The Family Triathlon

So last year I was really trying to get me and my family to go over to fayetville to participate in the Trifest for MS.  The cool thing about this tri was that it had an olympic tri, a sprint tri and even a super sprint tri.  It was one of those events that almost anybody could participate in and that really sounded like alot of fun for a big family with lots of varying fitness levels.  Everybody really liked the idea and everybody that they would commit some time to preparing and for some it was commiting to doing more than nothing.  Everybody was really motivated and we planned this about 3 months out so It seemed very possible in everyones minds that they could do it.

Sadly none of us even registered two weeks out and everybody really wasn't ready to spend all the money to take the huge family across the state to participate in something that they might not be ready for.  Soooo me and a couple of my bro's and my wife melly came up with the idea, well,  why don't we just do our own mini family tri?  It would be really easy, being that we had all spent a good amount of time going over cycling routes. We could put something together if we could get someone to open a swimming pool to us.  So we sarted planning and it turned out that my older brother jeremy knew somebody at the YMCA who could open the pool up for us just for this.  That was the only real hurdle and it was great that it was at the Y because we could make a route easily going around the outside of town making our way to Craighead Forest Park.

We actually got most of our family to show up to the pool on time and actually got a couple of our close friends to join in on the fun.  We were really shooting on having nothing but a good time so when we got to the pool what we did was let everyone dicide how long they wanted to swim a couple people said 250 meters a couple said 500 meters and me and my brother in law john said we would do I think it was 600 meters just to make it interesting.

 Another big difference is that we all waited after the swim so that we could all get ready and get on our bikes and role out at the same time.  We tracked a pretty hilly 13 mile course which was sure to give everybody alittle burn.  It was so much fun we had our neice and her boyfriend driving around catching up with us and taking fun pictures of us which really added some spice to the bike which had some pretty discouraging hills in it.

 The course made its way to Craighead where some of the family was setup at the boat ramp area with water and our running stuff.  Then we went straight out onto the chat.  ( A tri wouldn't be a tri if it didn't at least have the bike to run transition).  Me and my brother in law John Miller rode together the whole way there then we set off running together he really suprised me having never done triathlons he ran really solid off of the bike so we actually ran a pretty good pace and pushed each other all the way till about a half mile to the finish where my stomach really started to get mad at me and John ran away from me.  Me and John finished and I could tell he had a good time then we got to go motivate our siblings and spouses.  Everybody really pushed it hard I was really motivated by watching them all get into it!  I have always loved triathlon and pushing through pain and it all began watching others so I still enjoy watching people blow of pain and show some grit!

So as far I can tell based off of what everyone has told me it was smashing hit for a family having fun doing a little fun day triathlon.  And now everybody is super excited for this years.  Hopefully we can all train hard and really have a good time motivating each other.  And hopefully we can have some friends join us again.  I love sharing this stuff with people!
If there is anybody out there who this motivates them to maybe do something similar that would really make me a happy dude.  Our bodies really are magical and we should cherish them with everything we got!  And for me I can't wait till my kids are old enough that I can really be a big part of helping them realize that.  Booyaka!!

Epic Xterra and Nationals

I wanted to do a write up on The Epic Xterra in lake Degray that I competed in because it is and will always be one of my favorite races.

I showed up the day before and we set up camp, like we usually do at any of my races.  I just enjoy feeling the weather I'm going to be racing at and I like to be right next to the starting line.  I also sleep really well on a nice fall night under the stars.  Barely made the check in then went an ate at Cracker Barrel.  Ate some chicken and dumplings and tried to settle my stomach to prepare myself for the next morning.  Went to bed early and woke up at 5 to drink an energy drink and eat some breakfast, some wafers and an Ensure.  Then woke the rest of the gang up, wife 2 kids, sister and brother in law.  Then we made our way up to the start.

It was a lot colder then I was ready for and I was really getting anxious about jumping in the freezing water especially because I had torn a couple hole in the armpit of my wet suit and I knew that I was in for some cold water in my arm pit.  (Just to clear it up a little an Epic xterra is comparable to a Half Ironman Road event.  Its Measured by how fast pros finish the event.  Which is about 4:30 hours for a fast pro time.  Its a 1 mile swim, a 33 mile mountain bike, and a 10 mile rugged trail run.)  We watched the short xterra leave 30 mins before and then it was time for the Epic athletes to enter the water.

Of course the water was as cold as I thought it would be and definitely more choppy then expected.  The gun went off and I started strokin.  I don't know if it was the choppy cold water the hole in my wetsuit or what but I was  in pain the whole swim from 100 yards on.  I was breathing every stroke and completely trailing another athlete the entire race.  What was kind of funny  is I thought something was wrong with my swim but really I was in for a painful race from start to finish.

