Duathlon Nationals, 2025

 Another Duathlon National Championship!  Won my age group for a 5th time.  Such a fun and exciting weekend in Omaha.  Yes, the location is pretty boring, but the racing was difficult and fun.  The best part was hanging with Jim and Paul at our shabby cottage.  The decor was like something out of "Psycho" from the 60s with a giant flower mural you couldn't avoid.  Then on the first night, the garbage disposal backed up and erupted into the sink.  Really nasty!  But we all laughed about the whole thing and had fun.  

Here I am meeting Mark Allen, one of my all-time heroes from the 1980s. Mark won 6 IM World Championships in the early 80s.  And turns out he is a good speaker and a very nice, humble guy.  So cool!  Jim, Paul and I celebrating at the bottom. I think the guy next to me might be vomiting!  Yay!

  

2025 Graduations, Racing, and Beyond

This May has been a very fun, emotional and stressful month so far! Lance's graduation was May 4th and Mik's was May 18th.  Both were fun, but it is difficult to accept that this period in our lives is over! I hate goodbyes and there were so many: both kids had to say goodbye to the many friends they made a Pitt and Mac and Diana and I had to say goodbye to this period of our lives.  While I'll miss Pitt and the crazy hills and bridges of Pittsburgh, I'll miss Mac and the beautiful lakes and Minnehaha trail of MN even more. I loved going to all the women's soccer games, getting to know the players, parents, coach and all of Mik's friends. So its  hard for us to say goodbye to that part of the world, too. 

But, I'm also so proud of these two!  They really made the absolute most of their respective college experiences. Lance did amazing, graduating with honors in a very tough major, biochem, and managing to take the MCAT exam too. He worked several challenging jobs over the 4 years, including as an EMT and as a research assistant.  He was very dedicated at both jobs and made many friends, both on the job as well as at school. Mik also had a great experience, making a name for herself on the soccer team, making a very broad and eclectic group of friends, and also doing great academically!  She also worked hard, including work-study jobs, continuing her research with a mentor at the Morton Arb and being very involved with clubs and organizations.  It was obvious that they both loved their experiences and that speaks to interesting multidimensional personalities and abilities to connect with people!    

   

But the races are coming up soon: Duathlon Nationals 2-weeks from today and then IM 70.3 Rockford 3-weeks later. I've really lost it this year and lowering my expectations for nationals.  I just don't have the top-end speed any longer.  Plus, with all the travel this spring and moving people in and out, I haven't had the time to train. On top of that. the heel pain from last year never went away and now as the races are coming up, its back with a vengeance. It's a little disappointing but at least I'm still going (for now).  

ET Indoor tri

Fun time racing with JuJu on Sunday at the ET Indoor Tri. Had better race than January and  compared to last year.  

Michael Kosta

It's been a busy year so far in 2025. 

Lance and I went to see Michael Kosta at a comedy show in Chicago back in December. That was a blast! Then in January, Diana had the first of two TKA surgeries. She did amazing with the first one, then had the other knee fixed on March 4th. Now she is in week 2 of rehab for that knee and doing well. Lance came home for Spring break just in time to help out at the hospital and during that first week of recovery in early March. This was clutch! 

Looking forward to Mik coming home next week for Spring Break too!   

 

I've been so anxious about the idea of retiring for the last 2 or 3 years. Every time I thought about it, I had a panic attack, wondering how I would survive without my work life!  My job is very important to me and I definitely get a lot of satisfaction and fulfillment teaching and doing research. Not to mention all the wonderful people I work with. So I couldn't imagine how I could ever fill that gap.  

But then I had this great idea. Bikepack around the world!  Will it ever happen?  Who knows, but just the idea that I could, just possibly, do something so challenging and amazing has me excited!  Time will tell if this can happen, will happen. But for now, I'm happy to dream about this far off trip and the changes and challenges it might bring!