It’s pretty common to see athlete’s post their totals for the past year when the time to replace your calendar; it’s become a fitting way to tie up the last 365 days with a little bow. As such, and before I get into the last three weeks’ happenings, here are [most of] mine via Garmin Connect:
Swim: 155 activities ~302 miles ~143:18 hours
Bike: 205 activities ~5853 miles ~345:36 hours
Run: 180 activities ~922 miles ~ 129:24 hours
Total: 555 activities ~7081 miles ~620:40 hours
All that said and done, this new season should eclipse those numbers thanks to the races and distances I’m competing in. I’m not going to lie…I’m stoked to do it. Challenge Atlantic City is just over five months away!!
To start the season and set my baseline, me and the girlfriend raced a little 10k & 50K in Green Cove Springs. I won and shaved about a minute off of my 10k PR (in January no less!), and she placed 3rd in her age group. She was also far less amused at my taking pictures, which only served to make amuse me more. Also, fellow Challenge Triathlon Team member Susan Haag ran the 50k, because…well because that’s just what Susan does.
The next weekend we had the Challenge Triathlon Team summit here in Jax. Lots of cool stuff, most of which I can’t tell you. What I can tell you is that on Saturday morning we volunteered at the Jacksonville Best Damn Race. And of course that weekend was probably (hopefully) the coldest of the winter. Don’t get confused, even our Canadian teammates wore pants and jackets; it was cold. Giving back to the community and getting to see the sun come up over the St. Johns pretty much made it worth it though.
After summit the girlfriend and I drove up to Atlanta for the week, which also happened to be her ‘birthday week’ -_- Don’t get me wrong though; it was worth it. And aside from traveling into even colder weather, we did get to see downtown Atlanta from the top of the ferris wheel, AND with gas for under 1$/gallon, I can’t really complain.
Up next is the Donna Breast Cancer Marathon. Well…the 5k and half-marathon. Last year I placed 3rd in the 5k. I saw the 1st place finisher cross the tape. There’s a bit of a chip on my shoulder. Plus, I want to see what kind of time I can throw down for an open 13.1 after knocking almost 5 minutes off of my then PR back at Rev3 Venice in November. That’s a 5k Saturday, and a 13.1 Sunday for both me and the GF. Athletes are weird.
Ummmm…What else… Lot’s of swimming. PT school applications and perpetually crossed fingers. And rebuilding treadmill motors. Yes; there was a lot of cursing.
Quick note before signing out: For those of you that haven’t found your groove or need some extra motivation to get off the couch, check out our Peak Racing Team’s GAPS Camp. Late March, and if you’ve never ridden the North Georgia GAPS, you’re seriously missing out as a cyclist/triathlete. Registration is open now, so act on it, because we will sell out. 
Also; modern day dinosaur at feeding time
