It has begun

What? What has begun you say? Jennifer has started training again. She is a woman on a mission. A woman with a goal, and a woman I live with. Training with Jen is in its self an experience, or maybe it is not. See I do not train like Jen, Jen sticks firmly to her coaches plans and will not stray. Not at all. As I write this short take on what is going on Jen is out there running in the rain again. I joined her yesterday for a little 8 miler in the rain, but today skipped the run. We have a date tonight anyway, I will see her then. But as for her training she is an animal, she has a goal and will do whatever it takes to succeed. So again, she is off and running. Tomorrow will be another 8 miler and I will join her for that. Unfortunately I do not follow her training paces. I say that because I am sure I would get better if I did. Either way I kind of stick to my run as she pulls ahead for her repeats, time and time again she leaves me in the dust. I catch her on occasion, but I think that is only when she is resting.

I myself had the worst 8 mile run I can remember yesterday. I goofed on a few different levels. I met Arnaldo for lunch at "Caribbean Fiesta" and indulged in a jerk chicken sandwich and a few chicken wings. Whoaaaaaaaa, that is not the proper fuel my body said as I began to run last night. My body was revolting, the lunch, the heavy weight lifting the past three weeks were just not making the run yesterday and easier. I got through it though, one painful step at a time. In addition to that "feeling like a meat head" while running thing, my feet are still wrecked from Pinhoti and Ironman. More likely Pinhoti I believe, the jagged, leaf covered rocks did a number on the bottoms of my feet. The last remnants of broken blood vessels still remain on the bottoms! I guess this weeks runs will determine how well my dogs hold up for the month of January.

So yes, it has begun.... whether I want to participate or not. I will try for the most part to accompany Jen on her runs and enjoy anytime I get to spend with her even if she is a hundred yards ahead and pulling away. This is why we do what we do, why we sign up for these crazy races and why all our friends do as well. It comes down to enjoying the company of others with like interests and goals. So for every person tapering, or taking a bit of time off...your time will come, it to will soon begin.

Snow Skiing

Man do I miss skiing! Just thinking about that today, realizing it has been now over a year since I have last been skiing. I am just looking at the fact that skiing would have been my first "endurance sport". My family had always done their skiing in one simple way. Be the first out on the mountain, eat quick and keep skiing until they kick you off the mountain! Now as my parents are getting older, being first and last is not so much as important as it used to be. I can appreciate that seeing as this is a great way to spend some time with them. Unfortunately the economy has been in the crapper for the last 2 or so years and my ability to go on a vacation without my lovely wife Jennifer has disappeared. Jen does not care for skiing all that much, however I have managed to get her to go a few times. I really think she loved Telluride!

I love skiing anywhere. I was fortunate enough to have grown up skiing every year in Steamboat Springs, CO and miss it so. ( I hear the Marathon is a great one to!)I have skied Colorado, Montana, Canada, Nevada, and California. I will admit in a desperate moment I even skied in North Carolina. So, skiing is in my blood and until today never thought of it as an endurance sport. Most people would disagree I suppose, but I ski different than most. Balls to the walls, full throttle and as long as I can. I remember in British Columbia there is a ski run that is 7 miles long, I would do that as much and as quick as I possibly could. My goal was to get down faster each time, and to not wreck myself doing so. This I guess is endurance, I would like to think so. Jen would comment on why I had to be first on the lift, first on the run and why do we always have to stay till they close the lifts? I guess I was just doing what I was taught, get as much out of the day as you can while there is still daylight!

The part about wrecking myself is something that is always a possibility. I have had my share of yard sales and thought I had broken limbs, but alas no crash was so sever that I had to go to the hospital. Crashes have occurred in such fury that I actually landed off a jump so hard I thought I had lost my arm. A pinched nerve actually caused my arm to press against my body in a fashion where I lost all feeling for 20 minutes. Watches have been lost, skis have left me on the run while they have journeyed down by themselves. Trees have attacked my knees, and bananas in pockets have been exploded and smooshed. Oh man do I love to ski! But man oh man do I love to run trail. The same experiences can be said for hard trail running. Tree limbs threaten to poke your eyes, rocks smash themselves against you in furious running and falling will smoosh what ever is in you water bottle holder. Roots will grab your feet just like the bumps (moguls) will take you out of your boots if you hit them to hard. Trail running and skiing are very similar in my eyes. My concept of most things is a bit skewed though. Come to think of it, skiing all day and signing up for night skiing that same day sounds like a good idea, to me.

