A year older - and wiser?

(I had written this on my bday on 2/27, I found it in my draft folder, I had never published it)

Well 45 years. That is how long I have been around. In someways it feels like a very long time, just ask my kids and they will tell you that I am really old! Other times it feels like a blink of an eye. The good thing about competing in triathlons is that every 5 years you get to move up an age group, it gives you something to look forward to! So I am out of the 40-44s and now into the 45-49s! (not sure if that is a good thing or not :))

Birthdays, and new years are always a great time to reflect. Think about the things that you have accomplished and those that you haven't yet. Thinking back I have accomplished a lot of things that 10 or 20 years ago I would have never even dreamed of. But yet there are a lot of things still left to do.

When I turned 25, I said "well a third of my life has gone by." (at that time I thought 75 was a long time to live) Today one of my daughters said, well Ms. Laura (a neighbor of ours) said you have lived half way to 90! (I think I am liking that better than the 75)

Whatever it is that the future holds for me, there are still a lot of things that I want to do. And since no one knows truly how long you really have to do them, I am going to continue to live each day to its fullest and enjoy everything that I have been blessed with. I am not going to worry about what happened yesterday, or what might happen tomorrow, but take advantage of every opportunity that I am given.

This year is going to be an amazing journey! I wonder what I will be thinking about next year at this time?

Sometimes you have to be willing to accept things that you cannot change..

I am funny about things, when I get my mind set on something there usually is nothing that will get in my way of it. So when life gets in the way of something that I have my mind set on it is sometimes tough for me to accept.

I have been looking forward to the California 70.3 Ironman all winter long. It has been my motivation for riding in the cold, running when I didn't want to and 4,000 plus yard swim workouts. Danielle had decided that with mom commitments this year she wasn't going to be able to commit to the training and withdrew from the race. We had discussed it and she actually was relieved when we came to the agreement that it would be best for her to keep to short course racing this year. But I was still planning on racing and was really ramping up my training to get ready for my first 1/2.

As luck would have it, the kids all got sick after winter break, my oldest got mono and strep, and missed a week. The others had some form of flu, strep and other creepy cruds that kept them out of school. When I originally booked our trip to CA, I misread the school calendar and thought that the kids were out on Friday, so I booked us leaving on Wed, causing them to miss two days. It wasnt ideal, but two days are not the end of the world. Well they actually have school on Friday, so now it would be three full days in additon to the time that they have all missed due to illness. So now with Danielle not racing the only reason for the trip was my desire to race my first half, causing my kids to miss three more days of school. My sensible parent insticts kicked in and I said that we wouldnt be going, instead we will drive down to Orlando (after they get out of school for spring break) and spend time with my parents and visiting theme parks. Dont get me wrong I love my parents and know how much they enjoy seeing the kids. But the idea of standing in line for the 'Jimmy Neutron Ride' at Universal Studios, instead of racing up and down the coast of So Cal really wasnt what I had in mind.

But sometimes I have to realize that there are things that are more important than triathlons, and long before I made a commitment to myself to reach my goals as a triathlete, I made a commitment to be a good father to my kids. So Jimmy Neutron here we come...... And look out Ironman Florida in november!