It is all Legal and Shit now!!

Thats right, we did it. All hitched up and married!!!

It has been a very exciting few weeks after IMAZ. We finally hit out "off season", and we kicked it off in a big way with out first beermile. I will spare you most of the details, and just leave it at this "We Are the CHAMPIONS my friends" Thats right Mary and myself have bragging rights for the next year after hammering the competition at the Beer Mile Worldchampionships. Ok, well at least the PTC club championships. Finishing #1 and #2 overall.

Next up was our BIG Day. Again I will spare you most of the details, but we, along with several of our friends did Vegas, the 1/2 marathon and the run through wedding on Dec 6th. What a fun time we had.

Then to top off our final week of off season we showed up yesterday to Usery Park for the Ride N Tie. We where tapered and ready to go, our new game plan worked well, we just cam up short. Finishing first in the Coed division, and a podium finish of top three overall. What huge fun we had. the highlight of course being the not so aide station at mile 4. Which included hammering down to nice size glasses of egg nog and grapefruit juice mixed together, and two bowls of other assorted hard to chew and swallow treats. Thanks Eric!!

Next up is our annual New Years day 5k, and hopefully a New years eve polar bear plunge, if we can talk some of our wussy friends into joining us!!

Last Time

Just a quick little note to mention this is the last blog I will make as a single man.
We are off to Vegas in the morning, and will be wed on sunday morning during the Vegas 1/2 marathon. There will be much to follow. Until then, look out Vegas!!

Where has 2009 went?

Wow, as I sit here typing this blog entry, I realized that 2009 is coming to a close. It just seems like Nov 2008 and I was so excited about what 2009 would bring, and how far off it all seemed to be.
I am now facing my last real race week of the year, and I feel so unsatisfied by my 2009 race season. On the other hand, the most amazing thing happened on September 13th. It made all the tough times in 2009 seem less important. That my friends is a day that will be remembered by many for the rest of our lives. Just a little recap, that is when Mary finished her latest Ironman(Wisconsin). While crossing the finish line she held up a sign high over her head reading,
(Dan, Marry Me)?
Of course I said yes just seconds later and the party began.
This saturday I toe the line at my 2nd Ironman World Championship for 2009. It is the 70.3 race in Clearwater, Florida, and unlike 4 weeks ago, I will smash the shit out of it. I will then hurry home to my sweetheart and help her get ready for her final Ironman of the 2009 season, and another "PR". Followed by turkey day at our house with her family and Megan, which is going to be tons of fun. Then less than two weeks later it is off to Vegas to get hitched at the Las Vegas Marathon. Then the following week is Mary's 33rd B-day, then it is 10 days til xmas and then it is New Years day, and we will be preparing to watch the BUCKEYES win a bowl game.
Which officially marks the start of the 2010 race season. Lots of fun on the schedule for 2010, capping it off 50 1/2 weeks from now with a smashing of the Ironman Arizona course and my new "PR"!!!
Whew, I am worn out just thinking about it. Stay tuned for a exciting ride!!

My first Hawaii trip!!!

I will start my race report with a little recap of the days leading up to the big day.

*Tuesday, October 6th
Mary and I were awoken at 4:30a.m by the sound of our alarm clock screaming “it is time to go to Hawaii, get your asses up. A quick loading of the car and we where off to SkyHarbor airport. Along the way Mary started a photo-documentary of our travels. Normally we never take any pictures when we go somewhere and I spend the entire time saying where is the camera? Great job sweetheart!
After dragging what would become a very familiar job of traveling with 2 bike boxes and 2 other checked bags, we were finally aboard our first of many flights on our way to Honolulu. Arriving right on time and after a short lay over onto our next leg of the trip to the big island of Hawaii and our final destination , for a few days at least of Kailua-Kona. Ironman holy ground and the mecca of Ironman racing.
Our rental jeep and bikes all loaded , off we headed onto the first journey down the infamous Queen K Hwy. Just like in all the pictures I had seen, it was uninviting, very windy, and humid as hell. A short 15 minutes later we pulled down Alii Drive and into out accommodations for race week. The Royal Kona Resort. At this point the next three and a half days where pretty much a blur, with a few things sticking out here and there.

* Wednesday, October 7th
Mary and I meet Marc Rubin at the pier for my first swim on the actual World Championship course.
We swam about 40 minutes, which included a trip out to the Kona Coffee boat, where you swim up and they serve you free shots of coffee or Gatorade. Then we headed off towards our turn around buoy when we saw Roch Frey on his stand up paddle board. He asked if either of us wanted to give it a try, and Mary not having to worry about getting injured before race day rose her hand and jump on up. She only went for a short time, but was totally hooked, and wants to go again soon. The swim back in to shore was kinda crazy, we had what seemed like thousands of swimmers all going in the opposite direction, so we put Marc out front to block for us and let him lead us home safely.
Then I knew it was time to face the demons and go for a short ride out on the Queen K. Mary and I loaded the Jeep and headed out to find a place to park and start our ride from. It was getting warm already and it must have been only 8:30a.m. Down the road we went, after about 20 minutes Mary texted me and said :I have had enough, “I am going back to the car to wait for you”. Seems she forgot to eat and with the heat, and wind ,was already bonking. So I went out 30 minutes and then came back. I felt great that day on the bike. Must be a good omen, RIGHT?! We will see.

