It was a late addition to my race schedule and I really didn’t head there thinking of winning, but I managed to come away with the victory at the Have a Heart 10k in Moberly MO this past weekend. I actually haven’t raced many open 10k’s, but since I had done one in February I figured this would be a good opportunity to gauge how my training is progressing. When I got to the starting line, there were only around 20 people lined up and I couldn’t spot any that had that “fast” look to them. I had made sure to study the map but I was relived when a police car showed up to lead the race.

My typical race strategy is to pace off someone about my speed for about two thirds of the race and then pull away if possible, but once the race started I quickly found myself alone heading away from the rest of the runners. So I resolved to running a solo tempo run while being escorted through Moberly by a squad car! One of my goals on the day was to go under 40 minutes, my 10k in February had been 41:49, however, the miles weren’t marked so I had no way of knowing if I was on pace or not. As the time approached 40 minutes, I realized it was going to be close and tried to sprint it in but I had too far to go and ended up running a 40:25. Disappointing to miss it by 25 seconds, but I’m confident I could have run a minute or two faster if I had known my pace or had someone to pace off of.

All in all is was a fun experience and hopefully one that I can build off of. I could get used to running behind a police car like that!

I’ve got a few goals for this year. They’re all pretty simple and I think are attainable with hard work. I haven’t raced a PB in several distances in over 4 years, I plan on changing that this year! My goals are as follows:

1. 5k – Bettering my 04′ PR of 17:23
2. 1/2 marathon – Bettering my 03′ PR of 1:24:45
3. Marathon – Bettering my 04′ PR of 3:06:39

I’m hoping to have these all taken care of by late March so I can focus on my primary goal which is:

4. 1/2 Ironman – Bettering an 05′ PR of 4:45:23 and attempting to go sub 4:30:00 at Ironman 70.3 Lawrence

Hopefully I can look back at this year at some successfully achieved goals, but if not I know I’ll still have fun on the journey!

With the invention of the digital camera, photography has been simplified. Gone are the days when I would shoot 10+ rolls of film on one week long trip and then pay to have them all developed. However, the digital camera has also taken from us the excitement of getting film developed, getting that envelope and opening it, looking at picture after picture with anticipation for that one outstanding shot. Instead, moments are captured and discarded. Images immediately appear on a digital screen and all sense of anticipation at what might have been captured are lost. Instead we are left with a conglomeration of pixels, most of which remain in digital form somewhere on a computer or stuck in a camera.

By no means is this the answer, but I’ve decided to actually free some of those pixels from captivity and put them out where they are accessible to others. I’ve had a link for a really long time to my “Gallery” but have only had pictures from one race there. Over the next few months I’ll be posting lots more pictures and not just triathlon related. So check back if your interested in freeing a few more pixels…

Click here for my photos!