So I originally started this blog to force myself to think about what completing an Ironman distance triathlon would entail – is it worth the time away from the family? the time away from work/school? the early morning workouts, bitterly cold runs, and perpetually smelling like cholorine? And what do such mentally, physically, and economically demanding undertakings say about the individuals that do them and the cultures that support them? But, I must admit that life has been pretty distracting, and consequently this blog has rarely been about training, and much more about raising the kiddo. But I’m ok with that. Life not only gets in the way of goals, it is usually more entertaining then their pursuit anyway.
However, I do want to get back to the at-least occasional athletic writing. 2010 held a number of athletic and academic accomplishments, among them, completion of the DALMAC bike tour, a 322 mile, four-day tour accross Michigan in which we also raised money for World Bicycle Relief, and publication of my first, first-authored article. Rock on.
So what is in store for 2011? Well, academically, I applied to U of M’s PhD program in Public Health, and submitted another article for publication. That will be two big feather’s in this nerd’s cap should the results be positive. Athletically, thanks to a pretty good physical therapist (1), my ankle is feeling, um, better, not great, not back to normal, but better. And thanks to a couple of good swim coaches, my swimming is my weakest link by an ever shrinking margin. Thus, 3 events are in the books for now:
1) April 2, 2011: Martian (half) Marathon;
2) August 15, 2011: The Island Lake of Novi 1.5 mile open water swim;
3) August 31 -Sept 4: DALMAC Bike Tour; yeah, being that that is the week before the next race, I’m probably gonna be driving from stop to stop carrying my amigos’ bags.
4) September 11, 2011: the Revolution 3 “Full Rev” distance triathlon of 2.4 in the water, 112 on the bike, and 26.2 on the road. Yep, this is the big one.
Of note, I haven’t registered for the triathlon yet…I’m a bit worried that my ankle will not hold out, and that I will either have to back out and lose my money, or run on an injured ankle, risking further injury. Thus, if I don’t feel that I could complete the full, then I will do two half-Iron distance triathlons, which, despite a half plus a half mathematically equaling a whole, in no way equates the challenge and discipline required to complete the full distance. Thus, Sept 11th will hopefully be a full, potentially be a half, and I’ll throw in the Ironman 70.3 in Muncie Indiana if need be.
Of course, since the few people who read about this are much more entertained by parental exploits, I’ll probably spend a good amount of time on that as well. Here’s a quick photo of the kiddo getting ready for her bike ride!
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1. So how many anti-malarial drugs could one treatment of physical therapy pay for…. Yeah, that’s coming up shortly .
Awesome! You are right that I’m more interested in parental stuff, as your blog title specifically states “on the side”… Good luck with your training and the healing of your ankle.. PT sucks, and I hope it leads to your full recovery (my wrist is still not 100% a year from my injury).
A note about bikes for kids – they make mini bikes for toddlers called “balance bikes” that are actually more developmentally appropriate than tricycles (when the time comes)… they use the same motion as those “bikes” that she is on in the picture, but as they get their balance they can start to pick their feet up and coast on a 2-wheeled bike (they look like real grown-up bikes, too). Dominic got a tricycle for Christmas, but the pedaling motion is really complex for a 2 year old, so he treats it like the little 4-wheeled car he got last year. In fact, when I was assisting at the Montessori school, kids as old as 5 still struggled with using the pedals on a tricycle, and they would ruin their shoes as they dragged from flinstoning the tricycle around the track in the courtyard. Just something to consider for the avid-cyclist-parent.