Endurance sports can be viewed in many ways, some more extreme than others. Skiing in my opinion has just become another endurance sport today. Maybe not as extreme as running up the mountain like in the Speed Goat 50K, but if you make it hard, skiing can be a helluva challenge.

Enchiladas

Today started off great. Jennifer left at 6a.m. to go do a 22 mile run with our friend Jon. Jon is fast, I mean very fast and Jen is trying to get faster. Makes sense that she run with someone other than me right? I agree. I did miss getting to go out with them this morning but I did my own run by myself instead. I left the house with no water, and one gu. It was a very cold morning, the sign by the high school said 28 degrees when I went by on my way out. I looped out and started heading down the road thinking of where I was going and what I would eat for breakfast when I returned. My run took me down hwy 141 and to the turn around where I would head back. I decided to scoot into Medlock Bridge neighbor hood because there is a decent little "tail" that follows a creek in the middle of the neighborhood. I ran that twice until on the last loop I found a soccer ball. Yup, I carried the thing the entire way back. I even kicked it a few times while running. So getting back to my thoughts, what to eat? I was going over what we had at home. Eggs? Bread? Pizza? Oh snap! I remembered we have Trader Joes cheese enchiladas! So at this point my run was going to be shorter than I had anticipated. The enchiladas were calling me home like a horse racing to the stable! Except I had a soccer ball in hand and am really not that fast. I had planned on doing 20 miles today and cut it short at 12. All I can do is blame those enchiladas. Enchiladas for breakfast you say? What a treat, they were delicious. In fact I am sorry that I only had one package, cause' I would have had two! As for the soccer ball, I can pretty much say that Gator and Porter are happy I cut my run short because they are enjoying the soccer ball out in the yard as I speak. :)

Balls. balls, balls and balls

Balls. The word "Ball" in my house brings up great anxiety, fever and shaking. Oh yeah, this is a good one. The word "Ball" if not said by spelling the entire word out letter by letter will lead to the inevitable crying, howling and barking. Yup, we are talking about Gator Vogel. Gator is our 2 year old American Bulldog. Shes nuts, maybe a little crazy and definitely psycho. She has a passion for chasing and chewing balls that is not unlike a serial killer. She is just frankly plain nuts when it comes to a ball. My point? Well here we go. Sunday December 7th, we go to play ball with the dogs a park next to the Chattahoochee River. Both Gator and Porter are loaded up, anxious and ready to go. We have done this many, many a time. We go to the wide open field by te river and throw the ball so both our pups can get some much needed exercise and burn off some steam. Gator goes at 120% and Porter goes at 65%, that is why they are great together. kind of like yin and yang. Elvis and Costello....ha..ha j/k Anyway, the dogs are doing the exercise and Jen and I are the ones getting ready to have heart failure. See even though it was just 42 degrees, Gator nearly gave herself heat stroke. Yeah...unreal I think now, but at the time our only "daughter" can't walk and is getting googly eyed. A very scary scenario, and we were petrified. We managed to get her cooled down and back to normal but still rushed her to the vet. She was fine, no problems, and ok. Whew....

Oh yes my point. This is a running/endurance blog right?

My point is that what would one do if their passion, their sport was taken away? What would you do if you can't run, ride, exercise for that matter? Would you go crazy, would you become sedentary and obese? Think about how lucky we are as humans, and runners and athletes that we can do what we do. Gator is on lock down until we feel she can run/chase balls again. Why is this relevant? It happens to be a greater cause issue, maybe I have found something that is not touched on all that much. What about the folks out there that are unable to run, that can't ride a bike. What are there options for exercise and fulfillment in being healthy? Both my wife and I are blessed with the ability to experience life with sports and exercise, there are many out there that can not. Today, I feel I should find a cause that focuses on such a thing and make an effort to do something more constructive with this life. Maybe I can be apart of something greater than one person.

FAT ASS 50K

What a way to start off the month of January. Since having moved to Georgia in 04' and becoming more in tune with my running self I look forward to the tradition of "The Atlanta Fat Ass 50k". This year is to be no exception, every year the goal is to be faster than the year before. The goal sounds do-able right? Sure it does if one were to set down some ground rules for training with the goal to be getting faster. This means training in a fashion that produces results based on past runner experiences. Maybe read a book, ask some questions, check out a blog or two. Or this could be just pulling a rabbit out of your hat. I for one enjoy the rabbit scenario, the idea that one can increase their ability based solely on their will is a interesting concept. Granted it is unconditional at best, foolish for certain, and ill advised to say the least. Though for some reason my preference is to dig into that hat and find a rabbit.

