REAL Cup Champions

 

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This was quite the amazing soccer tournament!  The Real Cup 2021 comprised five straight days of games over in the Arvada Soccer complex which must have 25-30 soccer fields in total and a mass of humanity all over the place.  This is a highly competitive and massive tournament drawing teams from all over Colorado and many surrounding states.  The 2010 Broomfield Prestige team was in a very competitive bracket playing several different P1 (the highest division) and P2 teams even though they have been ranked as a P2 team.  After some some very competitive teams, these guys fought like crazy and made the finals.

 

 

The finals match was against a very competitive P1 team and the whole scene was rather unreal.  There may have been close to 100 - 125 people on the sidelines which was easily the biggest crowd I have ever seen watching one of their games.  After giving up an early goal to a PK, our team fought hard all game.  With only about 90 seconds left and down a goal, Gage was called up to take a free kick from close to the midfield line to send it into the box where the other 8 players all awaited.  He hit a great ball right into the mix and with a header we scored to tie the game!

Through a highly physical overtime period that saw us trade goals once again, we arrived at PKs to determine who would win the tournament.  Gage had nerves of steel standing in there to see if he could deliver a victory while the stress was almost too much for us to watch!  Right off the bat both teams scored their first PKs.  Gage made a great save on PK #2 and we drained another one in the back of the net taking the lead 2-1.  We each missed and made one each of the next two.  Sitting at 3-2 we needed Gage to come up big and he did making a diving save to secure the victory at 3-2 for his team!

 

 

The team erupted and it was pandemonium on the field as they all jumped around and celebrated!  It was such an awesome thing to watch and be apart of.  I am so proud of Gage and all his hard work learning the goalie position and being able to contribute to the success of his team in such a prominent way!  It is always good to remember the good times like this one because he will inevitably experience the other side of the coin that happens where we lose a close game or tournament.  It is the nature of competitive sports but what a great weekend!

Jerry's Cozy Home

Gage's dwarf hamster is getting older these days, but we still love him.  One of his favorite things to do is building this cozy cave of bedding out of tissue paper.  Gage places a few pieces around his cage after his weekly cleaning and Jerry drags them around and then shreds them into a soft cozy bedding to sleep on.  It seems to be quite the process and even more impressive is that the bed location changes almost on a nightly basis.

Gage has done a great job taking care of Jerry over the years.  He cleans his cage weekly, feeds him (probably too much), and only drops him while holding him occasionally...We will be sad when Jerry finally reaches the end of his life, but we quiteenjoy his company and endless wheel running right now.

Gage's Art Blanket

 

Grandma Mike has established a family tradition to take all of our kids' art works from elementary school and have them printed on fabric.  She then sews them all together into these amazing quilts so we can always look back and enjoy their art journey.  Both of our kids love art quite a bit and it is so fun to be reminded of all the different things they have made through the years and in a way that will last.  Thanks Grandma Mike!

Father and Son Bike Times

Gavin and I will occasionally get out for a nice bike ride together.  I think he enjoys it more than he initially lets on because once we get started we always have a great time laughing and talking together.  It's also a nice way to disconnect from the pervasive electronic world that constantly surrounds us, get some exercise, and enjoy some fresh air for a little bit.  I am always thankful for these times we have together and the older he gets the more he tries to stick it to me by attacking on the hills.  He still needs a few more years if training before he starts to drop the old man though!

Front Garden and Little Tree

This is just a simple picture of our tree and flowers in the front yard.  Since we cut down the larger aspens and replaced them with this small new Greenspire Linden tree, the flowers get a lot more light and are quite pretty this year.  Apparently, it looks like I am quite good at growing dandelions in the grass in the background as well!

Here is a closer view of my favorite purple flowers!

Ironman St. George 70.3 Part 3

As I came into T2 (bike to run transition), I was feeling fairly good and thought I was ready to take on the next big challenge: the run.  I did have to take quite a bit of extra time to put on an ankle brace for running and get everything sorted.  This led to a 3:52 T2 transition time, but then I was off.

The third leg of this race is where I knew my challenges were going to really live.  The run portion had a reputation for being brutal with high temperatures and over 1000 ft. of elevation gain.  Additionally, I was coming off of ankle surgery from the middle of January which left little to start running, let alone train effectively for the half marathon portion of the race.  In fact, I was unsure if I could even make it through the race to finish coming into it and had shifted goals for the race heavily.  A successful 10 mile run a week before the race had me hopeful at least. 

The first several miles started off alright as I tried to be patient and focus on eating and drinking to get the nutrition I needed.  In this, I was mostly successful and came through 10 km at about 52 minutes.  I could tell my feet were already in some trouble as they were not used to the pounding of running on pavement.  It started with my right foot but also carried to my left.  Around mile 7, I really started to have trouble dealing with the pain and dropped off my target pace and had to start incorporating some walking.  

