Update

I guess it is about time to add another entry to my blog. Lets see, when was the last time I blogged? Looks like it was May 9th, so it has been about a month. Lots of things have happened since then.
I was doing 6 mile runs and listening to Dean Karnazes on my iPod, actually I was doing CTS Fartlek workouts running 3 days a week. Trying to give my back a break.

Well, I started to ride my bicycle more to reduce the pounding on my back, and it seemed to help. So, I quit doing the 6 mile Fartlek workouts and added more cycling. Since I was riding more I started thinking about getting back into triathlon training. If I did that I could stay or become more fit while reducing my running. I went on the Web and found a site "BeginnerTriathlete.com". It had a log, training plans, info, etc., so I signed up for a 6 month membership for $25.00 and started a Sprint Tri Training plan.

I haven't done any serious Tri training for about 15 years, so it is like starting all over. That is why I am doing a Sprint Training plan. It also doesn't take up your whole life to do Sprint Training. I picked 2 late summer Sprint Tri's as my goal so we will see if I stick with it.

I also ran a 15K XTERRA Trail race the last day of May. Talk about saving your back, that is not the way to do it. The race was on May 31st just south of Jackson, GA at Dauset Trails. I got up about 4 a.m. on the morning of the 31st to get ready to go to Dauset Trails. It is about 70 miles south of where I live so I had to leave early in order to get there before the race started at 8:30 a.m. Since I had never been there I wanted to leave plenty of time for being lost. As it turned out the directions I had were very good and I didn't get lost. I ended up getting to the venue about 2 hours early. Since I was the first person to show up and was pre-registered I was given race bib #1.

I kept wondering before the race, if this was a good idea, if I was even going to be able to finish without my back really getting screwed up. Then I decided, what the heck I am already at the race.

I was not comfortable with bib #1 so I decided to try to get rid of it. I knew that Chris Wiley had won both previous XTERRA Trail races so I approached him and asked him if he wanted bib #1, but he said no I could keep it that way he wouldn't have the pressure on him. Well, as it turned out he left everybody in the dust and ran 54:12 sweeping all three GA XTERRA Trail races.

I finished the race (which was a big relief) and was 1st in my age group which is 65-69. I finished with a slow time of 1:49:54, but I felt pretty good about that because my back, butt and hamstrings hurt for the entire race. Fortunately I didn't mess my back up any worse than it already was. I tripped on a rock at about 4 1/2 miles into the race and tore up my right knee. Nothing serious, but was pretty bloody looking at the finish. I got a pretty cool medal for 1st place so I was happy.