The Eagleman Race Report
14:58, 1:27, 56:07, 1:33, 31:53: 1:45:57
To some people, these are just numbers…
To me, they’re much more than that… they’re measurements of the last 6 months of my life…
“I am a triathlete.”… Weird thing to hear coming from me huh?
“I am a triathlete”… Lemme tell you.. It’s a weird thing to say.
To think that literally one year ago, I had just completed my first 5K (since college), as part of the Johnny Cash Flower Pickin’ Festival in Starkville. I make light of it now, but many of you know the story that during the race, the only thing behind me was the police car that was tailing the last runner… which was me… 41m:45s later, I crossed the finish line, attaining both goals I had set for myself: 1) to run the whole thing without stopping and 2) to finish. Little did I know that running 3.125 miles that morning would set in motion a chain of events that would change my life for the better…
It’s been a rough past few years for me…If you’re tagged in this note, you more than likely know why… If you don’t, let’s grab drinks and I’ll be more than happy to share...But when Nick Gordon casually asked me if I wanted to do a triathlon, something clicked… something made sense… I had become somewhat bored with the mundane routine of lifting weights and running, so the challenge of something different appealed to me. After watching a few YouTube videos, I decided that I’d give it a shot…
So I set out to learn a sport that I knew nothing about… “How hard could it be?”, I thought. “I’ll swim (I can do that), ride a bike (I can do that too), and then run (I can do it, but hate it)”…. Yeah, this’ll be fun… Little did I know what I was getting myself into… I look back now and laugh at how “cocky” I was when I was first starting out… Swimming? Sure, I’ve been doing that my whole life, no big deal… Then I went for my first swim “workout”…
I use the term “workout” lightly… very lightly… very very very lightly… I was lucky to not drown my first time out, and honestly, probably only swam a total of 100 yards (in a 25 yard pool) before waving the white flag. The whole thing probably took close to 45 minutes on account of having to stop to catch my breath after every painfully slow lap. Everything I was taught as a kid when learning to swim was employed: kick hard, flail arms, breathe, repeat… what I quickly learned was that all of that was total crap and I had no idea what I was doing in the water… My triathlon training started, and almost ended with that first attempt at swimming…
Employing the always “reliable” YouTube as my first “coach”, I set out to figure out how to swim, bike, and run (oh, and get through T1 and T2)… Starkville, contrary to what many people may think, is NOT a hub for multisport athletes… in fact, it’s not really a hub for anything… looking for a coach was impossible, so YouTube became my coach… I have to make special mention of my Starkville friends at this point… For those of you who don’t know these people, lemme tell ya… They’re something special… When I hatched this idea to do a Triathlon, so many of them supported and encouraged me (special shout to JT and the Big Catch… ya’ll were instrumental in me pursuing this challenge), All of them kept up with me and my training, and most importantly, put up with my ass when I was cranky, tired, hungry, or had a shitty workout earlier that day… I had to make sacrifices, especially with my time, to train (and recover!) and never once did any of my friends complain about it… if it weren’t for those people, i may have cashed in the chips months ago…
The next several weeks passed and I found myself with a voracious appetite for everything Triathlon. I spent hours pouring over websites, blogs, training plans, gear reviews, and even bought a couple of books (yeah, I’m a nerd) about training and nutrition. The more I learned, the greater my obsession became… Just ask any triathlete, they’ll tell you…
So swimming and running were coming right along, but I was still lacking a pretty key element to doing a triathlon: a bike. (many of you tagged in this note know of my months of frustration and downright despair during my quest for a bike) As I mentioned above, I figured I’d just grab a bike and pedal… right? Wrong. After discovering the costs of bikes, my triathlon training almost came to an end for a second time. Seeing bikes that cost more than I paid for my car was, well, umm… discouraging to say the least. $5,000? $7,000? $10,000? For a BICYCLE? Are you kidding me? Worst part was, that none of these bikes came with stunt pegs or streamers… Crock of shit if you ask me… I mean, how would Cru Jones be able to ride a bike like this at Helltrack? Answer? He wouldn’t…
I ended up borrowing an old Trek road bike from the Dean of Students at MSU... It had handlebars, and pedals... and that's about it... Couldn't ever get a year on it, but by the down tube shifters, I'm guessing it was manufactured sometimes in the 90's... But to me, it was the greatest bike I had ever ridden... Kinda like getting your first car, that by your friend's standards might be a bucket, but in your eyes, might as well be a Benz... I peddled like hell on that old clunker for months and told myself that if this was as good as it was gonna get, I might as well end my training (that's time #3 if you're keeping count)... As I made my announcement that I was leaving Mississippi State to head to Alabama to pursue a Ph.D., the Dean of Students made his announcement (to me) that he'd need his bike back... Hmm, can we say time #4 that I thought training would come to an end?
Fast forward to several months later. After hours and hours of combing Craigslist, eBay, and the classifieds/forums of several Triathlon websites, I found a bike… in the most unlikely of places. Most of you know of how much time I have spent over the last 10 years with my fraternity, Kappa Sigma, either as an undergrad, employee, or volunteer. It seems strange, that of all “things” in my life, Kappa Sig would lead me to a bike.
After losing an auction on eBay for a bike around Labor Day, I casually dropped Will Mattern an email. Will and I are fraternity brothers from way back and he was actually my first “little brother”, way back in ’99. We had kept in touch sporadically over the years, but sort of reconnected last year when I ran into him at a Mississippi State football game. (I may or may not have shrieked like a little girl…) After catching up for a bit, Will said he had gotten into running and had knocked off a marathon and loved it. Since I had run a couple of 5k's that fall, we immediately had stuff to talk about. So, since last fall, we had kept in touch via Facebook about running and training. It’s no surprise that his marathoning lead him to triathloning.
So, after losing this bike on eBay, I dropped Will an email, to catch up and to basically complain about not having a bike and maybe having to scrap Eagleman altogether. What happened next was nothing short of a miracle… and I do mean miracle… Will mentioned he had a friend, Matt Cassell, who was selling a bike and that he’d put us in touch. A few emails later, I found myself agreeing to buy Matt’s bike, a 2008 Cervelo P2SL. I was spoiled. Cervelo is one of the top Tri bike manufacturers, so I felt extremely blessed to be able to land such a sweet bike (for an even sweeter price, coming in just shy of the limit of my budget). Within a week or so, I drove to Meridian, met Matt and his wife Amanda (who had ridden this bike in a few full IM’s, a couple of half IM’s, and several Olympics and sprints) and brought home the one piece of equipment that I could finally “brag” about (as most triathletes do). So I was swimming, had a bike, and was running…. Last thing to do was register for Eagleman.