I transitioned into the bike pretty slowly I wanted to actually be a little bit comfortable on the 3 painful laps on the rocky 11 mile Iron Mountain loop.  I also had to make sure I stopped to give my wife Melly a kiss.  I wore a camelbak with all my nutrition which was some Gu's and Sport beans .  There was a stretch of cement on every lap where I could really fuel up and it seemed to work well.  What was unavoidable for me was the pain I always get shooting up my hands toward the end of the last lap.  It was so terrible but luckily it wasn't one of those things that would not hurt as bad if I slowed down so I still kept a hard pace throughout the whole ride the only difference is I was a lot closer to crashing on the last lap.

Then it was time to go for a nice 10 mile run which included steep declines threatening to sprain your ankles and steep uphills where you can put your hands out and put them on the ground.  There was also some good boulder hopping spots and a little dried up creek that offered no relief.  The best part about this race was a big shock because almost always the run is my worst leg but I ended up keeping a 9 minute pace for a rough 10 mile course so I was really happy also feeling fresh enough to really push the last mile into the finish line.

This was the most important race in 2012 for me mainly because epic Xterras are worth more points then any other xterra race.  Giving 100 points to 1st place and 90 for 2nd while a regular xterra gives 75 for first place so because I was able to pull out a strong showing and finished second then I got 90 points and now I have more then likely qualified for the Xterra US National Championships in Utah!

Just to clarify a little Xterra triathlons are the premier Off-road triathlon in the world with a killer world tour and an amazing world championship in Maui HI!  The Xterra national and world championships have had triathletes such as Lance Armstrong, Tim Deboom,  Conrad Stoltz, and Lesley Patterson.  A regular Xterra is constructed to be close to an olympic distance triathlon.

So this year in 2013 I will be signing up for the Xterra national championships which are in Ogden, UT on Sept 21.  I am hoping this blog will help me stay focused and maybe hold me a little more accountable to train the best way that I can.  I am so excited for this year and motivated to stay on task with my schooling, while spending as much much quality time with my family as I can and train as hard and as consistent as I can.

Hawaii Life

I would like to kinda write alittle about where I am coming from.  I was in the army for 4 years and spent 27 months in Iraq.  Not really the point that I wanna talk about, the more important part I wanna talk about is the fact that I was stationed in Hawaii and lived across the road from the beach on north shore.  After spending way to long in the most boring place on the planet, iraq, I was about to go on a journey that I could never fully understand untill I found a way to look at life from the outside.

Immediatly when I got home I went and got me a couple of motorcycles and began pushing the limits of safety.  It was alot of fun but it really wasn't enough.  I started doing stupid stuff like jumping into the ocean when I really shouldn't. 

Heres the video of me jumping into bad waters.  This ended with a good amount of blood and I somehow lost my wedding ring??

 I found myself doing some really stupid stuff and really tried to shorten my lifespan.  It wasn't untill I wondered into Pacific skydiving center that I really had a life changing experience.  I made sure I brought along as many people as I could because I love sharing adventures with others.  And we all went up strapped to tandem masters and got ready to skydive.  We went out one by one and then came to me.  I was so excited I was almost crying.  It all happed so fast I could barely understand what happened untill the parachute opened and then there I was 5,000ft above Oahu, HI.  I was so far away from it I could see almost the whole Island.  I knew this  something I would want in my life.

An old video of me skydiving-- http://skydivernetwork.ning.com/video/johnny-and-dr-bill
The first video that I made skydiving-- http://skydivernetwork.ning.com/video/1197788:Video:88875
We all got down safely and got together to talk about our experience and I was so pumped to say that I wanted my certification to jump by myself.  The was about 12 or 13 of us and everybody was all like "Yeah me to man, rite away".  The sad thing was that once everybody heard all of the steps that you had to take to get certified then everybody chickened out.  It suprised me how nobody could look around the chore and keep there eyes on the pay off.  Which was being able to come to the drop zone hich a ride up on there plane and jump out of it!  Anytime for only 20$!

I understand how not everybody is made to be a regular skydiver but it was one of my first lessons on how I had the ability to see the big picture and be able to bite the bullet to receive an ultimate goal.  From That point on I always made sure that I held on to that discipline.  It was extremely easy to get skydive certified and I knew that somethings like school are definetely not as exciting but equally rewarding to finish so I have taken that life lesson and Realize that Its all worth it.

Just some good thoughts and a good life lesson

Fair warning to anyone reading into this, I am very new to blogging and I am an average writer at best.  However I have been through alot in my life and would love to share my thoughts and stories about my life and life in general.  I have two kids, a little girl Katie, and A little boy Johnny Echo or Jet as we call him.  I am married to the beautiful and motivated Melissa Terrell who is as real as a person could be and has the same drive that I have but is quite a bit more capable then me when it comes to the professional side of life.  I have many awesome stories including her and will hopefully get some of those up on here.  But the main point I'm going to want to get across is holding on to The Big Picture in life.  Wether it be getting a degree to go to another school to finally one day have the dream job you want, or starting from scratch as an athlete to hopefully end up at the starting line of the Kona Ironman one day.  I love the idea of things like that!  I love the journey so why not stretch the journey out alittle bit.   Stick with me and hopefully I can help motivate somebody in some way and let people know that life really is what you make of it.