No rest for the weary… – 8.4.15

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The clock hands never stop moving… they go from one minute onto the next. Just like that, while I got a day off after the Tri, on Tuesday it was back to work.

The next race is a half marathon at the end of August in Batavia. To this point, the longest that I’ve run is a 10K. So the race will be more than twice that length.

To get back on track, we went and did a 6 mile run. It went well, but the post-run stretching was not.

Race Day – 8.2.15

JG4

So after all the training, race day finally arrived. We showed up at transition to get the final body marking done and set everything up. By 6:45, we were in line to get started in the water, and we took off at 7 with the elites.

The swim was a challenge because people kept trying to swim through us as we were tethered. I also had one d-bag that climbed over me twice. The first time I just pushed him off and back; the second time he just went over. We made it out of the water and back to transition for the bike.

After a long time from the water to bike, we made it out onto the course and did 12 uneventful miles. Back in transition, we made a couple of quick changes and then went out on the run.

At about 1/2 a mile, my IT band (left side), started acting up, and I had to stretch it and walk for quite a while. But eventually everything felt okay to run, and we picked it back up. We finished the race to a cheering crowd (family friends and people in general). There are a couple of great finish pictures that were taken by PEM that I’m still waiting to see.

Our total time was 2:20:37, and we ended up with awards for the PT division. I also ended up being interviewed post-race — the article is here

It was a great day. Thanks to everyone who made it so! I’ve been constantly watching the event site for 2016 registration. Hope to see some of you there!

Christmas Day – 8.2.15

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When we did the interviews (print and video), I expected a small story somewhere tomewhere in the inner part of the sports section. So I was blown away when Terri showed up to get me. She had several copies of the paper, and the story was ABOVE THE FOLD! You can read the article and view the video here

You can also view Marie Wilson talking about us on ABC7 here

Christmas in August – 8.1.15

d2tjg

Yes, I’m well aware that Christmas falls on December 25th. However, it’s now figuratively Christmas Eve… in August.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the media piece started as just a print article, then grew into print plus video. Yesterday, I was told that the snowball has grown. Tomorrow on ABC7 Marie Wilson will be sharing my story! She is the reporter that I met with, and who has helped to continue growing this.

I am extremely grateful to her and Bev for everything that they’ve done and continue to do for me. To re-cap for everyone:

Triathlon @ Centennial Beach (Naperville): 7A Start
Daily Herald Print Article – Sunday Edition
Daily Herald Video Piece – Online on dailyherald.com on Sunday
ABC7 Piece – On TV @ 8:45A, online on abc7chicago.com at some point on Sunday or Monday.

Hope to see a lot of you out there tomorrow! 🙂

The Most Important Bike Ride – 7.28.15

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For those of you that have been following the blog, the title and date may look odd. You may be thinking – ‘Isn’t the Tri on Sunday? (making that the most important one?)’ While Sunday will be an important bike ride, last night was the most important one.

It was the most important for this simple reason — it was the first time we’d been able to make it out in more than 2 weeks. The last two times had been complete scratches and total frustration. And last night started off the same way.

But we were able to get things going, figure out a plan for Sunday, and get 6 miles in. I’m feeling much better after that bike ride. We’re all set for Sunday now. 🙂

For those of you that are planning to come out — Centennial Beach in Naperville. Race start is 7A, but we should be starting 10 minutes early so we’ve got a little distance before the masses start. I’m grateful that the RD is doing that for us.

Blindsided at the Beach – 7.27.15

D2T

Earlier this year, I was asked about doing an interview related to the Naperville Tri that is this Sunday (in relation to me being the first AWD to participate). I said yes, and thought it would be at some point in June. We did the interview last Monday, but since I was unable to practice for a few days last week, the photo shoot was moved to last night.

So Terri and I showed up thinking it would just be a photo shoot. And then it turned into a video interview (about 15-20min) followed by about 30-45 min of the photographer taking photos while we practiced. While it wasn’t planned, there should be a LOT of visibility for several of those who have provided support and sponsorship throughout this process. 🙂

The article will be in Sunday’s Daily Herald, and the video should be up on dailyherald.com the same day. I will post links to Marie and Bev’s work once it’s publicly available. I am excited to see how it all turns out!

One other very cool thing happened at the end. After Bev had left and Terri and I were drying off, a group behind us struck up a conversation with us. Very nice people and they were extremely supportive of what we were doing. 🙂

Some Good, Some Bad – 7.26.15

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On Sunday, we took advantage of Adult Float to swim the course. There were still some obstacles (ropes, lane lines, floats, etc.), but we made it through. We did 1 M in wet suits and 2 without. The non-wet suit went well, and I’m in favor of going that way on race day. But I will listen to what my coach says.

After doing 1300m in the pool, we headed to Oswego to do some bike training. It did not go well – the balance just wasn’t there. The frustration pushed me to a breaking point (but not past it). I was grateful to have a friend help put everything in perspective and give me additional long-term advice as well. 🙂 Oh, and ice cream makes everything better. 😀

We will be back in Oswego tonight to give the bike another try.

Best Laid Plans – 7.25.15

James-With-Rutgers-Mascot

Last year when I ran the BTN race (5K distance) with my guides, I was disappointed about the out-and-back under the McCormick tunnel. It was about 3/4 – 1 mile of having to walk because I couldn’t see much of anything. However, it seemed that the 10K only went through it once and snaked around the lakefront trail back to the finish line.

So this year, I signed up for the 10K version with my guides. Unfortunately, it was the same way with the out-and-back under McCormick. Somehow it seemed that the back portion was longer than the out and even darker. I had to walk the 3/4 – 1mi total again this year in the dark.

While that was a frustration, it was a great day otherwise. I ended up tracking down the Rutgers mascot for a photo post-race, and we had fun at the Fan Fest.

Thanks to Mike Gorason and Beth Golden for running with me this year!

A Bad Day – 7/19/15

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Last Sunday, we headed to Oswego for a bike/run brick. Since we were an hour early to do the bike, we went for a run first. Everything seemed fine until we turned around at about 2.5 miles. At that point, I got some kind of heat exhaustion/heat stroke. I’m confident that it was caused by heat, humidity and dehydration, as I was fine by the time we walked back to the bike shop.

While that was bad, the training day got worse when we got back to the bike shop. We’ve done a minimum of 10 sessions on the bike (both here and in WI), and in the past it’s takes maybe 2 – 3 tries before we’re on the bike and off. However, on this day, I had to give up after about 35 misses.

While this was not a good day, I’ve moved past it. I know that there will always be bad practices, and bad days. But you need to move past it. And hydration is key.

The Finished Product (1 of 2) – 7.17.15

oswego-cyclery-tri-suit

As I had mentioned in earlier posts, there are two main sponsors that I wanted to make sure got visibility on race day. I’m grateful to ALL of those who have helped to sponsor me and help along the way. And you’ll see representation for all of them on race day. These two have been key, so I wanted to do something special to say thank you to them.

Earlier today, I received the printed tri suit back from Kiwami Triathlon. They did an AMAZING job and got it turned around extremely quickly. Including all of the transit, it was out of my hands for less than 4 days from start to finish!

At the beginning of the summer as we were trying to find a reasonable tandem rental, Art Black of Oswego Cyclery offered to let us just borrow a tandem that he had. This has helped IMMENSELY, and I am extremely grateful for that. So I decided to go with his logo on the tri suit.

As mentioned in the title, this is just 1 of 2. I will share info on the other main sponsor and what I’m doing for them when it’s ready. That probably will happen July 31st.