The downhills were taking their toll on my ankle and the uphills were challenging as the muscles were struggling late in the race.  Looking at pictures like this one above, it is easy to take myself back to the pain and the struggles that were experienced as I worked hard just to keep going.

 

 

The course was always heading uphill or downhill with no easy portions to be found.  Late in the run many people seemed to be coming by me, though everyone seemed to be hurting in some way or another.  

 

The final three miles of downhill (which should be fast) were a struggle. I started to have significant nerve pain coming from my ankle with each pounding step descending down the road, but I was determined to finish even though I knew I was disappointed with how things were turning out.  I think the battle for me is more mental than physical, even given my ankle situation.  People always say that you learn a lot about yourself during races like these because there is nowhere to hide.  The battle is to keep going and pushing while knowing that if you stop and walk the pain goes away.  I know that to be successful at this distance I need to train myself to lean into the pain and suffering that often comes with pushing yourself this far...still more for me to learn.

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The run did finally end with a split time of 2:18:39 (10:32/mile) which was 149th in my age group.  My overall race time was 5:33:25 for 65th out of 254 in my age group.  There is much to be disappointed about for me in this race, but I also want to recognize that I also had some great things.  I am thankful to be racing again, especially after COVID-19 and my ankle surgery.  The swim and bike legs were probably the best I have had in a 70.3 distance event and I was able to finish the race!

 

 

I am also thankful for my teammates and my coach.  We are all working together to push each other to be the best we can be.  Some had good days at St. George and others not as good, but we were there, competed together, and celebrated afterwards.  I look forward to some rest and then getting back to training to keep getting better with several more races coming up this summer.

Ironman St. George 70.3 Part 2

The 3:30 alarm came mighty early, but thankfully I was able to get everything together and head downtown where shuttle buses awaited us.

 

Here was the view of T2 (bike to run transition) that greeted us downtown when we arrived.  I double checked all my gear at my station on jumped on the shuttle bus.  I felt fairly calm and just enjoyed the ride listening to others talk through race details and family stories all around me.  Arriving at the lake, I found my bike and did a final setup of my gear and prepared to take on this race in a few hours.

 

I have never been in a race this big as there were over 2500 racers and the buzz around the swim start was starting to get crazy.  Last minute gear checks, pre-race drinks, multiple bathroom trips filled up the two hours we had there until finally the sun started to come up.  Without much of a warning they announced only 10 minutes until we would start lining up in our swim corrals by projected time.  It was about to get real serious!  I threw on my wetsuit and headed over to the 30-33 minute wave.  There was one wave in front of me which was 27-30 but it felt too much of a stretch to be there.  In the end, I probably should have been up there as people definitely did not always seed themselves correctly.  In any case we started launching people at 7:00 am about six at a time into the water.  It was chilly for the first 100 yards but overall proved to be manageable.  I find it difficult to pace myself in the water, but I think I am getting better at it.  

 

I passed through half way in 16:19 (1:41/100m) and finished the swim in 34:11 (1:51/100m).  I was hoping for something closer to 32:XX, but seems with the cold most people swam a bit slower.  I also lost a fair bit of time toward the end of the swim dodging people as they fell apart in the final few hundred meters.  The swim was good enough for 50th in my age group, which was very respectable.

 

 

The transition from swim to bike involved a several hundred yard run which felt very long.  I also seemed to have lost my swim goggles and my neoprene swim cap while I was staggering down the carpet towards the bike.  No time to go back though!  So, after settling myself down and changing into bike gear with a 5:29 T1 time, I quickly moved onto my favorite leg of the race: the bike.  Here is a picture of me just heading out of the lake.  It was a bit crowded at first with that many people coming out of the water but after about 10-15 miles we started to get some separation as I continually passed people.  One unfortunate thing that happened was that during a bumpy section of road, a small bottle of nutrition that I was carrying to use on my run bounced out of my pocket and launched somewhere off the side of the road.

 

The rest of the ride was actually quite fun and enjoyable.  There were quite a lot of people cheering alongside the course.  I had two bottles of pre-mixed Infinite nutrition and grabbed three water bottles along the way to better hydrate and keep my race kit wet and cool.  The main challenge of this course (on the bike) is Snow Canyon which you can see me in above.  It's this amazingly beautiful climb that lasts a few miles and then you descend back into town.  My bike split was 2:31:16 (22.52 mph) and was good enough for 17th in my age group.  This route had upwards of 3000 ft. of climbing in it as well, but the legs felt really good.  I had to be a bit careful as my power meter had failed the week prior to the race and I was simply going off of perceived excursion (PE) and heart rate (HR).  This wasn't a huge problem but in a course with this much climbing there was a significant risk of going too hard on the hills and not realizing it until the damage was already done.