Fat Ass starts at 8a.m. on what is usually a very cold morning the first week of the new year. The run takes place on the roads and trails around Kennesaw Mt in and around Atl. (Can't give the specifics) the trail is relatively moderate with some nice climbs, some granite rocks and one nice little creek crossing. The GUTS people are the best anywhere, and the aid station is rockin'. I will have to note the main reason for the return to this race by far is all the friends we have made in our little running group. 500+ members now!

So my goal:
Sub 5hr
Last try had me at 5:14, and this time God willing, we will get under the mark. Now there are some really fast buggers out there like Mike Cosentino, Marty Coleman and Jon Obst to name a few, but they are not of my concern.(Friend Sally Brooking is injured, other wise she'd wipe the course with me to) The race in my head will be against yours truly and the clock. Ultimately the goal is just to have a few minutes at the end to have a Sweetwater on draught and share some good times with friends.

Cheers to Fat Ass 50k!

Keys 100

The Keys 100 Ultramarathon, "A miserable run through paradise" or so it is called by Jared. Miserable is relative considering time passes, pain goes away and blisters heal. All things considered, this was a very good race. So good in fact that in my humble opinion I have to say the folks putting this race together and the participants enjoying the race are by far some of the greatest people I have had the pleasure meeting and becoming friends with. So then why am I not doing the race in 09'? Simple, my lovely wife Jennifer Vogel is much better in heat, on asphalt than I could ever desire to be. She is the champion road runner in our family and I will not dispute those facts. I will however be at the Keys 100 with whip in hand, laying down some serious support for my favorite gal. In addition to myself we will have some very, very capable crew this year. Running extraordinaire Jon Obst (2:48 Marry, with no speed work training). Also Scott "Sexy Time" D'Angelo Mr.Ironman @ 11:12,who gave medical aid in Keys 100 08' (thanks for the duct tape). Our last contestant will be the ever versatile James Belyeu water bottle filler pro. Why am i so excited about a race that I am not doing? Jen, she is the reason. Jennifer and I met a wonderful lady out on the course in 08' and she has been inspiring Jennifer and I ever since. Lisa-Smith Batchen please stand up and take a bow! Lisa-Smith is now Jennifers coach, she coached Jennifer to a PR in Ironman this year, a smoking 11:16 on a road bike, and a seconds wetsuit! That is a 3hr19min improvement over last years Great Floridian! So one can see my optimism in looking toward Jens return to the Keys 100.

This next race will be dubbed "A miserably fast run through paradise" I will just be trying to keep up with Jen which I have to say is something I am pretty used to.

12.11.08, More Rain

Today is yet another day of rain. Today is the reason we have no Christmas lights. Lights short out, then we have half a strand lit, and half a strand dark. No Christmas lights this year for us. Call me a Grinch if you will. Anyway this rain thing sure gets old quick, but it has its advantages in some ways. For instance lifting weights at the gym, when it rains I choose not to run, and am able to go to the gym and do a little weight lifting, and sauna training. Could I run in the rain? Sure but why? Georgia rain is not like Florida rain which is what I grew up with. You know warm rain, not the shivering cold ice rain they have here in Georgia. Either way, the gym is good. I have spent the last few months cannibalizing my muscle and look forward to the idea of gaining back some muscle. Vain? Sure but what the heck, feeling good is both physical and mental right? Yes sirree bob, it sure is. Also I said to myself I would ease off for the month of December and get back strong in January. So far so good, just doing a little running here and there and sometimes keeping Jen company on her track workouts. Although I do less than 2/3 what shes doing I still get to be there. What can I say, training to a list is just not me. Yet. One day I am sure that I will have the opportunity to get better by training with some real kind of focus!

So is there anything planned for December? I really do not think so, just a little running in the orange groves when we go home. Some running down at Ocean Reef next week. Races, no not a single race. I am pretty sure this is a first in a long while. No race numbers to attach, no sleepless night pre-race. Man, this is cool. I think I will enjoy December.

January comes quick, lets see......

