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Copyright © 2007-2009 Angie Anderson | All rights reserved

July 21, 2009

Good morning TTL... it was a bit of a quieter weekend for TTL athletes but a very successful one for most who did race...

• Sharon... This is our speedy Sharon.  She went to Regina Beach OD Triathlon with the goal of defending her overall win there last year.  She had a hamstring niggly pop up in the last few weeks which forced her out of Coral Springs, but she got treatment ASAP when it came on and felt OK about this race.  She had a good swim, a great bike (3 min pr on a much windier day than last year) and a conservative run as her hamstring started to act up.  In the end it was all she needed to regain her title.  Congrats to Sharon... 2 time winner of the Regina Beach Olympic Distance Triathlon!
• Leslie Anne... not to be outdone, Leslie Anne also represented TTL at ReginaBeach. This is on the heels of her spectacular debut at the half Ironman distance at GWN.  Leslie Anne spent most of her recovery time between races dancing it up and consuming the odd beverage at Stampede!!!  Apparently it didn't hurt her much as she took 3rd in her Age Group and was THRILLED to do so!!!  Sharon first, Leslie Anne 3rd! Nice job girls!!!
• Steve... Steve raced the Canmore OD tri as a learning race. We didn't taper for this one and we had some specific process goals around eating and pacing on the bike to set up for a good run. Steve nailed the process goals, but unfortunately a misunderstanding on how many loops to do on the swim left him dq'd.  It was an easy mistake to make as most of you know, and in the end the valuable lesson of learning the course prior to the race start was hammered home.  I was very proud of Steve for not calling it a day when he figured it out on the bike. (That's when he realized he cut the swim short.) He still finished the race with a strong well paced bike and a run that was challenging from a mental perspective.  Onward and upward Steve!!!!!
• Ken... Ken road 225k on Sat. in hot conditions with over 4000m of elevation gain.  He bonked but other than that it went well. An epic day on the bike! 
• Angie... I raced Heart of the Rockies OD triathlon on Sunday.  I have had a string of very good races lately, and am thankful for that.  This day was not a "Zen" race for me which is what I would call GWN.  It doesn't get any better than my GWN day from an execution perspective.  This race though my head was not fully in the game.  I had a very average swim.  I got on the heels of an older fellow and he wasn't fast enough.  I'd make a move to get in front, and end up swimming beside him, so I settled in and made a decision to conserve energy.  It was an OK swim, but not great.  (There wasn't anybody else around to draft off of.)  The bike was tail wind out and headwind back with relentless hills. I forgot how tough this course was.  My watts were lower than I expected them to be on the way out, then they took a nose dive on the way back. I'm not sure it if was fatigue from GWN lingering around in those leg muscles, or my head giving in to the discomfort in my quads.  Either way, I lost my mojo to push and watts suffered.  This is my biggest disappointment with how I executed.  The run... it was SO hard. Oh my!!! We left Invermere and meandered our way all the way up to the top of the hill on HW 93.  Up a steep wall, down or flat... repeat!  Only one fellow broke 40 min and he ran a 2:55 off the bike at Kona last year, so that gives you an idea of how hard it was.  I'm going to admit this... it's a bit like AA... I walked a few times on the run.  I just wanted too. Oddly, I don't feel as bad about that as I do about the lack of effort on the second half of the bike.  On the plus side, the run course was beautiful and once I thought about it I enjoyed the challenge.  The last kilometer was downhill which was nice as well.  How did things turn out?  After all my whining I think you'll roll your eyes at the end result. I won the race overall for women and got a great glass trophy that is proudly displayed in our condo in Panorama.  The best part of the day was getting to the finish line to quite a large group of cheerers and hearing "Here is Angie Anderson, our first place female"... and getting lots of support.  That was REALLY cool. I've never won a race that wasn't heats.  This was the first one where we started together and they knew I was the winner at the finish line.  I liked that part:)  So... for me... it still comes down to execution.  I enjoyed the win, but what I really value is a well executed race.  At Oceanside I was 10th in my Age Group... a big pond of fast fish for sure, but I was really happy with that day as I raced as hard as I could.  At the Turner Valley Sprint on July 1, I raced my little heart out.  That win felt better than this one, just because I know I really worked for it.  GWN... you know that story.  So... onto the next event.  I'm racing the Delta Half Marathon on Aug. 9th in Vancouver.  It's flat and fast and at sea level. I'm very much hoping to get my head into the game there better than I did this weekend.