The last few weeks of training went by pretty quickly. I was trying to cram in as much as possible before the race, and in doing so, think I overdid it. I had (and still do) some pain in my left rotator cuff, probably from swimming (incorrectly most likely) so I was eating ibuprofen like candy. This was right around the time that school decided to dish out a brutal beating on me, and I had papers, tests, and projects to write, study for, and complete for professors. Seein as how I made the decision to pursue a Ph.D. for me, I had to put it first, so training kinda got pushed to the back burner.
A lot of my friends from the Tri Team at Alabama were really supportive in the last few weeks leading up to my race, especially J Bruhn and Alex Woodard. J coached a “learn to swim” class that I muddled through, but completed, and Alex spent time coaching me on little things like transitions and how to manage gears on my bike. These guys not only love the sport, but love teaching people about it… Oh, and they’re 2 of the top collegiate triathletes in the Southeast… No big deal…
A lot of people also kept asking me if I was “ready” for my race… and my response was always “yeah, I’m more excited and a bit nervous than ready”… But the truth was, secretly, I felt like I wasn’t ready. I hadn’t done a brick workout (basically doing training in 2 events back to back, i.e., biking, then running) in months and was nervous (downright scared) of the run…I’m not a strong runner, and know that the run portion of a triathlon is where the men are separated from the boys. “Whatever”, I thought, “I’ll just get it done… don’t worry about time, just get it done”
So UA’s Fall Break fell on the same weekend as the race, so I loaded up on Thursday and headed down to Hburg; butterflies had made their home in my stomach well beforehand. Somewhere around Monday, the nightmares began… Everything from being misdirected on the bike, to even having my Mother catch me in transition and tell me “you’re not finishing this race” (still don’t know why), so the entire 3 hour drive to Hattiesburg was filled with nothing but “what if” thoughts… What if I don’t make it through the swim? What if I crash really bad on the bike? What if I’m puking on the run? I guess these “what if’s” were a combination of nerves, but also knowing that I hadn’t really done much to train the week of (or weeks leading up to)… I swam Monday morning, ran Tuesday morning, and that was it… So, that meant climbing onto my bike Saturday after the swim would be the first time in 8 days… not a very comforting feeling, but I had to make sure I had my school stuff in line before I skipped town.
I get to Hburg and roll up to Ben’s house. By this time, I had worried myself to the point of exhaustion and all I wanted to do was get some sleep… But those of you who know Ben, know that it would be next to impossible for me to do this… After a dinner at Longhorn, I headed home to get some sleep, Ben headed out to get some libations… 2:00 am came too soon and I found myself getting off of the couch and going into an empty room to sleep on the floor… I was none too happy… (full story not needed at this point.. let’s just say that I was close to fighting someone, which I haven’t done since college)
Friday was a lazy day… Bummed around town and around 3, went to pick up my race packet at the YMCA. As an ominous sign, as soon as I picked up my packet and got into my car, the sky opened up and it poured… I figured this was probably a bad sign… I headed out to the course so that I could check things out and more importantly, drive the bike course. (Was told by so many to do this, and I’m glad I did) This place was way out… but thankfully the directions were decent enough for me to get there…
I pull up and the first thing I noticed is that the swim was much more intimidating than I thought it was going to be… I battled the “that’s not that bad” vs. “holy shit that’s far” over and over again, and finally settled on “holy shit that’s not that bad”… I just kept going back to what my sister had told me over and over again about the swim “Just get it done” and what I had heard on a YouTube video, “You can’t win a triathlon on the swim, but you can certainly lose it there”… So, accepting that I wasn’t going to win this tri, I resolved to not worry about the course and to just get it done… I also happened to run into the head ref for the next day, Tucker, who assured me that he wasn’t expecting any problems, except maybe from the Mother Nature.
So I hop back in the car and set out to drive the bike course. Follow direction #1: Take a right out of transition, ride .10 miles (check), #2: take a left and ride .49 miles (ch---holy shit that’s a big hill)… and that’s kind of how the rest of the drive went… the roads themselves didn’t seem too bad, but hills? I not only had A) not ridden in a week, but also B) never trained on hills, which is my own fault… I continue to drive the course, cursing in Tourette-like fits every time I’d hit a big climb… the only comfort I took during those climbs was knowing that they’d have a downhill right after them. What made my stomach turn though, was knowing that some of the run was the exact same course as the bike…
As I’m driving back to Hattiesburg, Will calls and we chat about packet pick up, and I told him about the hills on the bike course. “That’s ok Dave, you’ll do fine”, Will said in his unmistakable Will Mattern-drawl. Will, a painful optimist, has quickly become a close friend again, after years of being out of touch, and all through the sport of triathlon have we gotten reconnected. Strange to think that even though he’s my “little brother” in the fraternity, it took something so far from the fraternity to bring us back together and to strengthen our friendship. Earlier that day, Ben had skipped town, so I had his house to myself for the evening, which I used to watch TV, do some last minute transition bag packing and computer checking on my bike, and pray like hell...
To say that I didn’t sleep well is an understatement. I was told this by every single person who has raced before, but sorta didn't believe them... I love sleeping and am pretty good at it, but that night I’d sleep like a rock for an hour, then wake up… rock, then wake… rock then wake… up until my alarm went off at 4:45 am. I forced down a bowl of oatmeal, a Clif Bar, a few Clif Shot Blocks, some water, and some leftover powerade from the night before. I could tell I was stuffing myself, but figured if anything, I’d just throw it up and be fine and not full anymore… funny how my thought processes are marred when I’m nervous.
Leave Ben’s house to meet up with Will for 6:15 at a gas station near the race site (I say near, but it was a good 15 minute drive). In Will’s truck by 6:20, at transition by 6:40. After setting my spot up, I figured I had more time to worry myself to death. Ended up running into a few people I knew, most notably one of my former students Travis Woods. Travis was the Kappa Sigma president when I was at MSU and I had no clue he was going to be at Eagleman, so it was a nice surprise to run into him. Even though this was my first race, I tried to act like I knew what was going on and like I knew what I was doing… As more people showed up and set up their bikes in transition, I got more excited and actually felt a little more comfortable... I was also sporting my “Alabama Triathletes” shirt, so at least I was making an attempt to LOOK like a triathlete.
