So “the Van” was finally in its new home with its new hippie wannabe owner. Driving it around was a hoot. People got excited when they saw it. When I had stopped on the way back from purchasing it to check and make sure my fuel tank wasn’t leaking, I had several people ask me when I was going to sell it as if they wanted to buy it. I can remember thinking “I won’t be getting rid of this anytime soon”…

One of the first items on the agenda was to purchase a “garage” from Sam’s club. These VW vans are notorious for rusting and I didn’t want my van sitting outside in the harsh Missouri winter.

I had learned on my trip back from St Louis that the heater didn’t really work so for most of that first winter the van sat in the plastic garage except for an occasional jaunt around town or to work. I also learned that for going out, nothing beat the van. On more than one occasion I would leave a bar or restaurant and find college girls getting their pictures taken in front of the van! Everyone loved the van…

I wasn’t real happy with the condition of the carpet which was the original green carpet. So my first project on the van was to replace the carpet. This turned out to be a little more labor intensive than I had expected as most of the furniture had to be removed to accomplish this. Eventually the carpet was replaced and I also had a CD player installed.

The van was ready for the triathlon season!!

Several weeks after winning the bidding for my VW van, I arrived in Saint Louis to pick it up. I had caught a ride to St. Louis with a friend, figuring I could drive the van home. However, when we arrived at the sellers house, we were informed that earlier in the day the van had died and he had been unable to restart it. The plan had been for me to drive it home that night, but instead I hung out in St. Louis at my parent’s house while the seller had it towed to a VW shop. Turns out it was a loose wire and the following day the van was fixed and the transaction was made!Driving it home was a new experience. Not only was it remarkably underpowered, the heater didn’t work and it was kind of cold outside. So I was cruising down the highway at about 65mph with the gas floored and gloves and a jacket on to stay warm. That is when the gas leak sprung! One minute the tank is full and the next minute the needle has dropped below empty. Something has to be wrong! I pulled into the next gas station and bought a flashlight. After a cursory inspection, I was unable to spot any leaks, so I went ahead and filled the tank up. I still was unable to spot any leaks, so I continued on while keeping a closer eye on the tank. Turns out it was just a faulty gas guage. I eventually stopped for the night just outside of Hannibal and tried out the sleeping arrangements for the first time.

One of the primary reasons for purchasing the Van was for traveling to triathlons. My current vehicle at the time for triathlon travel was my Ford Tarus Station Wagon:

Now, with my new van the plan was to use it for my “triathlonmobile”, something I could travel to triathlons in and get a good night sleep in once I arrived:

Not only was there a bed and sink, their was an extendable roof with an “upstairs” double bed as well!

Maybe it is the fact that I lived in California as a child. Not just anywhere in California, but in Humboldt County, the marijuana/hippie capitol of the world. Or maybe it is because my parents owned one when I was really little and it is the first vehicle I can remember. Regardless of the reason, I’ve always been fascinated with the VW Van!

It’s Saturday night, I’m at Tan Tara and I’ve just finished listening to the pre-race briefing for the Ultramax Half Iron Triathlon which I’ll be competing in the following morning. But my mind isn’t on the race, instead I leave and wander around the Inn, trying to find an internet connection for my computer. Finally I have to settle for a “High Speed Internet Kiosk”, one dollar for every three minutes. With a high speed connection, that wouldn’t be bad, but as I would soon find out, it wasn’t high speed.

After inserting my first dollar I tried loading the website. Finally, after my first three minutes are just about up, I’m able to login into my account on ebaymotors. There is now just 10 minutes left on the bidding for a 1977 VW camper van. While I had been winning the bid for the last several days, I wasn’t anymore. With a $3,000 price cap in my mind, I increase my bid, only to see myself outbid again. Of course, every time I place a bid, the page reloads which eats up several of my minutes so I keep on pumping in those dollars. By now the time is down to less than one minute remaining and the price is at $3,100. After doing some quick math in my head, I decided I could go up to $3,200 or maybe even $3,300 but this was my last shot since I knew I could only get one more bid in. So I entered $3300 and submitted it just as the time expired! My competitor had put in a final bid of $3275…

So that is how I purchased “the van”…

It’s hard to believe it has been close to two months since my last post! Not much has happened since then as far as races go. I did the Bulldog 5k October 23rd. Wasn’t a spectacular run for me. Finished 5th overall and 1st in my age group with a time of 19:01. The Bulldog 5k route is fairly hilly so it isn’t a good route for fast times.I should mention that prior to the Bulldog 5k, I took a trip out to New York and met up with Brandon Scurlock. I traveled to New York via Amtrak, traveling through Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and arriving in Utica, New York. From there we traveled through Vermont to New Hampshire. After eating the mandatory lobster in Maine, we spent the night in New Hampshire. The following morning we got up and ran around 7 miles, got back to the motel and headed down the coast. We traveled down through Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and arrived in Pennsylvania stopping at my sisters to visit and eat dinner. We then traveled to Philly where Brandon had a friend at whose house we were able to crash at. After a day of touring Philly, we traveled by bus to New York City and spent a day walking around Manhattan. The following day we travelled back to Missouri via Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois.

