Crazy People

There are so many of them in San Diego. All too often my jaw drops when I hear several of my training partners rattle off their race calendar. I hear the word "ironman" over and over and am perplexed by the fact that so many people aspire to do more than one ironman in a single season (and prior to this year I was a proponent of the 'one every other year' philosophy). Well....call me crazy, because the tides have turned. 2 ironmans in 6 weeks sounds like a great idea (the results next weekend will hopefully confirm this feeling).
I've been told I'm "crazy," "an addict," "obsessed," and my favorite "an inspiration." I am really excited that I have the opportunity to tackle one more ironman course before closing the door on 20009. Ironman Arizona: Ahhhhh, yes...never say never! After doing this race in 2006 I said: never again. Well never will be here in just 9 days. It isn't pretty, the crowds there are less than impressive, the course hardly goes out of town before you loop back for the 3 loop bike course and 3 loop figure 8 run course, and you can hardly see your hand in front of your face on the swim. But it's an ironman, and this year a ton of Kona athletes will toe the line to dig deep and display their remarkable fitness once again.

Ironman Hawaii and Arizona are 6 weeks apart. If I'm telling the truth here, I started thinking about my next ironman before I even left Hawaii. I am 100% happy with my race, but I knew my run fitness didn't shine through in Hawaii. I came back to San Diego and focused on everything but triathlon (hence the limited blog posts). Unless triathlon is your job, you need to move on and get back to the real world. My real world involved work, fun with friends, lots and lots of sleep, compression tights and socks, contrast baths, a.r.t., and massage. Before I could think about another race I needed to heal both body and mind. I spent 2 weeks doing everything but training.

Jeff and Vickie cooked up an amazing dinner and together we sat and talked about everything but triathlon! (the guys are in the other room discussing who knows what!)

Then there was Halloween. Can you guess what I am? Just take a shot in the dark...no no, that was my costume (a shot in the dark-my necklace was a shot glass).

Can you guess who the preschool teacher is (hint, see above) and who may never be allowed around children again?


It took a full 4 weeks before my confidence returned, and my legs felt like they could actually handle more than 2 hours of movement. But with only one week to go I'm finally getting really excited. This is a great opportunity, and one I don't want to waste. I've struggled a little bit with how to structure my training between Hawaii and Az, but thankfully have had some amazing help from those who have done this before with great success. Racing in Az means I'll get a front row seat to watch so many of my friends tear it up in Tempe! I can't wait!
Can Tempe Town lake really look this beautiful?!?!?! 9 Days!