The Road to Lake Placid Starts Here

"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing."

This is very strange territory for me. I've never been into this blogging thing but for some reason I feel compelled to capture my thoughts over the next year as I prepare to become an IRONMAN. So here we go. I'm registered for and will compete in / finish IRONMAN LAKE PLACID on June 22, 2012.

Since I registered for Lake Placid (IMLP) I've been scouring the interweb for race reports and reviews and everything else I can find to learn more about this specific race. What I have so far is that regardless of how each person's race turned out, they absolutely loved everything about the experience; how it affected them, the race itself, the town and all of its support, simply

everything. Even from the guy who wrecked his bike at mile 45 and ruptured his hip flexor, yet still continued on and finished the race. You wanna know what motivates me to do this? This is it. Knowing that I will face these same challenges (hopefully not a ruptured hip flexor). But seriously, over the course of 140.6 miles, ANYTHING can happen. Knowing that I can and will overcome anything that the course throws at me is actually a rather reassuring feeling. Is this going to be easy ... Shit no .... is it going to be an awesome ride that finishes at the Olympic Speedskating Oval ... you bet your ass. So everyone thats coming along for the ride ... buckle up.

Break Break

At work today I was digging through a drawer and found my first AT&T employee badge from March of 06 and it got me thinking about where I was, where I'm, and where I want to be. So here it is.

There where I was: Cherry Blossom 5K, April 2007. This was my first race and I finished in 29 minutes seriously thinking my heart was going to explode. I also weighed in at a cool 190 (yes yes I've been told I wore it well)

There where I am: 4 years later I've summited Mt Whitney, ran 2 marathons (soon to be 3) and completed 2 Half Ironman's.

There where I want to be: This one is pretty obvious

So what now: full blown training won't kick off till February or March but I'll spend the winter maintaining a base level of fitness. That won't be very interesting so i'll use that time to post more on the why of all of this. For now .....

"You cannot know who you are or what you are capable of until you face adversity. You cannot know the strength of the steel you hold until it strikes something solid. And you cannot know what kind of a man you are until you look hardship and difficulty in the eye, face it, and rise to it’s challenge. Without that test, you just don’t know."

In the meantime I've scheduled a butt load of races for the rest of this year and I'm just going to have fun. Here's the lineup for the next few months

Aug 13th: Luray Triathlon (5150)

Sept 11: Nation's Triathlon (5150)

Sept 17: Philly Rock n Roll Half Marathon

Sept 26-27: Go Ruck Challenge Wilmington, NC

Oct 15: Baltimore Marathon Relay

Oct 23: Tough Mudder Virginia

Oct 30: Marine Corps Marathon

Nov 20: Fountain Head 5 Miler

Dec 3: 15K having to do with chocolate or something

Next up ... I'm actually going to do a race report on Eagleman ... even though it was 2 months ago