Painting Fun....

With our cousin Emma - thanks Nana for bringing her over to play with us - we hope you'll do it more often - smiley face!

DUMCP Spaghetti Supper Fundraiser

The girls had a blast again this year at the preschool's fall fundraiser....Grandpa & Granny joined us too - what a treat...smiley face

Deers Visit our yard....

They are in our yard all the time (or so we are told by all of our neighbors)....but we finally saw them for a long time last month....it was a mom & her two babies - we watched her feed them before we finally had to go to church (we took these photos upstairs from Lexy's bedroom window). So neat to see....smiley face

Why? My Road to Kona and the Ironman World Championships

Here's an email Chris sent to his co-workers today - we are sooooo proud of him!!! go Chris go! All that he has done - is extraordinary!!! We love you Chris.....

Among friends, family and others I come in contact with, the most frequently asked question I get when I inform them of my plans to race in Kona at the Ironman World Championships is…Why? Why would you want to do that? Why would you swim, bike, and run 140.6 miles in one day, let alone a lifetime. My typical response is to provide an analogy regarding one of their interests. If they play golf, I’d say “if you had a chance to play in the Masters against Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, or Sergio Garcia, wouldn’t you? To walk Augusta National and play alongside the best in the sport on their course” or if they play tennis, I’d compare the opportunity to setting foot on Wimbledon during the Championships.

My road to Kona started a decade ago when I was just out of college, working at my first job in corporate America. I have played competitive sports my entire life, starting in soccer at the age of 5 and playing through college and professionally for a year. In addition, I played football, ran cross country and played golf and tennis with friends. Upon embarking on my first career, I quickly tired of running to stay in shape and was invited to try a local triathlon by a co-worker. He’d been doing a few sprint triathlons and I liked the idea of altering the monotony of running with swimming and biking. So, I grabbed my best friend and we started training. I’ll always remember our first attempt at swimming in his 10 meter pool…we barely could do 5 laps (50 meters) without getting exhausted.

Over the course of the next 5 years, we slowly added distance and increased our goals. From our first sprint to Olympic length triathlons and then we set our sights on the ultimate triathlon distance…an Ironman. We decided to do Ironman Arizona, which was in its inaugural year, in 2005. Leading up to the race we did several marathons and Half Ironman events. For the event, I had a decent race, although I really ran out of gas during the middle of the marathon. I finished in about 13 ½ hours. At the time, I was able to dedicate time to training because we had a simpler life with only one child. I was proud of my accomplishment of becoming an Ironman, but did not have the desire to compete in another one any time soon given the time commitment for training, unless…I could compete in Kona.

After Ironman Arizona, my wife and I welcomed our second child, Hannah, and then 13 short months later, we welcomed our third daughter, Abby. Needless to say, our lives were turned upside down with 3 children that were 3 years old and younger. I did not do any serious training or competitions for several years. Coming into 2008, I decided it was time to dedicate myself to getting back in shape and competing again. I set my sights on an Ironman 70.3 and decided to make it a “destination” event that my wife and I could enjoy a vacation around. Vineman 70.3 in Sonoma, California was a perfect fit and I signed up for the July event. I began training with the help of my volunteer coach and friend, Jason Willcox, a competitive age group athlete (who finished 147th in the world at the 2007 Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Clearwater, FL.) Through his guidance, I was able to set my career best at the 70.3 distance in 5:00:27; which was 45 minutes better than my previous best. I felt great and ran great the entire race. My previous events of greater distance were always a struggle and a bit painful towards the end. Now, I felt I could take on the world.

Coming into 2009, I decided to again do Saint Anthony’s Olympic Triathlon in April and choose a new Ironman 70.3 event to compete in during the summer. For the last several years, I have been entering the Lottery for Kona, not really ever thinking I would win a spot. I am the type of person that does not ever win anything, some people do, but I don’t (until now).

I found out that I received a lottery spot in a bit of an unusual way…getting an email from an acquaintance. He congratulated me after seeing it on TV during the Ironman 70.3 World Championships. I was thrilled, but skeptical as well and searched the Internet for confirmation…which did not really produce anything but a posting on a random site. I was cautiously optimistic but needed confirmation. I called and emailed Ironman headquarters and was told the results were unofficial but it would be announced soon…I’m dying here! I called my wife, my friends and made them aware of the tentative lottery spot. Everyone was thrilled and excited. Fortunately, when I got home that evening, we had Tivo’d the 70.3 World Championships and I was able to see my name on the screen. Now the training began in earnest.

When I arrive in Kona, Hawaii, I will have swam, biked and ran over 4,911 miles over the course of my training this year in preparation, including:
· Over 200 miles of swimming…the equivalent of swimming from Florida to Cuba and back
· Over 3900 miles of cycling…the equivalent of biking from Atlanta to Phoenix, Arizona and back
· Over 800 miles of running…the equivalent of running from Atlanta to New York City

Now, there are 140.6 miles to go.

So for me, the most important question isn’t Why?, but rather Why not?

Why not climb the highest mountain?

Why not jump out of a perfectly good airplane to go sky-diving?

Why not travel the world?

I want my daughters to learn by example that if you set a goal, work hard, you can accomplish anything. I want to show my gratitude to my wife for her unwavering support as I cross the finish line on Alii Drive. I want to accomplish a goal that only a small amount of people have ever accomplished.

Why not?

I want to thank my wife, Samantha, for all her support, understanding and encouragement during my training (and life), my daughters for being sweet and supportive and understanding that Daddy is either running, biking or swimming each morning when they wake, Jason Willcox for creating and managing my training program, my friend Greg King for loaning me his fast bike, Compliance 360 for supporting my flexible schedule, and all of my family and friends who have provided support and plan on making the trip to cheer me on or cheer from afar. Thank you.

If you want to track my progress during the event or watch on TV when it airs, you can follow below:

ATHLETE TRACKER
Athlete tracker will be available on http://www.ironman.com/ the day of the race. You will be able to follow me by entering my last name or bib number. My bib number is 1331.

TV COVERAGE
2009 Ford Ironman World Championship NBC coverageDecember 19, 2009 from 4:30 - 6:00 PM (check local listings)

Pain Is Temporary. Pride is Forever.