T.A.P. – The Athlete's Potential

I was out running on Chesbro Canyon and came up on a squirrel eating something in the middle the trail about 1.5 miles in and as I got closer, it stopped chewing and just looked at me. As I ran by, less than, I would say, 8 inches away from his nose, he never moved, just watched me go by. Very strange I thought.

Then a few moments later, a rabbit jumped out from the brush or grass whatever you want to call it, in front of me and looked at me, took 2 gentle hops to the side of the trail, and again just watch me as I ran by without moving or being remotely afraid.

After I turned around and started running back, a lizard comes shooting out of the grass and runs right beside me. Literally 3 inches away from each of my footsteps and paces me for about 20 yards while looking right into my eyes, and then bolts back in the grass.

Lastly, but no less remarkable or bizarre, a coyote was walking slowly across the trail and heard me coming. I said “hey buddy how ya doing today?” and he turned to me as he moved his hind end around a little bit but his front feet stayed pretty much in the same place, just of off-center of the trail. He literally watched me run by less than a foot away from his nose. He didn’t look remotely concerned about me at all.

I was wondering if this was a real run or some sort of dream or if I was dead. Maybe animals can see me, but I wasn’t really there. The whole thing was bazaar. People were saying hi to me, or the people that I said hi to said hi to me. Maybe it was some sort of strange animal energy that I had today, and I seemed very peaceful.

Regardless of the reason, it was really quite nice to have these 4 animals trust that I was no danger to them. I am considering a name change to Snow White. What do you think?

The day before the race was a little surreal. I was up at the lake and Terry Davis brought a bunch of us past winners up on stage to honor our place in the history of the race. We each spoke briefly about our first experiences with the race and how it affected our careers after winning.

It was the first time I’d been on stage in front of a group in such a long time, I was nervous. I rarely get nervous anymore, so that was actually fun. I wasn’t sure if my voice would crack or not when I first began to speak. I guess I’m not really sure if it did or not. I should ask someone, if anyone was paying attention.

From the stage we were all escorted to a new set of stairs Terry had built from the lower parking lot (transition area) to the upper lot (finish area.) On the face or riser of each of the steps Terry put a couple of plaques, one for women and one for men, with the year, the name of the winner of the long course race, and their time. It was incredible. Nothing like this has happened before in triathlon, as far as I know, honoring past winners with permanent plaques to be seen year round by anyone going to the lake.

It was a strange yet surprisingly good feeling. I don’t really think about my racing past much and it’s always surprising when someone remembers or even cares who I was. Next time I go there I’ll wear a name tags that reads – I used to be that guy on the steps 3 times.

Thank you Terry for putting on a race that immediately captured my interest and kept it for so long. I made it a priority during my racing career and it continues to allow me to chase my younger self around Lake San Antonio’s roads and trails. I love the feel and energy there, and look forward to going back again and again.

My first running race in 19 years. My first race in almost that much time that I actually cared about the outcome going into it.

The night before I was lying in bed thinking about what it was like to race when I was competitive. I was thinking that it would be very different running for time in the middle of a mass of people as opposed to racing for position. As it turned out a guy caught me at about 10 1/2 miles and I got to race almost all the last 3 miles. It really made the race fun and changed the whole experience.

Was I tired today. When I heard at the start that all you had to make was 20 mins of the 40 min crit to count in the results, I was very pleased. I couldn’t sleep, had to change my shirt twice during the night and by morning I was pooped.

I was fine at the back of the group for the first 5 laps and then I got a little ambitious and worked my way up through the field on the slight up hill section. As we turned and I stood up to accelerate my legs seized – oh no! I did my best to recover on the downhill and stayed in, but when we got back to the uphill section I still hadn’t recovered and lost 50 yards. I thought I’d catch up on the downhill when they slowed down for the turn but I didn’t and that was it.

The good news is, I will adapt, from this weekend and from more high end efforts, just how much is the question. Looking back, I need to be just a little stronger or fitter or whatever it is that I’m missing, just a little and I’m not that 50 yards back.

As they say, sometimes you’re the hammer and sometimes you’re the nail – unfortunately I was the thumb between the two this time!