*Thursday , October 8th (THE UNDER PANTS RUN)
T-minus two days until blast off. The morning started off with a nice lttle run around Alii drive with several of my closest freinds, oh yeah, we where all in our underwear. A lot of fun, some things you never want to see again, and some things that you wish you had on a poster.(The Lovato's).Following the run it started to feel like this thing is going to actually happen when Marc and I went through registration together giving each other shit and taking tons of pics of each other. We where interviewed by Jessi Steensland from Active.com. It is up on their website under Ironman videos.
Once we had our athlete wristbands and all that goes with them, we hit the Ironman store for a few hard earned gifts. Marc and I had waited a long time to be able to buy some IRONMAN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS gear. With goodies in tow we headed back to our rooms for a little R&R.
The remainder of the day was pretty low key, a little jog, and dinner and off to bed.

*Friday, October 9th
This day is all about bike and gear bag check in. this was one of the coolest parts of my experience, you show up with said gear and bikes at a time determined by your bib number. When you arrive they have at least 50 people from all walks of the cycling world counting and checking out every little piece of bike equipment you have, from the frame down to your bottle cages, and everything in between. Then you are taken by your very own volunteer through transition. They take your bags, your bike anything you need and walk you through every inch of transition and answer every possible question you may have. So first class, you know you are in Kona now!! So after leaving my trusty steed behind off Mary and I head for an early dinner and bed time.




Race Day
October 10th 2009
(the day I had waited for and dreamed about for soooo long, the day that just a few weeks back I didn’t know if I was going to be part of) as many of you know my trials and tribulations I will make this brief, but I missed qualifying by :12 seconds in April of 2008 in a sprint finish to the line. Only to come back in November of the same year to get the last qualifying spot in my age group by :11 seconds in a sprint finish to that same line. After all the hard work and sacrifice I was in the best shape of my life leading into the end of July 2009 when I was forced off the road by a car while riding my bike. Resulting in 4 breaks of my right clavicle and followed by surgery to insert a metal plate and 7 screws to hold it all in place. After weeks of extreme rehab I decided that even based on my limited training base that there was no way I was missing this day damn it!!!
So anyway, back to race day. We woke up at 4:30 and after the normal stuff we headed down to the swim start where we met up with Marc Rubin , Jeff Bassett and their families. I did my body marking, and we did some picture taking and Marc, Jeff and I started getting our minds right for the day that laid ahead.
Finally a big kiss good bye to Mary and I was headed into transition and it was time to put on my not so speedy speed suit, and head to the water.

THE SWIM

Well just so happens among the 1800 plus athletes I swam right up to Jeff and we hung out the final 5 minutes or so together excited to get the day going. Then bam, the cannon sounded and it was every man or woman for themselves. Let the slugfest begin! I spent the next 30ish minutes trying to find some clean water. What most of you don’t know is that I met with my surgeon the week before and the x-rays showed that the bone is not healed yet and that as long as no one kicked or punched me in my shoulder then I should be fine. Well lets just say that is all that happened for the first 30 minutes or so, and that was all I could hear in my head was him telling me that, and all I could think was I wasn’t getting dragged out of this water by a life guard and having my day cut short. (not finishing was not a option)!
Once I made the turn buoy I figured out a couple of things, first off the life guards keep the course so tight that each time I saw one of them and they pointed us towards the other way it was because the width of the course was only like 25 meters. So each time I corrected myself I was correcting to far and was ending up on the other side of the 25 meters, but I thought I kept swimming way off course. The other effect of this narrow alley is that everyone stays right on top each other pretty much the entire swim. Just after the turn I had to stop and dump the salt water out of my goggles because my eyes where on fire and that is when I realized the narrowness of the course and felt like I swam a much straighter line back to shore. I came out of the water and looked at my watch 1:16, the slowest, by far Ironman swim I have ever had, I bent down and kissed the top step so happy to be back on dry land.

T1

Pretty nonevent full, hosed the salt water off of me, took off my speed suit and headed for the long run to the bike. I think only Ironman Wisconsin has a longer T1 transition .

