Having said that, my latest inspiration is to participate in a persistence hunt with the Kalahari Bushmen in Africa. If you don’t know what a persistence hunt is, let me tell you.

A handful of very fit individuals. The plains of Africa. Wild kudu (or other quadruped). Iron will. And a good pair of sneakers.

Persistence hunting was apparently the way our ancestors used to hunt. Since the human body is more equipped for endurance, it is possible to wear out an animal that is faster and stronger by chasing it for a prolonged period of time. Don’t believe me? Watch this…

So who’s with me? Here’s to Kalahari in the summer of 2012!

Dream on,

Peter

The report was that we would have a strong head-wind on the way out and a nice tail-wind on the way back. So I shot out and decided that I would spend some extra energy pushing hard into the wind so that I could hopefully make up some time on the other guys while they struggled with the wind. About 10 miles in I realized that there wasn’t much of a head-wind. At that point it was time to turn around and start heading back for the second half of the bike and it was then I realized I had been fooled! The wind was whipping all over the place and made it very difficult make any ground. I stayed strong and was able to settle into a rhythm where I started to pass some guys. Before I knew it was in transition, getting ready for the run with my legs feeling like cement blocks after the ride.

I slammed down a Gu-chomp, strapped on my running shoes and took off for the run course. I knew I was just two, short, 3 mile loops away from the finish line and that I would just have to gut it out. My legs were very heavy and tight for the first 2 miles but then began to loosen up as I plodded along. After the first lap I could taste the finish line and began to increase my pace. A guy wearing a bright green jersey passed me and I decided that he was going a good pace and that I would chase him until the end. I rounded the last corner to the sound of cow-bells and screams and made a bolt for the finish line.

I finished the duathlon (only bike and run) in 2:04:15 which was good enough for 24^th in my age group out of 60. Though it was a middle of the road performance I was very pleased considering the little time that I was able to invest for training. My splits ended up being 1:15:14 for the bike (approx. 20 m.p.h average) and a sad 47:11 (about 8 minute miles) on the run. I say sad because I really wish I had more time to bring myself into peak shape for these events.

My friend, Casey Meyers, did the 70.3 race the following day and did very well. Racing on Saturday and watching Casey race on Sunday really stirred my competitive juices and made me want to make the extra effort to train for an race in a 70.3 race. For those of you who don’t know, the 70.3 is a half-ironman which includes a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride and a 13.1 mile run. You can do the math to figure out the distance for a full ironman, I won’t even go there!

Thanks for all my friends and family who supported me, you guys really did encourage me and hopefully if I continue to race I can get some of you out there with me!

I’m doing this triathlon with a buddy of mine who is far more fit at these than I am and will be doing the half-ironman the day after me.

I’ve also signed up for the Warrior Dash in May. For those of you who don’t what a “Warrior Dash” is, Google it and find out. All I can say is that it involves rope ladders, barbed wire and a leap over fire. It should be fun! Hopefully i’ll post more as the training continues and add the results from my runs over the Winter.

His Joy is my Strength,

Peter

Everything felt pretty good up until mile 7 when my hamstring failed to loosen up and caused a sharp pain in my foot. The pain slowly increased as I struggled to maintain my pace. I saw my wife, Kristi, at mile 11 and she exuberantly decided to run with me in her jeans and North Face fleece. She told me later that her shins started to hurt even though she only ran about 400 meters. She was inspired though to run a half marathon and I will keep you all posted on that.

Seeing Kristi was just the boost I needed as the pain grew to almost an unbearable level. I hobbled to a finishing time of 1:46:04 which is around 8 minutes per mile. Overall it was a great experience, very well run and a wonderful event for anyone looking to get into endurance sports. I’ll definitely use this run in the future as a chance to train with family and friends and to just have a good time.

I was very apprehensive about the prospect of running 20 miles (which is the amount we were scheduled to run) but decided that I needed to give it a shot and make it as far as I could. We met at the dog park as usual and started off at a nice steady pace. Feeling good about 20 minutes into the run I ignorantly stated, “At this pace, I could run forever!” The other guys smiled, agreed and waited about an hour until they found out I was full of blue mud.

I felt great up until the end of the first lap and then my knees and joints started to remind me that I had been sitting down for three weeks and hadn’t used them. We stopped briefly a couple of times to grab a quick drink at the water fountains as we knew staying hydrated would be highly important in the later stages of the run. One of the guys, Casey (Triathlete Extraordinare) acts as a camel as he wears a hydration belt which carries to bottles of water as well as a pouch for Energy Gels. We freely grab from his waist whenever we feel like a drink, it’s cute.

Anyway, the pain set in around mile 11 and grew as we rounded the lake for a second time. I finally bowed out and left the two consistent warriors to finish the beast. I walked the rest of the way but felt really good about making as far as I did. It is certain that I would never have been able to do it without John and Casey encouraging me, waking up just to be there and pushing me to my limit. It’s a great picture in life and how we all need people around us to encourage us and to call us to do greater things. Without these kind of people we become lazy, selfish and independent and it becomes impossible to find joy and satisfaction in this state.