8:00 am: Time Trial start, so it took nearly 20 minutes for me to get in the water… Hell, people were getting OUT of the water when I was going in (and there were easily 75 people behind me)…
So here I go, I’ve begun my first triathlon:
Ok so remember how I said I hadn’t really trained much the week of? Well, perhaps I forgot to mention that I had never done an open water swim before starting the swim leg…oops… there’s a wealth of things I had no clue about, like sighting or spotting, so I just kinda winged it… Honestly, I felt like I did pretty well the first 150-200 yards… was swimming at a nice clip, passing a few people here and there… then my lack of training kicked in and I felt completely exhausted… “Shit” I thought, “I’m not even half way done”… So I proceeded to side crawl most of the rest of the way… I had no problem at all with that, since I saw people back stroking, doggy paddling, and breast stroking… I was keeping up with people side crawling while they were freestyling, so I felt decent about that… I’d side crawl for a while, then go back into freestyle… then take a break and side crawl… what I found is that I took more “breaks” than I did actually swim… I’m ok with that….
I hit the beach and was winded, but was feeling pretty good… All I know is that I passed some people, and some people passed me… (best part was, is that when I looked at the race photos, you can clearly see me coming out of the water before my student Travis Woods… something I’ll always hold over his head… too bad he smoked me the rest of the race) I hit transition and my mind goes to shit… I keep thinking about what Alex told me to do first (put on helmet), but found myself grabbing my gels first and trying to put on my cycling shoes, and midway through that, telling myself, “good job dummy, you’re supposed to get your helmet first”… Oh, and did I mention that it rained the entire time prior to the race, so EVERYTHING was water logged? I mean soaked…
I muddled through T1 (mainly because I tried to leave before getting my bike off the rack...kinda like a football player trying to run before he catches a pass... oops) and headed out on the bike… I felt water literally sloshing around in my shoes, but refused to stop to dump them out… It was raining and the roads were wet so naturally, I wanted to play it safe on corners… So, remembering my drive the day before, I head out of transition and boom, hit that first hill… and that was the first of many… I figured I was making decent time when I hit the entrance gate to the neighborhood and headed out on the country roads, that I bet are pretty nice to ride on when the weather isn’t shitty… Now at this point, I do need to make a special note: this was my first race and I am in no way claiming that I am a seasoned vet of the sport… but one thing I DID do was read the rules before the race… USAT has rules to A) keep it fair and B) to keep it safe, while on the bike… but clearly, there were people who had NOT read the rules when it came to blocking, passing, and drafting… so my suggestion to any of you if you’re thinking about doing a triathlon, is to read thedamn rules before you get on the bike. If someone is trying to pass you, drop back like you’re supposed to, don’t gun it to try to keep up… Don’t ride on the left, it’s called blocking and there’s a rule against it, and since you’re breaking this rule, you therefore forfeit your right to get pissed when I tell you to move in a “friendly” (wink wink) manner… Needless to say, the competitive side in me came out on the bike… I played cat & mouse with a few people, trading positions with them, which kept me peddling… One of these people was Travis, who I talked trash to nearly every time I passed him…
I felt decent on the bike despite my 8 days off and the fact I had never ridden hills before… If I had trained more on hills, the ride might have been different, but I wasn’t terribly worried about it… I had already come much farther than I thought I would have… I was lucky enough not to see any gnarly crashes on the course… that is, right until I made a move to pass a girl when coming up on the entrance to the neighborhood… Now, I can’t be for sure that I had anything to do with her actually crashing, in fact, I’ve convinced myself that it was clearly not my fault… I planned my attack, signaled “On your left” to her, and gave her plenty of room after I passed… so I was kinda surprised when I heard a skidding noise then a crash at the entrance to the neighborhood… thankfully, there were people there to help her… cause I sure didn't stop...
So coming into Heritage, I knew I had about 1.5 miles left on the bike, and decided to not gun it, cause A) I was already terribly exhausted from the hills and B) I knew I needed to save something for the run… I ended up passing Will on my way in (he was nearly done with the run) and shouted something to the effect of “pick it up”… then realized he was way ahead of me and I needed to shut my mouth :) Coming up to T2, I visualized what I need to do… Nothing fancy, just get off the bike, jog it to the rack, shoes off, helmet off, running shoes on, grab hat and race belt and you’re off… Seemed like an easy enough plan until I stepped foot off my bike and felt like my legs had somehow stuck to the concrete… seriously, my legs felt like pillars of granite, so I took it easy jogging to the rack.. Maybe next race, I’ll do a brick or two beforehand… But it was at this point, that the adrenaline kicked in (well that and probably the gel I had on the bike)
Felt like T2 went much better than T1 (even though I spent more time there than T1) and I headed out to the run, with Travis a few steps ahead of me… This made me feel good, cause Trav is a pretty athletic dude and I felt like I was keeping up with him… I knew we’d end up splitting up during the run though… I told myself to just take it easy and not to do anything stupid like try to keep up with Travis… Leave transition and again, boom, hit that hill…. It was miserable… I suffered through it and was keeping a decent pace… Knew I could have gone stronger, but a quote from one of John Fell’s blog entries, (which has now become my personal mantra during run training), kept playing in my head, “ALWAYS gut yourself, but never in the first mile”… Aid stations at miles 1 and 2 made it easy for me to gauge how I was feeling, and when I hit mile 1, I was pleased with how good I felt (side note: I refused to wear a watch for my first race so therefore, had no clue on how I was doing timewise)… felt like I had gotten there much quicker than expected… So I pick up the pace a little.. nothing too serious, just enough to feel like shit… just enough to get a faint stitch in my side that I’d become all too familiar with when trying to do too much on my runs during training… “Well, it’ll be over soon, and if you puke, you puke” was my rationale for stepping up the pace.
After mile 2 aid station (where I actually knew the volunteer, a girl named Marie that I went to college with), I figured I’d empty the tank and gas it… I picked it up to a fairly uncomfortable pace, but one that I knew I could hold for another mile… I run up to an older gentleman who clearly was out to have a good time, because as I passed him (I say pass, but more like power walk) he tries to strike up a conversation with me by offering me a peppermint, claiming that I wouldn’t want to get up on the winner’s podium with bad breath (I mean, he did have a valid point, right?)… As nice as this guy was, the only thing I could think of was, “Sweet, that’s one more person I passed on the run”…
I keep moving and run up on a volunteer who says, “Lookin good! 200 yards to go!”… 100 left… and the smiles started… with so short of a distance left, I started seeing people lining the course, cheering and saying, “Good job! Lookin good! Almost there!”… I also heard the sounds of what I could only gather was Frankenstein clod-hopping his way to pass me up… I see some gangly ass kid pass me up, and in my attempt at humor fueled by exhaustion, I say, “Shiiiiiitt, you can have it”… little did I know that there was a lady on the sideline who heard me and busted out laughing… God bless that kid for finishing seconds before me...
