Brain Surgery to Ironman

 As I write this it is the end of November and Thanksgiving weekend, the official start to the holiday season.  Obviously this Thanksgiving was different than years past given this alternate universe we seem to be living in, but different doesn’t mean bad.  As a matter of fact there was a lot of good to come out of this weekend and November in general.  Fortunately the weather has been unseasonably warm thus far which I love, I am not now and never was a fan of the cold weather.  Remember, I was a golfer growing up! I had made Jordan a promise this summer that I would continue taking him to the driving range and getting him lessons through the winter so he could develop the skills and fundamentals necessary to make him a better golfer.  We are at the stage now where most 11 year olds, and Jordan is no different, tend to get bored and annoyed because his lessons and range time mainly consist of “building”.  We start with a good position at address and a...

 I have found over the course of this journey that in order to really be successful in all aspects of life you need a person or persons to hold you accountable.  These accountability partners can sometimes be the difference between getting a workout done or not.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m a very type A personality, driven by success and goals, but having accountability partners is just another layer in the secret sauce of success.  First and foremost I have Lori and Jordan at home.  Lori occasionally thinks I’m crazy, but supports my craziness.  Whether it’s a “you’re going to be pissed if you don’t get up and do this” or “I think a tattoo is sexy”, Lori is always in my corner.  Jordan has always been my biggest fan and inspiration, from the sweaty hugs, to the “come on dad, you are going to be an Ironman” he is part of my “why”.  I want him to always know that if he works hard there is nothing he can’t do.  Then there’s my coach and past coach...

   We are definitely living in strange times to say the least.  Being out in public and seeing all of the masked faces, trying to identify friends by the way they walk, their body language or even their eyes, it is all very surreal yet it seems to be the new normal.  A lot has changed in a year in all facets of my life.  When races and life in general seemed to get canceled and the world seemed darkest is when I started to shift my focus.  After the initial disappointment I realized that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity.  A chance to spend more time with my family, more father son time on the golf course, watching Jordan develop a love and passion for a game that was and still is a big part of who I am.  Today with me working from home and Jordan’s hybrid schedule we get to go for a walk everyday at lunchtime, more family dinners on weekends, these are the things that I am thankful for in a time of uncertainty.  Last week also brough...

Those of you who know me know that I have been nothing but optimistic since my journey started in December of 2012.  Double vision and can’t play golf, no big deal I’ll start running.  May need brain surgery a second time, no big deal, control what I can control.  Actually need second brain surgery, no big deal, set big goal and focus and attack it.  Brain aneurysm, no big deal, start training for a full Ironman. Even when this pandemic began almost 6 weeks ago, I stayed laser focused.  When the country basically shut down through the end of April I knew in the back of my mind that my first 2 races of the season were likely in jeopardy and I was ok with that because they were not my “A” races so when I got the email last week that Connecticut 70.3 was canceled, I was ok with it.  After all, it wasn’t my goal race.  No, my goal race is not until the end of August.  However, that may now be in jeopardy as a Montreal newspaper reported late last wee...

Here we are, 3 weeks working from home, 2 weeks of my son being home schooled and I don’t know when I’ve been busier.  At first I thought, working from home would make it easier to get workouts done, less travel time to the pool, the gym, my bike trainer.......boy was I wrong!  Instead I actually find myself working harder than usual to get it all in.  However, it is getting done, except the pool of course.  Gyms have been closed for 2 weeks, my last swim was March 13th and I can honestly say I miss it! The other thing that has been happening on an almost daily basis is race cancellations.  Now, I can’t speak for all endurance athletes, but for me the race is the celebration of all the training.  When you think about it, the race distance and time it takes to complete it pales in comparison to the miles and hours of training.  Last weekend I was supposed to run the Fallen Comrades Half Marathon at West Point and like all other races it was canceled. ...

Worry about what you CAN control and not what you can’t!  This is a mantra that I lived by from 2015 when I found out that I “might” need a second surgery until early 2017 when I found out I would in fact have a second surgery.  I truly believe that I had I waited for the other shoe to drop and not lived my life to the fullest, I would have wound up losing my mind! Here we are in March of 2020 and the country, actually the world is in the grips of a pandemic unlike anything most people have experienced in their lifetime.  The last time I remember witnessing something even remotely like this were the days following 9/11.  Long lines at the grocery stores, desolate parking lots at usually peak hours in town, even the gym parking lot was noticeably less crowded on this gorgeous Sunday morning.  Schools being closed, cities shutting down and what may seem minor to most in the grand scheme of things........races being cancelled. People, myself included, spend a tre...

So, it’s been an interesting week full of highs and lows.  Since I started running 7 years ago I have been keenly aware that the path to race day isn’t linear.  There are ups and downs like any other journey, it’s just a matter of making sure to remain as even keeled as possible.  This was one of those weeks.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, I will test in all 3 disciplines regularly so that my coach can monitor my progress.  This week was my swim test.  Each coach has a different method for conducting these tests, mine prefers a 1000 yard test.  The last time I performed this I swam my 1000 yards in 18:53.  Of all the disciplines, swimming has been the one that I’ve been seeing the biggest gains in lately so I was looking forward to this.  After completing my warm up I began the test.  I was cruising along and felt really good, but I also felt like I was swimming slowly, more on that in a minute.  As I got to the last 50 yards I...