I am back from training in Clermont and have enjoyed some beautiful weather in Boulder upon my return.  Workouts are a bit tougher at altitude, but life is good as I can train and then spend the rest of the day with Bogart and the evening with Lara. Life is good!

However, I am a bit miffed by the powers-that-be around Ironman and have not been able to get into Brazil.  The race directors want me to bid on an e-bay auction.  Frankly, that is repulsive and absurd to pay 1200 bucks (the average bid) and then still have to pay to get there.  It would be cool to cherry-pick a fast race, but something is telling me not to pursue that race.  Instead, I have changed my thoughts about the North American races and am going to hit up Ironman USA in Lake Placid.  The timing on this will not be ideal, so I will just have to go there and get a Kona slot, so I can enjoy a fun late year ironman, simple right?

Seriously, I am stoked about this idea as I have quite a few close friends from Final Kick headed to the race (some to include one of my former riding buddies Marco) doing their first.  The support should be some of the best I have had at a race and seeing all my fellow Final Kick family out there suffering together will only make it that much more fun.  I totally feed off this kind of stuff, so that is my calling and I am in for Placid.

Finally, as I was planning my training trip with the midshipman, I realized that I could sneak up to Virginia Beach and run the Shamrock half marathon.  This is going to make for a sick trip, but being inside the 10 day window I should be at Shamrock with some good fitness and make a solid showing.  Last time I was there, Jerry was literally attempting to will me under the elusive 70 min barrier (I went 70:04!), so I have some work to finish on that course. I will also stick around for a couple days after to see friends and family.

I am looking forward to planning out the next couple weeks as training is getting dam tough and it is getting to crunch time for my Midshipman who are less than 8 weeks from the big show in Lubbock.