2008 Savageman Triathlon Festival- Deep Creek, MD

On Sunday, September 21, I completed the International distance of the 2008 Savageman Triathlon. This was my first time competing at this distance however I found I really enjoyed it- even more than the sprints I had completed earlier this year.
The event comprised of a 1.5 km open water swim, 24.3 mile bike ride through the hills of Deep Creek, and finishes with a 10k run. At the outset there were a number of things that were daunting about this race. Firstly, this is the first time I have done an open water swim- especially at that length. Secondly, I did not train for the bike or running on hills that were anything like these.
Overall I was pleased with my results. I finished 93 out 106 male competitors and 8th in the Clydesdale class (this is defined as competitors over 185 lbs.). So my initial fear about actually finished was drowned out when I saw that not only would I finish but I would also be competitive.
My times were as follows: Swim 37:45, Bike 1:35:27, and Run 1:08:14. If you include the transition times, my overall time was 3:38:20.
For me the interesting factor is that my transition times were particularly long, mostly due to hydration and nutrition. If I were to reduce these, even by a little bit, I would have finished much better in the Clydesdale division.
I wanted to say a few thank you’s.
Firstly, thanks to our swim coach Harriett. Without her I probably would still be there trying to find my way to the finish line. I appreciated her guidance.
A big thank you to Debbie and Steve for not only coordinating the house rental, the food, the cooking, but also acting as an inspiration to actually compete at this level.
I wanted to say thanks to the donors that helped me raise $1000 to fight Melanoma.And lastly, the most important one goes to my loving wife Jennifer who allowed me the time to train and gave me the support I needed even when I doubted my ability to do this. Without her support I would never have been able to take on such a challenge.

Financial Debacle

It is hard to have a 504 point drop on the Dow and not make at least some comment on my Blog. Over the course of the last 48 hours we have seen two wall street icons wiped from the face of the earth. Lehman Brothers has declared bankruptcy and Merril Lynch has agreed to be purchased by Bank of America. This is also on the heels of the federal take over of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. And how can we forget, the sale of Bear Stearns. I wonder how we will look back on this in the future. Perhaps this is just the beginning of a long, slow economic debacle. Maybe these events signal the final capitulation needed to mark the 'bottom' of the market. The fact remains that tens of billions of dollars of wealth have just been erased. That is college educations, and pensions, and 401(k)'s and life's earnings all erased in a matter of days. So what will become of the throusands of people impacted by this? It is hard to say really. However, the American spirit fights on. At least now, you can start to get some serious comments out of McRove Palin and not just ridiculous comments about lipstick.

South Riding Sprint Triathlon

On Sunday September 7th I competed in my second sprint Triathlon. It was another great experience. My times have improved as well. This is all in an effort to tune up for the 'big race', the one I have been training for all summer- the 2008 Savage Man.

The South Riding race went well although I was surprised at how winded i was when swimming. I think that since I had been trianing at longer disctances, i fooled myself into beleiving that this was going to be easy. Far from it. You can see the results here overall. My times were as follows: Swim 400 meters- 9:00, Bike 12 miles- 38:19 and run a 5 k- 25:57. Overall with my transition times I was across the line at 1:17:03. I finished 51st out of the male competitors (135) and 17/45 in my age group.

I wanted to say a special thanks to Robert Crangle who ran the final leg of the race with me. His encouragement and competitive spirit helped me improve my time.

Savage Man!

A close friend of mine invited me to particpate in a sprint triathlon ealier this year. It had swimming, biking and running. While I have done thiese things before, the event gave me something to train for. The goal has been a wonderful motivator. I went from being tired and sluggish to being alert and motivated. During this summer I have already completed one event and I have a second planned for this coming weekend. However,the final event this summer, to take place on the 21st of September is "The Big One". This event is part of the Savage Man Triathlon series. It will be in Deep Creek Maryland. I will be competing at the International length which consists of a 900 meter open water swim, a 23 mile bike ride and a 10 k run. I have trained hard for this over the last 8 weeks. I feel that I am ready for this challenge. In addition, The Savage Man Traithlon series does fund raising to support Melanoma research. Please will you consider making a donation that will help me reach my goal of $500.
Thank you very much for your time and support. It is greatly appreciated.

Update on Roberta

Things with Roberta have stabilized. There are two weeks of IV anti-biotics left to take and then we will be able to get some fresh information for decision making. We will need to determine if and when the hip surgery should take place.