Hope you're having a good Tuesday!!  We are looking forward to a VERY hot Ironman Camp in Penticton this weekend. It should be fun!!! 

July 13, 2009

Hey Folks... I'm going to do something different here.  With permission, I'm going to put down the words of the athletes whenever I can to describe their day. It might take a bit longer to read than usual, but we had a very busy weekend.  So... here we go... you might want to grab a cup of tea. This reads like a book

Kelly:  A GIGANTIC PR!!!  Kelly has a few severed ligaments in her ankle. She knew she couldn't run.  Still... she did AMAZING!!!

• Swim - 2000m:  39:11 (previous best 2000m swim 40:02 - Chinook half IM 2008)
  Bike - 90k: 2:54:25 (bike/run transition was 2:07) official time: 2:59:28 (previous best 90k bike: Sylvan 2008 3:36)
  Run (walked about 19k) - 21k - 2:58:17; average pace 8:27/km - walking I might add (my best run was at Sylvan 2007 - 2:55:22 and my best half marathon time was 2:35 in Vancouver 2002 without swimming and biking)
  Overall time: 6:36:55 (previous best time: Sylvan Lake 2007 - 7:17:03)
  
  Other half times:
  Sylvan Lake 2008 - 7:24
  Chinook 2008 - 7:36
  
  6:36:55 - Yippy skippy!!! I really, really had a goal to be under 3 hrs for the bike and I am really happy that I met that goal. And I am really, really happy with my "run" time. Who knew I could walk that fast?!? Maybe we should talk about me power walking. . . .

Pamela:  A rough start to the training year but she pulled it out!! NICE WORK!!!!

• I got my time from GWN last year wrong (I'm really not very good at remembering times) it was 6:12 and this year was 6:02, so a 10 minute improvement and it came from swim, bike and run.  They were all faster this year.  That makes me happy.  :)

Leana:  What a GREAT first Half Ironman... The power of positive thinking wins again! (And training hard too!!)

• I am so happy with how GWN went.  Sure, I maybe could have eked out a faster run but I am satisfied with my effort.  I am so excited for LakeStevens now!!  I think I'm going to enjoy a hilly bike course a bit more compared to flat GWN.  Hopefully that will make it a bit easier to race my own race on the bike.  I cannot say enough how much of a boost it was to see everyone from TTL out on the course whether they were racing or not.  It was so much fun to do this race with the team and get support and encouragement from everyone.  I thought about this a lot when I was on the bike and I knew I was really going to miss out on this at LakeStevens.  I've now asked my folks if they will come down to cheer me on (and I'm pretty sure they will) because I know I'll get a huge boost from seeing them. 

ROY:  2 Legs of Sinister 7 last weekend, and a HUGE PR at Sundre 5 Peaks 7 days later...

•  The race at Sundre was great.  No back issues at all.  Stayed to my plan and took it easy on the down hills (kind of).  Very strange phenomena doing a 12K trail race one week after an ultra.  Hills seemed so short and easy, ran them all.  Trail was nice and flat and soft, kind of like a grass free way, also much easier than the Sinister 7.

Result, had a great run:

 2007 Time:1:01:52

2008 Time: 0:58:27

2009 Time: ~0:54:30 (final times not posted yet)

 SUSAN G:  Vancouver Half Ironman.

• 3rd in her age group. A Half Ironman PR after a rough swim, and a HUGE improvement on the bike!!! YAH!!!!! Way to go Susan!

Sarah P:

• How do you describe an 18 min pr where time is taken off in the swim, the bike and the run.  I am so impressed with those little legs that Sarah keeps going and going... and going fast!!! WELL DONE!! She is in the toughest AG at GWN.  The one where all the winners come from.  Ouch! I expect to see her on the podium in the not too distant future, depending on when babies come mind you!! NICE WORK SARAH!

Sarah D:

• Well... today didn't turn out quite like Sarah D. might have liked from a racing standpoint.  She didn't finish because of high heart rate issue that's been a problem in the past.  She made the decision to pull out after the bike. Had a well deserved cry, and went on to find out what was causing the high heart rate episodes.  Sarah is amazing, and strong and the best part is, it can be fixed.  I am so proud of her and how she is looking forward.  Sarah... we'll see you at the start line of an IM soon... I'm really really sure of that.

Kelvin...