January 4th Fat Ass 50k @ Kennesaw
January 11th Disney Marathon
January 24th Mountain Mist 50k

Maybe to keep with the consistency I should make up a run that second week. I am sure I can get my buddy Jon Obst to join me in some craziness. Oh Jon.........Maybe we can figure out something good to fill in that weekend. A marry+ every week in January sound like a good goal.

So it has been said.

How much wood would a wood chuck.....

My question is simple if you are to look at it in another fashion. How far will a runner run if a runner believes they can run? My thought is pretty damn far. Lets say the average Joe starts running to meet a doctors need, to shed some weight, to get their heart under control. Should this person consider running further than what the doctor prescribes for exercise? By all means no. However lets take the average runner, or triathlete and look at their experiences. In my humble opinion I feel that the human body, once conditioned can do unbelievable things, you just have to ask it to. In other words, you need to believe in yourself. To do amazing things is in our nature, or in human nature I should say. To accomplish what others thought impossible is occurring on a daily basis. Who ever thought a person could run further than 26.2 miles? Who thought that 100 sounded like a good idea? Hell, who thought 350 miles sounded smart? But it is all possible. There are some people in this world that inspire others to do things they never thought they could, and my hat is off to them. I only wish that one day, I have the ability to inspire people to make their wishes, and furthest dreamt thoughts a reality. So until then, I will keep chucking wood and hoping that one day I will make a difference in peoples lives.

Goals to be reached:

In no specific order

Hollingsworth 100
Double Century under 12 (TBD)
Ultraman
Marathon des Sables 2010 (we are in!!!)
Swim round' Key West
Furnace 508
AT GA-NC out and back (my own idea 80 out and back, 160 total)
Badwater
Misc Hundreds, smaller the better
Western States if I got in
Run across PEI
Grindtsone

more to come......

Marathon des Sables

This will be the toughest challenge yet. I have over a year to fill in this section. We are so incredibly stoked to find out we are in! Running with friends Lisa-Smith Batchen,Bob Becker, and Jared Knapp. The excitement is mounting and we are over a year away. Both Jen and I can't contain ourselves. So more to come for sure.

Marathon des Sables 2010

Ironman Florida, Pinhoti 100 Mile Run One Week Results

Everyone has failed at something in life. Everyone has beat themselves up for that failure no matter what the circumstances were or still may be. November 1st-8th could not, and would not be a failure for me. This one begins back in April, 2008.

Umstead, North Carolina April 4th 2008 is the date of the race that would set me on the Ironman/Pinhoti adventure. Umstead is billed as "Just a Walk in the Park". Which essentially it is. Maybe I underestimated the hurt rain and cold can do to a man. Everything was fine for the first 50 miles, I felt great, however Jen did not and dropped at 50. I had a great surge in energy as I will come to find out happens to me at 50 miles. Anyway, I took of like a bolt at mile 50 and ran the next 12.5 fast enough that Jen was not there to see me as I came in. 62.5 down, only three more laps to go! Not so fast there buddy boy! I slipped in the mud and removed the big toenail from the connection and now all the pain was compounding. The chaffing was like raw burger meat and the toe was throbbing. I only made it to 75 miles, failure numero uno. Failure numero dos was the Keys 100 Ultra May, 2008. Made it to 82 miles, dropped but at least I now know my self at 4a.m. at 20 hours. Another day will be the Keys report.

Panama City Beach here we come!! Jen and I headed down to meet our friends Scott D'Angelo and Sarah Thomsen for a little race called Ironman Florida. Super Sexy Time for all is what I say! Anyway what a great weekend, great race great friends and the beginning of an excellent challenge. My goal was to do Ironman on Saturday the 1st in Florida, go home Monday back to work and on to Heflin Alabama that Friday for the Inaugural Pinhoti 100 Mile Endurance Run.

So getting back to Ironman, this was a great, fast course and had done my homework previously by riding the route twice. The run couldn't be that bad and the swim was going to be cool to. I tried my wetsuit on for the first time Friday morning in an early morning swim in the gulf, my 4th swim total for Ironman period. Did I mention I hate to train for the swim? Anyway, I was ready, and now it was just having to wait.

