Bob the runner

My honey and me enjoying the beach. Gulf Shores Alabama!  Ha, never heard of it, no idea where it is other than somewhere in Alabama.  Why would anyone want to visit Alabama?  Big Beach Half Marathon!  Wait, now this sounds interesting.  You mean I can add Alabama to my goal of running a half marathon in every state and also be on a beach.  Heck, I didn't realize Alabama was even on a coast.   I love visiting the beach and the water. That's how my January visit to Gulf Shores Alabama came about where state number 15 was checked off after I completed the Big Beach Half Marathon. This race was my slowest so far.  Every aspect of this race was extremely well organized.  Here are my race highlights: The Hangout.   Packet pickup, race start and finish, and the post race party were held here.  The Hangout is a restaurant and bar on the beach with a cool party area out back..  Here are a couple fun pictures from the hangout.   Julie won a hat playing bingo!!

2016 was a decent year for this runner/triathlete.  I accomplished most of my goals, experienced a few new things, and ran/bike/swam a total of 2,401 miles.   I started the year off in February with the Hilton Head Island Half Marathon in South Carolina.  I ran a second Half Marathon in April at the Kentucky Derby Half Marathon in Louisville Kentucky.  These two races make 14 states that I have completed at least a half marathon in.  Only 36 states left to go!!  After this my focus went to triathlons and never returned to half marathons.  Over the summer, I completed 2 Sprint triathlons and 3 Olympic triathlons: June - Lookout Mountain Sprint Triathlon (very tough course on top of Lookout Mountain)            Boulder Sunrise Sprint Triathlon  (1st place in my age group out of 12 finishers!) July - TriBoulder Olympic Triathlon Aug - USAT Nationals Olympic Distance Triathlon  (first race without the wetsuit!)            Boulder Sunset Olympic Distance Triathlon. I also pa

Finishing another Olympic Distance Triathlon!! Just like the name (sunset) of this triathlon, this event also marks the end of my 2016 triathlon season.  My mind keeps saying "do another" but my body says "NO".  2016 was the busiest triathlon season so far for me.  I completed 2 sprint triathlons,  3 Olympic triathlons, and 4 stroke and strides.  Considering my previous busiest year was 2 triathlons in a season, it is no wonder my body is tired.  I plan to recover for a couple weeks and then focus on getting back to running and eventually to some half marathons and my goal of running in every state.  But first, here is my race recap from this weekend. I signed up for this race because there were several other folks from the Arvada Triathlon Club (ATC) participating.  I signed up for the Olympic distance because I wanted to try and improve on my TriBoulder time.  I should have listened to my body and signed up for the sprint distance. I arrived at the res (B

Approaching the finish line on the red carpet!!  Wow I was actually there!  There in Omaha Nebraska participating in the 2016 USA Triathlon Age Group National Championships.  This event is exclusive.  To participate in this race you have to be invited.  Invites come from one of four methods: Finish first place or top 10% of age group at a USAT event Finish in top 33% at a regional championship Top 33% at previous years National Championship Be a member of Team USA I actually received 3 invites this year.  It was such an honor and a thrill to be there racing with the best athletes in only my 4th full season of Triathlon .     This event was top notch.  To make it even more special I won some sort of a luck contest and also was invited to hang out in the VIP area.  Not only me but Julie too!  This is normally an area that only people who win 10 events in a year get to be in.  I have no idea why they invited me but I was not gonna complain!  I didn't have to wait i

TriBoulder was a race of many different emotions for me. I was nervous because I had only done this distance (swim 1500 meters, bike 27 miles, run 6.2 miles) once before. I was excited because I had high expectations after winning at Boulder Sunrise.  I was anxious about the swim especially after I saw how poorly the course was marked. I was excited about the bike ride, especially the back part starting on Nelson Rd since it included some nice downhill stretches. I was nervous about running 6 miles after the bike ride. The distance on the run was not a concern, it was the fact I had never run the back part of the reservoir and it looked hilly.   My goals for this race were to swim in about 34 minutes, transition under 2 minutes, average 20 mph on the bike, and complete the run in 54-56 minutes.  Overall I wanted to finish in under 3 hours. My only previous Olympic distance triathlon was TriRock Aurora in 2014 where my time was 3:16:55.  Hanging out with my sweetie before

Enjoying pizza after the stroke and stride! This was my third stroke and stride this year.  I did the long course (1500 meter swim and 5K run) for the second week in a row.  My goal going into this event was to get more open water swimming time without the wetsuit and to try and improve upon my time from last week.  I also wanted to try out Hammer Endurolytes to see if they would help prevent leg cramps.  I took 3 about 30 minutes before the swim and 3 afterwards. I registered at the event and paid the $28 and received lucky number 113.  The weather was perfect and I heard the water was 2 degrees warmer (72) than last week (yippee!).  I was hoping this made a difference since I froze in the water last week.  I forgot my towel but was able to setup my transition area with my mini-towel from the Lookout Mountain Tri.  The only real use for the towel is to wipe off your feet after running up from the beach so this was not a show-stopper.  Once my transition area was se

As many of you know I am planning to participate in the USA Triathlon age group nationals in August in Omaha Nebraska.  I qualified and will be participating in the olympic distance (1500 meter swim, 40K bike, and 10K run) triathlon competing against the best triathletes in the country.  For those that don't know metric distances: (1 mile swim, 25 mile bike, and 6.2 mile run).  The top 18 finishers in each age group qualify for team USA and get to compete in the Triathlon worlds next year in the Netherlands.  I have little to no chance of making team USA but thought it would be fun to do the event and maybe learn something from some of the best triathletes in the USA. The lake water in Nebraska in August is warm (low 80s) and therefore the wetsuit will not be permitted.  Before this stroke and stride I had never participated in an event without the wetsuit.  The wetsuit is quite buoyant and gives you a sense of safety and also makes the swim easier since it  keeps your core u