• AKA:  Superman!  So, Kelvin had a spectacular swim, a really good bike at GWN, and was on track to have the race of his life. Let me tell you, he VERY much motivated me to keep pushing on the bike. I expected him to swoop by me at any minute.  The run was paced well, executed exactly to plan... unfortunately he cramped with 4k to go.  It slowed him down but didn't stop him, and he is working hard to figure out his electrolyte needs as he preps for IMC.  Kelvin has had an amazing year thus far.  The cramps are a concern, but I'm pretty confident it will get figured out before the big dance in Penticton on Aug. 30th.

Richelle: 

• For the purpose of this update Richelle is an athlete, not a coach!  What a day she had.  Richelle was out of running for many weeks as most of you know do to an injury. She worked hard on her bike and it paid off.  She had a course PR by around a minute on a day that saw a lot of people go slower on the bike.  Her swim was slightly faster, her run was a few seconds slower, and all time made up was on the bike. She was really really happy... as was I!

Alfred, Dana and Pete....

• This team did GREAT!!! Dana swam, Alfred biked and Pete (who is my Tuesday morning speed work partner) ran.  All went according to plan.  Dana's swim was right where he expected it to be setting him up very well for Calgary 70.3.  It was his first open water swim at that distance, and was a huge success.  Alfred ROCKED that P4 on the bike with a really speed split of close to 2:30:)  Pete ran his first ever half mary at a descent clip. He says he'll never do another one... but who knows!  Good job Boys!  Your third place in the Men's Team Division was stupendous!

Leslie Anne...

• Mother of 3, works full time, body with several injuries from her Rugby days.  What can I say! She nailed it.  She ran the pace she expected within less than a minute, she had a STELLAR bike, and her swim was spectacular.  Her hubby and kids were all at the finish to congratulate her and give well deserved hugs as the teared up at the immense size of her accomplishment.  She is already looking to next year. I am SO proud of you Leslie Anne:)

Paddy...

• Paddy has spend a lot of time the last few years getting better.  Nobody really knows where things went wrong, but she back issues from long ago have plagued her with pain that makes functioning daily hard at times, let alone training. This year she got things back on track and was able to train for and race GWN.  (Last year she supported Trish through her Ironman Journey... riding ridiculous long rides to keep Trish company, even though she had no reason to go that far.  Most people would have put their feet up and cried "Uncle" and quit trying to be active... Paddy never did.)  So... on to 2009, and after a pretty solid half Mary in Vancouver she was on to GWN.  She was a bundle of nerves leading up to the race.  It was funny... she's done it before and the nerves were the worst this time.  I think it's because she understood how hard it was to get to the start line.  How did it end? With Paddy at the finish line with a HUGE smile!!!!  YOU DID IT PADDY!!!!!!!! 

Doug...

• Doug trained hard for GWN.  He is swimming better than he ever has and he looks fit. He was set to have a spectacular day.  Unfortunately the Tri Gods had other plans, and a cruel twist of fate saw Doug lose his fuel bottle with 2/3's of his calories on the bike.  A bonk, a thought to quit, and a will to finish what he started got him to the finish line.  He was very accepting of this race as being one to put behind him and more forward from.  I was so impressed with that.  Doug hasn't even touched what he is capable of yet... watch out for next year!

JoZ...

• As you all know it is JoZ's Ironman year.  She has been working hard towards that goal, with her eye always on the date of Aug. 30th.  GWN did not go as planned for JoZ. She had a tough day, for reasons we haven't 100% figured out yet.  The good ending to this story though is that she left that race saying "if I can do that, I can do anything", and with a resolve to make sure she is doing everything possible to get to the start line in Penticton in shape to get to the finish line.  JoZ is mentally tough and extremely positive. Her attitude is worth more than 100's of hours of training.  In the next 6 weeks she'll get the training in to back the golden spirit, and we'll see her at IMC ready to rock and roll. 

Nola...

• Nola didn't have the best day, but considering this isn't her IM year, I had actually told her that she might not PR this one.  She didn't, but in the way that only Nola can, she pulled out the positives.  a)  She had fun. and b)  Her knee didn't hurt for the first time ever.  This is classic Nola and overall, a her day was reflective of where she is at.  I loved her post race reflection.  She is now off to France with her family, and when she returns will start working towards Iroman Arizona in November.

Chad...

• I think you might be tired of hearing how well Chad is doing (please know I'm kidding when I write that!) but holy... that boy continues his roll!  He wanted a sub 5, and he didn't only break 5 hours, he obliterated it!!  A stellar swim / bike / run combination put him as the second TTL athlete across the finish line.  I think I should take a bit of credit as he said that knowing I was right behind him kept him moving:) This sets Chad up VERY well for IMC.  Well done Chad!!!  (Billy was first but he wasn't wearing team clothing, so not many people know that:)

Micheal...

