12 Months of Racing

Time to Re-Define What's Possible....

After my recent triathlon I was completely inspired to get back into triathlons and actually train for them in the future.   I surprised myself on how well I did, maybe my age group wasn't as competitive as before, maybe I was fast, maybe it was a combination - either way I was stoked with a 5th place finish in a field of close to 150.  It led me to think that I could really compete at triathlons, even if just for fun - it fueled me so much that I decided I want to do an Ironman - why the heck not?  It's official, last week I registered for Ironman St. George in Utah on May 7th - super excited about it.  An Ironman is a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride and 26.2 mile run - a full marathon at the end - saving the best for last.  why the heck not - i've heard its beautiful in Utah and this is one of the toughest IM events - BRING IT!

For the next couple of months I will continue to crossfit 4-6 x week, and 1 CFE run workout, 1 CFE Bike workout and 1 CFE swim per week.  I'll bump it up to 2 per sport per week when the new year rolls around.  I am also in the process of purchasing a tri bike - it's one of the things that was on my 100 things I want to do before passing on, so I figured this would be perfect timing.

In the course of all this madness I decided to put together a full 12 month race schedule - here's what it looks like:
November - Turkey Trot 5k
December - last year I did Bumble Bee 5k on the 30th and love the race course although I am considering going up to SF for new years, so this is undecided for now
January - nothing planned yet :)
February 13th - San Dieguito 1/2 Marathon
March 6th - Palm Springs Triathlon (International Distance)
April 3rd - Carlsbad 5000 - one of my favorite races, home course :)
May 7th - Ironman St. George, Utah
May 28th - Tough Mudder - http://toughmudder.com/events
June 5th -11th - AIDS LifeCycle - 545 miles - 7 days from SF to LA
July - Crossfit Games?
possibly will do Solana Beach Tri - i've done it in the past and its super fun, although I am not super motivated and dying to do it...
October - Los Angeles Triathlon (Olympic distance)
November - NY Marathon - because it sounds awesome!!!!!

Its a pretty jam packed year up ahead - I picked races that were going to be fun and were going to be challenging - let's make 2011 even more unbelievable than 2010!

When it's cloudy I....

It's been almost 2 weeks since I have been back from my trip to Europe. It was an awesome experience to go where I went, see what I saw, do what I did and meet all the different people I met. It's taken me awhile to get adjusted to San Diego living and I have to say that my mindset is not all here yet.

Not really sure where it is though - it's definitely not in Europe and it doesn't feel lost, it still feels a little bit like its lacking direction.

I have no reason to complaint really - I set my own hours in terms of when I want to train people, I am able to travel with what I do and go to different cities and coach people from everywhere, yet something is still calling my name and I don't quite know what it is.

I have been meditating regularly which is a habit I'd like to continue, although the past few days I have been inconsistent I was able to make this into a daily morning routine when I was in Portugal. I tried doing it at night, but it didn't work so well.

I finished reading the book "Being Nobody, Going Nowhere" which really spoke to me about where I am spiritually and where I want to be. I don't feel as if anything in particular is missing or as if anything is wrong, and I don't even know how to quite describe what it is that I am going through - i just know that things haven't quite fallen into place and rather than trying to figure it out and rush to conclusions I am allowing things to be.

I have spoken to several people about some of the challenges I have had re-adjusting to life here in San Diego and have heard similar stories - sometimes it takes a few months to really get back into the lifestyle and way of being here. I hear it, and it makes sense, but my habit has always been to rush through things - so to allow things to be uncertain is a bit different, but something that I have gotten much better at in the past few years.

It's a cloudy Tuesday here in San Diego - weather not all that pleasant, and from the forecast it looks like it's going to be this way all week. Luckily I am going to a big sober retreat in Palm Springs this weekend - this should be a lot of fun, I have been the past 2 years and have had a fantastic time!!!!!

When you are in a cloudy mood what do you do to snap out of it?

When you are lacking motivation where do you turn to?

When you are searching for direction where do you go?

What inspires you?

What lets you know that you are on the right track?