Tuesday, May 22, 2007

The Milkman for Dennis



On June 2nd I will be participating in the Milkman Sprint Triathlon. Back in January of last year, I decided to try out this triathlon thing. The Milkman was my first ever triathlon, and I achieved my goal of finishing. Because this was my first race ever, it has a special place in my heart. I have been looking forward to doing this race again to measure how much I have improved in one year.

For a while now I’ve been contemplating dedicating one of my races this year to Dennis, my boss who was diagnosed with Lung Cancer in December. He immediately started with an aggressive Chemotherapy treatment which has been hard on him, but he has endured with much grace.

Because the Milkman is a special race for me and because it is relatively local (Dexter, NM); I’ve decided to dedicate this year’s race to Dennis. He has been an inspiration in many ways to me , both professionally as he is a brilliant engineer, and all of our clients respect him and have expressed their concern for him as well as how much they miss working with him, and spiritually as his Faith has not wavered but has increased during this trial.

My triathlon training has many moments of discomfort, and there have been times when the thought of Dennis spurred me on. I remember one particular training session – I was running 4 miles in awful wind – my calves were hurting and I was asking myself why I was doing this to myself. I really wanted to quit, but I told my self to dig deep and keep going – it was at that moment that I closed my eyes briefly and an image of Dennis popped into my head. Then the tears came for a few minutes, but I kept running because I could - where Dennis struggles to take a resting breath.

So anyway I wanted to encourage you to come out if you are in the area and watch the race. It starts at 8am and will probably be done by 10 - 10:30. They start folks in waves and there are all kinds of abilities so I’m sure there will be plenty to watch. Last year I was the only one in my division so I got first place even though I finished next to last. This year I know I’ll do better and if I’m lucky get another medal.

Here’s last years times:

Total Time: 1:59:49 Swim leg: 14:33.9 T1: 3:19.5 Bike leg: 58:52.1 T2: 2:09.1 Run Leg: 40:54.6

Here is my predicted (conservative) times for this year:

Total Time: 1:35:30 Swim leg: 12:30 T1: 2:00 Bike leg: 45:00 T2: 1:00 Run Leg: 35:00

So if you’ve got nothing planned, please come out and cheer me on as I race for Dennis at the 23rd Annual Milkman Sprint Triathlon starting at 8am in Dexter, NM at Lake Van.
0.5 km swim in the lovely Lake Van following by a 20 km bike (12.4 miles) following by a 5 km run (3.1 miles).

Thanks for the support and keep Dennis in your prayers

3 comments:

jbmmommy said...

A little too far for me to travel, but I'll be cheering you on from the east coast. Best wishes to you, and continued prayers for Dennis.

Unknown said...

You and Dennis are officially on our Monday Group's prayer list. Love the pics you included. Nice to put his face to the name.

Friday I start removing things from the kids room, tearing out the carpet for tile installation and by the following Friday I hope to be doing touch up painting and putting things back together. If I can swing it, I'm still thinking about how I might be able to make it down to watch your race.

bobwho said...

I was there racing with you! 2007 was my first TRI and I'm hooked!
What a privilege to race with you as you dedicated your race to your friend.
Hopefully I'll see you in 2008!
How's he doing?