President's Update: IronMADNESS @ Santa Rosa & Canada
Hey all you crazy people!
As we enter another week here in beautiful Santa Cruz, I'd like to remind everyone that we have the Santa Cruz Triathlons - Clinic 1 for the bike this coming Wednesday. 6pm @ Spokesman. Racing the Santa Cruz Triathlon or the Ironman 70.3 in town? This is JUST the clinic for you! Hear from experienced athletes who have honed their skills right on the course that you're racing. Learn the tips and tricks of the pros, as they say!
Looking for a little extra motivation to get into the pool? Try the new SCTA swim gear @ www.swimoutlet.com/scta.
But let's get down to the meat of this blog post. IronFrickin'Man! I can't begin to say, from all of us racers, how thankful we are for EVERYBODY! I'm going to miss someone and I totally apologize for that, but congratulations to Deanne on another amazing accomplishment on a super tough course! Total killer! Peter Taylor is a rock star and stud in my book! Toeing the starting line, some days you just don't have it. Congratulations to Jon Erskine as well! Seijin was up in Canada cheering on the troops...so much fun!
Ironman Santa Rosa...Santa Cruz Triathlon Association...3rd place in D5 with well over 100 triathlon clubs. Way to go!
Lani - Your smile was so incredible out on the run course! My smile went from a suda grimace to full on smile!
Mollie - You pulled us through on the run. You were so excited to see us!
Cathy - Epic volunteer position of putting the medals on. So awesome!
Mark - Thank you for helping with paddle support! I was looking for you.
Sloan - Again, thank you for helping with paddle support. I was looking for you too!
Cecilia - Seeing you ushering the lead runner was really cool...especially knowing that you weren't allowed to cheer anyone on but I saw you mouth "Way to go, Steve!" Thank you!
Katy - Hearing you cheer us on near the run turnaround was great! Even if our minds weren't quite working then.
Sara - My wife (as you all probably know) was the greatest supporter of me and my endeavor to complete my 2nd Ironman. She was at all the perfect spots during the race and there is no way in heck I could have done this without her!
Jill - You are incredibly wise for knowing that Saturday just wasn't your day. It takes a mentally tough individual to listen and respond to when your body says "not today". I applaud you!
Roxanne - Incredible! What a race! I'll never forget the story that you told me on that out & back section...I was DEEP in the pain cave and you came along with your smile and cheered me up! Congratulations on your first EPIC Ironman!
Nick - Was this Lucky #13 or #12? Either way, your bike split was killer! You even had enough energy to yell "Positive vibes, negative splits!!" out there to me. Congratulations, my friend!
Crystal - From when I first met you at the SCTA spin sessions at Spokesman, I knew that you were going to crush this race. Seeing you near the finish line with all of your energy literally brought tears to my eyes. Congratulations!
Darren - I'll be honest...my man crush.
Sara and I were back at the hotel and I was literally laying in the tub and Sara comes in yelling "Darren is going to finish in 30...we HAVE to go back!" We came back to see your smile as you ran down that finisher's chute with a new HUGE PR. Congratulations! We definitely deserver to have a few beers now.
I want to start mine off with a quick shout out to Dave Liotta. My coach. When I was at the doc's last year with the MRI results of my knee before my surgery, you were there.
That's when I knew that you gave a hoot. Your knowledge of the sport, on what it does to your mind and to your body is incredibly valuable and I would not have had such a stellar race without you in the captain's chair.
Ironman. Respect the distance. It hurts. There are high points (not many) and very low points (many).
The key to race day (Sprint, Olympic, 70.3, Ironman) is just to trust your training and execute. I swam, biked and ran into race morning knowing that there wouldn't be any surprises. I had a really good idea of how I would finish based on my training...training that I was able to do with all of you.
From the track @ Soquel HS to running in the jewel box. Up Eureka Canyon and down Old San Jose (when it was closed)...the Pie ride last December (and then up Eureka...bad idea!). All of it...WE couldn't have done it without YOU!
To everyone on Facebook, Instagram and through texts...thank you! All of the videos of us finishing (Monica, your commentary was priceless!) were amazing. From all of us this past weekend, we want to thank you ALL for the 6am Masters classes, the brutally hot track workouts running in circles, the headwind on Hwy 1...all of it...with you, our training partners and our friends.
For anyone that has had to "deal" with a triathlete in the week leading up to their Ironman...a good quote :
"I've apologized a hundred times...but still not enough"
Steve Doinidis
