New Addition to the Family

17Dec Osan AB Korea--

Well I guess since it is the time of giving I decided to give myself a little something for the holidays; its nice being single and not having to get permission for purchases. So with the economy being in such a crunch right now I found a steal on a brand new bike I could not pass up. I had been saving up some money and was going to wait till mid next year to get a Triathlon specific bike. Well I came across a new Cervelo P3C; which is a top of the line triathlon bike. They hold their value really well and I had to hop on the deal while I could. So below are a few pictures of the new addition:

What it once was.......Couldn't resist putting this picture up...


The finished project.....

Proud new owner of the P3C

2008 Race Statistics/Final Results

7Dec08 Osan AB Korea-

Well it is official my inaugural season into multi sport racing has come to an end. The final 5K of the year was canceled due to it being 12 degree's out. So that was disappointing but I have been on 2 weeks of complete rest in preparation to start training for China 70.3. With the season at an end I would like to thank a few people for making this season possible and for myself to become interested into the sport. First off thanks to Col Becker for putting together Cold Steel Triathlon on base which was the only reason I got involved in the sport and has become something I have come to love. To Mark and Dave for pushing me on the bike from Day 1 when I was riding a Korean P.O.S and kept taking me out on 30+ mile rides and never left my newbie ass somewhere in Korea. To Des for being my Logistics coordinator and good friend throughout this season; without you Des I would have not raced a spontaneous Marathon this year, thanks for the weeks of pain I endured afterwards!! To Tim, OC, and Jeff for being there to push me through some of the morning "hangover" rides and keep pushing me to get faster. To Hahm "The Bike Doc" for helping me throughout the year with all of my bike problems. To everyone else that I have competed against this year and have trained with for making myself a stronger Triathlete. And then to anyone that has taken time out of their day to follow my racing by checking out this blog. Below I have posted the final results from the season along with some stat's.
2008 Race Statistics 14Jun-26Nov
16 Races Entered
6 Overall 1st Place Wins
1 Age Group Win
8 Top 5’s

Races Entered Breakdown
6 5K’s
1 10K
1 Sprint Duathlon
3 Sprint Triathlons
3 Olympic Distance Triathlons
1 Half Marathon
1 Full Marathon

Turkey Trot

26Nov08 Osan AB ROK--

Well another nice and cold morning on the lovely ROK(Republic of Korea). A good group of 150 runners came out and someone dressed up as the Turkey. I was quite disappointed I couldn't wear the suit but it is alright there is always next year, and I can be a Turkey in Turkey.........So I have come to realize that there is always someone faster or better than you everywhere you go. That is what drives me to be so competitive and want to do so well. For example I know I am not a fast runner but am a decent runner but for some reason the people that are faster than me just are not showing up to these 5K's. So for the past five 5K's I have won them by at least 15 seconds and have not been challeneged. I was pushed pretty hard on the last one but once again this time I lead from start to finish and was a whole minute slower than last week. So this is where I have come to realize I have not reached my full potential of my fastest 5K time due to the fact I have not been pushed to the breaking point yet. I came in 1st with a time of 19:40 which as any runner knows that is not fast. So my goal for the next one is to run as fast as I can no matter if there is someone in front of me or not just to see where I stand.

150 Participants
1st Place Overall
19:40

CFC Fund Run 5K/Duathlon Canceled

21Nov Osan AB--

Well it was not as cold today as it was last friday for the 5K. Not near as many people though probably on 25 runners, which was quite disappointing. All in all it ended up being a good day and a new PR for the 5K; 18:36. I went out pretty strong at a 6 Minute pace and at about mile 2 1/2 somebody pulled up next to me and we cruised along till about 1/4 mile left and then I started to kick and he kept up for a bit then fell of so another 5K win in the books. Last race of the year is going to be this Wednesday for the Turkey Trot and then I will go into a 2 week do absolutely NOTHING phase. I can tell my body is getting pretty worn out and needs a break. Once my 2 week recovery phase is over then I will start my 18 week training plan for China.

Tobacco Awareness 5K

Nov 14, Osan AB ROK--

Well it was a nice and cold Friday morning. It was a warm 35 degree's and I think that effected my run just a little bit; but I assume everyone else felt the same effect. I ran a decent race at 19:42 and somehow that time was good enough to win. I was quite surprised when I came across the line and that was my time. Well there is a 5K this Friday for the Combined Federal Campaign; which will raise money for many different organizations so I will run in that and then the Duathlon is on Saturday morning. I invited some friends down from Seoul that are really quick for the race so not expecting to much for this weekend; I am basically fighting for a 3rd place spot on the podium. I will post some pictures from the Duathlon on Sunday.

