Racing to Save Lives

Welcome to my Team In Training home page.

I'm training to participate in an endurance event as a member of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's (LLS) Team In Training. 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!

5/31/2008 Since our Kick-off event on 5/22 I have been working hard at balancing a schedule of training, work, and family. My wife Deborah has been very understanding of my efforts as Triathlon is a very selfish sport demanding lots of time for training in three disciplines; swimming, cycling, and running. Despite the fact that I grew up on a lake, I have quickly learned that jumping from the boat and swimming to the end of a ski rope does not qualify me as a good swimmer and that this is my weakest discipline. I have been actively running for about a year now and though I am doing O.K. in this area, it still is not my favorite component of triathlon. I started cycling back in the 80’s and had done a couple of century rides to the beach and back from Raleigh, but had not ridden a bike in over ten years until earlier this year. Still I can confidently say that this is my best discipline and certainly my favorite!

6/7/08 I was planning on participating in my first event today, a small, unsanctioned, local triathlon that raises money for cancer research, but due to a mix up my name did not get on the list and so I went to train with the Team In Training instead. The omission from the Gary Kirby Triathlon served as an omen of things to come as today’s training did not go well almost from the start. Or maybe it was just a friendly reminder from the big guy that I would not have had a good day had I been able to participate in the Gary Kirby.

I hooked up with a team mate, Tim, on the cycle leg and we quickly moved to the front of the pack and separated ourselves from the group. It is not that we are not team players, it is just that you really need to cycle at a pace that you are comfortable and Tim and I are a little more advanced cyclists then some of the other members of the group. Well we got ahead of the pace car and the sign was down at our first turn so we cruised right on past it, by the time the pace car caught up with us it was too late to turn back so we had to alter our route. Then Tim had a flat and I elected to stay with him as he changed his tire tube which put us even further behind. Tim was unable to get his tire fixed and caught a ride with the pace car and I set out on my own to catch the group.

I managed to get off route twice more before completing the ride at 26 miles instead of the planed 21. I then completed a 2.5 mile run, short of the planned 3 miles. It was the hottest day of the year to date reaching 100+ degrees and I have not yet learned my hydration thresh hold and pushed things a little too far. Lesson learned, that will not happen again.

Now on to more important things, I am kicking off my fund raising campaign in earnest and need everyone’s help to reach my goal. The fight to is so much more important them my triathlon training and the cancer patients, doctors, and researchers are the real heroes! Please contribute what you can and let’s do our part in the race for a cure before this unforgiving disease touches someone in your life.

6/15/2008 I did not participate in this weekend’s scheduled training, as I had an unexpected death in the family and had to travel to Orlando, FL for the funeral of my cousin. Losing a family member is never easy, but this one hit me a little harder than I expected as Jay and I had been close as children, but had drifted apart over the years. Jay’s death was not cancer related, but it still has pushed me to step up my efforts for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. No one should be robbed of the opportunity to live out a full lifetime, please help us in our fight for a cure.

6/24/2008 Well I have been very busy since my last update. Training has been going well and I have noticed significant improvement in my swimming. I no longer swim like a rock now I am more like a tug boat. Seriously, I have finally broken the 2 minute barier on the 100 and can keep this pace up for the full 1000 meters. This week has been a light week of training as I prepare for this weeks race at Heritage.

The one area that I now need the most help in is the fund raising. I am still way behind and need all the help that I can get from each and everyone of you. The real race is the one for the cure and it is this race that I can not go at alone. Please give what you can, no amount is too large or too small.

I will update you as to my performance on Sunday and may even update the picture to one of me on race day....Man in Tights.

7/1/2008 I guess that I have sufficiently recovered from Sunday's event to tell you how things went... poetry on paper if not in motion. First off I just want to thank Rebecca Warriner, who orchestrated the whole Smile Train Triathlon for her efforts. It was an extremely well run production. Now, on to the good stuff.

I did race my first race this weekend; I had set a personal goal of completing it in 1 hour and 15 minutes and finished it in just over 1 hour and 12 minutes. I finished 56th overall out of 304 participants and 5th in my age group out of 16. Not bad for an old guy. But that is not the story; there was a 94 year old woman in the race who finished in 1 hour and 33 minutes…wow!

Training is going well and the race allowed me to analyze my weaknesses and determine where I can improve. My next race is Sunday July 13th in the Triangle Triathlon at Lake Crabtree. This should be very interesting as it is an open water Lake swim with everyone starting at the same time as opposed to a pool start in which participants start at 10 second intervals.

Lake Crabtree is an interesting choice for a swim, there are “No Swimming” signs everywhere around the lake and if one ventures up to the lakes edge, you are apt to see why as you are sure to flush a water snake or two from sunning itself. Oh Well, that should be motivation enough to finish the swim in record time.

We are less than 11 weeks out from the Nations Triathlon and 4 weeks from recommitment and I am short of my goals, but I would much rather come from behind in that discipline then on the swim or run. I kick butt on the bike. :-)

Please, Please, Please, get those contributions in if you have not done so already. This is really very important. If you have never been touched, either personally or through someone you know, by cancer you are very fortunate, but chances are that eventually you will be. The good news is that we are drawing ever closer to a cure each and every day. We just need to keep giving because this is a race that none of us can afford to lose!

7/7/08 I hope that everyone had a very safe and Happy Fourth of July. I spent mine back home in the Mountains of NC at Lake Lure. It was a nice relaxing weekend of boating, swimming, fireworks, and training. Saturday my brick workout was on the triathlon course for the Hickory Nut Gorge Olympiad coming up the first weekend in September. I have been toying with the idea of entering that race because it is near my hometown, but it is also the weekend before the Nations Tri in DC.

Saturday I biked 23 miles in some rather hilly terrain followed by a 4 mile run on some equally hilly terrain, but it was beautiful and I enjoyed every minute of it. Well all except the pit bull that came charging after me at mile 8 of the ride, but at least I was on a downhill portion and was able to out run him. He did look rather hungry. Sunday was a lake swim of about 1600 yards.

Coming up this weekend is the Triangle Triathlon, my second event and another Sprint Distance race, with over 800 participants. The open water swim for this race should be very interesting.

I am starting to see some checks come in and I am grateful, for the rest of you, you will be hearing from me shortly, don't think that I am letting you off the hook! Please, keep them coming, the race is just begun, but the finish is closer then you think.