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ChesapeakeMan Aquabike – Interested in challenging yourself but don’t want to run the marathon? Then the Aquabike is for you! The Aquabike encompasses the 2.4-mile Swim in Hambrooks Bay and the 112 miles of cycling through the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge. The race finishes at the transition area where the full distance ChesapeakeMan competitors will continue on with the run.

Skipjack 75.2 Triathlon – The Skipjack Triathlon will start at 8:10am with one loop of the 1.2 mile ChesapeakeMan swim course in Hambrooks Bay. After a quick transition (skipping the changing tent) and saddling up for the 64-mile first loop of the ChesapeakeMan bike course, there will be an out and back 10-mile run. The Skipjack Triathlon is the perfect event to end your season or to use as training for a long distance event.

Bugeye Sprint Triathlon – The Bugeye Sprint Triathlon will start at 9:45 am with one 800 yard loop of in Hambrooks Bay. Skip the changing tent and begin the 15 mile first leg of the Ultra and Skipjack bike routes. Transition at Cambridge South Dorchester High School and begin the 3.1 mile out and back run on Egypt Road. The Bugeye Sprint is a fabulous way to conclude a summer of training for your first triathlon, or to have some fun while friends or family are participating in the longer events in the festival.

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2012 is starting to come into focus a little more clearly. I may also add the Ocean Drive marathon in March since I will already be in 26.2 mile shape. The spring will bring a number of sprint triathlons. Then of course EagleMan IronMan 70.3 in June. Followed by a few charity/training bike rides to support LIVESTRONG and the American Cancer Society in July and August. Then I will be back in Cambridge again for ChesapeakeMan ultra distance triathlon in September. Before I know it, I am back where I started with NYC again next year.

Add to that my usual support and “working” races such as Avalon Islandman, Philadelphia Insurance Triathlon, SheROX, and it should be another full and rewarding year. Much more to follow! Stay tuned.

Decent swim. Crashed on the bike. Pulled out of the race. Checked into medical tent and was rushed to Dorchester ER in Cambridge MD. Head and neck CT and X-ray were negative. Walked out disappointed with wounded pride and a concussion. I’ll be back. Sorry, no long winded race report this time around. Need to look ahead.

All that being said, and now that a week has passed, I can actually say that I still had a decent time in Cambridge. My family was there. And while it can be even more disappointing when things go wrong in front of loved ones, you realize how deep their love and support is in times like that.

It was also exciting to hang out with friend and first timer Laura Pyott as she realized her ironman dream. I love feeding off of the energy and nervousness of those newbies.

And I also went into the race with a clear(er) head now that I have landed a good job with JPMorgan Chase in Wilmington. Oh and the shower in my building is about 20 yards from my desk making for very accessible noon time runs!

So now I look ahead to the NYC marathon, the Philly half marathon, and a couple of other races I may try to squeeze in there. But first I am off to East Stroudsburg PA for the Pocono Mountain Ironman 70.3 where I will coach and cheer our Team in Training athletes in tomorrow’s race. I’ll try to post some things on the fly.

Have fun, race safe, and thank the volunteers.

Self: You do know you are racing an ironman in 3 days, right?

Other self: Yes, I do recall such event.

Self: And why do you continue to do this again?

Other self: Hmmmm…. I DON’T FRIGGIN KNOW !!!

Self: Have you been training?

Other self: I’m sorry. Could you repeat the question? No, don’t. I heard you (me). Yes and no. I have been training. I have a good base and my health is excellent. The problem is I have been so preoccupied in recent months with my job search that I haven’t had time to do the necessary mental preparation that this race requires. And I may be a tad undertrained.

Self: I see. So what are you going to do about the situation?

Other self: Well, for starters, I landed a good job at JPMorgan Chase and will start on 9/30. So I can at least race without that hanging over my head. So the last couple of days have been a mad scramble to get things ready for the race…. bags packed….. nutrition nailed down….. travel logistics finalized…. etc etc. So now I guess I can close my eyes a little and envision how the next few days will play out.

Self: It sounds like you have a handle on it more so than you realize.

Other self: I guess so. It’s funny but I spend so much time talking other athletes off of their own ledges before a race, I sort of left myself out there and exposed on this one!

Self: You will do fine. Control the things that you can control and give the rest up. Race safe, race smart. Pay attention to your hydration and nutrition. Thank the volunteers and embrace the fact that you are even doing this race. Don’t set the bar too high as the weather forecast doesn’t look great. Just enjoy the day and race for the many people who are struggling or are no longer with us. You’re only goal should be to finish – and be happy.

