Suddenly 50?

For that minute group of you who read my blog, I am alive and well since my last post back in October (I'll get to the "Suddenly 50?" part at the end).

To catch you up very briefly on what I've been doing since October, I have been completely swamped with work, steadily working many 14-18 hour days for literally months at a time (I own a business that does work on non-performing bank loans secured by real estate, so enough said as to why I've been so busy). From October through January, I managed to run a grand total of 30 miles (not 30 miles a week, 30 miles TOTAL), and did not swim or bike at all during that time. I had signed up to do the Houston Marathon in January and decided what the heck, so I went out and managed to run the first 12 miles, then jogged/walked miles 13-14, then basically walked in the last 12 miles to finish in 5:36 (my slowest by far of any of the 18 marathons I've done, but I expected at least 6 hours or more based on the lack of training, so I won't complain). I got to encourage a lot of first-timers along the way who were really struggling, stopped and visited with many friends along the way who were either there to cheer people on or working aid stations, and just had a great time enjoying the day.

Around the first of February, things slowed down a bit (12 hour days instead of 14-18), so I started running again and could barely even make it 3 miles the first few times out. I needed a goal. Lo and behold at the beginning of March, I remembered that the Texas Lone Star Triathlon Festival was coming up in Galveston, Texas the weekend of April 3-5, and I see that they are having a Half-Ironman. So about 4 weeks ago I signed up online, and I started my swimming and cycling again with the goal of doing the 70.3 on April 5. In 4 short weeks I have built myself up to a couple of long bike rides of 40-50 miles, swam 2.0 miles on multiple occassions, and did a 10.5 mile run this past Saturday at a decent pace.

After having done the Longhorn 70.3 in 5:50 with quite a bit of training under my belt, I really have no idea what to expect in this race. Logic tells me that with the little bit of training and in my present physical condition that 6:00 would be phenomenal, and most likely I'll be in the 6:15-6:30 range. Does it matter to me what time I finish in? Absolutely not. It's a blessing to be able to do any of this (that's a post for another time).

So back to the title of the post... I'm 49 and won't be hitting the big 50 until December. I remembered hearing that the USA Triathlon rules were going to change to where they place you in your age group based on your age at the end of the current calendar year. It was an odd thing to see my name on the entry list with my age as "50" and competing in the "50-54" year old group. My first thought was, "Well, at least I'll be a youngster in the age group and have a better chance at placing higher", until I went online and saw that age group's finishing times from last year. I continue to be astounded at the physical condition of folks involved in this sport, and am blessed to be a part of it.