Two weeks later found me flying out to California where I was due to be a groomsman in my friend Todd Peterson’s wedding. After having barely recovered from my previous “vacation”, I decided to play this trip a little more low key and not go rushing around California trying to visit friends. This trip was a little more relaxing and I had a blast hanging out with my friends Todd and James. Despite drinking a little too much and gaining some weight, it wasn’t all bad training wise as I was able to get in a few decent runs including a 9 or 10 miler along the beach.

Somewhere in the midst of traveling from coast to coast, I decided to start training for an early spring marathon. I picked the New Orleans Mardis Gras Marathon on February 27th to train for. At this point I am 5 weeks into the 18 week program. The Mardis Gras marathon is supposed to be a flat and fast course, so I’m looking to dramatically improve my PR of 3:06:39. While I’ve been told with proper training I should be able to run a 2:30:00 marathon (based on Vo2), I’m realistically looking for a time of around 2:45:00.

Final item of note, the 2004 Reindeer Romp was yesterday. After having run the 1.5 mile race last year, I decided to do the same this year to check for improvement or lack thereof. Last year I won with a time of 8:42. I figured I ought to be able to get that closer to 8′ even. As it turns out, my time was 10″ slower than last year. At first I was a little worried about this result, but I’ve since realized the following:
1. I’ve spent the last 7 months running with Achilles Tendonitis and while it is mostly better, I’ve only recentley started speed workouts again.
2. I was farther along in a marathon training program at this point last year.
3. I’ve been training heavily 7 days a week for the last several weeks. Even my “rest days” on Fridays include hard swimming with Masters swimming. So while my legs felt fresh, my heart was probably a little tired.

Despite the slower time of 8:52, I’m confident my current training is going to leave me well prepared for next year. I’m considering some slight re-alignment of my training schedule to give myself several true “rest days” a week, days on which my heart rate never gets higher than @155.

Something about “run, bike, run” that sounds way more appealing than “swim, bike, run” to me. This is why a week out from finishing my first Ironman distance race I found myself on the road to Sedalia, MO at 5:20 am for the Sedalia Duathlon, a 5k run, 30k bike, and a 5k run. I had considered competing in this event the previous year but had instead opted for the Des Moines marathon and had a miserable time. At least this year if I have a slow race in Sedalia, it would only be a 2 hour ordeal rather than a 4 hour ordeal.I pulled into Sedalia around 8:15 for a race that was starting at 9. After finding the race site and checking in, I began the customary race preparation. This day I was especially thankful there was no swim as the start time temperature was in the high 30’s. The low temperature probably affected turnout with only about 35 athletes showing up.

Part of my pre-race ritual includes scoping out the other competitors to try and determine who the primary players will be in the competition. For unknown athletes, this generally involves observing bikes, physical build, and form. Then there are also the “known” athletes, those athletes I’ve competed against in the past whose athletic abilities I already know. Prior to the start of the Sedalia Duathlon I had narrowed the race down in my mind to 4 other athletes. Jeff Mittelhauser an unknown who appeared to be the race director, Mark Keys an unknown who appeared to be a strong competitor, Jason Selong who I knew was a strong cyclist and was peaking for the Chicago Marathon in a week, and finally Mark Wilson who I knew would be strong in all areas and who had recently placed 2nd overall in the NEMO Triathlon. My plan was to go out conservative on the first run but try and limit my losses to the lead athletes to around a minute thirty or so. Then on the bike to go hard, and then see where things fell on the final run.

The gun sounds and we’re off. Surging out to the lead and setting a fast pace was Justin Adams who I had noticed warming up and had thought that he looked like a fast runner. Mark Wilson followed closely behind him and Jason Selong followed in third place. I settled into a comfortable pace behind Jeff. At the first mile marker, I check my split and was at 5:45. The course was an out and back course which went straight down a road and around a slight bend, turned around and went right back. However, just before the bend there is an incline which is deceptively hard. Mile two goes past and my mile split is 6:12. At this point I’ve left Jeff and have been passed by George Robinson. We’re running into a slight headwind so I do everything I can to stick behind George and let him cut into the wind. We cover the final mile in 7:00 for a first run time of 19:00 and run into transition together.

After a fairly fast transition, I leave the transition area anywhere from 1 to 2 minutes behind the two race leaders, Mark Wilson and Justin Adams. I’m right behind George and Jason. I’m riding for the first time with a new hydration system “podium quest” and waste 10 or 15 seconds with some minor adjustments. After this brief distraction I settle into the task of trying to hunt some duathletes down. I can see Jason and George ahead of me. I watch as Jason overtakes George only to be passed back several miles later. About 4 miles into the ride the three of us cruise by the early race leader, Justin Adams who is apparently not real comfortable on the bike. At this point on the road I know I’m in 4th place.

