Life's a Roller Coaster......And It Just Keeps On Climbing

12 Sept 2009-

Figured it had been awhile since I have blogged and with all the good news lately figured I should get on here. So where to start.........As many of you know since the crash in Germany things were not looking to good. I was suppose to be out for at least 4-6 weeks from swimming, biking and running. Once I arrived back here to Turkey the Doctor here had his own opinions on my arm and cleared me to run immediately and I was also cleared to ride the trainer. I have now gained about 85% rotation back in my arm and this past week I was cleared to swim. So things started looking promising but I was not motivated to train. The first 3 weeks back I just lounged around and reflected on life and how privileged I had been this year.

I have been in "training" mode since 1 December(3,951 total miles), so lounging around for 3 weeks in August is probably what my body was needing. I have been too 6 countries and have raced in 5 of the 6. I have qualified for the World Championships for the Half Ironman and won two overall triathlons on military bases. I am slowly establishing myself as a endurance athlete and becoming "known" around the community. But when I look back and reflect NONE, ZERO, ZILCH would be possible without the great foundation that supports me. First of FAMILY has been behind me 100% and has supported myself in so many ways. Then comes the FRIENDS, without you guys I would not be where I am today. Then the fellow athlete's, who continue to push me day in and day out. You may not be here stationed in Turkey or you may not even know me but when I train I am training because you might be out there training just as hard or if not harder than me. You are the ones that push me to go harder and strive for more everyday. Then those that doubt me or don't believe in me. I know there are people out there that are waiting for me to fail, and were probably glad to see poor results in Germany (when in all reality the crash and then finishing made me even stronger as a person). These people are around everywhere in life, especially when things start getting good and you start accomplishing great things. So for the people out there that are waiting for me to fail, when I am training it is to prove you wrong. So bottom line THANK YOU to everyone who has been there pushing me and supporting me since the start of this season and the start of the passion for Tri's/running.

Alright so now that the reflection process is over here is all the good news:

I was 1 of 18 individuals selected to represent USAFEurope at the AF Marathon. It was a last minute selection process but I applied in hopes of getting picked up and having a paid trip back to the states to compete at such a great race. We leave on Tuesday to head out to Dayton OH for the race on September 19th. This will be my second marathon so I am quite excited about it.
On Thursday I found out that I was selected for promotion to SSgt (E-5) and will more than likely put on the stripe in December. This now means I will be in a supervisory role, yeah I know SCARY huh?



Then when I thought nothing else could get any better Friday I got more good news. I was selected as the 2009 Incirlik AB Athlete of the Year. My package is now up at MAJCOM level (USAFEurope) and I will be competing against other athletes from around Europe for that award.

So like the title says Liefs a Roller Coaster.........And it just keeps on Climbing. But what goes up must come down, so lets hope this roller coaster doesn't derail for quite some time.