Doomsday. . . At Last!

Today was a day that I knew was coming for 3 months. On April 28th, Todd and I embarked on a detailed and very specific training routine to get us ready for the 2008 Top Gun Triathlon in Ft. Desoto Beach very near where my parents live in St. Petersburg, FL. Having not ever done this before, T and I walked in pretty “wide eyed” to the experience. Let me tell you, no matter how much research you do, stores you visit, YouTube videos you watch on this stuff, or websites you peruse, you just can’t prepare for the excitement of what it’s like when you’re in there actually doing it for the first time. I plan on doing many many more of these, but I have to admit, I think I’ll miss that sense of unknown excitement that will only come the first time you do this. I’m so happy to have come to the top of this mountain. My brother committed himself to help me improve my health and wellness, and hold his end of the bargain he DID in spades! I’m a VERY blessed man. Truly, today is a day to be thankful for the love of my savior and my brother, my wife, my kids, my parents, and my entire group of friends and family. Now...on to the next one. This is a LONG work in progress. WE are not done yet.

Troy Collins

Today was a day that was monumental for me. Let me just say that reaching this goal was a life changing experience in many more ways than one. It's been much more of a spiritual enriching journey for me than a physical. However with the triathlon behind me and it being our litmus test, I now know more about how better to train and we have a ton of room for improvement.

Todd Collins

Check the stats HERE.

The Calm Before the Storm

Today's entry is taken from the site of the Top Gun Triathlon. Our next entry will be after the event is over. Troy and I are very excited and I'm a bit nervous due to wondering how far I can push my body. All of the training and watching what we eat and so forth have culminated to this particular day tomorrow. It's a bitter sweet occurence to see this chapter come to an end. As a matter of fact, Troy and I are already looking at what our next event is going to be. This trip is going to be a catalyst to our planning the next goal to shoot for. This has been a part of life for me and it's been highly rewarding to see this transform into being a part of life for Troy as well.

The above picture is of the finish line for tomorrow. It'll be much more "lively" tomorrow.

22 Miles: 17.5 mph!

Today, Troy and I didn't wake up at our normal early Saturday hour because we were both very tired from the previous day. Our schedule called for only a 60 minute run, but we both decided to do our 22 mile Harpeth ride late in the afternoon. In addition to the ride, I felt compelled to get a run in as well, so I went out and put in a 20 minute run. I felt pretty good overall today and both Troy and I are really getting excited about the race next weekend. I'm starting to feel the pressure that I've seemed to put upon myself, but it's something that I welcome and it drives me.

Tomorrow we have a 30 minute swim and a 60 minute run and I'm supposed to meet Troy early in the morning (Sunday) to get our swim out of the way. HOWEVER, as you can tell by the time of this entry, it's extremely late and I'm sitting here doing this because I'm having one of those nights that I can't go to sleep even though I'm extremely tired from the days training activities. These are those frustrating nights that I seem to get about once a month. Hopefully, Troy will give me some grace and allow me meet him later in the day to swim. I don't think I'll make it.

Troy's really doing extremely well with his training especially the bike. He's truly a natural on the bike and once he gets his weight down to where he wants it, he will be unbelievable as a cyclist. He's already to the point where he can push me on a ride and he's only getting better. We averaged 17.5 on our 22 mile ride and that, for him, is another personal best!

We're coming down the home stretch!