104, Medal, and KJ

I enjoyed the accomplishment of completing my first triathlon, but soon needed a new adventure. The local bike club holds a century ride each September. This seemed like a big enough adventure, so I put down my cash and signed up for the full 104 miles. I knew I could cover 50 or 60 miles on the bike, but I’d never been much further. This would definitely be new territory for me, but I looked forward to the challenge. My brother-in-law, AB, also planned to do the full ride. We agreed to stay together for the entirety. The ride started out with 200+ riders. We made the mistake of starting out at the front of the group. We rode too fast during the first part of the ride and skipped the first aid station, which was at mile 15 or 20. The next aid station would be about the same distance away. By the time we reached the next aid station, I'd begun to tire a bit and knew I'd pushed too hard, but was ok. We rested for about 15 minutes. We drank, ate and reloaded our water bottles. We continued on to the next aid station. We began to encounter a few rolling hills and the temperature had begun to rise which made the going a bit tough, but we soldiered on and made it to the next aid station. We were now at the half way point. We rested a bit longer at this aid station and fueled up once more. It was now hot, but the terrain had leveled out somewhat. We both began to experience leg discomfort and some cramping on this portion of the ride. We stopped a couple of times to stretch and work out the kinks. We made it to the next aid station and were ready for a rest. After about 30 minutes at the aid station, we continued. We found comfort in the fact that we only had about 30 miles to go. A few miles into this section of the ride, AB dropped a rag which wrapped itself around the rear cog of his bike and broke the derailleur hanger. Neither of us could believe it. A support vehicle soon arrived. AB had no choice but to end his ride, but I decided to continue on alone. I rode at an effort that was too intense and arrived at the next aid station feeling fairly rough. Luckily DJ and KJ were working at this aid station and seeing them lifted my spirits enough to continue on. The last 15 miles were very tough riding for me, but I finished and was glad it was over. For the first time ever, I was sick of riding my bike.

The next adventure was to return to the 5k that had started it all. I had been running well and hoped to better my time by a couple of minutes. I lined up feeling good. I gave it all I had during the entire race and crossed the finish line totally spent. I'd improved my time by nearly three minutes, 21:53. My time was good enough for 3rd place in my age group, earning me my first medal.

Next up was another local 5k a few weeks later. I had continued to train and was feeling as strong as ever. I crossed the finish line in this race in 20:56, almost a full minute faster than the last 5k. This time I earned second place in my age group and couldn’t have been more satisfied. My only regret was that DJ and KJ couldn’t be there with me.


The next race would be one that would remain one of the most special events I’d probably ever do. KJ decided she wanted to run a race with me. We found a local 5k race and signed up. We began training slowly. Just weeks before the race, KJ covered 3 miles non-stop for the first time, not bad for a seven year old. Race day came and KJ was excited and nervous. We started the race on a very cold December morning. Soon the crowd of runners had moved far ahead, but we had a good time running together at the back of the pack. We would walk several times, but finished and had a great time. It was awesome watching KJ cross the finish line of her first race.