Be Kickin' it Off

Saturday May 31, 2014 at 7am marks the official start of my 2014 Triathlon season. With Ironman Arizona being my BIG race this year, and not happening until November 16, 2014, it makes for a long training year….but honestly I’m excited (at least right now) to test myself out with some shorter races along the way. Toughman Indiana this weekend is the first race where I’ll get to see where I’m at.

Oh yeah! :)

Toughman Indiana is in Richmond, Indiana which thankfully is only about 2 hours from Columbus. It’s part of the Toughman Triathlon series which is a lot like the Rev 3 series triathlons with various tri’s in various cities around the country. A lot of my JustTri teammates are doing a half iron triathlon the first weekend in June and initially my plans had been to race with all of them, seeing as how it it is being held in my old stomping grounds of West Michigan...perfect! But I was asked to officiate a wedding for a dear family that I used to serve in my former church and I couldn’t turn it down. Doing this wedding is an honor and it’s also helping to pay for my bike transportation to Arizona in November, so I had to find another half iron to race.

My buddy Tim Dasgupta suggested the Toughman Indiana race as he raced it last year. Tim called the Toughman Indiana half his “redemption” race after a challenging race a few weeks prior in Knoxville.  That was a tough race for just about everyone with pouring rains and hypothermia. Ugh!.  Tim performed amazingly in Toughman and I’m super proud of his efforts. He as assured me that this half iron is supposedly flat and fast….it’ll be the first time I try out my new triathlon bike and see how she does in a race. The weather looks just perfect…..low 80’s for the high which I love. It’ll be wetsuit legal which is a pain but also good practice because Ironman Arizona will DEFINITELY be wetsuit legal and I might as well get used to it.

Toughman Indiana Swim 

This past month has been challenging for me in many ways and so I’m heading into this with an attitude of playfulness and fun…..I want to push myself but also enjoy the gift of racing and smile as much as I can. I’m not so much interested in beating other athletes as I am meeting and exceeding my own personal goals that I have created with my Coach. I’m grateful that I’ll have another training buddy, Andy Lowe, down there with me. However Andy is practically an elite athlete so I'm assuming he’ll be showered and changed by the time I finish. We’ll see.

Preach.

So here’s to a good racing season for us all….whether it’s a triathlon, marathon, 5K or trail race. May we all savor the gift. Be Kickin’ it Off. Be Brave.