A thousand thanks and treading troddin trails

First, I want to thank everyone for responding to the emails and viewing and posting on the site. You will motivate me everyday. I want to say a couple of special thanks. One to my sister for charging the masses, one to my parents for the email (you probably can't imagine how important your support is to me), a one to my wife (from the moment you said the site was in your favorites, I knew you will get me to where I need to go).

Second, so many people are asking about my training. Well, I have set myself up with quite a long time frame. I did this intentionally so that come race day I am over prepared. Most sites for training plans put out a 12 week program. I would like to compete by June 2009. For now, I am still attached to my bike as much as possible. The end of this week sparks a new chapter in my cycling life because I am acquiring a road bike. I can't wait. I'll post more info on that later. The swim part, the biggest challenge, will begin next week for me. The local high school has some rec swim times where I think I can get in a couple sessions per week through the winter. As for the run, this is where I can focus and keep up to pace! I train near my house on a trail that runs from the neighborhood in which we've raised our girls to the neighborhood in which I grew up. It is a 3.5 mile track on a railroad line. It will soon be paved and will be so much better. Running here makes me think of the similarities and differences between my childhood and our girls. I love having that close to my house. When I run on the road, I "glide" through the halloween parade route (I will explain that event in another post!!) and on past the schools we all went to (ie my father, my in laws, my wife's grandmother, my wife and me, and our kids!!) and up around the church where I received sacraments, got married, and have had our girls receive their sacraments. If you haven't figured it out, I live in a small town and always have. Some might say this isn't so grand, but if you meet our daughters, you might think otherwise.

I will be entering in some 5K and 10K runs through the fall and winter. First up is The Great Race in downtown Pittsburgh. I hope to have a good size cheering section since it is Family Weekend at Wiggles's university, which is near there, and I have secured two little boy fans from Cranberry Township (will those 2 boys make it to see Big Tone finish? I hope so!).

With each training run and each race I enter on my journey, I think of all of you who support me. Whether it's Wiggles and her run last weekend that she claims caused her calf muscles to fall off or my wife who has me weighing in on Monday mornings (I hope that I can cross off my weight goal each week. She can be mean if not! Ha ha ha).

Ok, rest day today. Kiki says I everyone needs them! Early morning road run. 4 miles is my goal. Don't forget, if when you see me out there, let out a good "Go Big Tone"!!