How I got here...

Throughout my life when asked for one word that best describes me I have always answered "athlete". Despite wearing other hats through out life this is the one that sat on the bottom of the pile and most firmly upon my head. It is this truth that has led me to follow my passions and pursue a life that blends my hobbies and my career. If I am going to be doing something for the rest of my life I might as well enjoy it.

So where did I come from to end up here?

Like any suburbanite kid, I grew up doing whatever sport was in season. I played baseball and soccer (good at 'em), I played basketball (downright awful), and I swam. I can never thank my parents enough for getting me into sports. Thru sports I became confident and mentally very_ strong. Because I was athletically gifted (kinesthetic sensitivity... knowing how my body reacts in time and space) I knew that if it involved sport there was a good chance I was going to win. It became apparent early on that swimming was where I was most at home. Both of my parents swam and had me on the local swim team by the time I was 6. My Dad actually held his High School 100 Butterfly record for 25+ years. It was front page sports news when it was finally broken! :)

Soon swimming became the "main" sport while the other ones I participated in became the "fun" ones. My committment to swimming grew when, at 9 years old, I began swimming with a USS Club. The following year, after switching clubs, I started doing doubles in the summer. Some have compared this sort of regimented swimming to the Eastern Bloc sport schools. Don't get me wrong... it was tough, but it was always my choosing to do so. My parents never_ forced me to do anything, it was always my choice.

After some success, and high national rankings while 10-12, I began to loose focus (typical dorky teenager ; ), but then another switch of teams found me at the Dad's Club and I soon found myself under the tutelage of Mark Boerner. Over the next 6-7 years I would go on to high national rankings in my age group as well as the open category and a world #1 Junior ranking in the 200 I.M.



With college decisions upon me I went thru the customary recruiting trips to a number of schools. I ended up selecting the University of Nebraska... why??? Yeah... no kidding I still ask myself that... well... they had the best party. No... I'm not kidding. : )



By this time (summer between HS and University) I was beginning to lose focus on swimming. It did not matter to me anymore and thus the "floating" began. Trying to find direction in what it was I was going to do.



Upon arriving at UNL in the fall of '99 all my "I've had enough" thoughts came to a head. I quit the team within 2 weeks and saw out my time there, while still maintaining a 4.0 I might add, before transferring back to Houston. While in Houston getting my hours up to enter into the Business School at the University of Texas I started to swim again thinking that maybe I'd take a crack at Trials. In the end I had a great time swimming masters over the summer of 2000, working full time and doing really great in some competitions but in the end swimming was done. I had no desire to swim at trials and tho I was glad that my love for sport had returned it needed a new focus.



In August of that same year I raced my first Triathlon on a borrowed bike and no bike or run training. Won the AG and, if i recall correctly, placed in the top 15 over all. This was the common theme for the next 3 races that I entered that fall. My swim splits for these small short sprint races were easily 2-3 minutes ahead of the rest of the field. Borrowed bike and no running didn't help but I was racing on pure swimming VO2max and was having fun. :)



2001 was a close repeat of 2000 but I now found myself immersed in business school and toting around a 1980 12 speed bike... which, thanks to the motivating guys at Austin Tricyclist, was ridden about every other Saturday on the taco ride.



2002 finally saw me get my first "real" bike. I started to ride a little bit more but not much. I also still seemed to injure myself every other time I attempted to run.