So thank you guys for pushing me and waking me from my slumber. You’re champions!

I noticed, however, that the computer that came with the bike is no longer working and so I will need to get that fixed so I can track more accurately how fast and how far I am riding. I will post more training updates as they come.

Until then,
Peter

“Delight yourself in the LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart.”

Last week one of the guys I work for called me into his office. “Peter, sit down. I know you may think I just sit around and think of ways to bless you but…I have this friend who is older and who has quite a few road bikes that he might be interested in letting you ride for a while.” Wow, that’s just great. Sure thing!

So this morning we meet this friend out at a public storage where he keeps his extra bikes. He pulls one out, sits me up on it, adjusts the seat and then in the most nonchalant way sends me on my way. I start looking at the various components and notice that quite a few of them are Dura Ace. Now I am no expert on bikes, but with the little research I’ve done, I’ve learned the Dura Ace is the top of the line. Well so now I have this bike but no shoes, no helmet and no gloves. So I  took it down to the best local bike shop in Dallas, Dallas Bike Works (seriously, you won’t find better service, better deals and the guys REALLY know their stuff). I get the bike in there, tell them it was a “bike on loan” and asked them what they thought. The guy looks at me and says, “Bro, that’s the nicest bike i’ve seen in here in a LONG time! Don’t be nervous though.” I was blown away!

After buying a bunch of gear such as shoes, helmet, gloves, pump and jersey, I took it for a spin around White Rock lake. What a dream!! I flew around the lake, seemingly with no effort and road it all the way back to my apartment (about 15 miles) not having broken a sweat! It took me a little over 50 minutes of pure heaven! This truly is a testimony of the faithfulness and kindness of God. This bike I am riding is so far out of my price range that it could only be God. I’m really looking forward to getting out on the road and getting some more miles under my belts. This is such a boost and puts a new wind under my sails for training! Stay tuned as I hope to start posting a schedule for next year.

Happy biking and praise be to the Living God,

Peter

My weekly routine usually includes one long run (9-15 miles so far), a few shorter runs (3-7 miles) and a session in the weight room. I’m needing to saddle up again and really hit it hard for these last few weeks so that I am not hobbling over the finish line come December 13th.

This weekend I will be running 18 miles and I will definitely post how it goes soon after. I am hoping this one won’t be as painful as my first 15 miler, but that is unlikely as I am the eternal optimist.

“The wicked man flees though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.” – Proverbs 18:1

-Peter

I noticed my body beginning to show fatigue around mile 11 as I am sure all my energy sources were depleted. I rounded Winfrey point and had to gut it out after we climbed a brutal hill at mile 12. The last three miles were excruciating but I am proud to say that I finished the run in 2 hours, 12 minutes. Hopefully these runs will get easier and easier and give me confidence going into the big race.

I took Sunday off (Keep the Sabbath holy people!) and ran a 5K this morning just to test my legs. I finished in 20 minutes 54 seconds. Tomorrow i’ll be running with the guys and then this weekend we are just doing a little over 9 miles before we kick it up to 18 in two weeks!

Until then, stay classy Dallas.

Once we arrived we relaxed a bit, I ate an energy bar and drank some water and just tried to stay relaxed. At the start time I decided to gather with the group who were set to run at a 7-8 minute pace not really having any idea what I would be capable of since this was my first run ever at this distance. I was really impressed with the turnout (around 1200 people) and found that running with a large mass of people made for an enjoyable morning.

The gun went off and I decided that I would try to keep a quicker pace at the beginning, then maintain that speed as my body would allow. The other option was to restrain myself and just run an 8 minute per mile pace which would have left me with more gas in my tank at the end. I decided to go with the former option and ended up running a 44:47 for my first 10k, that’s 7:13/M miles.

I decided to slow my pace down a bit as I knew we were coming into the neighborhoods that would have more hills. Little did I know, the second half of the race seemed like it was ALL uphill (though it wasn’t) and I struggled to maintain a solid pace. I found new strength as ran with various people and found myself counting down until the finish line. I made up in my mind to maintain my pace until the 11 mile mark and then try and kick it up for the last 1.4 miles. Unfortunately I hit the 11 mile mark and hit the wall as we came around the spillway and encountered a nasty hill.

I rounded the corner and as some guys were passing me I asked them how much further until the finish line…”a couple hundred meters at the most.” That was all I needed. I strapped on the turbo boosters, kicked it into finish mode and got into a foot race with a guy with about 50 meters to go. I finished in a total of 1:33:47 seconds with an overall average of 7:34/M mile pace.

I finished 80th overall and 10th in my age group! I was very pleased with this result and am very encouraged about the prospects of running a sub 3:10 marathon this December. Overall it was an awesome race, well run and beautiful! Oh, and the post-race free massage wasn’t bad either!

Training will continue as usual, though this week has been light in order to let my body recover, and I believe the next race will be the DRC Half Marathon in November! Until then, happy training…

Peter