Other self: Thanks, got it. But do I have to be happy the entire race? Because….. that ain’t reality!!

Self: Shush. You’ll do great. Try to keep people posted. It was nice chatting with you, now give our brain a rest.

On the race front, I am now less than one month away from the Chesapeakeman Ultra Distance Triathlon (a.k.a “ironman” for all intents and purposes). Am I ready? I always feel like I could or should be more ready but I think I’ll be ok. Swimming feels great. Running is decent, except for some foot pain during recovery that I am working through. I could use one more long bike ride which I will get next week. That should put me in the right mindset to taper down and get ready. My head is in a good place. I am both afraid and anxiously excited about racing, and that is usually just the right chemistry for a good day when racing ironman. Next up after that will be the NYC Marathon again in November with Ethan Zohn and then I am racing the half marathon on Philadelphia Marathon weekend, also in November.

I also want to share another little ditty. I have talked about my passion for music in the past. Not that I can play a lick of any musical instrument, (unless you can count some mean dashboard percussion or unskilled and ad-hoc drumming on just about anything that doesn’t move). But, since early childhood, I have been very passionate about my music. I have very vivid memories of dragging my mom to the local record store when I was very young just so I could score whatever latest album so moved me. And I was, and remain, one of those listeners who would don the headphones and get completely lost in every note while reading every word from the album liner notes. Which explains why when listening to something today I will blurt out some useless factoid about so and so who played such and such on some recording that I remembered from years ago.

So, with that passion for music comes a pretty decent collection of vinyl albums. Now understand, I don’t even have a turntable anymore so this collection has been doing very little other than just that: being a collection tucked safely away in the archives of my basement. But it’s a collection that I truly do cherish and would never want to part with. That music remains a part of me. But I had a good idea earlier this year. And that idea was to start to pass some of these gems onto my daughter who has developed an impressive taste for my all time favorite band – The Beatles. My Beatles collection (band, solo artist, and related books) is quite impressive if I do say so myself and that band more than any other triggers certain emotional buttons for me. I thought it would be cool to gradually pass some of these onto her. It’s a chance to pass on the legacy while still keeping it in the family, and giving her something to enjoy that she truly appreciates. So far, I have given her, Let it Be, Revolver, and Abbey Road in album frames so she can hang them on the wall, and listen. Even pulling them out of the archives reaches the inner nostalgia in me … it feels good.

OK that’s enough for now. Gotta run. I will keep you updated with news, events, and happenings!

Have a great day and do something randomly cool and nice for a complete stranger today.

I have settled into a great 5 AM running routine but I bailed this morning. It was just too gross when I stepped outside. Training is going well though. I feel pretty focused for ironman on September 24^th. Generally speaking, things are progressing nicely. And of course the NYC Marathon with Ethan is set for November. I still need help with our cause. Donations can still be made HERE. NO donation is too small. Got that? NO DONATION IS TOO SMALL.

I have also decided to make the trip to Virginia in October to help out the USA Ultra Triathlon group with the double, and triple ironman.

There is a reason.

I have mentioned before that the double ironman has piqued my curiosity for quite some time now. I was close to racing it this year but I vetoed myself. I have been in regular contact with race director Steve Kirby and it was his idea to invite me down to really get the true flavor for this year’s race, which will better prepare me for attempting this in the fall of 2012. I’ll write a feature article on the event as well.

I’m not sure why but I have always had a burning desire to set myself apart. Not above anything or anybody. Just “apart”. Ironman is yesterday’s news and has become way too popular – and too commercial. I hate that….. or I at least dislike it. I feel it’s time to again do something that others are not doing. Much more to come on this. I’ll also need a full blown support crew … so I will be recruiting!

As a reminder, I will be meeting my buddy Todd Crandell tonight for the screening of his new documentary film Running With Demons. It will be good to catch up with him and a couple of his partners on this film.

All else is good. I’ll try to get some pics posted from the film screening tonight.

Stay cool everyone.

This is a rough and dirty recap of the Chessyman weekend. I wanted to get something out as soon as possible as I have received many messages of both concern and good wishes. Thanks for everyone’s support…

I started racing multisport events in the mid 1980s. One would think over that stretch of time that there must have been a race somewhere that got the best of me in one way or another to the point of being unable to finish. It is an unsettling feeling to search race results and see those three letters D-N-F next to a participant’s name; referencing their “did not finish” race status. Up until this weekend, I never knew firsthand what that felt like, and I knew I was playing an odds game that would eventually catch up to me. And it did. At the 2009 ChesapeakeMan Ultra Distance Triathlon in Cambridge Maryland this weekend, I got to experience the despair of my first official DNF.

