Dale takes on the Moose (Mooseman Triathlon at Newfoundlake, New Hampshire) AND the Hyannis Sprint Triathlon!!!

Here I am finishing the Hyannis Sprint Triathlon at Craigville Beach on Cape Cod, 12 June 2010, one week after the partial rain-out at Mooseman.

Welcome to my Team In Training home page.

Hyannis Sprint Triathlon after-race report:

One week after the partial rain-out a the Mooseman Triathlon, many of us signed up for the Hyannis Sprint Triathlon on Cape Cod, also a major TNT event in Massachusetts. The "drowned moosers" we called ourselves, did just fine at this shorter event. I was a little sub-par at the beginning of the event, and having never had a chance to do a swim-race for real, I was nervous about competing. We did a 500-meter swim, an 8-mile bike ride, and a 3.5-mile run. I finished in a not-too-shabby 1hr 32mins, and listed at 626th out of 800 reported finishers. At least I did my part to satisfy the hopes of my contributors and supporters, putting a nice finish on my TNT Triathlon experience for 2010. Thank you all for your attention and your support! - Dale

Mooseman Triathlon after-race report: We did it, but the weather did not! There was considerable rain and lightning going on all through the early hours of our June 5 race day. It lasted so long (4:30-8:00AM) that the swimming portion of the triathlon was canceled for safety reasons. The bike ride was abreviated from 27 miles to around 17 miles, just once around Newfoundlake, but the running portion was unaltered. I started somewhere around 9:20AM, and finished the bike-and-run course in 2:13:22, not a record-breaker, but a decent run just the same, after standing around trying to keep focused from 5:30 - 8:45. I have the medal to show for completing the event, such as it was. By the time we actually started the race, the rain had mostly stopped, and by 10AM I think it was already getting hot and sunny. Pity! Just a couple hours earlier, and we'd have done the whole triathlon!

Fundraising update: Thanks to some seriously heroic generosity on the part of my donors team, we have done it! Our self-imposed goal of $5000.00 has been met, and every name on this page to the right has every right to be proud of the achievement. As soon as I get my energy back, I'm going to send around one more note of thanks to you all for having helped me get over the top this year. My fundraising is not finished for 2010, though, as I may be participating in other TNT events; however this page will remain active until June 26, and all of us on the Boston are Triathlon Team are grateful for any continued support. The team has raised $170,000 in support of our fight against blood-related cancers!

Update May 31, 2010: I spent the weekend in Chicago, visiting the Art Institute, but also getting in a couple of bike rides, one for about 50 miles near Crystal Lake, IL, and the other for maybe 20 miles or so along the Lakeshore bike path. I'm really worn out now! Plus the platelets donation the Red Cross wanted, I'm due for a day of doing nothing, and other than bake brownies for my wife and sons, that is about what I got done today. Must remember to get the wetsuit out during the week, maybe early one morning, to see if I can practice again before June 5, Saturday, race day.

Update May 23, 2010: As the above photo shows, we've finally been able to try out our wetsuits in open water. While I'll admit they make a strange fashion statement, we really enjoyed getting out there with them finally, as up to now we've been in nice clean comfy swimming pools, and that just doesn't simulate Newfoundlake in the early morning well at all. The suits help us float a little better, but the full-arms trim does constrain shoulder motion a bit. And the murky water prevents us from seeing where we're going without peaking above water once in a while. That's a bit of a challenge when you need to keep your stroke direction straight. So we got some time to practice doing that, and I think I'm going to need more.

Update May 16, 2010: I'm giving an update here during the last week before the nominal 21 May 2010 deadline for fundraising. I'm currently as of this typing at 90% of my $5000.00 goal, and I thank all of you who had contributed and joined me on my fund-raising team! I need to get a few more members up, with about 19 more donations of $25.00 to put me at my goal, but it has been a fun "ride" just the same. To those of you just checking out this page for the first time, it isn't too late yet!

We just did a mock-triathlon this past Saturday, 5/15/2010, and nearly the whole team must have been there in Sudbury at the Atkinson Swimming Pool and surrounding park area. We did 2/3 of the full Mooseman course length, using a pool rather than open water for the swim. We'll have two chances this week, Thursday and Sunday, to do the open water swim practice, with wetsuits and swim caps, and make sure we know how this garb will feel on the day of the race. I'm looking forward to it, but with some trepidation, as this will be our first cold-water swim. I hope my suit doesn't shorten me up too much! :-)

Update May 1, 2010: I've recently upped my fund-raising goal to $5000, which would be a new personal record for my generous contibutors and me as a cancer-fighting team! If you are not on board yet, there is still time until May 21. The fastest, safest way to contribute is to click on the button to the right.

I'm training to participate in an endurance event as a member of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's (LLS) Team In Training. This summer my event is the Mooseman International Length Triathlon, and it is a race. I'll need to complete a 1500-meter swim, a 40 kilometer cycling leg, and a 10 kilometer run. No mean feat. The event will be on June 05, 2010, at Bristol, NH.

I'm going to keep up my training blog with more frequent entries this year, now that my cross-training work will be more important than ever to completing this event. Read about the details at "Cure Generator", or http://theboyonthebicycle.blogspot.com. My Facebook page will also have updates that point to my blogspot, and to this fundraising page as well.

All of us on Team In Training are raising funds to help stop leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma from taking more lives. I am completing this event in honor of all individuals who are battling blood cancers. These people are the real heroes on our team, and we need your support to cross the ultimate finish line - a cure!

Please make a donation to support my participation in Team In Training and help advance LLS's mission.

I hope you will visit my web site often. Be sure to check back frequently to see my progress. Thanks for your support!