THE BIKE

My first order of business was to get up the hill out of transition and get some water in my mouth.
I had swallowed my share of salt water over the last hour and my nose was burning and my mouth was so damn dry. All I could think about was getting that ocean taste out of my mouth.
Onto the bike course I saw Mary ay about mile 5 and then after the turn around at about mile 7ish . I blew her a big kiss because I knew from this point on it was going to be a long time and a major effort before I would see her again. One or two small turns and we where off onto the Queen K. This time it counted, and my very simple plan was to go out conservatively to mile 60 in Hawi (the turn around) and just see how things played out from there. My first sign of the trouble that lay ahead was when I had my first ever flat in a competition. Mile 30 into the World Championships, are you kidding me, and of course it was the back so it takes a little more time to change and causes a much bigger mess of grease on your hands for the rest of the day. Oh well, 5 to 10 minutes later I was off again. I was feeling good and flying by people, most of whom I had already passed once. At one point in the the first 45 or so miles I was still averaging over 22 mph. I knew that was a little fast, but didn’t feel like I was really killing myself at that point. Then things changed in a hurry. The ride up to Hawi was into a tough head wind. Though I made the turn and was flying again at 40 mph down hill and pretty darn happy. Here is when the awakening happened around mile 75 or so, I noticed that my average speend was dropping quickly, and I had no answer for it. The wind was relentless, and the word to describe my day came out for the first time, BRUTAL!!! I just started thinking about survival, it didn’t make sense to me, I had ridden lots of windy days, and on bigger hills, but my body
Just was not responding. Now what? I did everything I could think of to change things, eat, drink, salt tabs, stand up and stretch, nothing made a difference. Then I lost my chain, so I though ok, get off and fix it and take a minute to stretch your legs out. Here I have about 25 miles to go and start to cramp like I have never cramped before. My adductor muscles where in full rigor, I could not pedal. Not good! Seriously, not at all,
I grabbed a mouth full of salt tabs, and half a bottle of Infinit, and hoped for the best. Luckily the let up, but I could tell the damage was done and I wasn’t out of the dark yet. Just try to get back to town is what I kept telling myself. Not finishing is not an option!!! Do whatever it takes. It started to become so painful that I was actually yelling in pain. I got to the last him coming into town and was not sure how I would get up it, I had 1 mile to go and couldn’t stand, sit, pedal coast, it all hurt like hell full on Charlie horses in my legs and nothing helped, with lots of yelling and effort I made it to the top and never pedaled again, I coasted the last mile back into transition. Bike time with my flat was 6:03. By far my slowest bike leg ever.

T2

I honestly have never been happier to be off of my bike in my entire life, but I can not even run through T2,
So I walk the entire way to the changing tent, did I mention that it is a really long transition area?!
I grabbed my run bag and sat down in a chair. Trying to think what I can do to help myself out of this deep hole I had gotten into.

THE RUN

If you want to call it a run. It was more like a walk with intervals of running included. My problem of leg crapping became major stomach cramping instead. I walked the first mile out of transition where I saw Mary and the Triscottsdale group. I was hurting bad at this point and Mary gave me some tough love, basically she told me this is what I had worked so hard for and it was time to dig deeper than I had ever dug before and just get to the finish line. Not finishing was not an option, even if it took until midnight. I really thought at that point that it could take until midnight. I saw Marc on my way out to the first run turn around and he too was suffering, and he told me to catch him. I so wanted to, but every time I tried to run my legs cramped and worst my stomach would just double me over. Mary came by on her bike at about mile 5 and gave me some encouraging words for the next few miles, but then it was off to the Queen k again. This part from mile 10 until the turn around in the energy lab at mile 17ish, was the longest section of any race in my life. I tried everything to be able to run and nothing worked. I tried food, not good, cola, not good, gels, not good, water, not good, I tried to vomit and couldn’t, I tried to pass gas and couldn’t. I was just run a bit and walk a bit. Finally when I entered the Energy Lab things started to come around a little. I was able to run a little farther each attempt. I was flying when I was running the entire time, around 7 minute miles. Finally at about 19 miles I was able to start hammer out entire miles at a time before the cramping would come. So on and off I went. Once I hit mile 24 I said get this shit done, suck it up and finish already. I ran to the top of the last hill (Palani) and made the turn down hill to the 25mile mark, I just dug in and kept pushing, flying by people, onto the last right turn onto Alii Dr and the finish line. Just before the finish I see Mary and all of my buddies that had raced and all of our friends and families that came out and yelled for nearly 13 hours in that heat and humity, and I ran up the ramp and Mike Reilly called me an Ironman again. What a feeling and what a day.
As I wandered out of the finishing area there was mu love Mary to take care of me, and boy did I need it.
I always say that I want to push myself until I vomit in a race, and this time I did twice after finishing. Thanks to Marc and the use of his room and shower. Now lets go get some French fries!!!!!


This was the hardest day in my racing career, and I am so grateful for it!
Thank you to everyone that sent me so many kind words through face book and text, and phone calls.
A big Thank You to my medical team that help me realize this dream, Dr Amit @ASMC, Matt (The scrapper) Kraemer, Shawna @ Endurance Rehab, Christina (Surf Kats) LaRoche, Carson Robertson @ Alpha Chiropratic, & Jason Loth @ Sports Docs.
Thank you to Triscootsdale for being such a great bunch of teammates. I will be back!!!
Most of all thank you to my fiancee Mary, with out here support I would never have made it to Kona.
I can not put into words what she has meant to me, and can not even begin to list all of the things she has done for me. I love you!!


Mahalo
Dan

Mary and I in front of the Big Island Jewlery store. Where Mary bought our wedding rings!

