finishing a run.  

I did however, read the newspaper and made pancakes for everyone.  I can hear Lindsey and Emma now and I think they are getting ready for something, I know Emma wanted to go on a picnic today.  What do I do?

Although I know this, it is hard to follow.... get up early and get the work done before anyone wakes up and before the day starts.  I try to look for inspiration from a friend of mine, Matthew Napier.  Matt has an engineering job, a family of 5, and he is a badass triathlete.  In fact, he recently qualified for the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii which will be his second trip there.  Matt recently told me how if he doesn't finish working out by 8 in the morning he probably doesn't work out because of other commitments. Waking up in the middle of the night to get in a trainer ride with a brick run is not uncommon for him.  The schedule Matt keeps may seem extreme, but so are his results.  Proof that if you want something bad enough you will make sacrifices and do what it takes to get you there.

I am also very fortunate that I can look to my older brother Mike for inspiration and a little bit of competitiveness.  He too has been to Hawaii twice for the World Championships.  Any triathlon he enters he is a favorite.  Mike however has been known not to start a workout until 8.....PM!  Mike likes to work out in the evenings and in fact he called me last night on his way home from the pool and I was getting Emma chocolate milk for bedtime.  Mike still puts in the work, just later on in the day.

Now as for me, I am neither.  I don't work out consistently no matter what time of day or night it is.  I keep telling myself that basketball is almost over, just 2 more weeks.  Then I can focus on me.  I also have to write a dossier for work during the month of February.  Well I guess excuses can be found whenever you need one.  And truth is that there are no excuses, you just do or you don't.  I need a little more do in my life right now.

I'll make another post this evening on how the day finally ended up.  Peace.    

Here we are 11 days into 2009 and I am starting my 14th year of doing triathlons.  I was reading a thread on a triathlon forum recently that asked readers to post their "old school" triathlon pics.  It was a pretty funny thread and so I thought I would do the same here for you all to see. The first picture was in 2001 in Puerto Penasco, Mexico after a race and supporting the sponsors (look at the giant inflatable beer can in the background).  The second was with Mike at the Hawaii Ironman in 2001.  Third is with Mike in Lubbock and fourth was finishing the swim at the Carlsbad, NM triathlon.  The fifth picture is not me but it is a person who reads the blog, Mr. El Carne and another friend of mine, Terry Moore, at the Stealth Triathlon at Holloman AFB.  The last two are at the finish of the same race in 1998 and 2000.  Check out the improvement!  I wish it continued to drop like that but no such luck.      

 
 

  

   

Happy Birthday to Lindsey and Happy New Year to everybody!

*Look at the bump starting on Lindsey's tummy*

  

Happy Happy Holidays

Here we are right in between Christmas and New Years (and Lindsey's 30th birthday) and I hope everyone had a special Christmas.  We spent ours in Las Cruces with my brother, Mike and his family.  We knew that Emma would have fun opening her presents and playing with her cousins so we packed up and were there for several days.  Some highlights for me included seeing Mike's brother-in-law Abraham who I haven't seen in several years, Mike's fire pit, Margie's cooking, the gift exchange, and a shirt I got from my brother that used to be my dad's.  

Emma had  so much fun the entire time, it was like non-stop playing with Monique and Levi and their cousin, Mia.  On Christmas eve we did the traditional (now it is anyway because I never did growing up) leaving reindeer food out on the front yard for Santa's reindeer and the reading of T'was the Night Before Christmas.  The funniest thing I heard from the kids was Mia saying how "freaky" it was that Santa was going to be "...like right there...while we're sleeping like right there!"  

On Christmas morning we sat around and opened gifts and there was no proof that any recession existed at all.  Emma did get quite a bit of goods but I think she mostly played with her skates and scooter.  I'm looking forward to tonight when we get some batteries in her walkie talkies and her and I can talk back and forth from her room to mine.    

All in all we had a great time so thanks Mike.  Family is what makes any holiday gathering special.  And as I say that I want to tell you that there is still one gift that is yet to be opened.  This gift will be opened when it's ready sometime around July 31 of 2009.  Lindsey and I are expecting an addition to our family and she is currently 10 weeks along.  Things are going great and I look forward to all the Christmas's to come. 

Tucson 1/2 Marathon

So over this pastweekend I competed in the Tucson 1/2 marathon and it went well and we had a really good time. We left for Las Cruces on Friday so we could go out to eat and spend the night with my brother Mike and his family. We have not visited LC very much since moving so it was nice to visit with Mike and eat at Andele's in Mesilla. Emma loves her cousin Monique so much and I don't think they were asleep any ealier than midnight.

Saturday we picked up Lindsey's mom, Sue, and were off to Tucson. Sue being able to go with us made the trip that much more special and fun. I love spending time with her and it is always something I look forward to.

The race was on Sunday morning and lindsey graciously woke up and drove me to the start line so I was able to avoid the bus shuttles. The start was a little crowded as we had to navigate through a one lane raod and ond over the chip timing strips. The race thinned out by the first mile and I was off and running along the foothills with beautiful desert and mountain views. I started off running what I thought was a pace I could keep for the entire race. My mile splits were: 6:53, 7:03, 6:49, 6:52, 6:54, 6:41, 7:13, 6:49, 7:14, 7:21, ?, ?, ? for a total of 1:33 or an average of 7:09 per mile. The reason I did not get my last 3 mile splits is because as I found out, my watch only remembers 10 laps. I did feel like I slowed the last 3 miles and it makes sense that I did because my longest training runs had been 10 miles. Sometimes I try fooling myself as to what is adequate for myself for training. In order to race 13 miles hard you really have to be able to run 13 miles hard in Practice and overdistance long runs to 15 miles+.

I'm already thinking about running another half marathon in January in Tempe, AZ, and thinking about how I could run it faster. I know what it will take and I know I am capable of running the distance faster but putting it to reality is a little more difficult for me? And that is the dilema that I have been facing. I am still young and am capable of racing some personal records but I have not been able to be disciplined enough to put in the work required. I have really become soft and although I want the results I guess I don't want them bad enough.

It's a struggle. Stay tuned.