The weekend started out like the other five “Chessyman” ultras that I have successfully completed. I got into Cambridge on Thursday, dropped my belongings at the gorgeous house we had rented from a friend and headed over to help out race director Rob Vigorito with registration.  By 6 pm I rallied with my buddy Jim Wilson for a nice pasta dinner. Jim is a great guy who not only helps out with Vigorito’s races, he is also actively involved with Team in Training and is a leukemia THRIVER himself. It took Jim and I about 20 seconds to generate enough energy and enthusiasm in our conversation to power a utility plant. Jim has that certain knack of always being plugged in and aware and always knows just the right thing to say. Jim is just flat out good people and one of those guys that I would always want in my foxhole in any situation.

A few passing showers were threatening the forecast, but all things considered, race day was shaping up to be pretty nice. By Friday afternoon, my family started filtering into town and gathering at the house. I was able to spend most of Friday just relaxing and for the most part I stayed off of my feet. I felt good. I felt ready. I felt sufficiently trained and knew this course quite well. Weather is always a factor but one in which you can’t plan or predict a remedy so you just go with it.

Race day morning I arrived at the swim start and had a 30 minute conversation with myself (and anyone else who would listen) on whether I should wear my sleeveless or my full wetsuit.  Eventually, the sleeveless won the debate so I donned my neoprene and started my prerace fixed gaze out into nowhere. It’s a time where I look right through anyone or anything that I am facing as I try to get my head in just that right space before the start. Within a few minutes, the rest of my family all showed up with cow bells and signs in tow. I have a great support crew and they were out in near full force on Saturday. My one daughter, who was unable to make it, sent me a continuous flow of motivational text messages all weekend to help support our effort from back home. It was show time. It was ironman time. This would be my 11th full distance ironman. No more tomorrows.  It was time to get in the water and let the fun begin.

The swim was “ok”. It is relatively protected on three sides by land but I think that 4th side made up for that fact. We hit a lot of chop on the one leg and we all drank a whole heck of a lot of café mocha latte Chesapeake. I exited the water with plenty of time to spare… passed the family while exchanging high fives and cheers (and don’t forget those cowbells). With relative ease, I made my way in and out of “T1” and hit the road. This is always a very energizing point of my race. The swim was over and for the next 112 miles it was just me and my bike. I was comfortable with that. I feel at home on my bike. Or at least I did until mile 30.

At mile 30 I started to develop a dull ache in my right testicle which very quickly turned into an excruciating pain that was traveling up to my abdomen and under my rib cage. I started shifting my weight and adjusting my pedal stroke to try to ease the pain. It seemed a little better when I stood up on my pedals but that only borrowed me a little time until the pain got smart and caught up to me. I pulled into the food stop at about mile 40-something and passed right by the drinks, bananas, and gels, and pulled to the side. A volunteer came running up to me and asked me what I needed. I didn’t know what I needed, and my simple response was just that; “I don’t know”…. “I think I am injured but I don’t know the extent or cause”. I declined help at that point and headed back out on the road. Halfway to the next stop I flagged down a moto support guy and told him I was in trouble.  He radioed for medical help but I actually kept riding and connected with my medical guy around mile 56.

From there I climbed into the support car with my bike on the roof and we drove back to the high school parking lot. My family was all there expecting to see me on two wheels as that high school is the mile 65 special needs area as well as the bike finish. Unfortunately, I arrived on four wheels and they immediately came running over to see what had happened. I met my family and race director Rob Vigorito who ushered me into the medical tent where I was examined by a top notch race medical crew. By this time the pain was all but gone so it was advised that I head over to the ER to get a quick ultra sound and to make sure there was no damage and to make sure there was good blood flow. A quick trip to the ER revealed just that – no damage and the blood flow was good. So, what the heck happened? Everyone is speculating one of two things. I either experienced a testicular torsion which then corrected itself. Or I had a severe nerve impingement while riding. Either way the result was the same – my health was good but my race was a bust. I’ll take that trade any day.