Action Sports International - Ironman Wisconsin

Action Sports International - Ironman Wisconsin

I'm Getting hitched!!! What a weekend

Well as some of you may know by now. I'm engaged!!! Woop, Woop!!!

Thats right, Mary actually proposed to me.

Not just a "will you be my spouse" thing. It was huge and dramatic.

We where in Wisconsin for Mary's 4th Ironman. She had a really solid day throughout, coming out with a new PR (personal record). The day started with the swim and seeing Mary come out of the water and heading up the helix to T1 and her nice new bike. Katie, Alida and myself took a

fast pit stop for breakfast, and headed out to Verona to catch the bike portion. We found a great spot on the corner and I got John's bike out and set off looking for Mary. In no time at all she came by finishing up her first of two 42mile loops. We all cheered and took pics as she passed by. I tried to keep up with her for a few miles and snap some more action pictures but she was flying , and after about 5 or so miles I turned around and headed back to the girls to wait for her 2nd pass by before heading back to Madison. As soon as she passed by we jumped into the car and where off to catch her on the run. Just as we got set on State street she came out of T2 and came running by looking so good with a huge smile. (More on the reason for that smile later). So once past us I headed off on the bike to see what I could see. I right away ran into Hillary (Biscay) and rode off of her side for a couple of miles finally leaving so as not to get her into a dis-qualification senario. Then i found Mary finally coming up the Howard Temlin Lakeshore path, she looked great and was just hammering. I rode by her for about 3 or so miles, and then decided after not eating at this point in about 7 hours, I needed fuel. I bike back to State street to meet up with the girls at BW3 for a quick chicken sandwich and then back on the bike to find Mary. Locating her at the roundabout by the Vet school roughly 16-17 miles into the run. She still looked great, but said she was starting to fade do to lack of calories. So she spent the next 2-3 miles taking in all she could, finally getting some chocolate chip cookies at 18.5 mile (just before the big hill section) which seemed to do the trick. Funny enough just shortly after this I decided to stop at the end of State street where she had a little out and back turnaround. This is funny because at the exact moment is when Katie handed her a surprise for later. I did not even notice anything at this point and was back on the bike next to her for another mile or so. At mile 21 I asked her if i was annoying her and if i should just head back to the finish line. Mary said just go hang out with the girls at the finish line and I will be there soon. As I was about to leave i notice her carrying a (what I thought was a white t-shirt) and asked her if I should take it for her, she tells me no thats ok, I will keep it in case I get cold. I am thinking COLD, how the hell is she going to get cold and this point of the race? One thing I know though is that you DO NOT question someone at mile 21 of the run during an Ironman, you just do what they say! So off I headed to the finish.

This is where it is still amazing that everything fell into place. (stay with me). So before going to the finish line I decided to go back to the hotel to drop off the bike, so I wouldn't have to deal with it later. Then i decided shit i have time i might as well take a shower also. Then i headed to the finish figuring that I still had about 15 minutes before Mary would be there. When I arrived the girls where standing and cheering for the finishers and said hey come on up here and stand by us. Just then Hillary texted me that she was in the vip tent, and to come by and say hey. So I tell Katie I will be right back. Later I find out she just about shit herself when I left!!! I walked over to the vip tent and said hey to Paula and Heather and noticed a nice opening right next to the finish line, so I stepped up into the prime position. Doing so i could see Katie and Alida looking for me so I waved at them and they saw me, i yelled I will right over, and they are like, no, no, just stay there you have a better view! less than two minutes later I can see off in the distance a white bra, and blue hawaii print skirt and knew it was my girl. So i readied the camera and as she approaches I see her holding a sign over her head that through the camera and at a distance I thought said something about Des Moines, I thought someone must have gave it to her in the last straight away seeing she was from Iowa. Just a split second later as Mike Reily is calling her name out I see the sign and as Mike reads it out loud I read it "Dan, marry ME"

Holy shit!!! as I take off to meet her at the medals area, I run up and hug her and say YES!!!!

Wow! what and exciting moment. The girls show up just minutes later and apparently Katie hands Mary the ring, and she gets down on one knee after 12:39:00 minutes of racing and places it on my finger. It just doesn't get any better than this my friends. The crazy thing is that everyone at the race and in Phoenix and Iowa knew all about this and I never had a clue. What is so ironic is that I had been trying to figure out just the perfect time and place to propose to her (again)!

Lets just say the next night was a bit of a celebration and i may have celebrated just a bit too much. It made for a LONG plane ride back to Phoenix, but we had fun. What a trip and thank you to everyone that helped Mary pull this off, it is something i will never ever forget!!

Mostly, thank you to you Mary for making me the person you want to spend the rest of your life with. I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Day 11!!

