Half-Iron 70.3 - Take Two!

Heart in champions has to do with the depth of your motivation and how well your mind and body react to pressure. -- Bill Russell

This past week was pretty full... 45 minute - 1 hour bike rides and runs, swim at the lake or at the pool, Friday night run, Saturday morning we rode the Atlas Ride, and Sunday another run.

The Atlas Ride is Leg #1 of the Texas 4000, as that group starts their trek to Alaska. With IMKS next week, I chose to do just the 50-miler rather than the 70, which is actually 53 and some change. Fortunately, the weather this time was a lot better than last year. Not a tremendous amount of wind or heat, but we DID encounter a live snake in the road. A number of friends also rode the 50-mile route, so it was good to be at the finish (the Texas Legato winery, which is right next door to the winery we finished at last year) to see them come in.

Sunday, I was a kayak volunteer for the Danskin Tri, a women-only event out at Decker Lake. This was the 2nd time I have volunteered on the kayak, and it was nice out on the water in the early hours of the morning. Climbing into the kayak to watch the sunrise, and the water being as smooth as glass... pretty awesome experience. My position on the swim course was at the top of the triangle to make sure the swimmers made the turn around the last buoy and head for the beach, rather than swimming off course. Only had to chase down one errant swimmer after she drifted off a bit, but otherwise was mostly cheerleading from the water. 

I know I said it last year, but I feel like it is the right thing to do when you have the opportunity to give back to the sport. Too many times, some of us as participants tend to overlook the effort made by the volunteers. I thank by best friend for this bit of insight, and I know I will try to remember to thank every volunteer I come across in Florida.

Well, Toto - in a few days I will be off to Kansas, for the Ironman Kansas 70.3. The event will take place at Clinton Park, outside Lawrence. I am looking forward to it... well, maybe to everything but the long drive. But it should be a fun trip... the plan is to stop and have dinner with Amanda, then drive on up. Once I get checked into the park, I will then check in for the race, drive the bike course, and chill out the rest of Friday. Speaking of volunteering, Saturday there is an Iron Kids event in the park, and they have cyclists ride alongside the kids, so I think doing this as a volunteer will help to keep the legs loose...and it should be fun to watch the little guys. A couple of hours of that and then I am ready for a chair in the shade for the rest of the day. A lot of the participants will be camping in the park itself, so it should be fairly entertaining.

The race itself is on Sunday. Looking at the elevation for the bike, it is definitely NOT a redux of Galveston! There are quite a few rollers on this ride. And the run has an up-and-down at the dam, as far as I can tell. Given these little factors, I doubt I will be getting any PR for the Half. But I will be really happy to just finish in time.

Then it is back home for the Pflugerville Tri on the 19th... no, don't expect any speedy times - I expect it will be a good recovery effort, but that's about it!