Life is Good...Thumbs Up

We had a fun Halloween as Pirates. I think dressing up may become an annual tradition.

I woke up with a pretty bad sore throat this morning. Katie's been sick for a few days and it seems that I've caught her cold. As someone who never gets sick, this development is a little frustrating, but hopefully it will run its course by Saturday. Katie says to get a steroid shot, but Colin, the king of colds, says they give some people insomnia. The internet says they also weaken your immune system. If the internet says it, you know it's true. I think I'll just continue to overdose on Airborne.

As part of my training for Ironman Florida I've entered all sorts of races in the last two years. Marathons, Half Marathons, 10k's, 15k's, 50k's, road races, trail races, duathlons, and triathlons. The Ironman will be my 17th race in 2009. It all started in the summer of 2007 when I was a little overweight and terribly out of shape. I wanted to start running again, but new it had to be approached differently than in the past. All previous efforts to maintain an exercise plan or drop a few pounds had failed.

An idea occurred to me. Maybe if I registered for a race, the registration fee and commitment to participate would motivate me to stick to a plan. I decided to go all out and register for the Mercedes Marathon here in Birmingham in February of 2008. I wasn't really sure what Katie's reaction would be. Never having run more than 5-6 miles, 26.2 seemed a little bit outside of my ability level. Thankfully she was very supportive, giving me the thumbs up. Throughout my training schedule she made so many accommodations to help me achieve this goal. On race day she even brought a cheering squad of family members and found me four times plodding along the race route. Its amazing how the encouragement of a few folks can lift your tired spirits.

The idea of registering for a race worked. 21 months and 31 races later I'm having the time of my life. Always having an event in the near future keeps me motivated to continue an intense training regimen Through countless hours of training, with thousands of dollars spent on registration fees, travel, and gear, with early bed times and even earlier wake up calls, I'm still getting the thumbs up.

From participating in our first triathlon together, hoping we didn’t get eaten by a shark, to running the Chicago marathon side by side, to sitting in the cold for seven hours wondering if I'd ever emerge from the woods in my first 50k, thanks for always being my support system and keeping me up Katie. Without you I don't know who or where I’d be. I realize this lifestyle is not the most normal, but for me its as good as it gets.

May we have many many more adventures together.

Thumbs Up

JG