Yes today was day 11 of my attempted come back. The first week was pretty rough both physically and mentally. The one is obvious, but the mental part I didn' t really expect. I thought shit everything will be great once I can start to workout again. I never thought I would feel like I had never run before, and I never thought I wouldn't be able to use my right arm properly. Just figured as soon as the clavicle was good to go all would be back to normal. WOW, how wrong I was!!
I have finally just in the last couple of days started to feel like I may actually be able to run right again. The biking has gone the best of all, I really didn't feel a huge drop off. The real concern now is when and if I am going to be able to start swimming. I have now 7 1/2 weeks until Kona, and haven't swam a stroke in over 5 weeks. So thus the mental part again. Thinking starts to go like this: here I am now killing myself to get my bike and run back to pre wreck, and if I can't finish the swim than it is for nothing, and of course I can't finish the swim until I can actually start the swim. Damn!!!
The good news is that Mary starts taper in 4 more days, and then 3 weeks later we head off to IMWI where I get to watch and train while Mary goes for the gold. It will be nice to get away for a while and with my fingers still crossed, be able to put some good swim/bike/run training in.
So tomorrow will be two full weeks of rehab at Endurance with Matt (the scrapper), I sure hope next week will include me in the water starting to not drown!! :))

I'm Back!!!

Just like when Michael Jordan made his return to basketball, with his announcement by fax simply saying,"I'm back".

I to "am back".

I did my first run today after not running a step for 4 weeks. I was awesome to be back out there. My injury never hurt, but everything else sure has hell did. I have a ways to come to be pre injury, but at least now I feel like I am going forward for the first time in 4 weeks.

Much more to come over the next 9 weeks.

Stay tuned!!!!

Yes, I am alive :)))

I still don't really feel like recanting the day that has changed our lives for the last 3 1/2 weeks. I am sure at some point I will go there, but right now I have something else on my mind. "MARY"

If I had ever any doubt if I had found the person to spend the remainder of my life with that all changed on July 12th at 9:07am. That is when Mary took over, no not like she normally does having to be in control of this or that. No this time she became even more of my everything then ever before. She was my life line for over two weeks, she was at my every beck and call, no matter how ridiculous it was, no matter if it was day or night. She feed me, bathed me, dressed me, nursed me, and never a second of complaint. I can without question state that i could have never made it through this extremely tough time with out Mary taking such amazing care of me.
She was so unbelievable, I wish I could have been a fly on the wall so as to just step back and see her at work. I can only remember bits and pieces of those first two weeks after surgery, for everything i do remember I am sure there where many more moments of struggle.
Not only do I have the most beautiful women in the world to go home to every night (Hands down), but I have "the" person that understands me, has my same likes, and most of the same dislikes, but also the same dreams and love that i have. I look forward to our long and exciting, love filled life together more everyday. Thank you my love!!!

Happy Birthday United States of America!!!!!

I sit here on July 2nd thinking about my long weekend of suffering on the bike and run in some amazing heat and humidity, and thinking about all of my friends that are going away for the weekend for one reason or another. i.e to go somewhere cooler, to take some off days from training, to watch fireworks, etc...

It sounds crazy, but I really am looking forward to my sufferfest this weekend. Guess thats why I am going to Kona and some of the others aren't. It is not that I am "that" special gifted guy. It is that I am self motivated and work my ass off EVERY day.

Last year at this time Mary and I where in recovery from IMCDA and doing some sightseeing and running in Sedona and Flastaff for the 4th weekend. As much as we both really enjoyed it, needless to say neither of us could stand actually taking two days off from running, so we ran everyday, Sedona on some strange road and in a park that I could never find again if I had to, and then at 7000ft in Flagstaff. Our 1st times ever visiting either place.

This weekend it will be Training and Tour de France all weekend. We can't wait!!!

Happy 4th of July!!!!!!!!!!!!

Where did it go....?

I sit here looking at my last blog, it was two weeks ago already that I tuned 41 years young.

In addition I am at the end of my recovery week wondering where the hell the week went!!

Alot has happened in the last 24hrs, reminding me of how fast life goes by.

Yesterday the world lost two major aerican icons. First thing in the morning I heard of Farrah passing, she lost the battle with a horrible illness that I would not wish on my worst enemy.

Then later in the afternoon it was Michael Jackson. As a kid I absolutley adored Farrah and her "POSTER", I mean charles angels was a must see tv show.

As for MJ. Well he was simply the most powerful single person EVER to record music. He reinvented himself over and over, and even though his personal life was a freakin nightmere, people all over the world loved and adored him. As Mary said yesterday, he was the equal of Elvis for anyone between the ages of 30-60.

Well this weekend we will go to Mt. Lemon to suffer a little bit on the bike & run. I am sure that their deaths will ring in our ears for some time!!!

RIP!!!!!!!!!!!

They say it's your birthday!! Nah, nah,nah!!!

Now this is a BIRTHDAY CAKE!!!

Yes it is June 12th!!! My 41st b-day. So at 9:27 pm this evening will actually be the 2132th week that I have been on this earth.

The cool thing about a persons birthday is that you just feel like you have a little more spring in your step, and many of the worlds worries are kinda forgotten for a day.

My money issues, my car issues, that house needing cleaned, the fact that I haven't shaved in a few days, etc... They will all be there tomorrow, so i will deal with it on June 13th! :) or not!