75 left… 50 left and I can see the finish line… smiling from ear to ear… 25 left… cheesing bad… 10 left… I hear, “And #296, Dave Aurich from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, give’em a hand!”… I step on the sensor mat, hear the beep, and… well…. well I became a triathlete…. I can’t even begin to describe the feelings I had when I crossed that finish line… to those who have done it, you know what I’m talking about… in a stroke of randomness, I ran smack dab into Jim Coll, a fraternity brother who was volunteering at the race and collecting the chip timers from finishers… funny to think that Jim was one of those people I had consulted for help early on in training…
I did cross the finish line and looked at the official timer… 2:02:xx… I was mixed with the “Sweet that I finished” and “Damn, I wasn’t under 2 hours”, which was one of my goals… “But”, I thought, “Maybe I’m actually under 2 hours cause I waited so long to get into the water… “
I find Will and the only thing I could muster up was a drained “I did it”… We exchanged high fives and pats on the back, then I proceeded to eat and drink anything that wasn’t nailed down, including Papa John’s, Krispy Kremes, cookies, bananas, and more Papa John’s… We hung around until the awards started and so that we could both figure out our official times….
What I saw next gave me one of the greatest feelings I have ever had:
13 140 Dave Aurich 29 13 14:58 1:27 12 56:07 17.6 1:33 15 31:53 10:38 1:45:57 TUSCALOOSA AL
One hour, forty-five minutes, 57 seconds… Well under 2 hours…
31:53 on the 5K, Personal Record (PR)
To say that I feel like I did well is a total understatement. From talking to a lot of people, it’s not normal to PR ANYTHING on your first race, let ALONE the run, which is preceeded by TWO events, which for me, totaled more than an hour of continuous motion… I was humbled… And encouraged... I thought, "Maybe next time if I train harder, or if the weather is better, maybe I'll shave time"...
As cheesy as it sounds, I left Heritage neighborhood that day a changed man…
So before I sat down to write this, I reached in the fridge for a nice cold beer (hey, I’m off training for awhile, time to eat and drink what I want!) and looked at my race number, which I’ve hung on the refridgerator door like a test from elementary school that I got an A on. And really, I think I’m more proud of this little piece of paper than I would be of a test I got an A on. Both symbolize work and achievement, but I’ve never had to make sacrifices to get A’s like I did to complete a triathlon.
The one thing that bums me out, now that I’ve completed my first tri, is that I’ll have to wait months before doing another one. The season itself is coming to an end and school is getting to the point where I’m having to spend a lot more time reading and writing to keep up in classes. So I guess it’s a perfect way to “end” my “beginning” to the sport of triathlon. I’m excited for the off season, and plan to focus most of my training working on my running (ugh) and swimming. Thankfully though, I’ve got awesome people in my corner here in Tuscaloosa to help.
To wrap this up (as I’m sure you’re tired of reading), I have to do a round of thank you’s:
Nick Gordon: thanks for pitching this idea to me, even if you DID back out at the last minute ;) Getting into this sport has done a lot for me, and if I wouldn’t have walked into your office that day, I would certainly not be writing this. We’ll get you racing come hell or high water.
John Fell, Drew Warriner, Michelle Purchner: thank you, thank you, thank you for answering my questions during my first few weeks of trainingI know I had a lot of them (and still do), but it means the world to me that ya’ll always took time to respond to whatever I had, no matter how dumb it was.
Kirk, D’Lisa, Shanan: I’m still amazed at how through all of this, ya’ll put up with me. Especially since ya’ll are all in Doctoral programs that demand a lot of your time. (Ok, Kirk, we all know you’re done, but..) The three of you offered up encouragement on so many levels, that I can really never thank ya’ll enough… I owe a great deal to where I am right now to all of you...
Kendrick, Jamie Ann, Alex, Marion, Joe, and J: you guys really came at a critical time. A time where I had just about given up on continuing training and scrapping the idea altogether. It’s been a blessing to be able to join the Tri Team and to meet so many awesome people. Now that I’ve done one, I want to do more, and it’ll be that much sweeter when I can race with you guys. Let’s get me in Nationals form! I’m looking forward to the beatings ya’ll will dole out to me in preparation for that race, and pretty much any race we do together over the next three to four years while I’m in Ttown. Roll Tide!
Ced, Jen, Melissa: I wish everyone who is tagged in this note could really understand how incredible the three of you are. All of you saw me everyday in the office at MSU, for better or worse, and still offered up encouragement, even if you didn’t quite understand the sport, or my reasons for getting into it. If I had a shitty swim that morning, I always got a “well it’ll be better tomorrow” from one of you. I felt lucky to have such supportive co-workers, but more importantly, such great friends. And thanks for suffering through all of my “sinkin spells”.
Lindi, Jessica, Briana, Peyton, Cynthia, Alissa, Leigh Ann: ya'll were definitely my cheerleaders. It always kept me in high spirits when I’d get a text asking about training or telling me I was doing a good job... It was great to know that ya'll were supporting me even if you thought it was crazy what I was doing... At some point, all of you need to come to a race!
JT and the Big Catch (aka, Jason Townsend and Nick Tasich): I feel so lucky to have you 2 dudes in my corner… both of you kept me sane in my last year at MSU and I hope that at some point, you guys can come to a race and see me at my happiest. I’ve been gone from Starkville for over 2 and a half months now, but it seems like forever because I no longer talk to ya’ll everyday… Ya’ll are the Mickey to my Rocky… As much as I hated hearing it, “Tighten Up” has become my most used phrase when on the bike training…
Will Mattern: this was our first race together and certainly not our last... I can already tell that you're going to be one of those dudes that pushes me to do better with every race, just like you did with Eagleman... You'll more than likely finish every race before me, but that's inspiration enough to try to catch you :)
And finally, and maybe most importantly…
Susan, my sister… You’ll never know how much you inspire me… to be a better person, a better man, a Godly man, a man who values people, relationships, and family… a man who constantly sets and achieves goals, physically, mentally, and spiritually… No matter how old we are, I’ll always look up to you as my “big sister” and whatever you do, I’ll want to do too, just because… You're the REAL Mickey to my Rocky (literally)... I love you...
