Ironman Texas 2016 has honestly come up on me pretty quick. Ever since my finish at Lake Placid in July I was itching to get back do another Ironman. Lake Placid left me with a sense of emptiness. I had prepared well for it but I had breathing issues that I haven’t been able eliminate. It’s something that haunts me and my training to this day.

A few weeks after Lake Placid, in August, I hiked Mount Washington. I was hiking to meet up with some friends who were doing the bike race up the auto road. I hiked this a pretty good clip. It took just under two hours to hike up and less than that to go down. Little did I know that this triggered an injury that would haunt me all winter. The next weekend I was out doing a 20 mile run and about 5-6 miles into it I felt something. I assumed it was just the heat and I continued on. That was a mistake.

I had plans to try and BQ in the fall at Hartford but After Labor Day weekend I knew it wasn’t going to be realistic. I did the New Haven Road Race and I shouldn’t have. I was running 7:30’s on an injury to my hip area. Right after mile 1 I could feel it and I pressed on. It loosened up but I realized later it was just completely numb. So it felt like Novocain in my hip area but I was making it worse.

Two weeks later I ran Reach The Beach for Calumet. I warned some of my friends that it would be a rough day out there for me. I think some of them thought I was playing possum with them. :). And to some extent I thought I was as well. But during my first leg of three I knew it would be a rough day. I hobbled through my first two legs. On my third leg I had to pull out because I couldn’t even move. I really appreciate my teammates for filling in for me. I will make it up to you this fall I promise.

Over the course of the fall I had two MRI’s.  They found I had a torn labrum on my right side of my hip. I was told not to run for a while. It turned out I couldn’t really run all winter. I didn’t really start running until about 8-10 weeks ago.

Then the day after Christmas my bikes were stolen. One was taken right off of my bike trainer and another was taken from an upstairs bedroom. I have so much I want to share with everyone on who and why but I need to bite my tongue here because as I wrote on IG and FB yesterday morning they are ‘just things’. You made me realize what is really important in my life.  I realized so many caring people who reached out to me to offer to help. My FB post was shared by over 1K people from around the country. I had bike shops offering to help me as well. I am in debt to so many of you for helping me out.

My only real tune-up race’s for IMTX was doing a Spartan with my friend and mentor Todd Gothberg as well as a 10K race in CA a few weeks back pushing a few kids.

My strategy for Texas is to ‘slow down’. Remember when Maverick in ‘Top Gun’ at the end of the movie he said to his new Rio (co-pilot) he was going to ‘slow down’ and let them fly right by? Well that is my strategy. I believe by slowing down I will have a better day out there. I fully admit I am not in shape like I have been in the past. I am carrying some extra weight that I probably shouldn’t be. I admit I will probably be in the 14 hour range. It’s okay I am here to finish and come out of this healthy.

I will be changing up my nutrition a bit as well. I will be eating a bit more solid food. I have a lot of more ‘Oh Sh$t’ food. This is food when things go wrong and I need to get something in me in a hurry.

I am thankful for so many things. I am thankful for having to go through the injuries that I went through these last 10 months. It taught me that recovery takes time and I need to be patient. It taught me to listen to my friend Robin Ziko and spend time daily with her stretching. And even though I am not flexible she continues to work with me. Thanks my friend.

Jeremiah 29:11 God declares I think of you and I have plans for you prosperity and a future filled with hope

Philippian 3:13 Keep Pressing Forward!

PS.. Thanks for the sneaker Mindy!

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