More Manatee Mayhem - 2017 Edition - Closed (Page 5)

Welcome Riley. Congrats on getting through the life changes and back to triathlon. I love the line "life wasn't good until I decided to make it better". It applies to everyone.

 

Thanks For the support everyone! I've learned a lot from the past few years and I'm definitely ready to get back into being competitive and not just finishing

I learned a lot from picking myself back up, we're all in control of ourselves, it's only a matter of how much we want to achieve our goals!

No chance I have a clean chain, not on this:

It may be clean when I start, but after pulling hay and grass out of the rear wheel...

Edited by cdban66 2017-01-03 2:54 PM

I'm Barbara. I grew up swimming but switched to running after college when it seemed like it took less time. This year will be my third 70.3 (Victoria ). I am slow and would really like to get to a faster version of slow

I am married with a 5yo iron kid and work full time

I am currently doing a bike focused off season plan

Races: Victoria 70.3 so far

I tried to join last year but it was full. There aren't any tri groups around here and I really like a team environment. This seems like one of the only threads that stays active.

Personally I think this short clip sums up the manatee "experience"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CCh9sk-9l4

Sorry--haven't done Victoria 70.3. The only Canadian event I have done is Calgary.

Amen - I go to bed and you guys add 3 pages on me.

Welcome to all the new Manatees its great to have you.

Sorry I'm a little late to the dance.
NAME: Jim

Attorney/ East Tawas, MI

OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA: Facebook, James Bacarella, Twitter, @JamesBacarella (that took a lot of thought), I have an instagram, jabacarella (but never post, mostly used to creep on my kids).

STORY: I was a runner when I was young, military and stress relief, I never ran a race until I was 40. I had stopped all things exercise when I met my wife, officially 24 years ago on New Years Eve and in August we will celebrate 24 years of marriage. The result was a 14 year hiatus from all exercise. When I was 39 I had that physical. You know the one where I am 30 lbs over weight, and my numbers were a mess. everything that was supposed to be low was high and everything that was supposed to be high was low. Throw in a high stress job and the MD said I was basically "at risk" for everything. I started with diet, not a diet, just modified it to the "Don't eat like a pig" diet. I eat all "normal" foods just in moderation. Instead of half of a large pizza I eat 2 pieces, etc. Then I started walking and then running again.
One Saturday we were taking our kids to soccer and we had to stop for the local triathlon as the athletes were going from the swim to T1. I turned to my wife and said I am going to do that next year. She said Okay. Then I asked will you teach me to swim and she said okay. Since then I have done every distance including IM Louisville last October.
Last year went sideways for me, I don't know how I was able to complete my IM. Hopefully I will have limited to no tragedy this year and will have consistency this year.

FAMILY STATUS: Married to Michelle it will we 24 years in August. We have 4 kids Maria, (22) Sophia (20) Alexadria (18) and Sam (16). The two oldest are at Michigan State a senior and sophomore. The younger two are in high school a senior and a sophomore. The youngest three have all done triathlons, my oldest does not understand why anyone would run without a ball. The youngest girl is a state qualifier in cross country, but does not intend to run in college.

CURRENT TRAINING: Winter trainer and treadmill workouts mostly using The Sufferfest on the trainer. I will do the tour de Sufferlandria this Winter. I am also doing strength training this year. Swimming is an issue, the closest pool is 1.5 hours away, so I only swim when I work out of town.

THIS YEAR'S RACES/EVENTS: Sunrise Side Triathlon HIM, East Tawas, MI (I'm married to this one, I act as the city's liaison to the event). I'm trying to convince my wife it would be a good idea to do over IM Louisville,

GOALS/OBJECTIVES/DESIRES: To continue active involvement in triathlon. I plan on doing the IM in Italy in 2018 or 19.
It's nice to be able to bounce things off of a super supportive group with similar interests. I did get a slot in Escape from Alcatraz, but that falls between daughters number 1 and 3 graduating from college and high school respectively.

WHAT MAKES YOU A GOOD MANATEE: The social aspect and training support are the most important parts of this for me. Let's be honest, my wife and kids have a limited interest in my triathlon obsession, but they tolerate me, and I try to respect that. Although, my wife proved to be a top notch sherpa/cheerleader and a hell of a lot tougher than me at IM Louisville, never leaving the course, meeting me at several points in the race and non stop social media posts, doing it on no food and in the UC flare that would cost her her large intestine a month later.
I find that involvement in a BT group keeps me motivated to train.

Edited by JBacarella 2017-01-03 8:43 PM

Thanks Kirsten. I will probably pick your brain for more information as the race gets closer. Last year I did Coeur d'Alene but since I live South of Seattle the idea of taking a ferry sounded like great race travel.

Ok the "Turtle Challenge" may just be bringing out the extreme competitiveness of my 60 year old mother. She fell over while doing her run today and split her head open.

Apparently her first thought was "oh I'm not moving i had better stop my watch."
This was quickly followed by "oh hang on I have to walk the 400m home and I might not have finished the 4km that was scheduled for today so better start it again just in case."
She then walked home using her hat to try and stem the bleeding and got my dad to take her to emergency to have her head stitched up and they xrayed her shoulder to make sure she hadn't broken anything when she landed. They kept her there for 4 hours to make sure she wasn't concussed and then let her go. Her biggest concerns are:
1. she broke the screen and scratched up her brand new Garmin 235;
2. her hat is now covered in blood and ruined;
3. one of her favourite running shirts is also ruined; and
4. she might need to rearrange the rest of the weeks scheduled runs because she doesn't have a Drs certificate to say she cant run only the notes on dealing with a head injury that they gave her.

Edited by StaceyK 2017-01-04 1:42 AM