I hope everyone has enjoyed reading this as much as I have enjoyed writing it… All of you played a role in this journey and hopefully, will be with me as I continue it with more races, accomplishments, and celebrations…
I can now confidently say,
“I am a Triathlete”
14:58, 1:27, 56:07, 1:33, 31:53: 1:45:57
To some people, these are just numbers…
To me, they’re much more than that… they’re measurements of the last 6 months of my life…
“I am a triathlete.”… Weird thing to hear coming from me huh?
“I am a triathlete”… Lemme tell you.. It’s a weird thing to say.
To think that literally one year ago, I had just completed my first 5K (since college), as part of the Johnny Cash Flower Pickin’ Festival in Starkville. I make light of it now, but many of you know the story that during the race, the only thing behind me was the police car that was tailing the last runner… which was me… 41m:45s later, I crossed the finish line, attaining both goals I had set for myself: 1) to run the whole thing without stopping and 2) to finish. Little did I know that running 3.125 miles that morning would set in motion a chain of events that would change my life for the better…
It’s been a rough past few years for me…If you’re tagged in this note, you more than likely know why… If you don’t, let’s grab drinks and I’ll be more than happy to share...But when Nick Gordon casually asked me if I wanted to do a triathlon, something clicked… something made sense… I had become somewhat bored with the mundane routine of lifting weights and running, so the challenge of something different appealed to me. After watching a few YouTube videos, I decided that I’d give it a shot…
So I set out to learn a sport that I knew nothing about… “How hard could it be?”, I thought. “I’ll swim (I can do that), ride a bike (I can do that too), and then run (I can do it, but hate it)”…. Yeah, this’ll be fun… Little did I know what I was getting myself into… I look back now and laugh at how “cocky” I was when I was first starting out… Swimming? Sure, I’ve been doing that my whole life, no big deal… Then I went for my first swim “workout”…
I use the term “workout” lightly… very lightly… very very very lightly… I was lucky to not drown my first time out, and honestly, probably only swam a total of 100 yards (in a 25 yard pool) before waving the white flag. The whole thing probably took close to 45 minutes on account of having to stop to catch my breath after every painfully slow lap. Everything I was taught as a kid when learning to swim was employed: kick hard, flail arms, breathe, repeat… what I quickly learned was that all of that was total crap and I had no idea what I was doing in the water… My triathlon training started, and almost ended with that first attempt at swimming…
Employing the always “reliable” YouTube as my first “coach”, I set out to figure out how to swim, bike, and run (oh, and get through T1 and T2)… Starkville, contrary to what many people may think, is NOT a hub for multisport athletes… in fact, it’s not really a hub for anything… looking for a coach was impossible, so YouTube became my coach… I have to make special mention of my Starkville friends at this point… For those of you who don’t know these people, lemme tell ya… They’re something special… When I hatched this idea to do a Triathlon, so many of them supported and encouraged me (special shout to JT and the Big Catch… ya’ll were instrumental in me pursuing this challenge), All of them kept up with me and my training, and most importantly, put up with my ass when I was cranky, tired, hungry, or had a shitty workout earlier that day… I had to make sacrifices, especially with my time, to train (and recover!) and never once did any of my friends complain about it… if it weren’t for those people, i may have cashed in the chips months ago…
The next several weeks passed and I found myself with a voracious appetite for everything Triathlon. I spent hours pouring over websites, blogs, training plans, gear reviews, and even bought a couple of books (yeah, I’m a nerd) about training and nutrition. The more I learned, the greater my obsession became… Just ask any triathlete, they’ll tell you…
So swimming and running were coming right along, but I was still lacking a pretty key element to doing a triathlon: a bike. (many of you tagged in this note know of my months of frustration and downright despair during my quest for a bike) As I mentioned above, I figured I’d just grab a bike and pedal… right? Wrong. After discovering the costs of bikes, my triathlon training almost came to an end for a second time. Seeing bikes that cost more than I paid for my car was, well, umm… discouraging to say the least. $5,000? $7,000? $10,000? For a BICYCLE? Are you kidding me? Worst part was, that none of these bikes came with stunt pegs or streamers… Crock of shit if you ask me… I mean, how would Cru Jones be able to ride a bike like this at Helltrack? Answer? He wouldn’t…
I ended up borrowing an old Trek road bike from the Dean of Students at MSU... It had handlebars, and pedals... and that's about it... Couldn't ever get a year on it, but by the down tube shifters, I'm guessing it was manufactured sometimes in the 90's... But to me, it was the greatest bike I had ever ridden... Kinda like getting your first car, that by your friend's standards might be a bucket, but in your eyes, might as well be a Benz... I peddled like hell on that old clunker for months and told myself that if this was as good as it was gonna get, I might as well end my training (that's time #3 if you're keeping count)... As I made my announcement that I was leaving Mississippi State to head to Alabama to pursue a Ph.D., the Dean of Students made his announcement (to me) that he'd need his bike back... Hmm, can we say time #4 that I thought training would come to an end?
Fast forward to several months later. After hours and hours of combing Craigslist, eBay, and the classifieds/forums of several Triathlon websites, I found a bike… in the most unlikely of places. Most of you know of how much time I have spent over the last 10 years with my fraternity, Kappa Sigma, either as an undergrad, employee, or volunteer. It seems strange, that of all “things” in my life, Kappa Sig would lead me to a bike.
After losing an auction on eBay for a bike around Labor Day, I casually dropped Will Mattern an email. Will and I are fraternity brothers from way back and he was actually my first “little brother”, way back in ’99. We had kept in touch sporadically over the years, but sort of reconnected last year when I ran into him at a Mississippi State football game. (I may or may not have shrieked like a little girl…) After catching up for a bit, Will said he had gotten into running and had knocked off a marathon and loved it. Since I had run a couple of 5k's that fall, we immediately had stuff to talk about. So, since last fall, we had kept in touch via Facebook about running and training. It’s no surprise that his marathoning lead him to triathloning.
So, after losing this bike on eBay, I dropped Will an email, to catch up and to basically complain about not having a bike and maybe having to scrap Eagleman altogether. What happened next was nothing short of a miracle… and I do mean miracle… Will mentioned he had a friend, Matt Cassell, who was selling a bike and that he’d put us in touch. A few emails later, I found myself agreeing to buy Matt’s bike, a 2008 Cervelo P2SL. I was spoiled. Cervelo is one of the top Tri bike manufacturers, so I felt extremely blessed to be able to land such a sweet bike (for an even sweeter price, coming in just shy of the limit of my budget). Within a week or so, I drove to Meridian, met Matt and his wife Amanda (who had ridden this bike in a few full IM’s, a couple of half IM’s, and several Olympics and sprints) and brought home the one piece of equipment that I could finally “brag” about (as most triathletes do). So I was swimming, had a bike, and was running…. Last thing to do was register for Eagleman.
