Posted by Before reading would you take a moment and vote for me to win a free Ironman entry at http://bit.ly/1flSLJY. See the PS for more information. Thank you very much.
Today the Rock and Roll Marathon Series made it’s stop in New Orleans. It’s a race that I have done twice. This year it fell very early on the race calendar. In fact there were only two weeks between this race and the Louisiana Marathon in Baton Rouge earlier this month. For most people that would mean they would do one or the other, because of the short time to recover in between. But as I have already explained, I tend to hang out with people would might not fall into the normal column.
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ake for instance my friend and Freshjunkie Racing teammate, Keith–he was part of the crew that raced in Augusta this year, as you might remember. Today he ran the half marathon…and it was his fourth half in 34 days. Just two weeks ago he ran the Half at the Louisiana Marathon and set a personal best. And to kick off all this madness 34 days ago he ran in the New Years Double with back to back days of running a half marathon and to make it all the more difficult, he started each of those days with a 5K. Seriously and amazing month of running for him! So proud of this guy!
And then there is my friend Lenny who had been training his butt of for the Louisiana Marathon in hopes to finish with a qualifying time for the Boston Marathon. Well it just wasn’t his day. He still ran a great race and finished with a time I can only dream about. But he dusted himself off and decided to try again at the Rock and Roll today. And guess what…he did it! And he had over 4 minutes to spare. It was pretty amazing to be at the finish line and witness him accomplish such a big personal goal, especially since he didn’t know that his fiancée and I had come down to surprise him. Couldn’t be happier for him and so excited for him to represent Louisiana at Boston in 2015!
It wouldn’t be a race in New Orleans without a little flair. And this guy really takes the cake. He ran the entire marathon in a tutu and a mardi gras mask and still finished around the 3 hour mark.
There were so many people out there running today, each one with their own story and their own reason for being out there. Very few people pound the pavement without some compelling reason. It may not roll easily off the tongue, in fact they may not even be conscious of it, yet, but it’s there.
I was lots of fun to be back at an actual finish line, to cheer on friends, to get a taste of things to come, to be surrounded by their big dreams. Big dreams are contagious and when you start to have difficulty dreaming big, sometimes the best remedy is to witness someone else achieving theirs. Thanks Lenny and Keith for giving me the shot in the arm I needed today.
PS-I entered a contest for a free Ironman race entry from TrainingPeaks.com (a great online training log that I have actually been using for the last several years of triathlon training) and I need your help to win. Please vote for me by clicking the following link and following the directions: http://bit.ly/1flSLJY. It’s a photo contest about what motivates you.
call me koko 