Greetings from 2010 Shannon

This is the nickname my training partners have given me. It's become the joke of the group. Along with "Lost in Transition", "Goldilocks" and "Adult Supervision". 2010 Shannon captures the crazy motivation I have this year compared to last year. That was a time when I had absolutely no interest in swimming or biking. The only reason I had an interest in running is because I'd signed up for the Seattle Rock n' Roll Marathon with The Ladies. Because of my lack of interest in training last year, I'm sometimes told "2009 Shannon" is more fun than "2010 Shannon". Simply because she preferred to do more wine tastings, slacking off on long rides, and doing more movie day marathons.



But 2010 Shannon isn't going away anytime soon. That's because our Drinking Club with a Biking Problem has committed to Ironman Canada at the end of August. It sounded like a great plan when the three of us were fresh off the Arizona Ironman. Fresh meaning: Adam completed his first, highly successful, Ironman with a "I can do anything" glow, and Elaine and I cheering him on... with a false idea that "doing" an Ironman was just as much fun as "viewing" an Ironman. So that's the background on why Ironman Canada 2010...



Now to get you up to speed on our group. It's quite complicated so I outlined key bullet points below:

• Drinking Club with a Biking Problem consists of Adam, Elaine and I (tragically we lost our fourth team member to a marriage, and we won't allow anyone else into the club unless they are single, bike, drink wine and are voted in unanimously)


• I'm "2010 Shannon" which means I'm the buzz kill that says we can't drink until we've done our work


• Adam's "Lost in Transition" and/or "Goldilocks". The first because it took him as long to get through transition as it did to swim 2.4 miles, the second is because he is very picky about what he wants in all things considered


• Elaine is "Adult Supervision" which is because Adam and I can't be trusted with our drinking habit unless she's there to supervise and keep us from polishing off a case of wine by ourselves


• Then of course there are references to "Wife #1-5". This comprises of Adam's Ex Wife (#1), Elaine (#2), Shannon (#3), Adam's current girlfriend (#4) and the girl Elaine and I want Adam to marry (#5). Wife #5 switches often and despite our pleads, Adam never commits to our suggestions


• Elaine and I have self named ourselves Wife #2 and Wife #3 because we love to nag Adam and he can't shut us up. Also, we've decided being one of Adam's wives means you get a lot of financial perks


• With all these wives, we are known as "The Polygamy Family".


• To make things even more morbid, Elaine is the adopted Asian child. This is because of the celebrity trend to adopt an Asian child, but we'd hoped for 4-3 year... and instead received a 43 year old.


• Elaine's best friend is the Toll Road (241 to be exact)


• Adam has two dogs... neither are his


• I'm cheap and both Adam and Elaine have completed an Intervention on me regarding my old bike. We now refer to her as "Ol' Yello"


• Lastly, both Elaine and I are referred to as "The Squatters" at Adam's house, where we frequently "assume the position". Before you raise your eyebrow, it's completely "G Rated"... Squatters meaning after a long ride/being hung over we hold down Adam's couch until late in the evening while assuming our normal spots on the couch (I always get the long section and they share the other portion - I'm selfish that way)

The point of all this you ask? I'm hoping to capture the wonderful (and I'm sure sometimes boring) adventures had during training. We started training about 2 months ago, which is still considered a bit behind the pack. According to books, articles, websites, etc it takes approximately 6 months to train for an Ironman if you don't constantly hold your base level of fitness. Ironman Canada is 3 months away : 8/29. We actually have to keep reminding ourselves to train. We could be screwed.

So perhaps this blog is a guide on how to finish an Ironman with no training... Can't wait to see how it turns out!