It is also a great day to reflect on life, and all the life experiences that one has had.

I try not to think what if??? You make choices in life that at the time you coud never fathom will shape your future they way they do. You can't forsee how things workout, and you never make a choice at the time that seems like a bad idea. It is so easy to say I wish I could have, or would have, but in the end you have to be happy with your choices, because without those paths one has taken you wouldn't have ended up with all the great experiences and people that are in your life at the current.

As a person who probably would have ended up playing Major League Baseball and having more $$ than i could ever imagine, but I made choices that took me another way when several of my friends followed the path and did so. If I hadn't made the decisions I made at that time in my life i would never have ended up in Wisconsin, would have never meet my ex wife, would have never had my beautiful daughter Megan, and would have never ended up in Illinois and meeting my lifes true love and best friend Mary! So even though it seems like sometimes you take the wrong paths and make bad choices, you have to let life play out and appreciate it for what it is.

I truely am fortunate and would never go back and change a thing!!

My work has been noticed

Inspirational Moments in Ironman: Five
Gaylia Osterlund offers up her fifth installment of inspiring Ironman stories
Published Monday, June 8, 2009
This month we feature two Ironman qualifying stories - Gilbert, Arizona's Dan Beaver, pictured here and Delaware's Margaret Amidon.

Dan Beaver – Gilbert, Arizona – Running for Seconds
It would be the same race, but later in the year where Dan Beaver would redeem himself.
At Ironman Arizona in April, 2008, Beaver was having a solid day. He started the run alongside Chris, a guy from his age-group, and they ran stride-for-stride for most of the marathon. It was in the final mile where the dynamic shifted. The two came around the corner, entered the finish chute and what was a friendly rivalry became an all out sprint to the line. With just 25 yards to go, Beaver fell off the pace and finished 11 seconds behind Chris. What the two didn’t know was they were racing for the last slot to Kona in their division.
Fast forward to Tempe in November of 2008. All day, Beaver kept reminding himself that every 11 seconds counts. Little did he know how well his mantra would serve him. At the spot where he had been dropped by Chris in April, he willed himself to pick up the pace and, as he made that same turn, he saw a very different picture.
“There was one more guy in front of me but I could not see the age on his calf,” he explains. “I told myself to keep pushing because he could be the one to get the last slot.”
In his last acceleration for the pass he glanced down and saw they were the same age.
“I just went with all I had to the line. I finished 12 seconds ahead of him and this time, I claimed the last slot in our age-group!”
In a year where every athletic endeavor is going his way, Dan says those 11 seconds lost are a lesson he will never forget.

Memorial Day already???

Can't believe we are already at the end of May. My next B-Day is only a few weeks away, and Kona is getting closer and closer.

Last weekend was full of excitement in The Beaver/Knott family. Mary had an amazing trip to and through the Grand Canyon. She is still raving about it, even though she can still barely walk right!! LOL!!!!!!!

I on the other hand stayed home and race an Olympic distance Tri in 107 degree temps.

Short and sweet race report. Swim sucked 31minutes (was about 200-300 meters long), bike went well for me. (1:03), and the run was fantasic (36:45).

This week has been kinda crazy with Dancing with the Stars and American Idol wrapping the season up, and the last day of 4th grade for Megan.

So this weekend we are going to head south to Tucson for some bike training on Mt. Lemon. (26 miles straight up) can't wait!!!

Wishing everyone a great memorial day weekend!

Bringing on the heat!!!

It has finally hit!!!! Summer of 2009.

We are in the 6th day of 100+ degree days, and there is no end in site.

This weekend is going to be interesting in two ways. My love Mary is heading to the Grand Canyon with a group of people to run the Rim to Rim on sat/sun.

I on the other hand with be racing the Tempe International Tri on sunday. We are expecting temps of around 104, which should make the run very interesting. This is also the Arizona Club Championships, meaning that all of the tri clubs in AZ are going after the championship trophy. We (Triscottsdale) should be very strong!!!

It will be a lonely time for me without Mary around this weekend, even at the race. I enjoy nothing more than sharing my life everyday with her.

I am also posting one of latest race pics from the other day in the rain!!! SEE ABOVE

Feliz Cinco De Mayo!!!

Holy shit, where did April go? We are ready into the first week of May, and all that free time I thought I had until training started for Kona is gone!!! The beautiful days in the 80's are gone with it.

I am now down to like 22 weeks until the suffering on the lava fields, A.K.A Ironman World Championships (Hawaii)! We are now in the midst of our first solid run of 100+ days, and the winds are still crazy strong. So what better way to prepare for the Queen K?

I am still a little confused on how I am going to handle IMWI in Sept. or should I say how I will handle the run leg. I will go hard on the swim, and really work the bike, but the run is where i can really dothe most damage to myself just 4 weeks away from Kona. So as i see it my options are limited to:

1- Don't do the run at all.

2- Just do half of the run and drop out.

3- Take it very, very easy on the run and not care if it takes me 4 hrs +.

