Trakkers: December Update

December has been a busy month for Team Trakkers. Professional triathlete and team leader Carole Sharpless has been tirelessly working with Corporate to pull the final 2010 roster together, working in conjunction with fellow professional triathlete Michael Lovato to line up team sponsors, and conducting team conference calls.

Team Trakkers 2010

Team Trakkers final roster for 2010 is now set. Members come from all parts of the US. See here for a full list, including member blogs and websites:
https://ironboy.wordpress.com/trakkers/

Sponsors

Team sponsors for 2010 have been finalized: Saucony, Kestrel, Tri-Swim and Tri-Slide, First Endurance.

Saucony, an apparel- and shoe-maker, will support our team with uniforms and shoes for the 2010 season. This is a relationship I am very excited to be a part of. I can’t wait to slip my feet into a pair of Saucony Grid Fastwitch 3’s!

Kestrel, a bike maker, will support our team with steep discounts on carbon fiber bikes. Check this out: bike porn!

And Tri-Swim and First Endurance will offer us top notch products and discounts to make the journey toward reaching our goals a bit easier. Check out the wealth of information at Team First Endurance to dial in your race day nutrition.

 THANK YOU to all Team Trakkers sponsors.

Rev3 Triathlon

Team Trakkers relationship with Rev3 affords us to offer a discount to any Rev3 race. Enter coupon code “Trakkers123” upon checking out at registration to save $10. Feel free to share this code!

Team Website

Team Trakkers Website is coming along. Stay tuned for it to turn live very soon!

Members

Even with this being offseason for most of Team Trakkers, many of our members are still making news.

Thor Kirleis (me) – Thor wrote a true story titled “Fear’s Last Gasp” that will be published as part of an anthology titled Triathlon’s Toughest Sport by MindsetTriathlon in January. “Fear’s Last Gasp” is about how Thor conquered his fear of the water and an near-drowning when he was a child. Stay tuned for details.

Sonja Wieck – Sonja’s blog was selected as 1 of 10 top endurance blogs by Everyman Triathlon. Vote for Sonja here.

Mill Cites Relay ’09

Mill Cities Relay
27.1 mile relay
Nashua, NH to Lawrence, MA
Sunday, December 6, 2009

Results
28 miles
3:20:05
Officially Legs 1 & 2:
Leg 1: 34:05 – 5.6 miles – 6:05 pace.
Leg 2: 31:00 – 4.75 miles – 6:25 pace.
Unofficially Legs 3-5:
Cruised rest of way at easy pace for Marathon #53!

Coming into Transition Area 1 after completing the first leg at 6:05 pace.

Race Report

Mill Cities Relay has become a race I look forward to each year almost as much as the Boston Marathon. Consisting of 5 legs of varying distances, Mill Cities is staged as year end road race for area running clubs. It starts in Nashua, New Hampshire and, some 28 miles later, finishes conveniently in front of a popular Irish pub in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Perfect, you say? Exactly!

But that’s not the only reason I look forward to this race.

For the 4^th year in a row I have used this race as a year end challenge of a different sort. I race the first leg as part of my team and then cruise rest of the way in for over marathon distance. With a starting line, a ticking clock, and people to run with, and even a Leg or two to race, I mark this as a marathon in which to not race but to celebrate another race season.

And that’s what I did.

This year I was, again, on a team stocked with people from my triathlon club Trifury. With a team name of Trifury Hurricane, we talked up a good storm among other Trifury teams before the event and then took to the roads to back it up with a second place finish.

With a team member backing out last minute, I had Legs 1 & 2 and then handed off the wrist band to Joe for Leg 3, who handed off to Lisa for 4, who handed off to Earl for 5 and the final stretch. Earl was caught saying: “When Lisa handed off to me, Dave Tyler [trash talker on another Trifury team] was just starting to warm up, so I knew I had a shot… but I was listening for his footsteps behind me the whole way. Never saw him.” And so yes, we, Trifury Hurricane, came in ahead of Team Tyler. It was a good day.

As for me, I had Legs 1 & 2. The morning was cold and the roads snow-filled and icy with poor traction. It wasn’t as bad as previous years, but it was tough going, and caution was required.

I raced Leg 1 hard in 6:05 pace coming in, maybe, 15^th place of 500. Continuing through transition area 1 without stopping, I took Leg 2 a touch easier but still brisk in 6:25 pace. After handing off the wristband to Joe, I then dialed it back for a fun cruise on in. Unfortunately the 11 miles of hard running in Legs 1 & 2 took their toll so that by the last leg, Leg 5, going grew far more difficult.

Still I forged on to finish in front of the pub with the clock reading 3:20:05.

Rev3 Coupon Code: “Trakkers132”

The 2010 Rev3 Race Series is now open for registration. Use coupon code “Trakkers132” when registering to save $10 or more!

• May 9 – Knoxville, TN – Half Iron, Olympic – Register!
• June 5 & 6 – Quassy, Middlebury CT – Half Iron, Olympic – Register!
• Sept 12 – Cedar Point, Sandusky, OH – Iron , Half Iron – Register!

See you there!

Streak Runner: 6 Year Anniversary

Today, Monday, December 7, 2009 marks year number 6 in which I have run at least a mile every day. Though some might call me certified, as in a certified idiot, I am known as a Streak Runner or, more simply, as a Streaker (minus the nudity).

My running streak got started many years ago during a time when I was not able to run even if I had wanted. It was a promise to myself years before the streak actually started; the promise was that once I got back to running, if that ever happened, I would celebrate life and the ability to run, if even for just a mile, each and every day by lacing up the running shoes and going out for a run. Luck beheld me, back I was to running, and up started the streak. The rest is history. I have been Streaking ever since.

MindsetTriathlon: Triathlon’s Toughest Sport Anthology

As mentioned in a previous post, my story, “Fear’s Last Gasp,” was selected to be in a book titled “Triathlon’s Toughest Sport” by MindsetTriathlon.

 In that post, I also mentioned the story was one of three finalists in contention for top slot. This, unfortunately, is not true. In my excitement over the story being accepted, I had misread the note.

Either way, my story will be included in an anthology due to be published in January of 2010. I will post details as time nears.

You can still vote for the other stories here. Registration is free and easy, and you can download a host of free books in electronic form.

 Fear’s Last Gasp is a true story of how I overcame a life-long fear of the water — and a near drowning when I was a kid — in a terrifying moment in which one day I walked into the ocean thinking it was entirely possible I might not come back out on my own accord but knowing it was something I had to do.

In that moment, I stared my deepest fear in the eyes and begged it to blink.

An excerpt:

“My deepest fear lurked in the swirling ocean before me. It was possible I might not come out alive. I was so nervous that I did not hear the horn sound to start the race, nor did I see that I was the last participant to enter the water. Instead I saw only that moment in my childhood when, not knowing how to swim, I had been tossed into the deep end of a pool.”