White Rabbit

The time has come my friends...to talk of other things! Of shoes and ships....oh wait.  That's not where we were going with this.  But much like Alice, the time has come to start talking about what this whole idea of a Wonderland is for 2022.  And, just like Alice, my 2022 has started with me following my own rabbit.

Back in 2019, at the beginning of my journey to realize that I might, in fact, be an athlete, I started out with the whole mantra of doing scary shit. This began with the whole idea of getting outside my comfort zone with things - step one was to become a faster runner.  In my fifteen years of sport, I had never trained with anyone, mainly because I was terrified to.  I was scared of not being good enough - of slowing them down.  Enter my buddy Ken, who I had known since 2010 from a training camp I was adopted into for Ironman Lake Placid.  Ken is fast as shit - he swims like a fish and is a speedster on the run, but also is a pretty cool, laid back and fun guy with no sense of ego.  He's been trying to get me to do Ironman Wisconsin for the last ten years without any success, but bless him for trying.

Anyways - I asked Ken to do a buddy run with me.  He one upped me by making it an Around the Bay run, then over the course of the 3 months, drafted me into running with people I had no business running with - and PRing every damned training run.  He helped me shave 10 minutes off my half marathon PR, 14 off my marathon, and was the best damned rabbit I could have ask for.

The K Factor - The escort and my rabbit!

Enter 2021, and after qualifying for Worlds 70.3, and a fantastic road trip with Ken and Marcus - which did NOT have the same good fast speed as those bay runs but was ridiculously epic anyways.  We had such a blast and I was so thankful to have Ken in my life again - Ken, who was a great training buddy, totally into everything swim bike run, and ridiculously fun to hang out with.  Who else can make a trip across the middle of nowhere fun and leave jokes in his wake about the Windmills and Corn in Iowa??  Well, Ken can.  (And so did Marcus, my Eagleman buddy - who started this whole mess of World's - these guys are the best!)

Post World's, I looked at my 2022 calendar carefully.  I wanted a new challenge, and one that I could PR at.  I wanted another damned Ironman.  I was planning on doing Ironman Mont Tremblant - holdover from 2020.  But i was seriously on the fence about this race for many reasons, most of them having to do with Ironman's ambiguity of the race happening and the question of border crossing during today's world.

When there were still no answers to our questions in November, the appearance of a new Ironman on the circuit was released -Ironman Des Moines - in....of course, Iowa.  Ken and I joked about this race for weeks - would the medal be a windmill?  Would there be corn chowder post race?  Could I find a farmer to be my sherpa?  So. Many. Jokes.  And if we spent 6 hours staring at Windmills being fascinating cross country, couldn't we do it on a bike?  

It was a fun joke.  Until that bastard actually signed up for the race.  And, much like IMOO (Ironman Wisconsin) he wanted me to do it with him.

Ridiculous.  I had an Ironman planned in beautiful Mont Tremblant.  Majestic.  Gorgeous scenery.  Epic vacation area.  And clearly a great place to accomplish that elusive 140.6 I've been eyeing for 2 years.  Who the hell would give that up to go chase a Rabbit in a cornfield?

Well, I would.  Obviously.  Ironman Iowa.  June 12.  It's now a thing and I'm so in for this ridiculously silly, yet fitting idea.  TIME TO RACE!