4- Just race the damn thing from start to finish and hope I can recover in 4 weeks for Kona.

There are pros and cons to each one of these choices, and I can't decide what is the best! Damn it!!!!

In the mean time, it is just a ton of training and suffering here in the desert and doing everything I can to make myself stronger everyday. I must remember that everyday is an opportunity to get myself faster and that each day counts as much as all the others.

Keep your fingers crossed for Mary and myself. It is a big fall for us. maybe bigger than anyone knows right now!! :)))) Stay tuned...

1 Down, 4 to go!!!

Fresh home after our little trip to California for Ironman 70.3 Oceanside. We had a great extended weekend. I love traveling and spending extra alone time with my Mary!!! We are so good together. :)

Up early friday morning we arrived at the Pacific Ocean before noon. It is so beautiful, I love it on the beach.

Anyway, we got all checked in and went for pizza and an early bed time seeing that race morning would be another 4am or so wake up call.

Lets just say race morning was a little cool. As we hurried to get our wetsuits on just to keep warm walking around. I could actually see my breath so it wasn't just that we have gotten soft living in the desert.

The swim went off with out my issue, I was suprised how the salt water tasted after being in the pool and lakes for sooo long, but with the wave start I didn't have to get used to swallowing it from repeated blows to the face an head like a typical Ironman swim. I exited the swim with (for me) a very respectable time of 31 minutes. Through T1 and off on the bike for one of the coolest bike legs I have ever done in a race or training for that matter. Several REAL big hills, with a view of the Pacific Ocean for the better part of the ride. I felt really strong the entire ride and as usual really felt good towards the back side of the course. i call it the "smelling the stable effect".

When I get close to the finish I really hammer it. I went by alot of people in the last 15miles. Suprising considering I don't fell like my training mileage is where it should be right now. Hey, I'll take it. Bike split 2:37. T2 and off to my favorite, the run.

I felt good from the get go, which is pretty common for me off the bike, I decided not to push it at all the first full loop and if I still felt comfortable I would pick it up later. My garmin wasn't working properly at first so I am not for sure what my first 2 mile splits where. The markers on the course where to hard to spot because of all of the constant comotion going on with the crowds and other runners coming the other way. By mile 3 it started to work and I was just watching my splits stay easy and consistant around 6:30. This is good news, because I have not been able to keep my pace where i would like for my 1/2 ironman runs spilts. This time it felt easy and consistent, finally all of this training is starting to kick in from the last 3 years. Even with 4 sections of running on loose sand i was able to kick the last 1/2 mile and run down a couple more guys in my age group and sprint to the finish line again. Finshing my run at 1:26 a new run PR for a 70.3 distance. Who would have thought it. I figured that the sand portion cost me about another 2 minutes of time, and that i could have easily went 1:24 ish without it. Damn, that is a good sign for the 2009 season.

After a few bites of food off to find Mary and see her finish. Mary was wayyyyy under trained for this race and was smart enough not to push it beyond her limits for no reason and to but herself in a place this early in the season that she would have to spend weeks to get out of. IMWI training started for her last week.

After the race we showered, went back to the awards and claimed my slot for the 70.3 World Championships in Clearwater FL Nov 14th. Yes that is only 4 weeks after Kona. We will see what happens.

Then it was off to Margaritaville!!! Yes, we had been thinking about this for weeks. We where joined by our friend Dean and after several Large beverages we stumbled our ways back to our hotels for some well deserved sleep.

Sunday brought the day I had dreamed about for months, a complete day off from training and spending it on Mission Beach with my True Love. What a nice day. Coffee and breakfast, a walk down Oceanside Beach and two hours on Mission Beach. It doesn't get any better.

Oceanside or bust!!!

Yes!!! Mary and I are heading to California this coming friday. I can't wait.

I love California!!! Especially San Diego area. So even though we are doing a race.

it is kind of a (C+) race. Really it is a good reason to get away for a few days, do a

cool race and spend another day in San Diego chillin after the race.

When we get back it is all in for Ironman training. Shit!!! Ironman Wisconsin is 24 weeks away.

This summer is going to be spent becoming a kick ass cyclist. I don't want to finish last in my age group at my first World Championships in Kona.

I have finally decided that Kona is my one "A" race of 2009. This is the first time maybe ever that I have only one "A" race in a year. So I must really focus on just hammering the shit out of it. (Though I may end up doing the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in NoV) Just a thought!!

Until then I am going to enjoy a little alone time on the beach with Mary!!!!

Boston here we come!!!! :)

Fresh back from our long weekend trip to Napa, CA.

Mary and I went there with one goal in mind. Qualify her for 2010 Boston Marathon.

We where very much all business the days leading up to race morning. We just enjoyed each others company, and the fact that we didn't have to be anywhere or doing anything for atleast 48 hours. A very nice break for us. If Mary was nervous she sure didn't show it. I tried to keep her preoccupied mentally on other things. Like the damn rooster that woke us up the first morning at the crack of dawn. Lucky I did'nt have a shot gun!!!

