WHY PEOPLE DO IT

There are many cool things about Ironman. It tests yourself to the very core of your existence both mentally and physically. It's a lesson in persistence, endurance, toughness, failure and rising above it, humility, triumph, confidence, exhaustion and the list goes on.

Another intriguing aspect to Ironman is everyone has a story. Ironman finishers come in all shapes and sizes and from many different walks of life. Everyone has a reason for why they are an Ironman....and they all are inspiring in one way or another. Below is a link to one such inspiring story.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMCnjMbUOFg

Pre Route 66

Gearing up for my second go-round with the Route-66 oly in El Reno, Oklahoma this weekend. The ankle is feeling much better (I bought stock in a generic ibuprofen company....shorting, of course). Swam 2500 this morning with an opening set of 1800 straight. I was planning a 3000 workout but had to get to the house and take the kids to school. I'm also doing a short brick this afternoon.

Did a nice 50-miler (actually it ended up being 47.5....rounding up, don't you know, always looks better) this past weekend with the guys & gal. It was my first trip around the Cato loop this year and that dad-gum hill is still there. Incidentally so are the three subsequent hills after the dad-gum hill. In all it was a good workout and a confidence boost.

More on the 66 next week.

MiM 2008

Two out of three isn't bad, as they say, but it feels crappy. More on this shortly.

Memphis in May was my first triathlon of the season. It happened this past weekend, May 18th. It's a great race and usually someone famous is on hand for the event. last year it was Macca. He captured the victory and the $10,000.00 check. No high profile pros were in attendance this year but a celebrity was there non the less. Sister Madonna Buder was in the ranks and well recognized.

I've said many times that baseball was the first true love of my life, but ironically it did me in for this race. This past thursday night (before the race Sunday) I was coaching my 15-year-old son's baseball game. It's a nice field with dugouts that you step down to the main part of the dugout. In between innings I was stepping down into the dugout to get a drink of water from the fountain. What I didn't see was the baseball I was about to step on that would ultimately cost me the run portion of this race. As soon as I stepped on it my ankle rolled and I swear I could hear tendons pulling beyond the normal limits. I went down like a sack of 'tators and my ankle swelled up like a hot air balloon.

Actually it healed pretty well over the next two days thanks to a lot of ice, heat and ibuprofen. But not enough healing to allow me to run. I was able to tackle the swim and bike portions and went through both transitions but as soon as I crossed the timing mat to start the run I pealed off and ended my day.

I was the first DNF of my short triathlon "career" and it goes against everything I believe and know about finishing events like these.....I want to finish at all costs. But I thought better of it considering it's the first race of my season and not the last and not my "A" race.

About the race....a great race that's well supported. My swim was a little slower than last year at 29:ish (can't remember the seconds) and the bike was roughly the same averaging 21.7 MPH (22.1 last year). Both transitions were faster than last year.

The post-race food was awesome. There was a lot of pasta, burgers, dogs, cole slaw, fruit, chips and the peach turnover was fantastic.

If you've never done this race before I highly recommend it.

AERO HELMETS AND CUFF LINKS

It's pretty difficult to compare aero helmets and cuff links. One protects your cranium while riding a bicycle, the other holds your shirt together at it's sleeve cuff. While wearing one you hope to break a sweat and get in a good workout. But while wearing the other you hope to avoid sweating at all costs. One is pretty good size and is very apparent when seen. The other is much smaller and doesn't stand out quite as much. Of course there are many more differences that I choose not to go into here because the point of this post is how they are similar.

Aero helmets and cuff links are very assuming, in my opinion, and both make a statement. An aero helmet does more than just protect your head in a crash. It's there to make you more aerodynamic, more streamlined, faster! Cuff links do more than just hold your cuff together. They're more sophisticated, they say something about you.

Both aero helmets and cuff links force you to step into an arena where casual is no longer an option. It's serious now and you're playing for keeps. For the helmet not only are you preserving your health you're saying I'm fast and I want to be faster. For the links not only are you keeping your cuff together but you're doing it with a certain pizazz.

O.K. Now comes the self realization. I have both an aero helmet and cuff links. I guess that makes me all that's above with certain caveats. As far as the helmet's concerned I'm really not that fast I just got an incredible deal on it and couldn't pass it up (more than half-off!). And the links? I got a good deal on some french cuff shirts. How are you going to hold them together without links?

Here's another difference between the two. With cuff links you can kind of pull it off. If you look good, who really knows the difference? But with the aero helmet if people are blowing by you like you're going backwards they're going to go, "yeah, right!"