My wife and I headed back to the house so I could grab a bite to eat, visit with my awesome family who had come to see the race, and grab a warm shower. Around 9:30 PM my wife and I headed back to the race finish line. Rain had moved in but I needed to let the race director know I was OK and I also needed to pick up my bike. The other reason for wanting to go back to the finish line was to hang out and help usher in the last several race finishers of the day. We watched a handful of people cross the finish line, and all were memorable. But the sweetest moment of the day was when the very last athlete entered the high school stadium and approached the finish line. It was 70 year old Len Bennett from Groton Massachusetts. Len was also wearing a TEAM IN TRAINING race singlet. My buddy Jim Wilson (remember – fellow survivor and TNT guy) grabbed me by the arm, handed me one end of the finisher tape and ran with me over to the finish chute. Jim and I held the tape as 70 year old Len Bennett crossed the line in TNT race garb and was the last official finisher of the day.

So, I DNF’d! Who cares? My health is fine. And this was but one race of many past and many more to come. And over time I may or may not even remember the fact that I didn’t finish this year but I KNOW I will forever remember that Len Bennett did finish. And he finished in style.  And I will remember that I stood in the rain with Jim Wilson as Len broke the tape. This race also gave me valuable perspective. As a coach, mentor, writer, etc. I think I needed to know just what a DNF feels like. I don’t think I need to feel it again for a really long time, but I think I can take a few positives away from this.

As always, my family and support crew continue to make memories and make dreams come true. None of the things that I do would ever be possible without them in my corner.

Next up – New York City Marathon.

We went through a training exercise at work not too long ago called “Aligning Systems”. This exercise basically discussed the importance of having all of the various integrated components and moving parts of a larger “system” properly aligned and in sync with one another to be able to operate as smoothly, efficiently, and effectively as possible.  This was an exercise intended to maximize results in the corporate workplace but there are huge parallels to be drawn in how we align each of our own personal systems in order to maximize our everyday results as we strive towards our real life goals. As I look at the races that I have on my calendar between now and the end of November, I find myself in full system alignment mode. I am at that point where I am taking a lot of inventories and trying to determine what I have done right, what mistakes I may have made, and what I need to do to try to tie all of the pieces together.

The best way to describe this process is that it dissects all of the things that are required to reach your goal. First, you need to know your goal – and that is a big problem for many people. But once you have defined what your mission is, you need to determine what all of the things, people, or “systems” are that will assist you in attaining your goal. Once you have the systems identified you need to examine them and try to determine if each one is operating as efficiently as possible to get the job done.

Picture this analogy… most people have entertainment centers of some kind at home and they may have a number of wires, cables, extension cords, or power strips all plugged in BEHIND the furniture. When you turn on your electronic devices, they all power up so what’s the big deal right? Well, I would be willing to bet if you took the time and pulled the furniture away from the wall and examined each cable, wire, and plug and made sure it was connected in the most direct way possible, that you could probably eliminate some unnecessary something and make things a little more efficient. You would also eliminate some clutter.

The Chesapeakeman Ultra Distance Triathlon is less than two weeks away. It is another iron distance race consisting of a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and a 26.2 mile run. Am I ready? I’ll answer that after I cross the finish line. From a physical perspective I think I will be fine. But of course “fine” is a relative term and I could always be more fine or less fine. I have crossed the ironman finish 10 other times and I am not too concerned about finishing. I’m sure I am in a good enough place physically to complete the race and smile after the fact. Of course there is nothing I can do at this point to get more fit before the race. What’s done is done, and the hay is in the barn, and whatever other cliché is appropriate in this situation. I do need to walk through some things mentally to completely dial into this thing. A couple more easy relaxing swims this week will help and a good head clearing run next weekend should do the trick. That will at least align the mental and physical systems for the most part. But this IS ironman; a distance that needs to constantly be treated with respect no matter how ready one might feel. It’s a distance that could chew you up and spit you out if mistakes are made. (and even if they aren’t).

All in all, I feel really good. I feel confident, at peace, and in a pretty good place. That was not the case a week ago so something must have happened to lift a little of the fog and point me back in the right direction. It could have been the bike ride this past Saturday, the run on Sunday, or the news of Ethan’s Zohn’s relapse. But something gave me my focus back. I usually do a pretty detailed race recap after events of this enormity so keep an eye out for that. And it looks like we have quite an entourage traveling to Cambridge Maryland for Chesapeakeman. That should make for a fun time.

Also keep in mind that “Chessyman” is not the end of my season. The NYC Marathon looms in the shadows and November 1st will be here before you know it. But aside from training and fundraising for this effort as part of Ethan’s team, I can’t really think about NYC. And I can’t even think about the fact that I am also doing the Philly Marathon three weeks after NYC …. Someone just might commit me. Anyway, my focus needs to be on Chesapeakeman for now.

Plenty more to follow. Thanks for everyone’s continued support.