Seeing that I had never been to Napa and Mary was a many time visitor she kinda took over as tour guide on friday and saturday. We drove the main road hwy 29 up the valley seeing all of the famous vineyards, until reaching Calistoga which is the start of the marathon course. So we then traveled back to Napa along the Silverado Trail. 23 miles of the marathon are run along this road. Checking out the topography and making mental notes for sunday. Mostly we relaxed and ate (way to much)! leading up to sunday. Now I won't give the race report, because Mary did an excellent job on her blog. http://runnerchick-skirtgirl.blogspot.com/. check it out.

The bottom line is it was a successful weekend, and Mary proved just how damn tough she has become! She hurt, she suffered, and she keep on pushing all the way to the finish line. I am soooooooooooooooooooooo proud of her. I know how it feels to have all the emotions that she has gone through for the last couple months, and so maybe I get "it" better than most, but eveyone should understand how hard she worked physically and mentally to obtain this goal!!!!!

We are now getting ready to head back to california in 4 weeks for the Oceanside 70.3 Ironman on April 4th. before really kicking up the training load to prep for the fall Ironman racing season.

Keep you posted!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Desert Classic and then off to Napa!!

Things have been pretty quiet on the Dan and Mary front. Just trying to get healthy and preparing for our first flury of races for 2009. Both mentally and physically we have been trying to get back on top of or games.

This weekend we are racing the Desert Classice Duathlon, (http://www.desertclassicduathlon.com/).

Always a fun and challenging course in the Sonoran Desert. This is a world championships qualifier and should have some really kick ass competition form all over the country and world.

Our sights are really set on March 1st. (Napa Marathon), This is going to be the biggggg day for our house hold. Mary WILL qualify for Boston!!! I can't wait.

We come home from Napa and then head back to California in April for the Ironman California 70.3 April 4th. One step at a time though. Keep your fingers crossed and poitive thoughts for us on March 1st~~~

Back from Mars

Hey, just back to earth! I know I have been away for some time from the blogging.

My blogging kinda goes with my daily life and how I am feeling. As you can see based on the lack of blogs, that I have not really been inspired by any earth moving happenings lately, but finally something exciting. I feel like I am back to REAL training, Mary has a new Marathon picked out on March 1st (Napa Marathon), we have the Desert Classic Duathlon coming up on Feb 22nd, and Amanda Lovato is our Home stay for the weekend. After our Napa trip we come home put in some more solid hill training and then head to Oceanside, Cali for Ironman 70.3 on April 4th.

This past weekend I finally did a longer bike ride to Tortilla Flats, AZ. Some really nice hills and it felt easy!! SHHHHHHH, don't tell anyone!!! wouldn't want to jinx myself.

Most encouraging right now is that my love Mary is feeling good again, and is ready to go get that Boston slot for 2010. At this point we haven't really figured out if I will run all or any of it will her. She will keep me posted!

So we have the Shirtchaser 5k coming up on Feb 14th, which should be lots of fun, Mary has once again volunteered to get in over her head with helping out with the race, but the after party should be a good time!!!

Positive thoughts, and I will keep you all posted!!!

D-Day is around the corner!!!

Well all the work, sacrifices,pains, early to beds, early to rise, personal trainers, yelling ,cursing

worrying, & ice baths are all behind us. It is time to put the talk behind us and put the feet to the pavement. Thats right, this is Mary's BIG week. She has worked her arse off to reach her goal that is so close she can taste it now. Sunday afternoon we wil be celebrating her big victory and getting on line asap to get registered for THE Boston marathon!!!

Wish us good luck, and stay tuned her for the results of by how much Mary blows away the qualifying time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finally, we have made it to 2009

Ok, so I have a lot of things to be thankful for, and can't wait to kick it into full speed ahead mode. 2009 is going to be even more amazing than 2008! If you can believe that.
I have been seeing a PT for 3 weeks now trying to workout my achilles and hip issues. Let me just say that Astym is probably the least pleasant thing I have ever experienced in my life. I say this knowing that I have competed in countless marathons, and 5 Ironman races. I have spent time in several medic tents, and have recieved 2 IV's (Chicago Marathon 2004) after said races. Have spent my time in the Army and going through the gas chamber without a mask on,
but to actually pay someone to peel your skin off of you while awake is in another category all together. That is what it feels like to have Matt take his special blunt metal scrapper to the back of my calf and achilles and scrap until he sees blood. I highly recommend trying this atleast once in your life!!! The funny thing about it is that when I meet with my massage therapist yesterday it made it so I couldn't even feel the fact that she was digging deeper and deeper into my muscles. Guess my pain threshold has just went up yet another degree.
This is all being done so as to have myself in tip top shape for my fall trip to KONA BABY!!!!
2009 is going to be another year of firsts for Mary and I.
Mary's first time qualifying for Boston, my first trip to Kona for the Ironman World Championships, the first time that Mary will run the Boston Marathon, and the first time we will run it stride for stride with one another experiencing all it has to offer together. I can't wait!!!
Who know's maybe I will even marry her this year!
Stay Tuned....