• He was so cute at the Candy Party after the race. He was a bit disappointed with his run, and we were talking about it.  I finally asked him to tell me how much of a pr this race was over his previous half Ironman.  When he told me 42 minutes I just about fell off my log! (We were at a camp fire... it was probably a chair but log sounds better!)  Michael improved his swim / bike and run across the board to have an ENORMOUS best time!  I was so pleased!! We still need to work on the run execution, but it's coming down which is the right direction.  Well done Micheal!

Shannon...

• When Shannon finished all she could say to me was "I came off the bike 12 min up from last year, but I just couldn't hold it on my darn run".  I of course was worried that it had been a terrible day, then I asked the PR question... how did you do compared to last year! Well... it was an 8 min best time on a much harder day on the bike.  I was THRILLED with this result. Shannon trains on her own a lot, which is tough.  Plus she's a Mom and she works full time as an engineer and manager.  This year she's been able to focus on training more than before, and it paid off. Now that the bike time is down, we'll start to get that darn run.  Honest Shannon... we will:) 

Trish...

• Trish has done GWN maybe 5 times now. It might be 4, but I think it's 5.  This one wasn't her best, but it wasn't her worst. Last year she had a huge day in her Ironman year which is somewhat to be expected.  This year, despite logging the time and doing the work, a new best time didn't happen.  I always get after Trish for walking when she's tired. It was funny on race day because I came up behind her on the looped course, and she was walking! Timing is everything, and when I reminded her of the "no walking" goal, she picked it up and started moving again.  Trish... you work so hard and are amazing.  Finish times don't always reflect that, but I know as does the rest of the team. 

Hope...

• Hope had a rough start to 2009.  Her job created insane challenges that in turn, affected her healthy.  She did what some people don't have the confidence to do, and that is that she quit her job, found balance in her life, and started to work hard towards her 2009 big goal of IMC.  Hope came to GWN knowing she had done the most work ever coming into this race. She's done it 7 times (I think) and knows what to expect.  Unfortunately this wasn't her day. As she was eating her breakfast she started to feel ill.  We suspect she got food poisoning from an egg.  She threw up on the swim, in the bike, and the run. (I'm 100% on the swim and the bike... not the run.)  She could have called it a day and got a ride back to the finish.  She chose not too. She said that was the hardest thing she has EVER done in her life... but she now knows she can push through anything and keep going.  It took a few days to mesh it over in her head and deal with the emotions of a good day gone bad. I think this one was out of her control. I was SO proud of her for finishing.  On to IMC Hope. This one is in the past.

Jenny (Team TTL with Richelle)

•    Jenny has reached her goal of completing a half Ironman this summer and was so excited by it that 2 days after the race she signed up to do another one at the end of August! Jen had a great day at GWN; she swam as fast as we knew she would and she rode just as fast. When it came to the run, Jen did have a great run but let her mind wander and her frustration get the best of her. She still hung on for a solid finish of 5:49!!! Nicely done Jen! Jen is recovering by supporting her husband at the Death Race! She will also compete against her own father for bragging rights in a few weeks at the Frank Dunn triathlon. Will it be youth or experience that come out on top? We're rooting for you Jen!

Cindy... IMC Qualifier

• Cindy our "Super Mom"... She had a GREAT Race! Cindy didn't sign up for IMC last year because she is representing Canada in the World Duathlon Championships in September.  (Doug is too.)  She wanted to focus on that.  Unfortunately for Cindy (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) her finish time at GWN was good enough for her to qualify for the second year in a row, and she is off to Penticton to race on Aug. 30th! No more holidays for you Cindy!!! She did great, and her improvement came in the swim and bike. Next year we hope to add the run:)  Congrats Cindy!

Carla...  IMC Qualifier

• This was Carla's first Half Ironman. She was 100% committed to do the work, and it not only led her to a stellar finish in this race, but was key to her success in running races and Wasa OD tri where she saw more huge PR's.  The fairytale ending to this story is that Carla, like her very good friend Cindy, qualified for Ironman Canada at GWN!  She wasn't sure about taking it, but with the support of her husband and Cindy, she got her cold hard cash and handed it over.  She has since done 140k ride very successfully, and now starts the journey over the next 6 weeks to the start and finish line of IMC. Congrats Carla on a great start in your long distance triathlon career!!!

