Ready, Set, Go!

Its been almost exactly 1 year since I was told the horrible news that my heart went bad with an infection and aortic aneurysm. Actually, under a year by about 3 weeks. Today I did my first triathlon since the operation to replace my valve and root with a human homograph. Since the operation, the last 11 and 1/2 months of battling back to this point has been a journey that few people could understand.

Today's race was just a dress rehearsal for next weekends task at the 70.3 race in St. Croix. The Grizzly Triathlon in Missoula MT. is the largest in numbers participating in the state. The competition is really pretty good especially in the younger age groups, The University of Montana regularly competes for the nations best in the collegiate Triathlon championships. There is also a good elite field for a race that offers no prize money. Lindsey Corbin, Ben Hoffman, and Matt Seely are regular participants.

The race went pretty well with just a couple of non-fitness mishaps such as my seat post slipping down about an inch after whacking a pot-hole, blowing through the last turn as the cop was taking a nap as I approached and having to stop and winch up my laces on my shoes on the run. Other than that I was pleased with how I felt. I swam right at 1:20 Pace per 100 for the 1000yd swim. ave 281w on the bike for 20k and ran 22:10 for the 5k run(the run has a wicked .7mile trail hill that I actually walked part of) My finish time of 1:07:55 bested all the age groups 35 and older. and even though my finish time was 57s slower than last year, my time was better since last year they got our lane out a 100 early on the swim. so my swim time of 12:38 did not happen. So without the mishaps that probably cost me 30-40s I was better than last year at this time and that's not bad for a partial heart transplant less than 1yr post! Although I was trying hard to best all the chicks, but Lindsey Corbin is a bit of a stud.

The awards where very nice, and very large Root beer mugs that will certainly hold a full can of Cold smoke beer! By the way the best purchase of the trip was a short fill(not more than 1oz)16oz cans/24 case for 24 bucks! And at the last minute My crazy wife Sarah filled in a spot in the race and did her first Triathlon in 4 yrs and placed 2nd! So 2 mugs for the Marschall/Keller family.




So now its on to St.Croix 70.3. I feel like I have done everything possible to get ready for this race, My goal now is to execute a solid day and see what happens. No matter what the result, the journey to this point has been a positive one.

There has been other great stories from other clones out there. First of all congrats to Mike Fogassey for realizing his dream of getting to Kona! Mike now the hard part starts! Jay Preston had a great race at 70.3 California with a 5th place finish in the 40-44 age group, Jay had the fastest bike split in his group and put together a great day, only x-pros Gordo Byrne, Chris Hauth and a couple others bested him. Jay will be racing at the St. George Ironman in a couple of weeks and he is ready to kill it! Also in the same 70.3 race Adam Weaver had a very solid day placing 10th in the same age group. Adam also bounced back from the 70.3 to run a near pr of 2:59 at the Boston Marathon only 2 weeks post.

Sarah's Post

Well, it’s been quite a busy few weeks, topped off by an age group win for Jay and a 2nd place age group finish for me at the Grizzly Triathlon in Missoula, MT – a studley sprint race featuring the likes of Lyndsay Corbin and Matt Seeley. It was a beautiful, sunny, warm day welcoming our first tri of the season – with sparkling snow-capped mountains all around us keeping a cool breeze blowing. Chloe had a blast with her friend Axl (the son of my college friend Cara Nelson) – from Easter egg hunts to swim center silliness.

Now it’s off to St. Croix for Jay’s Half Ironman and Hawaii qualifier – I’m sure he’ll do very well given his recent training and performances. Last weekend, Jay explored warm weather training in the Lake Mead area outside of Las Vegas, while I teamed up with Jenel Duey and Robin Culver to conquer the women’s sport division at Peaks to Prairie. Go Robin’s Team! (Jenel ran 9 mi., I biked 43 mi., and Robin paddled 22). It was just a spontaneous decision for me to join the race and has encouraged me to jump into more events even if I can’t train as well as I’d like for them.

Cale and Chloe have been busy with growing up, soccer, swimming, ballet and the end of Kindergarten for Chloe. She is reading some, smiling a lot, and learning tough lessons about discipline and politeness. Cale walks like a drunken sailor. Jay is doing very well, and we hope with all our hearts that things continue to soar upwards.