Looking Ahead

Letting the days go by/let the water hold me down.
Letting the days go by/water flowing underground.
Into the blue again/after the money's gone.
Once in a lifetime/water flowing underground. Once In a Lifetime - Talking Heads

I thought I was done with this blog. John & I completed our mission of doing IMAZ, and I completed my commitment to my buddy Wayne to blog about this year long journey. However, I like to check in occasionally to see if any of our listed followers posted any comments. When I go to check for comments, low and behold there is a new follower of the blog. Who would be signing on at this late date? I've got to check this out.

It turns out to be a Tri-blogger and Ironman athlete named Anne from Texas. Being curious, I read her most recent blog entry. Since completing Ironman Florida last month, Anne keeps getting asked the same question from people she tells about her experience: "Will you do another Ironman?" Funny thing is that John & I are getting the same question. Now, I put that question right up there with asking a woman just after she delivers a baby whether she plans to have more children. The immediate response is: "Are you mad? That was a long and painful experience that I'll never do again." However, the smile of a newborn infant softens the hardened heart; and you can't ignore the feeling of accomplishment and the sense of joy in crossing the finish line of an Ironman. Thus, we live in a world where couples have second and third children. We also live in a world where athletes keep coming back and doing the Ironman distance.

John already keeps bringing up in conversation that he keeps going to the Ironman web site to look at whether the Community Foundation slots are still open for Ironman Florida for 2010. I'm sure that all it will take is for John to come home from one of these holiday parties and do a little drunken registering and he'll be in for IMFL for next November. As his attorney and training buddy, I've advised him to wait and think about it over the holidays and not commit to a registration until the new year. I'm guessing that he'll register after getting home from a New Year's Eve party at approximately 3 AM on January 1, 2010.

As for me, my wife Salome jokingly states that she'll file for divorce if I register for another Ironman event. At least I think she's joking. I know a guy, who knows a guy, who knows a guy, whose friend actually ended up divorced over his commitment to Ironman events, so I don't take her statement totally idly. So for the time being, I plead my 5th Amendment right not to incriminate myself. More importantly, as stated in my last posting, I already registered for a good number of events for 2010, with half ironman events in mid-July (Vineman 70.3) and late October (Miami 70.3). Thus, I've got what I call "prophylactic registrations" that should keep me from doing an Ironman in 2010. I figure I should take a step back and try to get better at these shorter distances before jumping back in to the full ironman again. Like having kids, it looks like it may be best to have them a couple of years apart. It helps your spouse to forget the long months and special needs of getting ready for that special event.

In any event, I liked what I read of Anne's blog and added it to my list of blogs I follow. We now have a whopping 12 people that will publicly acknowledge that they read this thing. I guess I'll have to update the events I'm registered for in 2010. To my knowledge, John is not registered for any events in 2010 yet, but he did register for a 5K Santa run and a 60 mile charity bike ride, both for this weekend. Perhaps he'll post the next blog entry and tell us how it feels to jump back into the thick of things again so quickly.

Same as it ever was... Same as it ever was...Same as it ever was... Same as it ever was...