The last few weeks of training went by pretty quickly. I was trying to cram in as much as possible before the race, and in doing so, think I overdid it. I had (and still do) some pain in my left rotator cuff, probably from swimming (incorrectly most likely) so I was eating ibuprofen like candy. This was right around the time that school decided to dish out a brutal beating on me, and I had papers, tests, and projects to write, study for, and complete for professors. Seein as how I made the decision to pursue a Ph.D. for me, I had to put it first, so training kinda got pushed to the back burner.
A lot of my friends from the Tri Team at Alabama were really supportive in the last few weeks leading up to my race, especially J Bruhn and Alex Woodard. J coached a “learn to swim” class that I muddled through, but completed, and Alex spent time coaching me on little things like transitions and how to manage gears on my bike. These guys not only love the sport, but love teaching people about it… Oh, and they’re 2 of the top collegiate triathletes in the Southeast… No big deal…
A lot of people also kept asking me if I was “ready” for my race… and my response was always “yeah, I’m more excited and a bit nervous than ready”… But the truth was, secretly, I felt like I wasn’t ready. I hadn’t done a brick workout (basically doing training in 2 events back to back, i.e., biking, then running) in months and was nervous (downright scared) of the run…I’m not a strong runner, and know that the run portion of a triathlon is where the men are separated from the boys. “Whatever”, I thought, “I’ll just get it done… don’t worry about time, just get it done”
So UA’s Fall Break fell on the same weekend as the race, so I loaded up on Thursday and headed down to Hburg; butterflies had made their home in my stomach well beforehand. Somewhere around Monday, the nightmares began… Everything from being misdirected on the bike, to even having my Mother catch me in transition and tell me “you’re not finishing this race” (still don’t know why), so the entire 3 hour drive to Hattiesburg was filled with nothing but “what if” thoughts… What if I don’t make it through the swim? What if I crash really bad on the bike? What if I’m puking on the run? I guess these “what if’s” were a combination of nerves, but also knowing that I hadn’t really done much to train the week of (or weeks leading up to)… I swam Monday morning, ran Tuesday morning, and that was it… So, that meant climbing onto my bike Saturday after the swim would be the first time in 8 days… not a very comforting feeling, but I had to make sure I had my school stuff in line before I skipped town.
I get to Hburg and roll up to Ben’s house. By this time, I had worried myself to the point of exhaustion and all I wanted to do was get some sleep… But those of you who know Ben, know that it would be next to impossible for me to do this… After a dinner at Longhorn, I headed home to get some sleep, Ben headed out to get some libations… 2:00 am came too soon and I found myself getting off of the couch and going into an empty room to sleep on the floor… I was none too happy… (full story not needed at this point.. let’s just say that I was close to fighting someone, which I haven’t done since college)
Friday was a lazy day… Bummed around town and around 3, went to pick up my race packet at the YMCA. As an ominous sign, as soon as I picked up my packet and got into my car, the sky opened up and it poured… I figured this was probably a bad sign… I headed out to the course so that I could check things out and more importantly, drive the bike course. (Was told by so many to do this, and I’m glad I did) This place was way out… but thankfully the directions were decent enough for me to get there…
I pull up and the first thing I noticed is that the swim was much more intimidating than I thought it was going to be… I battled the “that’s not that bad” vs. “holy shit that’s far” over and over again, and finally settled on “holy shit that’s not that bad”… I just kept going back to what my sister had told me over and over again about the swim “Just get it done” and what I had heard on a YouTube video, “You can’t win a triathlon on the swim, but you can certainly lose it there”… So, accepting that I wasn’t going to win this tri, I resolved to not worry about the course and to just get it done… I also happened to run into the head ref for the next day, Tucker, who assured me that he wasn’t expecting any problems, except maybe from the Mother Nature.
So I hop back in the car and set out to drive the bike course. Follow direction #1: Take a right out of transition, ride .10 miles (check), #2: take a left and ride .49 miles (ch---holy shit that’s a big hill)… and that’s kind of how the rest of the drive went… the roads themselves didn’t seem too bad, but hills? I not only had A) not ridden in a week, but also B) never trained on hills, which is my own fault… I continue to drive the course, cursing in Tourette-like fits every time I’d hit a big climb… the only comfort I took during those climbs was knowing that they’d have a downhill right after them. What made my stomach turn though, was knowing that some of the run was the exact same course as the bike…
As I’m driving back to Hattiesburg, Will calls and we chat about packet pick up, and I told him about the hills on the bike course. “That’s ok Dave, you’ll do fine”, Will said in his unmistakable Will Mattern-drawl. Will, a painful optimist, has quickly become a close friend again, after years of being out of touch, and all through the sport of triathlon have we gotten reconnected. Strange to think that even though he’s my “little brother” in the fraternity, it took something so far from the fraternity to bring us back together and to strengthen our friendship. Earlier that day, Ben had skipped town, so I had his house to myself for the evening, which I used to watch TV, do some last minute transition bag packing and computer checking on my bike, and pray like hell...
To say that I didn’t sleep well is an understatement. I was told this by every single person who has raced before, but sorta didn't believe them... I love sleeping and am pretty good at it, but that night I’d sleep like a rock for an hour, then wake up… rock, then wake… rock then wake… up until my alarm went off at 4:45 am. I forced down a bowl of oatmeal, a Clif Bar, a few Clif Shot Blocks, some water, and some leftover powerade from the night before. I could tell I was stuffing myself, but figured if anything, I’d just throw it up and be fine and not full anymore… funny how my thought processes are marred when I’m nervous.
Leave Ben’s house to meet up with Will for 6:15 at a gas station near the race site (I say near, but it was a good 15 minute drive). In Will’s truck by 6:20, at transition by 6:40. After setting my spot up, I figured I had more time to worry myself to death. Ended up running into a few people I knew, most notably one of my former students Travis Woods. Travis was the Kappa Sigma president when I was at MSU and I had no clue he was going to be at Eagleman, so it was a nice surprise to run into him. Even though this was my first race, I tried to act like I knew what was going on and like I knew what I was doing… As more people showed up and set up their bikes in transition, I got more excited and actually felt a little more comfortable... I was also sporting my “Alabama Triathletes” shirt, so at least I was making an attempt to LOOK like a triathlete.
