New Year, New Blog

Its officially 2008, and in the spirit of the new year, I will write my first post for this Ironman blog. From here on out, this will just a place for my family and friends to keep up with my training and fundraising, and hopefully a way for me to get good training tips from other triathletes and pass helpful hints on to others. But before any real posting can happen lets break it down....



What? Ironman Florida 2008- After 4 years of training for and competing in triathlon, ive decided to officially accept the fact that I am a glutton for punishment and, like any addict, acceptance is the first step to recovery. I have no plans on quitting the habit, so to speak, but i feel like if i manage to complete the Ironman i will be able to accept a slightly later wake up time and ride the "Oh yeah? well i did the ironman" bandwagon for atleast a season.



Why? Anyone who has crossed the finish line of even one triathlon has elaborate fantasties of finishing an Ironman...yeah i got bit by that bug hard. Mustering up the courage to register was half the battle- but I knew that I was going to need extra motivation to take me through the 6 hour weekend workouts. I have decided to run Ironman Florida as a fundraiser for the American Heart Association. With a father who had quadruple bypass surgery ( and recovered beautifully thank goodness) and a grandfather who passed away from heart failure before I even met him, I think the work the the AHA does is critical.

The AHA's mission is to raise awareness about heart disease and stroke and to aid in promoting prevention by promoting healthy lifestyles. Have any questions abou the AHA and what they do?Check out http://www.americanheart.org for more info

How: This is where i take your money. Well not me really. you give your own money to the AHA. We know that heart disease doesn't discriminate; men- women- children- and even athletes, so your money is going to a really worthy cause. Soon I will be setting up an account with Fundable.com (http://fundable.com/) to collect donations during the 10 months I am training and keeping this blog. Since the ironman is a delightful 140 miles of fun, I am asking for donations of $1.40, $14.00 and for those of you with day jobs $140.00. My goal is to raise atleast $3,000. Fundable.com will not take any money from you if the goal i set forth is not met.

As this blog developes there will be more information on the AHA, helpful links and updates on the fundraising. Thanks for reading this first, boring, but hopefully informative post. The rest will be better. i swear. Happy New Year!

My one piece of advice to new years resolvers? It'll be alot easier if you stop calling it a resolution. Workouts dont have to be in the gym. Get exercise doing something you like to do.