Easing into Fall

It's late October now and fall is officially upon us. Since the Camp Eagle AR in late May I have been absolutely swamped with all kinds of things. In addition to work and family related stuff I've been doing my best to ride, run, race and stay active. I'll let this update serve as a recap of some of the things done since the last update.

Skiing - I've probably been on the water more this year than I have in many years. I can't tell you how much I've missed it. We've finished most of the major developer tasks at the Ranch (www.SanMarcosRiverRanch.com) and have now entered into a new phase where I spend most of my time selling and speaking with builders about building out the community. The great thing about this is that I actually have some time to enjoy the fruits of so many years of planning and building. It's truly amazing to pull up to my boat, drop it in the water and ski on any one of 4 world record capable slalom courses. Our lot owners are the best folks I know and I feel so lucky to have found this old ranch to develop.

Mini Pyramid at Lake McQueeney with Luke and Jordan

This summer was also the first summer that my oldest daughter ever skied. She literally went from never skiing to learning to ski in June and then on to skiing the mini course on slalom in late August. In the middle of all of that, she was a part of Ski Bees this summer and learned how to do some show skiing acts. She skied in two different tournaments this year and if she keeps it up, it won't take her too long to be better than I ever dreamed of being. I'm so proud of her.

Racing and Working Out - Adventure Racing season quiets down in the summer so as a team we focus on getting together to do workouts when we can and doing other events as cross training. In early June I talked two longtime friends who had never done an Adventure Race into doing a Sprint Race with me. I'd serve as navigator and guide us through the race. All they had to do was survive and stick with me. Kyle had the benefit of the local trail knowledge and Leslie was looking to step up her racing to a new level. I don't think any of us planned on placing or actually being competitive in this event. Soon enough though we're clicking along on the checkpoints and we realize that three 40 something year old friends from high school are kicking the crap out of nearly 30 other teams. That's the fun thing about Adventure Racing. You can be a totally bad ass athlete. Fast runner, biker etc. but if you don't know where you're going or what you're doing, it doesn't matter. It's intelligent racing. Go figure that we actually take 3rd place! I know that Kyle and Leslie had a blast and so did I. Hopefully they'll keep training and become my newest AR junkie friends.

After that race we had two Triathlons at the ranch that I decided to do. I entered the "Fat Tire" division which means you did the race on your mountain bike. It's perfect cross training for me. It had been a while since I had done much swimming so I did some open water swimming to get up to speed. On the first race I totally blew my transitions and came in 9th place out of 16 people in my division. I'm used to doing Adventure Racing transitions where you come in to TA, get some water, grab a bite, plot some points, make a quick plan and go. Big mistake at a triathlon. I was happy with my bike time but I was not happy with my overall performance at all. 3 weeks later I cleaned up all of the mistakes from the first race and again entered the "Fat Tire" division. The swim was only 400m but I made the mistake of going out too fast for the first 200m. I basically did the breast stroke for the last 200m. I was certain this leg was going to ruin my race. I hit transition and was out in a flash. I rode my ass off and was only passed by a few 'roadies'. Nothing makes me feel better than to fly by someone on a road bike on my mountain bike. An out and back ride and a fast TA again. The run was only 5k but my legs were hosed. I ran with a guy for about a mile but couldn't keep the 7.5 minute pace he was running. My run time was slower than I wanted but it was all I could do. Still, when it was all said and done I placed 3rd in my division! When I looked at the splits I was shocked that my slow ass 400m swim time was actually the 3rd fastest of the group. I absolutely nailed it on the bike and was the fastest in the division. The two guys that beat me were runners and finished their 5k in that 7.5 minute pace. In order for me to have moved up to 2nd place I would have had to have finished nearly 9 minutes sooner. Not an easy task. Even so, all things considered I was pumped to place at a race that was hosted the ranch that I helped build. Awesome feeling.

Lisa Richter and me after the River Ranch Tri

Now, as the days start to cool off, AR events will start back up again. My goal for next year is to be in good enough shape to take on a few more Triathlons next summer. To do that I'll have to work on my running and swimming. I'll also need to take off that extra 20lbs that I've been talking about for a while. It's not that I'm overweight really. It's just a whole lot easier to move less weight than it is to move more weight. Plus you move it faster. I've been working on my running and my Orienteering which will help me all around. Throw in some bike races and a little more attention to my diet and I should be good to go. That's all from here for now. Enjoy Halloween!