Race Day:

We walked down to the hotel Scott and Sarah were staying in and had some more coffee and plundered their bathrooms a bit before heading down to the 45 degree sand and air. AC/DC was playing loud and the crowd of over 2200 was getting seriously pumped! Now its just an hour or so of getting smacked, elbowed, kicked and scratched to get out of the water. Out of the water in 1:11, good time but little did I know my ever deserving wife was just one minute behind me! Onto the bike in a running jump and moving out pretty good, I was making good time. Just not as good as some of the "Ironman Peletons" I saw cruising past at cheat speeds. Seriously guys, you suck, may all you other races produce dnf's from drafting! Anyway at about mile 60 I got sick. Gatorade and I don't normally mix well and we got together out on the course. Baaaaaad mistake. My speed dropped to about 13 or so for as long as I can remember and orange still stains the road, but the next station was the turnaround. They also had bathrooms, also where I had to spend some time. This is where Jen also saw me on the bike!!! At that point I knew I needed to kick it but was still feeling sick and without any strength. A few miles passed and I was reborn! Paced kicked up drastically and I was back, from mile 80 on I was never passed again and passed about 100 people in the last 15 miles, what a rush. As for Jen, her training really paid off, she came in just 4 minutes after I did! time 5:44

The run begins, and ends. The runs was great, there were some issues at the beginning with breathing but fortunately negative splits were on the menu for the entire day and it just got better as it went on. Our run was through some neighborhoods and a parks, with just a little bit of main drag to throw in some great spectators. Slow marathon, time 4:25, but a finish in 11:32.

Not a bad time knowing I had to leave a bit on the table so i could do Pinhoti the next week.

PINHOTI 100 MILE ENDURANCE RUN

Heflin to Sylacauga Alabama, the Talledega National forest, south end to north end. Rocks, roots, 16,000' +climbs, decent,mud, and leaves covering the "Pinhoti Trail".

More to come........

Lakeland to Babson Park Florida

Point to point, self supported asphalt and hwy run from Lakeland to Babson Park.

Has anyone done something they never thought they could? Sure everyone has at some point right? This was the day for me. The crazy idea was to run our first "Ultra Marathon" while in Florida with my parents. Jen and I would run, my parents would meet us at the house later that afternoon. I would take 50 bucks, a cellphone and we both would carry water bottles. Distance: estimated 39 miles.

We awake early at 4a.m., have our coffee, and our cereal. Our cereal just so happens to have a endorsement by Dean Karnazes himself. I think its his food company, or he's partners or something. So we officially leave at 6a.m. sharp and head out onto the sidewalks, the grass embankments and the newly paved bike trail in Bartow. The first portion of the run is ok, lots of traffic headed to work on this Friday morning. We make it to the first aid station, also known as a Cumberland Gas station. this is where all the construction workers seem to like to hang out before work, and home to the filthiest bathroom the whole run. We buy water, some candy and get moving. The run along the new bike path leading into Bartow Fl is great. We rarely saw anyone and had a great easy surface to run on. Keep on trucking!

Moving through Bartow was interesting enough, this is the "Main" town for good ole' Polk County Fl-you know; the meth capitol of Florida! We traverse through our aid stations/Racetracks and keep on moving down Hwy98 until we merge into Hwy 60. If you are from Florida, you will know this as the most dangerous road in the state. Lucky for us we were only going a few miles past Lake Wales, that is where it really gets bad. Either way at this point the traffic was getting bigger, and faster. Semis moving at 70 mph, and lots of road kill. Lots of dust and dirt covered the side of the road as we ran toward the oncoming traffic. For some reason paranoia is in my blood, early on Hwy60 taking notice as we ran was an unmarked Sheriff on the other side of the road- he kept going. Whew! Hwy60 is a long, long road with more raccoons, opossums, and other creature that were not recognizable. I still swear we saw a FL Panther on the side of the road hit by a vehicle. Those same vehicles had never seen anyone actually running down the hwy before and they were very confused as to just what the hell we were doing. They only had to deal with it just this once though.

60 just keeps going, and the gas stations/aid stations suck. As we make it into Lake Wales and pass the IHOP I estimate that we have just passed mile 31! Our first 50k! We keep pushing and make our turn onto Hwy27, man it feels good to be on 27! I used to drive this route every weekend back in high school, and could just feel myself getting closer and closer! Hwy27's gas stations all have fried chicken! Every aid station we stop at has Chesters chicken fried up and sitting below heat lamps. MMmmm tasty! No, really we did not go there, just stuck to the crackers, candy, water and sports drinks. Onward we move past the semis, the tractors and the lowriders.

