8 weeks out... let the fun begin!

Well it is official, I have my "A" race scheduled now... there's no backing out! My "A" race of the year is going to be "Tri 2 Remember" on September 19, 2009 in Gainesville, GA. It is a sprint distance race 400 - swim, 15 - bike, 5k - run.... That puts me at 8 weeks till race day, time to get humping!

I was lucky enough to get sponsored for this race, considering I am only sitting with one other race under my belt for the year. So I will not look a gift horse in the mouth, rather I will step up to the plate... get my distance in and have a great performance! (hopefully)

In my last video blog I stated that I recieved a comment from Dr. Diana stating that her 13 year daughter just signed up for her first Triathlon! HOW AWESOME IS THAT?!?!?! Even more awesome was the fact that she signed up "mainly because of my inspiration"!!! Now that kicks some serious Arse!!! (gotta tone it down, I might have kids reading this :-) ) SO I posted the question, "What motivates you?"...

For me it's personal improvement, plain and simple. I have always been that guy that has to work just a little bit harder, show up a little bit earlier or stay just a little bit later to make things workout. With Racing... it's the same... and has always been. I am the younger of two brother and my older brother always had it easy... or at least did a great job of making it look easy... i.e. State champ in the mile and 2-mile (Florida 1992) Second place state cross country (Florida 1992) Top ten finish at Kinney National (Now, Foot Locker Classic)... etc etc... I on the other hand, grew an extra 6 inches over any other male in my family in High School and forgot how to run after my freshman year... fast forward through a 6th place finish at state (Track - 2 mile) and a 24th place finish at state (cross country) two years of running at the University of South Carolina Upstate... I finally beat my brother... Granted he fell down during the race but I helped him up and then proceeded to beat him... HEY?!?! it's a win!

But I realized that day that if you keep trying hard and long enough things end up working out in your favor every once in a while. I actually turned into a different runner that day... I really started to enjoy it. Shortly there after I left SC and moved to TN. I started running on my own, well with the awesome help and support from my number one fan... my mom! She would go to every road race with me (as she never missed a Track meet or Cross country race in either my brother or I's running career!) every weekend, usually driving so I could get an extra hour of sleep in before race time. and after the second week I noticed something... every week I was getting faster and fast. It had taken 8 years but I finally grew into my body as a runner. I got involved with the Knoxville Track club and enjoyed 2 years of running and racing with them! But at the end of the day, that personal improvement is what keeps me on the road!

I have hopes and dreams of being able to compete in another Iron Man (hopefully next year) but my reasons are completely different. I want my kids to see me finish as they are old enough now to carry that with them the rest of their lives. Both of my kids are extremely talented athletes already at (almost) 4 and 2. Even if they did not get involved with running or Triathlons, I want to expose them to racing and all the great things that come with it! So if I can suffer, and get them hooked for life, my personal improvement is their improvement!

8 weeks huh??? See ya at the finish line!

July 21, 2009 - On second thought...

I'm going for a run... it's been a long day, I deserve a break tonight! I did just get the link today for the 2009 Savannah Bridge Run December 5th! I can not wait! Holly is going to do the 5K, which is once over the bridge... I have to go out and back!!! ROCK AND ROLL...

July 21, 2009 - Last person to join Pandora...

I have just discovered the joys of Pandora Radio! How have I gotten this far in life without it!!! I truely must be the last person out there to get on board... At least now I can move on with the rest of my life!!!

Well, I am in Oklahoma City still trying to recover from a massive computer failure last week. I feel like I am in one of those "running but my feet won't touch the ground" dreams each time I try to find something on my computer. I did just get a pretty sweet program (PDF Converter 5) which allows you to edit PDF files and convert Office files to PDF... kicks Adobe's ass ten-fold! Did you know that you can't even buy Adobe over the counter anymore? It is only available on-line... hmmmm, someone losing ground???

As you can see by my newest video blog posting I had a pretty different layout this go around... AND I linked my Facebook and Twitter accounts directly to my YouTube account and my views went off the charts (for my Vblog anyway...)

A lot of GREAT comments regarding my QOTD: What is one thing that you "use to do" that you would love to go back an do it again?

I appreciate all the responses, keep them coming in with any questions you might have as well...

Thats all for tonight, I need to get back and knock a little bit of work out before calling it a night!

July 14, 2009

Good morning from Sunny Miami, FL. I'm attending the 2009 BITAC Design & Purchasing show this week and today is the last day of the event. The event is made up of 300+ vendors and we get a 15 minute "speed dating" meeting with each vendor... I feel like my head is spinning for the last few days!

I'm heading back home in the morning and I am looking forward to being back! I have been on the road for almost 3 weeks now and am T I R E D...

I did get a great workout in this morning. I did a 5 mile run (thanks to the Runtracker App on my iPhone!) and then a 1000 yd pool workout. I still don't have anything on the books for my next race, but plan on pickig a few late season Tri's to wrap up the season! Holly, my wife is also ready again to hop back in with a number pinned to her waist!

Short and sweet today, just like Gary Coleman...

July 6, 2009

I’m on the road again this week… heading to Madison, WI to help with the pre-opening of our Cambria Suites Madison property.

This past weekend was our 13th Annual Wazapalooza Family reunion in Maryville, TN. We had a great time and had kids aged: 7,6,5,4,3,2, and 1… We get together every year over the Fourth of July and camp out in my parents front yard. Rocky Eulo and his family have come over for the last 6 years and always adds to the fun!!! Roc and I went to High School together in Spring Hill, Florida and graduated in 1994! The good ole’ days!

Family Update:
Jake’s soccer is going great! This past week, it was 101 degree as we got to his practice, but Jake was a champ and jumped right out onto the field… Jake impressed his coach with his ability to dribble the ball with different parts of his foot and his coordination of bouncing the ball off his knee and then catching it… we’ve been working on that one!!! When Jake wrapped up practice, he ran off the field and said, “let’s go camping now!” as Izzy sprayed water on his neck and cooled him off with a fan… what a great little sister!
Izzy has been going to “fun gym” each Friday for the past 4 weeks and loves it. She is a little mad woman on the trampoline! She has the cutiest little leotard that she wears and looks like a rock star!!! She’s the funniest little girl I’ve ever seen!

Training update:
It was been over a week since I worked out last. I have taken over some new roles with work that has taken a little extra this past week, getting everything with my reports and layouts… but mainly… I’ve been lazy! I am looking forward to staying at the Cambria Suites this week as the fitness center in the hotel is AMAZING!!! It’s not your typical Hotel fitness center with one broken treadmill and a stairmaster! It is a full sized gym-style fitness center with free weights and a full room of nautilus and aerobic equipment. I am planning on running each day this week and then hopping on my bike this weekend. My swim is still so far out of my daily training routine, but I’m not worried about that! I also would like to find a race in a month or so that Holly and I can do together in a relay…

The Tour de France has kicked off nicely with Astana having 3 riders in the top 10 after 2 stages! Go Astana! I am completely missing out on today stage as I am typing this from 32,000 feet on an Airtran flight. I cannot wait till Tuesday for the Team Time Trial…. Astana should blow this up as they truly are the best Team this year on paper! Great job to American Rider Dave Z. too!!!

That’s all for today…. A new video blog should be up later today! And that’s the World According to Waz!