Prologue: Bear with me, we’ll work our way into the race itself. It is in my nature to weave things into a story, though, so I must meander my way to the destination with the tale. 1: Open your eyes It’s December 2018, and I’m not well. Not sickness, just poor choices. Number 1 on that list: Insufficient sleep. I am averaging something...

I'm being generous here. The first race is next weekend, and it's not like Texas weather is anywhere near "Fall-like". It still acts as the start of the Fall, though. I'll be competing in the Disco Triathlon, and then racing the DRC Half in November and the Half Marathon distance at Dallas in December. Unlike the last two years, when I...

USA Triathlon Multisport Nationals are in the books. April's been a rough month. It already brought emotional baggage, but COVID did a number on myself and the family as well. I'm focusing on recovery for the next few months. Yoga and stretching, redevelop a strength program for a bit, and just enjoy endurance activities for what they ...

Or, alternatively put, did I even have an off-season? First race in two weeks. Competing in something I haven't done seriously since high school: The Mile. Due to recent illness and some minor injuries, I won't be hitting a PR or even blazing around the track at any amazing pace. Originally aimed for 5:30 but I'll likely need to reset ...

I write this six months removed from life changing fundamentally. From unfathomable loss. From an ending that came too soon. I will not go into the detail here right now. There is purpose to bringing this up though: In just over six weeks, I will be running the Dallas Marathon. She wished to see me Boston qualify, so I've spent the pas...

Three races. Eight days. Time to start the 2022 Multisport season. Admittedly, the first race is just about shaking off the cobwebs. Getting back into the right mentality to execute a race plan. Ensure I still remember the fundamentals. The real work starts next Thursday, as I’ll compete in two races I’ve never tried before: A Super Sp...

Well into another round of No Days Off, with two weeks (and a couple of days) down on the calendar. I avoid acting like this means a workout every day, as rest days are a necessity. Technically I've only had one full rest day on the calendar so far, the day after the marathon around the Courthouse-on-the-Square. Between running and cyc...

Busy Fall. Trained for the Ultra distance marathon at Dallas. Did a lot of family stuff. Made significant progress on a project at work. While I could go into it, I'm not going to. The way I see it, the moment's passed. We're into the new year, let's focus there. Started 2022 by running 133 laps around the Courthouse-on-the-Square in D...

By the time you read this, the 2021 edition of The Norseman Extreme Triathlon is already complete. I've been fascinated by this race for years now, and love following it and the competition. If you've never heard of it, start here: https://nxtri.com/ This is a race many want to compete in, hence the lottery selection. Additionally, it ...

Finally, race day arrives and proceeds with excellent weather. Perhaps I'll dig into the details later, but the summary is simple: It felt great to be out on the trail competing, and I got third overall to top it off. The immediate future will be focused on cycling work as I force myself into a 6 week reset in terms of running. After s...

Ah, the joys of a very wet Texas Spring. Race moved back again, into the hotter Summer months. This is necessitating a review of my running plans for the remainder of the year, especially with the Dallas Marathon on the long horizon. The challenge is a plus, though. It is forcing me to properly evaluate my schedule and planned times fo...

I really enjoyed today’s (May 7th, 2021) Radio Headspace episode, “I Want To Be…” I’m a big proponent of continuing to grow, to make progress, and to keep finding new goals. Just because you reach an age and think you are supposed to have “made it” does not mean you should hang everything up and be content without new horizons to reach...

Finally getting back to racing in a few weeks (would've been this past weekend if not for inclement weather). There's a level of anticipation and excitement, in addition to a feeling of dread. How will it feel? Will the crowds be a boost to my psyche as I run, and/or a boon to my feelings of wellbeing? It is a welcome feeling, though, ...

Twenty two years ago, The Matrix landed in theaters. As the opening sequence proceeds, Trinity finds herself on the floor at the bottom of the stairwell waiting for a trailing agent to come within range of a shot. As the wait extends, Trinity utters the following lines to herself: “Get up, Trinity. Get up. Get up!” Since the first (and...

A big part of the endurance athlete experience is the ability to push through difficulties. One common conflation of this idea is "pain tolerance." We are often seen as individuals that can handle a significant amount of pain and push it aside in order to continue. I think it is an overgeneralization of a larger concept of tolerance. P...

The makers of Hey (and Hey World) created a URL for finding a random post. If you found yourself here with that link, feel free to continue the madness with another selection: https://world.hey.com/~shuffle (Back in the 90s and early 00s, we used to have token ring-like links from URL to URL for sites that belonged to a shared list of ...

For me, training without intention is very difficult. I do much better when I have a specific goal in mind. A couple of days ago, one of my target goals shifted. I intended to run the Dallas Ultra Marathon in early May. Due to circumstances, it was moved to December. My training plan for the last two plus months just got turned on its ...

There are days you are not primed to give full effort. I’m speaking from my own experience today, as I woke in the middle of the night and could not get back to sleep. Sometimes I know when my mind is awake and refusing to shut back off, and today was one of those instances. I did grab a pre-dawn run, which was a bit risky after comple...

I am going to use this space to document some thoughts about the journey. What journey? The one towards the future. As a preview, we’ll start from a point. In late 2018, after a season of getting back into triathlon shape, I turned my eye towards the future. What races did I want to compete in? Which distances did I want to aim for? Wa...

Out of a desire to try this Hey blog out and see how it functions, I'm taking the approach of putting something out there as opposed to overthinking it and delaying the process. As the title puts it, "Just start."