As we round the corner onto alt17 to get to the Lake House we are approached by that same unmarked Sheriff I saw earlier. He rolls down his window and asks if we are the same people he saw earlier in Bartow. We say yes, and he says "holly shit", yall' are crazy! How far ya goin" We respond with about 40 miles, he just shakes his head and leaves wishing us good luck. This is by far the best part of the run, we can see the lake from ontop the hill and every rolling hill is bringing us closer to home. Our last aid station is "Mini Mac's" in Babson Park. I spend my last 5 dollars out of the original 50 on water, sports drinks and candy and press on up the last hill of the run. As we near the turn onto Cody Villa road something makes us keep going, we continue on to the next road and decide to run this one in on the dirt roads through the orange groves.

Home sweet home, we made it. 9hrs 30 minutes, and now 42 miles later we have done it! Our first ultra, our first unsupported ultra run and our pride intact. What a great day, this would be the beginning of seeing just how far we can go.

My First Triathlon

Cohutta Mountains, Somewhere:
http://pe.southern.edu/triathlon/

Arnaldo San Martin, deserves the credit for this one. Arnie and I decide that we are going to do a triathlon. So after buying my first bike since my Fuji Sagres we get back into riding. A shiny new 2004 Trek 1200. Introductory bike at best, but still a hella bike! We ride in Buckhead, we ride in Stone Mountain and we ride the Vinings. We ride, we ride, we run, we however do no swimming. How hard could it be I said? Well for me it was hard, for Arnie, not so hard-he never went through with signing up. Dork.

So race day arrives, Jen and I head up I75 to someplace we could never find again and proceed get setup. Got my tri shorts on, my cap, and my goggles. The one thing that has been neglected is my ability to swim. Kid you not,the thought of dying was coming to mind. Seriously. after making it 100 yards out, there was gasping, overheating, and beginning to float on my back to stay up. The swim was a killer at only a half mile, the water murky and cold, my dignity on shore with Jen who did not think grown men actually did the doggy paddle.

I love bikes, road bikes, mountain bikes, tri-bikes, cruisers you name it. Love -em. This was the best part, 18 miles total, out and back. The only time that seems to make it to memory is the 57 minutes it took me in the hills. The bike was uneventful to say the least, just a few hillbillies hanging around and a few dogs chasing ya, but all the while and average ride.

4 miles, that's it really. Just 4 miles. Oh crap that was the hardest 4 miles ever! Looking back now wondering why the hell puking at 4 miles seemed ok. My gosh, what a wiener. Anyway 4 miles total, out and back was a pretty easy concept except the fact draining all ones energy in the swim was prone to show itself now at this time. Some kind of start for a guy who calls himself an endurance athlete now. Guess starting somewhere was a requirement! Who knew it would lead to the life lived today.

Today we start the Blog 12.10.08

Just a little forward info:

My name is Lane Vogel and I am an endurance athlete. I never thought to call myself an athlete before, but that is what I have become. Sometime ago when I was a child I played baseball, a little football, thought I was a Tour De France rider and played around in the pool. That was a long time ago. Sometime after high school I became slightly overweight and decided to get healthy by not eating and drinking so much. Mission accomplished, I got down to 215 and then met my wife Jennifer in 2000. The rest my friends is history. Jennifer was active, I was not so it was a long process for me to become a little more open to exercise. Jennifer and I married in 2002 and I was very thin at this point-down to 175 mostly from working to much and not eating properly-not from exercise. Sometime in 2003 we began training for a marathon (Jen) and a 1/2 marry (Me). We did our first one, The Disney Marathon January 11th 2004. I was wiped, I was hurt and both of us eased back on the running for a bit. Later that same year we headed to lake Tahoe to do yet another race, same deal 1/2 for me full for Jen. This time we really cut back afterwards. So it seems crazy to me know that my first real marathon was only in 2006,
The Country Music Marathon in Nashville, TN. That was less than 3 years ago! That was the beginning and the end for me, it is now just trying to see what the next challenge will be. Somewhere in there I also did my first Triathlon, this was in the N.GA mountains and it to nearly killed me. But like I have said, whats next?

Whats next is always up in the air. Whats next depends on what I can "get in to", what fills up and what does not. Also, do the powers that be find me worthy? Whats next is also whats different that is a challenge, that may not have been done by many others. For some reason being a little different matters to me, don't ask why it just does.