Unbalievable! & unavoidable!

I started working at the state penitentiary in 1995 at 19 years old. My favorite joke at the time was to ask some of the older officers there, "how long have you been here?"
If for example they said, "I started in 1981".
I'd reply, "WOW! You've been here since I was 6 years old!"

Haha! I thought that I was being very funny at the time! Well guess what happened to me last night..... A young guy who just started working at the NM state Penn asked me how long I'd been there- how did I not see this coming?
"Since 1995." I replied.
"Dang! You've been here since I was 6 years old!"
Somehow it seemed a lot funnier when I was not on the receiving end of that punch line.......

I completed my first 2 triathlons in 2005. I immediately became severely addicted to the sport. I've done an average of 16 triathlons a year every year since. Even for a hard core triathlete I race a bunch (a bunch being the most precise word I could come up with). Next weekend I will be competing in my 9th multisport race of the 2010 season. Racing takes a lot more effort than it sounds. The race is the easiest part of racing a triathlon. There's the packing of the bikes, extra race wheels, & gear. The travel to a race, rarely do I get to race in my home town. I pick up my race packet the day before the race. Then to save $ I find a camp ground & set up a tent & a camp out for the night. The next morning I wake at 4-5am, drive to the race site, set up my transition area, check my bike & gear to ensure they are in good working order, race, attend the race ceremony, go back to my camp sit & break down my tent & repack for the drive home, drive home, then spend that night on the couch not spending quality time with my amazing wife & kids because I'm tired!

As unbelievable as this is to those who know me, I'm tired. I don't want to say I'm burned out, because by no means am I burned out. I still LOVE to race! But I'm getting a little tired of racing so frequently! So, I'm still planing to finish the 2 races a month I have scheduled the next few months, but after July I'm going to take a hard look at my placing in the South West Challenge Series. If I'm secure in the top 2 of the 35-39 AG I'm going to skip the 2 races I had planned in August, 2 of the 4 races I had planned in Sept, & Silverman Half Iron I had planned in Nov. Even after missing those 5 races in the later half of the year I'll end up with 19 races for the year, 18 of those would be South West challenge series races.

I know this is a big "IF".... But if at any time I feel I'm secure in the #1 spot in the SW series I'll limit my racing to The Santa Fe tri in July, the Patriot & Redman Half in Sept, & the Jingle Bell & Polar Bear tri in Dec.