Endure the Bear

I woke up on Sunday Morning around 3:30 AM and grabbed the computer. I had done IM Louisville 2 years in a row and decided if I wasn't in this year, I was at least going to watch it. My future brother-in-law(maybe...) Brandon was also racing and I wanted to track his day.

Pro race. John Flanagan is crazy fast in the water. But not as fast as Paul Ambrose is on the bike. 24.7 mph! That is freaking cruising. I didn't think he would hold on for the run but he did. I thought it was a very impressive race. Was hoping for Max Longree to run him down but couldn't even being the only one to go under 3...which is insane. From everything I read and heard it sounded crazy hot. Half the pros dropped out.

Brandon had an outstanding swim. 1:04. Faded hard on the run like most everybody else. Finished a minute slower than he did last year. Sounded like he had fun and is going back for number 3 next year.

I watched most of the race from start to 1st place finish and was pretty envious of everybody suffering. I reminded myself that I took this year off to get faster and to build the motivation to get serious about Ironman. So far so good. I turned 30 this year. I also pr'd at 5k and half mary and took second in my age group at my first Xterra! Plus I had fun doing a bunch of different types of races. Mt. Bike. Snowshoe. Kayak. All good stuff.

Up next is the Endure the Bear 30K trail run. The last event of the conquer the bear series. I believe I am in 7th place right now overall, out of about 50 people taking part in the whole series. Not too bad, although two of the "guys" ahead of me are like 13 and 14 years old. I need to run fast on the 11th if I want a shot at the overall podium!