Went swimming with some friends at Pewaukee Lake yesterday.
The internet can be a dark and dangerous thing. It can also be an amazingly useful and fun tool. It has also changed the world and made it smaller. All of the people in this picture probably would never have met if not for it.
In my links section are 2 triathlon related websites; Gordoworld and Slowtwitch. Both of them have lots of useful information. Gordoworld used to have a great forum where lots of smart triathletes would share information and advice. I think it will again soon. And Slowtwitch has probably the most widely used and active forum in the sport. I "met" all of these people on one of these 2 forums.
The guy on the right is Big Island Will. There's a link to his blog in my links section. If his blog looks like mine it's because I copied his (royalty check is in the mail.....). I met Will on the Gordoworld forum; we met because I called BS on something he said and he proved me wrong (wasn't the last time for this either). Will and his family live in Hawaii (hence the Big Island part). Later I saw he was doing IMWI in '06 and was coming to the area in July of '06. I contacted him (in an effort to not be such a dink) and offered to ride the Madison course with him in July while he was around. We did that and have since developed a regular and genuine friendship though mostly over the net. He and I went through the Thurs registration process for WI together last year; it was both our first IM. On race day we entered the water together; he proceeded to kick my butt (wasn't the last time for this either). I went to Arizona in April where Will was racing Ironman Arizona to cheer him and a number of others on. Will is a great friend and resource. He and his family are in Madison for a couple weeks and they stopped by for our swim. It was a pleasure to meet his wife and boys.
What does it take to be an Ironman. Let's take Will for example. Former Army Ranger, Wharton school graduate, successful career as a venture capitalist, husband, father, etc etc etc. Drive; yeah it takes some of that. Here's a guy who decided to sign up for IMWI about 10 months before the race and proceeded to drop almost 50 pounds and get himself in that kind of shape. Here's a guy who rolled his ankle during the IM marathon and needed to be in a walking cast after but kept going (and kicked my butt).
Will is racing High Cliff 1/2 Ironman with me next weekend. We have a little bet going; more detail next week.
Next to me is Joel. Joel is a local guy and an Ironman. Joel and I (without knowing it) bought the exact same bike in the exact same month from the exact same shop last year. It's a fairly rare bike. At High Cliff last year I was tooling along about 10 miles into the ride when some guy I didn't know went flying by me and said "nice bike". I agreed and inquired why the one he bought went faster than mine. He may have answered but was too far up the road to hear. A few months later on Slowtwitch someone was posting a subject about this type of bike and made reference to something local. I asked if he was the guy who flew by me and said nice bike; and I met Joel. Joel and I go out to lunch every now and again. Turns out he is an attorney at a local law firm my company works with and one of his partners is someone I have done a lot of work with.
Here's a guy with equally impressive credentials, successes and drive. Want to know what it takes to be an Ironman. Hang around a few sometime and you will see some common themes.
Joel is about as passionate a guy as I know when it comes to training and racing. He will be racing High Cliff next weekend too. On a bum hamstring......(what it takes)
Last but not least is Dr. Jodi T. As Joel said last night when he saw this picture: want to know who the toughest person in this picture is; here's a hint, don't start with those over 6 feet tall when trying to figure it out.
Jodi is a regular on the Slowtwitch forum. She is originally from the Milwaukee area and now lives in Ohio. Last year she did her first triathlon; a sprint distance. Having had so much fun she turned around and signed up for Ironman Coure D' Alene (in Idaho). It's next Sunday (when the boys will be doing High Cliff) and she is READY. She is in town at her parents for a little r&r before flying to the race. Joel and I have been doing our best to roll out the local red carpet triathlon wise while she's here. Yesterday's swim was part of that. She and Will went to the same tri training camp in New Mexico this winter and they were/are fast friends before yesterday (again, small world).
Here's a woman who because of a schedule change, ended up preparing for and defending her doctoral dissertation (sorry if I got that wording wrong Jodi) while going through the toughest couple of weeks in IM preparation. She explained to me once what her doctorate is in and I still don't get it but it sounds important (and complicated). And she's doing this on a beat up knee that has limited her running the last couple months.
Jodi's blog is in my links section. You can follow her at Ironman CDA next weekend on www.ironmanlive.com. I can't wait to welcome her into the ironman family
We had a fun and leisurely swim; a couple other local guys joined us. Turns out the lake is a bit weedy in the area we had to swim but everyone was a good sport about getting the extra "resistance" training (sorry guys!!)
After our swim we sampled the margarita's at Seester's Mexican Cantina on the beach. Good recovery fuel...........
My wife and crew showed up to stir things up a little. Tyler was smoozing and carrying on his campaign for governor as usual........
It was great to see you guys.
Good luck Jodi!!!!!!!!!!!!
1 comment:
That was a lot of fun. Just got back from the three county ride led by Joel. It was Jodi's last ride before she heads out to Idaho.
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