Month: August 2026

(Photo courtesy of Deb)

Last year, Mother Nature threw a “temper tantrum”… all nine inches worth of it. 🙁 She wanted a “double-dip” for this year, but thankfully, the weather held off until after awards (minor sprinkles at times).

After a strong swim (about 4.5 minutes faster than my freshwater lake swims) and a decent T1 (glove issues), we headed out onto the bike.

Since the hills in Knoxville a couple years ago, I’ve done better with them (although I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to keep speed on a10%+ uphill grade like there…), so a couple of bridge climbs should be “OK”, right?

Well, then things went a fowl… apparently geese decidded to cross the road in the middle of our bike. Jonathan was able to control the bike as they “leisurely” crossed, and we continued on.

The pending weather also made things interesting on the bike. More than four years after the crash in TX, I still have issues with downhills into right turns. Combine that with 20+ mph crosswinds coming down the bridge at 25 – 30 mph, and I’m sure you can understand my momentary internal concern. But it was only momentary, as I knew Jonathan would help to keep me safe, and it all worked out.

After a decent T2, we headed out on the run. While the time does not reflect it, it was the most consistent run I’ve had throughout the season.

After finishing, I had a chance to talk with teammates while we waited for the Para awards. It was great to see so many on the podium after last year had “delayed” all of their hard work.

And on the topic of awards, I want to give a shout-out to the 89 year-old woman (she is a Presbyterian minister) who won her age group in Olympic Nationals. I hope to still be racing at that point in my life. 🙂

Thank you to Jonathan for all his help, support, and guiding throughout the weekend. Thank you to Dare2Tri and my parents for all their help and support throughout the weekend.

FYI, while Nationals would be the end of most people’s seasons, I still have a lot left before mine ends in December. While the majority of them will be running and OCR, I do have a couple of Triathlons on the calendar. 🙂

(Photo courtesy of Deb)

For those of you whom have followed my blog for a while, you’re well aware that I’ll try almost anything if it looks like fun. I’ve been very vocal that the Triathlon journey began because (from memory), I saw footage from the 2014 Chicago Triathlon and it looked like fun. Most of the time, the “chances” work out really well (OK, almost paddleboarding into sailboats was a “fail”… :D)

Over the last few years, I’ve had an interest in trying Mixed Relays. But before this year, they were always at a different event. It never worked logistically to go to that separate event and give them a try. However, with Mixed Relays (Adaptive and Regular) getting added to the Nationals weekend, I finally had an opportunity to do so.

As a side note before going forward, I believe it was for the 2017 season that USAT labeled guides as “equipment” in the official rules (I believe this reference has since been removed). The continued fun with that naturally spawned the correct team name which had 3 VIs — 3 Blind Mice and Eyece D!

After some nerve wracking logistics on the Adaptive Mixed Relays and ParaTriathlon Nationals gear checks, I thought we were all set. However, it took some extra time for our third “mouse” to appear… To a point where we were trying to figure out plans Z and the always popular XFD…

But once we were all gathered, it was time to go. It was an odd experience to be standing at the fence in full gear waiting to race — especially as I’ve been at or in the water for the prior 107 Triathlons. But after Coach Deb tagged me in, Jonathan and I headed to the water.

As we were climbing the stairs down to the water, I heard him say “that’s the last one”, which made me think we were going to be on flat land. Instead, what it meant was the steps had hit water level. It was quite the interesting way to start the swim…

After a lolipop-shaped swim and a solid T1, we headed out on the bike. I was nervous going into it because the U-turn was to the right instead of the normal left U-turns. I haven’t practiced right U-turns for a long time, as they never come up… But we made it through and back for the run.

After a normal T2, we headed out on a run with hills (over the bridge). As we were starting to head back, another Adaptive team’s “C” athlete was coming towards us. While I knew we weren’t going to beat them overall, I had to show team pride by ensuring that we didn’t get double-lapped (as I was the “B” athlete). Even though run is not my strongest, I was still able to ensure that I did not get passed. 🙂

After tagging Lizzie in, Jonathan and I watched and cheered on Lizzie and Adam (and their guides) racing. I’m told that we finished 4th in the Adaptive category! 🙂

It was a fun experience and something to build on in Iowa next year. 🙂 Thanks to the entire team for a great race and to Jonathan for guiding and all his help.