2003 things are finally starting to click. I began riding even MORE but the running was still slow in coming... especially with the injuries I kept sustaining. I did a couple of injury prone races and did okay (for hobbling home on the run) and then finally got the hip (bursistis) fixed and finished the season with an overall win at the Seaworld Splash Tri (just ahead of a 2 time Kona podium dude) and a 7th at AG nationals the next week. Closing out the year I joined a run group that saw me finally consistently running... well... even if it was only 3 times a week. :)



2004- Otherwise known as the first sign of promise. I started the year off by running the 3M Half Marathon in 1:19. At the time I really didn't know what that meant. Now I look at that time and think... whoa... how do I get back there. I raced the Ralph's Half IM with the intent of going for the Kona slot but blew up on the run. A car accident, concussion, graduation and work search had me spinning as I went into Buffalo Springs Half in late June. I had been doing tons of volume but no speed. I died a horrible death there (walked mile 1-13) and spent a week in Michigan visiting family, but really alone with my thoughts. I came back and with my ticket already punched for the Vineman Half set about a massive nearly suicidal speed work program. I went back and did everything that I knew would make you fast and I did it 20x!!! I rode the computrainer hard, I swam 100's repeat, I hit the track for all out 400's. Over and over and over again. I went to vineman and felt like I had the_ most perfect race. I won my age group by 9 minutes and I booked my ticket to Kona. 5 weeks after Vineman I found my way to Madison for IM-Wisconsin. I had booked this race at Buffalo Springs when I felt that all hope was lost and that I should do a race near to family. This was to be the last truly mass start race (no pro 15 minute lead) and I took it for all it was worth. I lead the swim over all other racers by 3+ minutes and held this lead through mile 25 of the bike. I didn't, and to some degree, still don't understand the enormity of it all. Maybe I'm a bit of a simpleton, but really I was just out there having fun. That's what it comes down to... just having fun. I finished the year with Kona and the horrible conditions present in the lava fields and sort of just floated into 2005.



As 2004 rolled into '05 and '06 I fell under the guise and belief of the LSD school of thought. It was this rationale that saw my performances stagnate, my desire for the sport ebb and my racing decline.

I spent much of 2005 more interested in my career then in sport. I came down with a stress fracture in April which limited my already hardly existent running, but did score big as I began to ride with and better understand the powermeter. I "participated" in IM Coure d'Alene leading the amateur bike through mile 65-70 or so and then hobbled along on the run having not run a step in nearly 3 months. Come October I was getting back into things and searching for some extra motivation. That came in the form of the Hawaii coverage. It lit such a huge spark under me. This had me going at full gas for months. I was doing huge milage on the bike and intensity too. Ditto for the run... when my PF wasn't acting up.

2006 started off with a great race at Ralph's and a Kona qualification, but also had me tear a disc in my back which over the next 4 months would keep me from being able to do much training at all. No swimming, no biking, no running. Sure I could push through the pain but it was a crazy hurt.

At this time I also left Austin. Having been let go from the Ad Firm that I was at it was time to make a decision. Looking back this decision now seems like it was made in haste, much like so many others I have made, but also like all those other seemingly hasty decisions, this one has proven not only good but GREAT! What was it that I did? I threw all my stuff in storage, loaded up the essentials and booked it for Boulder, Colorado... like any outdoor loving freak should do!!! :)

I got here and was immediately in love. I called and emailed and txt msgd my friends and family on my first day here that this is where my HOME was. I loved the mountians, the solitude, the dry air, the veiws, the cool temps and, as I was going to come to find out, THE SEASONS!!!

A few weeks of training then Kona then back here and immediately into my new job. Again running the finance show for a software firm here in Boulder. Cool gig... I guess. But something bigger was tugging at me. Now that I lived in this place where nature and all things outdoors were expressed it seemed like there was some deep internal need that was going unfed. I can only assume that this was the athlete calling and asking to be answered. This continued thru the winter... a WHITE winter it was. As the sun returned and the snows melted this "calling" grew stronger. Finally I decided that it was time to do what I felt was/is right. It was time to follow my true calling and pursue sports as my life and career. As the summer has ebbed into fall and the spectacular racing season come to a close I reflect on it with a smile and hope towards the future as I dive into this sporting-athlete endeavour. Be it marketing, or coaching, or racing, or journalism it seems that all I do is sport... all I have ever done and loved is sport, so why change now. It's an exciting time and I am working hard to make things click.

That's where I've been... now hang tight... and watch where I'm going.