Billy... aka... Anthony Bucknall... IMC Qualifier

• Billy oh Billy!!!  He didn't have an TTL clothing to wear on race day so he was anonymous to most of us out on the course.  I believe he did a lot of cheering for our orange and purple jerseys though! Thanks Billy!! Billy is the helicopter pilot who obliterated the field at the Fort Nelson OD race a week earlier. He continued that streak at GWN with a STELLAR 4:35 finish and an Ironman spot. Billy had a really really great race!!! I think he might even believe it this time!  Tee hee hee!

Johnny Bosma:) 

• The best thing about John on race day apart from his huge swim and bike pr was his smile:) My cousin Jeff said it best.  "I was wanting badly to wallow in my own misery and just be well... miserable, but right at that moment I would see John smiling ear to ear and cheering everyone on!  He totally blew my commitment to misery away and I was forced to keep going"!  That is a HUGE complement to John, the gentlemanly racer who offered Cindy the water cup before taking one himself. John is a big part of our team.  He had a very very good day considering he hadn't ran longer than about 30 min in the past 12 weeks! John and I both don't recommend a 12 week run taper for your next Half Ironman, but since that's what he was forced to do, he played with the hand he was dealt and came out a smiling winner:) Nice work John!

Phil...

• It was quite a day for Phil.  He set out how he wanted to race and he executed exactly to plan.  Phil has always wondered where the "edge" is... how far can he push himself.  He wanted to use this race to test those boundaries.  He was successful and raced his way to a 10 min PR in the process.  Ken and Phil are training partners and friends, and on race day they pushed each other to in a good way to a very successful finish.  Phil's biggest regret is not giving it his all to break Ken when Ken stopped at a water station shortly after passing Phil!! Who knows how the day might have changed if he'd surged at that exact moment:)  Still... Phil finished with nothing in the tank, and that's what he wanted. He came under 5 hours, and that's what he wanted!!!  Lessons learned to move forward to Calgary 70.3!!!!! It was a very good day. Nice job Phil!

Tracey M...

• This was Ms. McQuillon's second Half Ironman of her life. She raced IMC last year and is headed there again in 09.  Tracey caught that very nasty flu bug that hit a lot of folks, and it showed her no mercy. Training was an impossibility for over a month as all her energy was spent trying to get better. To make matters worse, the cold kept coming back.  Still... with all the adversity and challenges, Tracey had a really really strong day coming well under 3 hours on the bike, and breaking the coveted 1:50 mark on the run! (That is something I only did this year by the way.  I must be a slow learner!)  So... congrats Tracey.  You had a great race.  It shows you are healthy and ready to tackle the volume ahead for IMC. 

Ken...

• There is a natural order of life.  The natural order of life is that Ken is faster than Angie and should beat her.  As much as there has been lots of jokes thrown his way, and he is extremely thankful to all 40 people on the course who told him I was "just in front"... he should have taken the Anderson crown.  He had a strong bike (sub 2:30... his goal) and a good run (1:35) although he hoped to go faster, but his swim left me too much of a lead for him to make up. I actually expected him to catch me on the way to the finishing chute, but it didn't materialize.  Let's just say that my days of being the fastest in the household are numbered... and that's the way it should be. I was very proud of him for re-focusing after a tough swim complete with panic attack.  He's amazing for embracing this sport and supporting me and all of you as he does.  IMC here he comes! I hope for a very good day for him.

Rena...

• Rena raced the inaugural Turner Valley Sprint Triathlon just a week and a half after doing the Chinook Half Ironman!!  It was quite a day for another little Mamma as she raced her way to first in the women's 30 - 39 age group, and had little baby Max at the finish for gooey kisses when she was done!! NICE JOB Rena!!!!!

Angie...

