Athens-YMCA Triathlon

That's Coach Tom pictured right (showing off his big guns!)

Back in January, while we were all still triathlon neophytes, Coach Tom told us about this great event in Athens, Texas, sponsored by the town's YMCA. It's a Sprint distance triathlon, which is about half of an Olympic distance, and exactly half of Quarter Iron Man distance that our team will divide up to conquer on April 1 - just 15 days from now. Lance Armstrong ran this race when he was a young Texas triathlete. Tom offered this race as a great practice event.

So the majority of the Winter North Texas Forth Worth Triathlon team of TNT traveled to Athens on March 10, (about two hours drive from Fort Worth) to compete in this event.

A more beautiful day nor more idyllic weather could have greeted us. It was beautiful, even with a patch of fog that forced the local police to delay the race start to ensure the safety of the bicycle portion of the race.

I had a fantastic time - an absolute blast. TNT was well represented from our team, Team Starr's Bret and Jennifer and Team Magma, aka Dan M., and other local teams such as Dallas.

My only misstep was losing track of my timing chip, which began the race strapped to my ankle, but was separated from me without my noticing. So I have no official results, but I'm pleased with my effort.

And our team looked great today; I'm very proud to be a part of this group.

Coach Tom had us very well prepared for this race.

A Salute to Coach Tom

TNT attracts a group of seemingly ordinary folks who volunteer their time to train the endurance/fundraising teams, often multiple teams at one time such our winter team and the new spring team which kicked-off their training in '07. I suppose like most humans, their extraordinary qualities manifest once you get to know them better.

Bret from Team Starr provides an appropriate tribute to Coach Tom, the leader of our pack of wild triathletes-in-training, and a super human being.

Read Bret's post. I bet you'll laugh out loud.
http://teamstarr.blogspot.com/2007/01/coach-tom.html

The rolling hills, hills, and more hills of the Goatneck

Lots of riders use the Goatneck as a warm-up for the Hotter'N Hell 100 mile ride in August. Some folks say that the Goatneck is even tougher than the HH100 in some respects because of the persistent rolling hills across the 70mi course. The HH100 is flat, windy, and well, hot. Though it's plenty hot in July too! By the time we stepped off the bikes for last time today, the mid-day thermometer was reading in the 90s.

The reported 3,000+ riders today received ample support on the course. Rest stops are spaced every 7-8 miles. SAG wagons (anyone know where that name comes from?) ensured distressed or disabled riders did not wait long for help. And the volunteers do a wonderful service and a great job every year - today was no exception.

My trusty riding partner Mike W. had to skip this race. As expected, I found some old TNT training buddies to ride with and even dear Coach Tom to visit with during the rest stops. Tom is looking strong as usual, and like many others from today's crew, will be heading to Austin in October for the Longhorn 70.3.

In summary. The Goatneck rocks. Today's distance was my greatest to date - so that's a new challenge met, heh!

Buying shoes.

If you talk to Deirdre, my wonderful wife, she'll tell you not to mention "buying shoes" to me, especially if the shoes are from Nine West and are black.... I don't understand women's shoes and have gone to such degrees of self-torture as to track all shoe waste I mean "purchases" separately so I can report back to her at month end, but I digress....

With my newfound knowledge on the topic of proper shoe fit (see previous post), I was actually excited to go buy new running shoes. After all, I could not begin my traithlon training in earnest with my two-year old Adidas which were a full size too small! Hello shin splints & plantar fasciitis! Not to mention, this shoe purchase was for me and for a PRACTICAL purpose and not yet another pair of black closed-toe pumps, but I digress....

(I love my wife very much, really, she feeds me well and just brought me snack of sliced apples).

Since the Big Feet Store, who opend my eyes to the basics of proper foot care, don't stock many shoes for normal feet like me, I chose Luke's Locker in Fort Worth to go find my perfect pair of running shoes. Coach Tom negotiated a 10% discount for TNT participants.

I entered the store on a Saturday afternoon to find a bustling store of what appeared to be a very helpful and attentive staff. I scanned the room and noticed seemingly experienced runners trying on new shoes. Good sign.

(Let me shift to the present tense to better tell this story...)

A younger teenage employee approaches me and offers help. I accept and give him the advice that I received at the Big Feet Store after my computerized foot scan and proper foot sizing. Size 12. Medium support.

He brings me a few pair of his recommend shoes. I try them on.

He proceeds to "verify" my proper fit, by... GASP, sticking his thumb above my big toe!!

"Noooo! That's not how you do it," I exclaim. "The toe position is secondary to the positioning of the widest part of your foot to the widest part of the shoe." Haven't you had your eyes opened like I have, is what I'm thinking to myself.

He had not been so enlighted.

I try to enlighten him and teach him everything I learned about proper shoe fit, about how 85% of Americans are wearing the wrong shoe size.

He looks at me like a crazy person. I begin to feel like a crazy person.

So, rather than worry about converting this lost soul, I get back to the task at hand. This store has a trendmill on the "showroom floor" so I take my top choices for a quick jog and find the perfect fit in a pair of Asics GT-2110s.

Shoes have model #'s and even model years, didn't you know?