Seoul Half Marathon

9Nov08-

Well due to lack of participation the Half Marathon planned for this weekend was canceled. So I finally get a weekend off or so I thought. Since all I have been doing the past 2 months is racing I haven't had a chance to put in some good miles on the bike. The weather was absolutely beatiful this weekend so I road 3 of the possible 3 days I could ride (had to work Monday, but not Tuesday). So I put in 100 miles over the 3 days and was able to see the greatest season over here up in the mountains. All of the leaves were turning and it was awesome. Here is a pic from the day along with a video.

Mirinae in the Fall Absolutely Beautiful

Coming down from the top of Mirinae....kind of bumpy but pretty cool

Incheon International Triathlon

2Nov Incheon South Korea--

Well myself and a buddy somewhat planned on racing this weekend, but our knowledge of Korea and transportation did not work in our favor. So we took a bus ride 2 1/2 hours to the Airport and then road 10 miles with all of our race stuff on back. We made it there just before dusk with no hotel room and were definitely in a place where very little English was spoken. So we registered and had our bike inspections and headed off to find a hotel. Well to our luck all the hotels were booked minus this "love hotel" and they only had rooms with 1 bed or we could get a traditional room which just has a floor and a bunch of comforters so we opted for that. Turned out to work out pretty good minus the mosquito's flying around the room while I slept and decided that buzzing around my ear was the best spot in the room. So I had a very horrible night of sleep. Alright now onto the race..........
Well this was one of the toughest swims that I have accomplished so far. The water was 60 degree's and rough. Once my body adjusted to the water temp it turned out alright. I ended up swimming at 27 minutes so I think the swim course was a little short but I was pleased with it. Now onto the Bike......There was 35 pros/elites from all over the world there and they had a 25 minute head start on us so that we weren't in their way for the swim. Well on their 2nd lap of the bike they went flying by me and well I stayed with them for about 1 mile and I think I might of got some air time on the Korean sports channel "X-Sports". So we will see if I get a copy of the video and see if I snuck in there. I road the 25 mile 4 lap course in 1:12 minutes. One of my slower bike splits but it was really windy so that may have had some affect on it. The run was a hilly 4 lap course that ended with a 200m finish on the beach. It was a tough run course and I ran it in a little under 45 minutes. I ended up with a total time of 2:25:14 which is a new personal record for my Olympic Distance races. That 2:25:14 put me at the top of my age group. I am not sure exactly how many people were in our Age Group but 10 were registered and I think only 7 or 8 showed up for the race. I will update the Results once the official results are out. Below are some pictures from todays race.

Race Results:
1st Place Age Group
Time: 2:25:14
Overall Finish TBD

Upcoming Events:
9Nov Seoul Half Marathon
14Nov Tobacco Awareness 5K
22Nov Osan Du the Do#2
19Apr09- 70.3 Ironman China
1-3May- Wildflower Olympic Distance California

Up on the Podium w/ my Competitors

Myself and Jan Rehula (2000 Olympic Bronze in Triathlon)

Receiving the Gold Medal

Pre-Race Picture

Spontaneous Marathon COMPLETED!!

26 Oct, Chuncheon Marathon South Korea--

Well for such a last minute idea to run a marathon the weekend turned out to be great. First off the pre race meal was awesome. Seafood Spaghetti at an Italian restaurant in South Korea it turned out to be awesome. Followed by that we had some German sausage and a German Beer (good carb loading ;) ). Then to wake up to beautiful weather made the race morning that much better; 65 w/ a slight wind and clear skies. The race started in a Stadium that was jam packed with runners; not sure on the exact number but my estimate is somewhere around 10,000. The race course ran along a beautiful lake and along the countryside. It was fairly flat with a hill off of the start and a few minor hills throughout the course. I have put the race course below. This was by far one of the toughest challenges to date; well it was quite easy till mile 21 when you hit this wall that stays there until the end. The first 21 miles flew by like nothing then the last 5.2 were the longest 5.2 miles of my life. So for my first marathon the race was amazing, coming into the stadium I will have to admit I almost broke down and started crying then somehow I pulled it together and just finished the race. Thank you to everyone that has been following the blog and wishing me luck throughout this past crazy 7 weeks. I will add some more pictures from the race once I get them.

