18 with Anthony

As Saturday morning approached I was faced with a different set of challenges. Anne and her Cleveland girls headed off to Chicago for the weekend and I was left to play single parent to 3 wonderful kids. I had most everything arranged but the added stress of being alone and John giving me the cold of the week made my mind start to play ideas of how to not run, not finish or to keep the pace slow. I new that the day would be tough because of the mental battle that I was having.



Anthony is a Boston qualifier and a smooth runner. He was kind and willing to run at my pace and work with me because I needed the help. I am not sure if he was guided by Steve on how the day should go but he was able to help more than he knows.



I decided that I wanted to run an out and back on the Highline Cannel trail here in Denver and we started at Goodson Rec. Center. 6:30am came fast and we started out at our normal 10 min pace and I asked if we could hold that for the first 9 miles. We talked about everything Tri and work and family, and much to my surprise Michelle his wife was in Chicago with her girlfriends on a weekend out. Funny how things like that happen.

Miles 1-5 went fast and felt really good, at 6 we stated to pick the pace up a little and ran 9:30's for the next 3 miles. At the turn I was really surprised how good I felt so I asked to pick up the pace for the next mile and moved it to a 9 min pace. I was starting to work a little but it felt good to be moving a little faster so on the next mile we moved to 8:30's and then to low 8's for 13-16. I was really cooked at the end of 16 and my body was feeling pretty tired so we slowed down and walked for a moment to get relaxed again and then kept a pretty slow pace to the 18 mile mark. The way I felt on the last mile was very different than the other two long runs. I finally had a good experience on a long run, I felt that I could really do this distance and find success. The rest of the day I was a Dad and we had a good time. Josh decided that it was important enough to have a bath with Dad the he jumped in the freezing water and had an ice bath with me. Anne came home on Sunday night and quickly after that my life went back to normal, or what ever normal is to us right now. I look forward to 16 next Saturday, I will be running the same course and I am starting to get excited for the Marathon. Until next time,


I love you Anne,

Tyler