(Photo courtesy of John)

If you ever have a day that goes perfectly — from the second you wake up to the second you go to sleep — watch out for it to literally rain cats and dogs the next day. The reality is that something will not go accoring to plan for you today. Whether it’s something small (like your dog eats part of your breakfast while you’re looking at a text) or something huge (like someone t-boning you on the way to work), it’s going to happen. It’s how you deal with what happened and then how you readjust your Tetris for the day.

While it was going to be an early start and long day, I had everything planned out. Lombard > Chicago > Lake Forest > Vernon Hills in about 2.5 hours by public transportation so I could attend a Bears Training Camp event with Achilles Chicago.

The reality of what happened was that I was left at the “annex” of OTC instead of the main entrance. There wasn’t a safe way for me to walk to the main part, either along the rails or outside in the dark. So it then became Lombard > Chicago >Vernon Hills. And then an accident and them not paying attention to traffic reports caused me to think I’d miss it (as I arrived in Vernon Hills about 30 minutes late).

But it all worked out, and it was an amazingly fun day. The moral of the story — when life gives you lemons, chuck them back at life and keep moving forward. Oh wait, that’s not the right saying… but it’s probably the right sentiment. 😀

I’m grateful for the Chicago Bears inviting Achilles Chicago to attend, and for Achilles Chicago extending an invite to me!

(Photo courtesy of Scott)

This is how chaotic my year has been. I completely forgot that one of my “stalker”s was lurking until they popped up pre-race. 😀 😀 Apparently I am now not only a Golden Retriever, but also the worst “one and done” athlete. 😀 I guess that the first caused the second, so…

As I’ve mentioned, the Napervills Sprint was my first public Triathlon in 2015. It was also supposed to be my “one and done” Triathlon. This year’s Naperville race was Tri #107 overall. Oops… I guess I missed that “and done” part. LOL

In prior years, the swim has always been a struggle. Not just from my swim stroke in the beginning, but from the overall flow. For the first year, we were at the front, but quickly got swum over by the elites who could legitimately do 45 – 60 second 100s. After that, we moved to the back, where the issues because more of us being used as flotation devices by other swimmers who were struggling. This year, they (RD/Andrea) set things up so we were starting 5 minutes before the elites. In theory, this should mean the elites wouldn’t catch us until about the very last part of the swim.

Also, going into the race, I was excited to see Max and his son out on the course again. It had been about 5 years since I had raced with them last (I believe in Goshen). So with the new swim setup, the four of us (me/Scott; Max/his son) headed into the water for an early start.

I am very glad that the swim start was changed. This year’s swim seemed much cleaner. No one tried to physically climb over us or use us as a personal flotation device, and the timing worked out perfectly. While I don’t have the exact point, I would guess the elites caught us at 325 – 330yd, meaning we had 50y or less of traffic. And all of those were experienced, strong swimmers, who could easily navigate around us.

After a slightly longer than usual T1 (I had to toss on a jacket in addition to a longer run in transition), we headed out on the bike. As in Pleasant Prairie, the chain acted up. While we lost some speed on the bike, it seemed like some of it settled down as we got further into the bike.

At some point in the bike, I asked Scott if he had seen Max. I remember him telling me that they were only on loop 1 as we were about 1/4 of the way through loop 2. So I was really surprised to see them headed out of T2 as we were racking the bike.

After a normal T2, we headed out on the run. Even though I knew there was absolutely, positively no way that I was catching them, it still helped to have a “rabbit”. I had some of the normal issues (more with breathing) I do on the run. But having that “rabbit” out there helped me to keep those rest periods as short as possible.

After the race, I was surprised to see another Dare2Tri teammate (Molly). I was further surprised to later learn that there was a fourth Para. The reason that it was so surprising is that typically I’m the only Para. It was wonderful to finally have a FULL Para podium (photo on IG @nocrappyexcuses)!

Thanks to so many who helped this race to be a success — including Coach Joe, Dave, Andrea, “Quiet Chris”, and others! Thanks to Scott for guiding and all his help / support throughout. It will be a VERY short turnaround before Adaptive Mixed Relays and ParaTriathlon Nationals. Hope to see a lot of you in Milwaukee!