8:00 am: Time Trial start, so it took nearly 20 minutes for me to get in the water… Hell, people were getting OUT of the water when I was going in (and there were easily 75 people behind me)…
So here I go, I’ve begun my first triathlon:
Ok so remember how I said I hadn’t really trained much the week of? Well, perhaps I forgot to mention that I had never done an open water swim before starting the swim leg…oops… there’s a wealth of things I had no clue about, like sighting or spotting, so I just kinda winged it… Honestly, I felt like I did pretty well the first 150-200 yards… was swimming at a nice clip, passing a few people here and there… then my lack of training kicked in and I felt completely exhausted… “Shit” I thought, “I’m not even half way done”… So I proceeded to side crawl most of the rest of the way… I had no problem at all with that, since I saw people back stroking, doggy paddling, and breast stroking… I was keeping up with people side crawling while they were freestyling, so I felt decent about that… I’d side crawl for a while, then go back into freestyle… then take a break and side crawl… what I found is that I took more “breaks” than I did actually swim… I’m ok with that….
I hit the beach and was winded, but was feeling pretty good… All I know is that I passed some people, and some people passed me… (best part was, is that when I looked at the race photos, you can clearly see me coming out of the water before my student Travis Woods… something I’ll always hold over his head… too bad he smoked me the rest of the race) I hit transition and my mind goes to shit… I keep thinking about what Alex told me to do first (put on helmet), but found myself grabbing my gels first and trying to put on my cycling shoes, and midway through that, telling myself, “good job dummy, you’re supposed to get your helmet first”… Oh, and did I mention that it rained the entire time prior to the race, so EVERYTHING was water logged? I mean soaked…
I muddled through T1 (mainly because I tried to leave before getting my bike off the rack...kinda like a football player trying to run before he catches a pass... oops) and headed out on the bike… I felt water literally sloshing around in my shoes, but refused to stop to dump them out… It was raining and the roads were wet so naturally, I wanted to play it safe on corners… So, remembering my drive the day before, I head out of transition and boom, hit that first hill… and that was the first of many… I figured I was making decent time when I hit the entrance gate to the neighborhood and headed out on the country roads, that I bet are pretty nice to ride on when the weather isn’t shitty… Now at this point, I do need to make a special note: this was my first race and I am in no way claiming that I am a seasoned vet of the sport… but one thing I DID do was read the rules before the race… USAT has rules to A) keep it fair and B) to keep it safe, while on the bike… but clearly, there were people who had NOT read the rules when it came to blocking, passing, and drafting… so my suggestion to any of you if you’re thinking about doing a triathlon, is to read thedamn rules before you get on the bike. If someone is trying to pass you, drop back like you’re supposed to, don’t gun it to try to keep up… Don’t ride on the left, it’s called blocking and there’s a rule against it, and since you’re breaking this rule, you therefore forfeit your right to get pissed when I tell you to move in a “friendly” (wink wink) manner… Needless to say, the competitive side in me came out on the bike… I played cat & mouse with a few people, trading positions with them, which kept me peddling… One of these people was Travis, who I talked trash to nearly every time I passed him…
I felt decent on the bike despite my 8 days off and the fact I had never ridden hills before… If I had trained more on hills, the ride might have been different, but I wasn’t terribly worried about it… I had already come much farther than I thought I would have… I was lucky enough not to see any gnarly crashes on the course… that is, right until I made a move to pass a girl when coming up on the entrance to the neighborhood… Now, I can’t be for sure that I had anything to do with her actually crashing, in fact, I’ve convinced myself that it was clearly not my fault… I planned my attack, signaled “On your left” to her, and gave her plenty of room after I passed… so I was kinda surprised when I heard a skidding noise then a crash at the entrance to the neighborhood… thankfully, there were people there to help her… cause I sure didn't stop...
So coming into Heritage, I knew I had about 1.5 miles left on the bike, and decided to not gun it, cause A) I was already terribly exhausted from the hills and B) I knew I needed to save something for the run… I ended up passing Will on my way in (he was nearly done with the run) and shouted something to the effect of “pick it up”… then realized he was way ahead of me and I needed to shut my mouth :) Coming up to T2, I visualized what I need to do… Nothing fancy, just get off the bike, jog it to the rack, shoes off, helmet off, running shoes on, grab hat and race belt and you’re off… Seemed like an easy enough plan until I stepped foot off my bike and felt like my legs had somehow stuck to the concrete… seriously, my legs felt like pillars of granite, so I took it easy jogging to the rack.. Maybe next race, I’ll do a brick or two beforehand… But it was at this point, that the adrenaline kicked in (well that and probably the gel I had on the bike)
Felt like T2 went much better than T1 (even though I spent more time there than T1) and I headed out to the run, with Travis a few steps ahead of me… This made me feel good, cause Trav is a pretty athletic dude and I felt like I was keeping up with him… I knew we’d end up splitting up during the run though… I told myself to just take it easy and not to do anything stupid like try to keep up with Travis… Leave transition and again, boom, hit that hill…. It was miserable… I suffered through it and was keeping a decent pace… Knew I could have gone stronger, but a quote from one of John Fell’s blog entries, (which has now become my personal mantra during run training), kept playing in my head, “ALWAYS gut yourself, but never in the first mile”… Aid stations at miles 1 and 2 made it easy for me to gauge how I was feeling, and when I hit mile 1, I was pleased with how good I felt (side note: I refused to wear a watch for my first race so therefore, had no clue on how I was doing timewise)… felt like I had gotten there much quicker than expected… So I pick up the pace a little.. nothing too serious, just enough to feel like shit… just enough to get a faint stitch in my side that I’d become all too familiar with when trying to do too much on my runs during training… “Well, it’ll be over soon, and if you puke, you puke” was my rationale for stepping up the pace.
After mile 2 aid station (where I actually knew the volunteer, a girl named Marie that I went to college with), I figured I’d empty the tank and gas it… I picked it up to a fairly uncomfortable pace, but one that I knew I could hold for another mile… I run up to an older gentleman who clearly was out to have a good time, because as I passed him (I say pass, but more like power walk) he tries to strike up a conversation with me by offering me a peppermint, claiming that I wouldn’t want to get up on the winner’s podium with bad breath (I mean, he did have a valid point, right?)… As nice as this guy was, the only thing I could think of was, “Sweet, that’s one more person I passed on the run”…
I keep moving and run up on a volunteer who says, “Lookin good! 200 yards to go!”… 100 left… and the smiles started… with so short of a distance left, I started seeing people lining the course, cheering and saying, “Good job! Lookin good! Almost there!”… I also heard the sounds of what I could only gather was Frankenstein clod-hopping his way to pass me up… I see some gangly ass kid pass me up, and in my attempt at humor fueled by exhaustion, I say, “Shiiiiiitt, you can have it”… little did I know that there was a lady on the sideline who heard me and busted out laughing… God bless that kid for finishing seconds before me...