• I had a pretty darn good week last week.  Let me tell you!! On Wed. I raced the Turner Valley Sprint, and something happened that doesn't happen very often... I won!  I was the first woman overall and 4th out of men and women, and I had the second fastest bike split of the day.  I was really happy with that. (If you look at results they are  a bit buggered. One woman has a bike /run mix up for results making her bike really really fast and her run really really impossibly slow, and a kid was added to the adult category. He raced less k's than we did.) I have to admit that technology was on my side with my fancy schmancy Kueen K, race wheels and aero helmet, and the girl who was second was more than likely beat because of those little extras!  Still... I'll take it.  It was a good day!
• At GWN... I had the race of my life.  I think most of you know the story by now so I won't bore you with it. I will write a blog soon about the experience as well. I will say that in my wildest dreams I never could have imagined finishing that race in 4:51.  That was out of my reality, as was finishing 8th overall for women.  The age group win... I thought I could get that. It was realistic based on who I was racing against.  Everything else was gold on top of gravy.  I've done this sport for a lot of years and am seeing improvements this year that again, exceed expectations.  My swim was a bit slower than I hoped. Ideally I wanted a sub 32 min, but it wasn't in the cards. I swam well, found feet, swam straight, but just wasn't fast enough. It was still a good swim. The bike... I had NO idea there was a tail wind going out. I though it was my amazing cycling skills that had my riding at 38 - 40kph! Wow... I'm good!  Not so much when the reality of the head wind hit me at the turn around.  As luck would have it the wind picked up and the longer you were out there, the worse it was.  I think this is important for those of you to understand about the bike this year... the next paragraph explains the bike...
• Bike data... I'm a numbers girl and I analyzed the numbers for myself, but also for you.  On the way to the turn around at 50k, my avg speed was 36.6km per hour. (Remember... I thought I was super girl!)  Avg. watts was 178.  On the return 40k, my avg watts increased for that 40k to about 188, but I only avg'd 32.4km per hour.  I lost 4k per hour at higher watts because of the wind.  The longer you were out there, the worse the wind got.  I heard a few grumblings from athletes (not all TTL) that they were disappointed with their bike times... they wanted to be faster.  Well... I can tell you with pretty objective numbers that it was a hard day out there and the wind was significant. If you had a best time on the bike from last year, you can add a few minutes to your PR because your effort was higher to go that speed than you needed last year.  I hope that makes sense. 
• My run... this is where I'm at a loss to explain.  My stand alone pr for a half marathon was in May in Vancouver. I ran a 1:39:24.  My goal for this race was 1:45, and I knew to do that I had to hold a 5 min k. My thought was anything under that was gravy.  I started running way to fast.  "Whoa Angie.. slow down. You have a long way to go."  I saw a gal at the start of the run and she asked me how I was feeling... I replied "Great!".  Who is this girl running? I'm a cyclist not a runner!  A funny thing happened on the bike.  I often talk myself out of running.  I say "I'm a better cyclist than a runner" and I have been known to say that to women as I pass them on the bike, assuring them they'll catch me on the run! Stop laughing... I honestly do that!  This time, for the first time, I changed the voice in my head to say "I am a runner, I've worked hard on my running, I deserve to run well". 
• So... I'm running, convincing myself to slow down because my pace is too fast.  At the turn around I did a "body check".  I do a once over and evaluate how I'm feeling.  Oddly, I felt great!  As the k's went by I thought happy thoughts.  At 5k I thought... "hmmm... That's nice. I only have 16k to go!" At the 16k mark I thought "Wow... this is fun"!  My only struggle was from 17 - 19k.  By that point I was doing the math for when I would finish if I held a 5 min k.  By my calculations it would be in the 1:52's.  It was taking a really long time to get to the 18k marker, and I can honestly say that was my only moment when I thought I was tired.  As luck would have it, I missed the 18k marker, and when I saw 19 I did a bit of a happy dance. (Well, it was in my head, but I was happy!)  I had no idea what my run split was until I saw results.  I am pretty sure I negative split the run based on the pace on my Suunto... if not, it was an equal split.  I was 1:37 off my stand alone half mary PR!!!!!!  Holy... amazing what a positive mind set can do!

Sorry for the long winded up date. I guess I don't need to blog.  I emailed Wade the race director at GWN today to say thanks for the amazing day.  I am still a bit emotional over the day.  Seeing out team colors, and the support for every athlete out there is incredibly overwhelming for me... in a good way.  I know I've said it before but I am a lucky coach.  Thank you to all of you for that.

 Honorable mentions...

• Caroline for being our unofficial "official" photographer!  THANK YOU CAROLINE!
• Toni for supporting, cheering, taking pics ALL day long!
• All the spouses who lined up to cheer us on!  Spouses, friends, family, kids... we couldn't do it without you. 
• Carmen Augustini... My Grandmaster who once again dominated his age group! You are so impressive in so many ways Carmen!
• My cousin Jeff who proudly wears TTL colors. He had a really good race. Several times he wanted to quit, but then he'd see another TTL athlete and lose his desire to pull the plug!
• Frank from spin class!!!  A great race... very nice to see you in your wonderful jersey! Thanks Frank!