What is this blog...

After prepping for a whopping 90 days, and doing an IRONMAN 70.3 (half ironman distance of 70.3 miles total) and feeling good at the end, friend and colleague Jack Daly dropped this one on me...

"Mike, you had a great first race...but you never struck me as the kind of guy that does anything half way..."

Seeing as he was dead on right, I committed on the spot to racing in the Ironman. 140.6 miles comprised of a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike, and a 26.2 mile run. The truth is, it's an awesome challenge, having done a bit of training. It seems hard to see how one runs a marathon at any respectable pace after so many hours and such distance... and walk it, I will not.

There is no sure thing that something doesnt go horribly wrong on a race this long, and I really, really get it. But something like 15 years ago, I learned about the Ironman, and for some reason, with zero qualification or training, I just felt like I could do it. Didnt know how, I just had this feeling. In hindsight, it might have been easier to do it in my earlier athletic youth --but time time is when the time is.

Anyway, I'll update periodically with where I am at in my quest for Iron. I'll be standing in the water waiting for the starting cannon to go off on November 6, 2010, and I intend to Hammer it every day until then. As with the Longhorn Ironman 70.3 last year, the training is so much fun, I am cool with whatever happens on race day. I love all three sports, and while the bike was my achilles, I've started focusing much more on it, and will get it up there. I'm already running at 2MPH faster than last season, and I've got a long way to go.

Lot's of guys write much more reflective, emotive things when they blog about their road to the Ironman. We'll see if my post after the race is of that nature... until then, it's really just about hammering it each day and having fun. I love it.

M