75 left… 50 left and I can see the finish line… smiling from ear to ear… 25 left… cheesing bad… 10 left… I hear, “And #296, Dave Aurich from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, give’em a hand!”… I step on the sensor mat, hear the beep, and… well…. well I became a triathlete…. I can’t even begin to describe the feelings I had when I crossed that finish line… to those who have done it, you know what I’m talking about… in a stroke of randomness, I ran smack dab into Jim Coll, a fraternity brother who was volunteering at the race and collecting the chip timers from finishers… funny to think that Jim was one of those people I had consulted for help early on in training…
I did cross the finish line and looked at the official timer… 2:02:xx… I was mixed with the “Sweet that I finished” and “Damn, I wasn’t under 2 hours”, which was one of my goals… “But”, I thought, “Maybe I’m actually under 2 hours cause I waited so long to get into the water… “
I find Will and the only thing I could muster up was a drained “I did it”… We exchanged high fives and pats on the back, then I proceeded to eat and drink anything that wasn’t nailed down, including Papa John’s, Krispy Kremes, cookies, bananas, and more Papa John’s… We hung around until the awards started and so that we could both figure out our official times….
What I saw next gave me one of the greatest feelings I have ever had:
13 140 Dave Aurich 29 13 14:58 1:27 12 56:07 17.6 1:33 15 31:53 10:38 1:45:57 TUSCALOOSA AL
One hour, forty-five minutes, 57 seconds… Well under 2 hours…
31:53 on the 5K, Personal Record (PR)
To say that I feel like I did well is a total understatement. From talking to a lot of people, it’s not normal to PR ANYTHING on your first race, let ALONE the run, which is preceeded by TWO events, which for me, totaled more than an hour of continuous motion… I was humbled… And encouraged... I thought, "Maybe next time if I train harder, or if the weather is better, maybe I'll shave time"...
As cheesy as it sounds, I left Heritage neighborhood that day a changed man…
So before I sat down to write this, I reached in the fridge for a nice cold beer (hey, I’m off training for awhile, time to eat and drink what I want!) and looked at my race number, which I’ve hung on the refridgerator door like a test from elementary school that I got an A on. And really, I think I’m more proud of this little piece of paper than I would be of a test I got an A on. Both symbolize work and achievement, but I’ve never had to make sacrifices to get A’s like I did to complete a triathlon.
The one thing that bums me out, now that I’ve completed my first tri, is that I’ll have to wait months before doing another one. The season itself is coming to an end and school is getting to the point where I’m having to spend a lot more time reading and writing to keep up in classes. So I guess it’s a perfect way to “end” my “beginning” to the sport of triathlon. I’m excited for the off season, and plan to focus most of my training working on my running (ugh) and swimming. Thankfully though, I’ve got awesome people in my corner here in Tuscaloosa to help.
To wrap this up (as I’m sure you’re tired of reading), I have to do a round of thank you’s:
Nick Gordon: thanks for pitching this idea to me, even if you DID back out at the last minute ;) Getting into this sport has done a lot for me, and if I wouldn’t have walked into your office that day, I would certainly not be writing this. We’ll get you racing come hell or high water.
John Fell, Drew Warriner, Michelle Purchner: thank you, thank you, thank you for answering my questions during my first few weeks of trainingI know I had a lot of them (and still do), but it means the world to me that ya’ll always took time to respond to whatever I had, no matter how dumb it was.
Kirk, D’Lisa, Shanan: I’m still amazed at how through all of this, ya’ll put up with me. Especially since ya’ll are all in Doctoral programs that demand a lot of your time. (Ok, Kirk, we all know you’re done, but..) The three of you offered up encouragement on so many levels, that I can really never thank ya’ll enough… I owe a great deal to where I am right now to all of you...
Kendrick, Jamie Ann, Alex, Marion, Joe, and J: you guys really came at a critical time. A time where I had just about given up on continuing training and scrapping the idea altogether. It’s been a blessing to be able to join the Tri Team and to meet so many awesome people. Now that I’ve done one, I want to do more, and it’ll be that much sweeter when I can race with you guys. Let’s get me in Nationals form! I’m looking forward to the beatings ya’ll will dole out to me in preparation for that race, and pretty much any race we do together over the next three to four years while I’m in Ttown. Roll Tide!
Ced, Jen, Melissa: I wish everyone who is tagged in this note could really understand how incredible the three of you are. All of you saw me everyday in the office at MSU, for better or worse, and still offered up encouragement, even if you didn’t quite understand the sport, or my reasons for getting into it. If I had a shitty swim that morning, I always got a “well it’ll be better tomorrow” from one of you. I felt lucky to have such supportive co-workers, but more importantly, such great friends. And thanks for suffering through all of my “sinkin spells”.
Lindi, Jessica, Briana, Peyton, Cynthia, Alissa, Leigh Ann: ya'll were definitely my cheerleaders. It always kept me in high spirits when I’d get a text asking about training or telling me I was doing a good job... It was great to know that ya'll were supporting me even if you thought it was crazy what I was doing... At some point, all of you need to come to a race!
JT and the Big Catch (aka, Jason Townsend and Nick Tasich): I feel so lucky to have you 2 dudes in my corner… both of you kept me sane in my last year at MSU and I hope that at some point, you guys can come to a race and see me at my happiest. I’ve been gone from Starkville for over 2 and a half months now, but it seems like forever because I no longer talk to ya’ll everyday… Ya’ll are the Mickey to my Rocky… As much as I hated hearing it, “Tighten Up” has become my most used phrase when on the bike training…
Will Mattern: this was our first race together and certainly not our last... I can already tell that you're going to be one of those dudes that pushes me to do better with every race, just like you did with Eagleman... You'll more than likely finish every race before me, but that's inspiration enough to try to catch you :)
And finally, and maybe most importantly…
Susan, my sister… You’ll never know how much you inspire me… to be a better person, a better man, a Godly man, a man who values people, relationships, and family… a man who constantly sets and achieves goals, physically, mentally, and spiritually… No matter how old we are, I’ll always look up to you as my “big sister” and whatever you do, I’ll want to do too, just because… You're the REAL Mickey to my Rocky (literally)... I love you...
I hope everyone has enjoyed reading this as much as I have enjoyed writing it… All of you played a role in this journey and hopefully, will be with me as I continue it with more races, accomplishments, and celebrations…
I can now confidently say,
“I am a Triathlete”
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