This week has been filled with all sortsa brick-a-brack. By brick-a-brack I mean to say that the shear number of sensory-charged moments experienced in the last seven days is enough to warrant blindness and muteness, lack of taste and numbness... a brief withdrawing from my small sorts of being in the world (once accepted and appreciated), now dim flutters of light in comparison to the grand expressions of life that I now know as possible. These grand gestures don't in any way diminish the value of minutia... in fact, they draw attention to the details. What is leading to this transcendental rambling? Why quite a few things... lets start part one of the series with last sunday morning and a gun shot:
And then, mile 13:
And then, mile 20:
And 26.2 miles later:
Yes! We did it! Now on to a triathlon. Seriously, anyone in Chicago want to train together?
12 comments:
Did you really run a marathon?
yes. I did. The Grand Rapids Marathon. The 13 mile picture that I posted is Heidi and I! It was a trip. I went mental after mile 20... Heidi doesn't really eat much meat, but was begging for a cheeseburger after 17. haha!
You should do the steelhead Triathlon in Benton Harbor, MI in August! It's a doozy, but you have plenty of time. 'Twill be glorious, we can all train together!
way to go, matt! i wanted to do a marathon this year, but i didn't start training soon enough. if you're serious about wanting a training partner, i'd at least run with you. :)
Thanks guys. Yeah, I had to at least drop a lil' brag bomb on the ol' blog. Devin - have you done the Steelhead? I'm looking at the different types of triathlons right now to determine the best one for me... it's a diverse and varied racing style which is cool. I think I'm going "international" style. Kristin - yeah totally, are you down for the chi tri?
sure am! registration is currently open btw!
nice! lets rally a posse. a crew. know of anyone else interested in extreme acts of physical punishment? wait, that didn't sound right. ok, you know what I mean.
it just so happens that a few of my peeps are masochistic... oh wait... that didn't sound right either. you know what i mean. ;) i'll ask around!
Well, I was signed up for the Steelhead last summer, but had to medically defer to this coming year, because of injury. It's late enough in the year that there are a number of smaller events prior to the Steelhead, where you could "work up" to it. It sounds like you're interested in the Chicago Tri (which I think is the Mrs. T's). A couple of my friends last year did that one as a prep, and then the Steelhead. It being your first foray and all, you could do a "sprint" one first, and then the Chicago, and/or Steelhead if you find you like it. I know, it sounds ambitious, but think about it, is all I'm saying!
Devin - the run is the third part of the steelhead? That is so brutal! I guess sandwiching the biking in between is the safest idea... don't want anyone drowning in the water or passing out while traveling high speed on a bike! But steelhead still isn't a full ironman style tri so I'm confused as to why it's a qualifying race. The difference between the steelhead and chicago is pretty massive! Unfortunately, Steelhead is before Chicago next Summer... so it looks like it's decision time. Do I have the guts? Give me a few days to reel over the physical brutality. Also depends on tour schedule which I can't (unfortunately) dictate too much.
This is certainly all very understandable. The Steelhead is technically a half-ironman, and this particular one has gained a bit of notoriety over the years, thus making it an official ironman qualifier (not that this would be a goal for chaps like you or I... my goal is to finish, plain and simple). At any rate, yes, it is an undertaking for sure, but 100 percent doable! There's plenty of time to get your mind and body ready. But if you had your heart set on the Chicago tri, then that is completely understandable. Ponder it, sleep on it, you have plenty of time. (devinsullivan@gmail.com for future reference, or in case I forget to check this again). It just could be one of the most challenging/rewarding things you embark on. That's what I'm anticipating anyway...
Oh and most legitimate tri's have the same format of swim, bike, run. Steelhead and full ironmans are no exception.
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