Love the Hurt: Goodbye 2011

What a year it was. I can honestly say this was the happiest year of my life. This was the year I found balance for the first time in a long time. Finding a way to do ALL the things I love and not compromising anything. Having a full time job (with a monster commute) and balancing quality family and training time can be tricky, but if their is a will....there SO is a way. On the work front I got a nice raise and continue to help the company I work with grow even during these tough economic conditions... On the personal side of things, my wife and I celebrated 7 years of marriage, my daughter Scarlett turned 3 and my son Taylor turned 1. They are the backbone of everything I think about and do and without them I'd be that lonely tri guy you see at races that has all of the fancy gear and friends but comes home to an empty house. I'm so blessed to have such a great immediate and extended family to share life with. So off of the personal note, one of the biggest things that fed that "happiest year of my life" was getting back into endurance sports. I kind of went through some dark years from 2003-05 (work-a-holic, money driven) and 2006-09 (border-line alcoholic...and fat). 2010 I started working out again and discovered triathlon for the first time towards the end of the year. That set me up for 2011 and these are the stories that unfolded (in pictures):

January 2011

The point of 2011 was exploring different distances and different races to find out what kind of triathlon I wanted to focus on. (road vs. off-road) (Olympic vs. 70.3). To start the season off, I decided to head over to Arizona, party with some friends and race my first half-marathon at the Rock & Roll AZ 1/2 marathon.

1:18:06 Race Report here

February 2011

To start the season I decided to give off-road tri a go. To prep for the Xterra West Championships in April, I jumped in an off-road duathlon and a mountain bike race and the results came back great.

Desert Classic Duathlon: placed 1st in AG Race Report here

Snowy, Muddy & Cold Sagebrush Safari. Placed 1st in CAT 3. Race Report here

March 2011

March was just a big training month and I raced one more mountain bike race (Bonelli Park) to prep for Xterra Vegas.

Placed 4th in CAT 3, Race report here

April 2011

April would end up being my biggest race month of the year. I ended up racing three times. Carlsbad 5000, Xterra West Championships and The Ragnar Relay.

Hit 16:30, Race report here

Xterra West Championships...got worked. Race Report here

Ragnar Relay. 5th in Div, 10th overall. Race Report here

May 2011

After not having as much fun in an off-road tri, I decided to give road tri's a go. So for the rest of the year I planned on kicking out some Olympic distance races. To kick it off, I jumped in the Temecula Challenge and raced the 75 mile distance.

Placed 1st in the 75 mile race. Race report here

June 2011

In June I finally bought myself a nice bike (Cannondale Slice) and entered my first Olympic distance triathlon...or in this case "international" distance:

San Diego International; placed 6th in AG, Race Report here

July 2011

July was one of the few months I didn't race, so I just took it as an opportunity to get in some good training and enjoy the summer.

Thanks to The Bike Shop for always keeping my bike tuned

August 2011

August was another month of solid training and my second 1/2 marathon. At this point I set myself up to do another Olympic, Sprint and 70.3 distance to wrap up the year.

AFC 1/2 Marathon: 1:17:05, Race Report here

September 2011

In September I raced my first "real" Olympic distance and had mixed feelings about the race. Point being, I need to learn to swim!

San Diego Tri Classic; 6th in AG, Race Report here

October 2011

October was a big month. I raced three times: A local tri club sprint race, a low-key tune up 8k and really, only one serious race -Soma Triathlon 70.3. I really wanted to get my hands dirty in a 1/2 ironman and Soma provided that. I found out a few things about this race. 1. I didn't train properly and I needed a coach. 2. I loved the distance!

TCSD Sprint race (my only sprint of the year). 2nd place: Race Report here

Dirt Dog Cougar Challenge 8k. Race Report here

Soma Triathlon 70.3; DNF, Race Report here

November 2011

In November I finally pulled the trigger and hired a coach, James Walsh to coach/guide me through the 2012 season. I put in a great month of training and even jumped in a 10k and 5k.

Mission Inn 10k; 5th place, Race Report here

Oceanside Turkey Trot; 4th in AG, Race Report here

December 2011

December has been all about trying to stay healthy, tweaking my diet, working on my weaknesses and getting in some solid training looking towards 2012.

Taking my nutrition to a whole new level...

So that pretty much wraps up my season for 2012. I posted my new 2012 Race Schedule here. All in all it was such a fun year balancing my training, racing, family fun, work and life in general. I felt like I had a successful year of racing and was even able to obtain some sponsors which I'm very excited to work with in 2012.

I want to thank everyone that reads my blog, gives me words of encouragement and follows along with my journey. Cheers to 2012!