The bike is also an out and back course. Mark Wilson cruises past so I know we are just about to the turn around. From the time it takes for me to reach the turn around, I figure I’m about 2 minutes back of Mark. However, George is only about 40 seconds ahead of me and Jason about 20 so I figure a top three spot is still possible. The ride back was much more difficult as we were now riding into a slight headwind. Finally, after chasing Jason for the duration of the ride, as we rode back into town I passed him about a mile from the bike finish. I was still about 20 or so seconds back of George so I concentrated on a fast transition and was out quickly trying to chase him down.

At this point I made a very big blunder. Rather than pace myself and run my own race, I quickly over took George and passed him, doing a 5:56 first mile in the process. Almost as soon as I passed him I realized I had messed up, especially when I could feel the lactic acid accumulating. Sure enough, my pace dropped off and George passed me back. I had pushed myself over the limit and was now suffering the consequences. I crossed the second mile marker with a 6:40 second mile. I knew I wasn’t going to speed up any and so I knew I wouldn’t catch back up to George, but I also knew I was several minutes ahead of my next competitor and with one mile to go my lead was safe. My final mile was a slow 7:32.

All in all I was very happy with my performance. My primary concern was that I would have lost some of my speed in these shorter events. I was a little slower than at the beginning of the season, but I’m sure part of that was the result of the previous weekend’s Ironman and from a lack of any speed training throughout the season. Third place is a good way to end my 2004 multisport season. There are plenty of fall runs to compete in still…

SEDALIA DUATHLON
October 2, 2004
Clear, 42 degrees, NE breeze

1.	Mark Wilson, 42	17:51	48:17	19:22	1:25:30
2.	George Robinson, 37	19:00	48:40	20:22	1:28:02
3.	Tony Rigdon, 31	19:00	49:09	20:43	1:28:52
4.	Mark Keys, 45		19:18	50:40	20:57	1:30:55
5.	Jason Selong, 34	18:43	49:33	23:58	1:32:14
6.	Mike Hollis, 50	20:48	53:12	22:54	1:36:54
7.	Jeff Mittelhauser, 47	19:26	56:04	21:47	1:37:17
8.	Justin Adams, 32	17:04	62:01	20:27	1:39:32
9.	Chris Revoir, 51	20:40	60:37	23:27	1:44:44
10.	Jonathan Kincaid, 22	23:49	59:19	22:38	1:45:46
11.	Dennis Meinking, 56	23:32		24:55
	(Team) John Pruett, 41		58:18		1:46:40
12.	Daryl Simon, 56	22:28	61:38	23:10	1:47:16
13.	Ben Coffey, 24	21:52	59:57	26:33	1:48:22
14.	Matt Hurd, 21		23:49	62:31	25:23	1:51:43
15.	Todd Laytham, 37 	23:49	59:31	28:40	1:52:00
16.	Bob Frederickson, 51	25:06	60:35	28:17	1:53:58
17.	Robin Blount, 46F	24:07	64:23	26:08	1:54:40
18.	Matthew Patterson, 22	24:08	67:17	25:36	1:57:01
19.	Kevin Kenny, 46	25:23	61:27	30:37	1:57:27
20.	Jennifer Thompson, 29F	25:39	62:58	28:53	1:57:30
21.	Dalton Luper, 14	25:59	58:16	33:42	1:57:58
22.	Donald Luper, 37	25:36	60:50	32:15	1:58:41
23. 	Jim Ellis, 59		26:20	64:12	28:38	1:59:10
24.	Jennifer Thompson, 31F	26:10	67:51	26:08	2:00:09
25.	Bill Wright, 63	(5k time not recorded)	27:28	2:01:14
26.	Leslie Huston, 34F	(5k time not recorded)	26:51	2:01:38
27.	Mark Ellis, 52		27:52		30:09
	(Team) Doug Kiburz, 50		65:26		2:03:27
28.	Jim Shoemaker, 51	25:56	78:34	29:05	2:13:35
29.	Tracy Thompson, 34F	27:03	75:48	32:15	2:15:06
30.	Christopher Storms, 38	28:40	70:28	36:20	2:15:28
31.	Christopher Wade, 36	28:40	70:39	36:10	2:15:29
32.	Rachel Miles, 31F	27:03	81:31	28:47	2:17:21
33.	Nathan Ahern, 34	29:08	85:04	35:34	2:30:06
34.	Chris Steger, 34	26:10		28:08
	(Team) Otis Brock, 61		95:59		2:30:17

*This split includes run-to-ride transition.
**This split includes ride-to-run transition.