Race Results:
13.1 Split- 1:40.13
Finish Time- 3:25.00
Finishing Place- 12/290 in Age Group 20-30

Upcoming Events-
2Nov- Incheon Int Triathlon
9Nov- Half Marathon in Seoul
14Nov- Tobacco Awareness 5K
22-Nov- Osan Duathlon
19Apr09- IronMan China 70.3

Domestic Violence 5K

Oct 24, Osan AB ROK--

Well it was a nice cool morning and a great day for a run. Around 250 people showed up to run the 5K and I was not feeling it this morning after my long run last night. Probably not the wisest choice I have ever made to run 18.3 miles and then 11 hours later wake up and run a 5K, but as the saying goes I guess im young and dumb. The intent behind the 18.3 mile run was to make sure I was somewhat ready for the marathon this Sunday and I believe I should do alright considering the minimal training I have done for it. So after about the first mile I actually felt pretty good and myself and another guy were out front just cruising along. It stayed that way all the way till about 1/2 mile left. Another guy came up and decided to speed it up a little bit so I hung with him and then with about 1/4 mile left another guy came up and just started kicking hard. So myself being like I already said "young and dumb" kicked hard as well and pushed hard till the line well according to the guy that took 2nd "I was going easy thats why I beat him". So we will leave it at that I guess running 18.3 miles and then getting up to run a 19:06 5K was going easy......................

Results:
5K- 19:06
1st/250ish runners

Upcoming Races:
Chuncheon Marathon Sunday Oct 26th
Nov 2nd Incheon Int Tri
Nov 9th Half Marathon in Seoul
Nov 22nd Osan Duathlon

Spontaneous 1/2 Marathon.......

Pyeongtaek Port Half Marathon---13.1 Miles/21K

Well I got a little crazy this weekend and a last minute race came up on Tuesday. The original plan was to run a 5K due to someone dropping out; then I thought why bus 45 mins 1 way to run for 18 minutes? So I found another person that had dropped out of the 1/2 and got there race number and decided to run a half marathon today. So that is what happened and a very pleasant and beautiful 1/2 marathon it turned into. I ran with a buddy for 16K of it at a very nice pace right around a 1h40m finish time (the koreans have these guys that run with ballons that pace you just so you know where your at). Well at 16K he told me to go ahead and go so I went with 5K left i pushed hard and came in at 1 hour 36 minutes 45 seconds. So overall a good first half marathon.

Alright so if you thought that spontaneous half marathon was crazy well hold on for this one...............I got conned into doing a full marathon next weekend. Yeah and today was the farthest I have ever ran before today it was a whopping 10K. So next weeekend will be the real test of how much my body can handle with out training for the actual race. I mean training for a Triathlon is one thing but the run is only 1/3 of the race; having to run 26.2 miles is a totally different thing. So stay tuned for the blog about the Marathon.

Upcoming Races:
24Oct- Domestic Violence 5K Osan AB
26Oct- Chucheon Full Marathon South Korea
2Nov- Incehon International Triathlon South Korea (Olympic Distance)
19Apr09- IronMan China 70.3

Breast Cancer Awareness 5K

Osan AB RoK-17Oct08

Well it was a foggy morning and only about 50 runners. Finally got to run hard in the new Aasics and they are a great running shoe. The last 5K i ran on base I went 19:15 and was looking to improve on that today. Went out strong and didn't look back; lead the whole way and came into the clock at 18:42. Can't wait to start training for China 70.3 and see what happens when the training gets intense.

Results for Today-
1st out of 50 Runners
Time: 18:42

Camp Humphreys Sprint Tri

13 Oct 2008- 400M Swim, 20K Bike, 5K Run
Well lets just say this day started out way to crazy......I managed to set the alarm to PM instead of AM so instead of a 0600 wake up i ened up waking up at 625 and had to be at the bus at 640, which ended up not being there. So we had to take a cab to the Army base which cost about $20. Well i had the bright idea to use my GPS so that we could ride back after the race. Sounded good until I left it in the cab and off he went with my GPS still sitting in the cab. So there was the worst part of the day. So from not having a bus to ride to having to take a cab then losing the GPS I figured the day couldnt get much worse. Well it was all uphill from there. This is now the Triathlon number 3 in 4 weeks so I didnt know how it was going to go but luckily there was only 25 people there and the guy that normally beats me wasn't there. So I stood a chance at actually taking a overall 1st place finish. Since I didnt have my GPS I dont know my exact splits but someone timed my swim and it was decent, right around 6:45. I did extremely well on the bike as usual and came in to T2 (2nd Transition, which is from the bike to run) at 43 Minutes. I didnt know how many people were in front of me but as I was getting off the bike a runner was just leaving. So I knew I had some catching up to do. I probably ran the best I have run and at 1.5 miles I saw the police escort about 1/2 mile ahead. I had already passed the guy that was ahead of me in Transition and noticed the person in the lead was from the Team category. So I realized I had the lead for individuals but wasn't satisfied with that. I pushed hard and wanted to chase down the team runner. So with about 1/3 of a mile to go I passed the team runner and never looked back from there. The guy in 2nd came in about 1:30 behind me so I felt really strong with my run. I finished the race at 1:02:26 and took 1st place overall. Below is a pic from the awards ceremony thanks to Jeff Swindle.

Results 2008

Here are my Results for the 2008 Season.........Check back to this post as this is updated throughout the season......

Click image to Englarge