Tri-ing by 50

My Baptism(s)

2019-01-14T13:41:00.001-05:00

I don't write about religion for my own reasons, but this time I could not avoid it. I have not written about Children's Hospital Los Angeles very much lately, but it is an extremely important part of this post.

The title of this blog is correct. I did have two baptisms. Let me explain...

Yesterday was the Feast of the Baptism of Jesus. The story was told and the priest talked about remembering her own baptism. She said she doesn't remember it because she was only a one-year old. She does have her own memory of it because of the stories that have been told.

St. Peter's Episcopal Church, Charlotte, North Carolina

I have always had a "memory" of my own baptism, but started to wonder if it was true. I finally asked my Dad to verify that what I remember from what I thought I had been told was true. He emailed back and said, "Yes."

For those of you who don't remember, or haven't heard the story, my diagnosis of Salt Wasting Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia began when my parents took me to CHLA around 14 or 15 days after my birth in 1968. My chances of survival were extremely low. For this reason, a variety of religious sacraments were administered. One of those was baptism. There in the hospital that was working to save my life I was baptized. I can only imagine what this all looked like, both extremely sad and kind of crazed.

Obviously, I did survive...and quite well if I say so myself! After I left the hospital and recovered, I had a "second" baptism. A formal, ceremonially baptism with the gown, family and I am sure some bells and smells was held at St. Luke the Evangelist Catholic Church in Temple City, California.

If it were not for amazing doctors at CHLA I would not be here to tell this story. I would not be able to push my body to the limits of what any "normal" person can do while participating in marathons and triathlons. Doctors like Dr. Mitchell Geffner and Mimi Kim continue the work at CHLA. Hopefully, with improved medical care by these doctors and many others, there aren't many first baptisms held in hospitals for Warriors with CAH and Adrenal Insufficiency!

A cool part of running BHM 26.2 in Birmingham is that it supports Children's (Hospital) of Alabama. Hopefully, I will have the time to tour the hospital and see the endocrinology department!

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To help me spread the Tri-ing by 50 message, please visit and share my Go Fund Me page. Unfortunately, the funds needed to carry out what I do and want to do are more than I can handle personally.

Thank you!

When the words are lacking

2019-01-11T10:59:00.000-05:00

Planning and preparation for a marathon!

Everything is good. Training for my two, yes TWO, marathons is going along quite well. I have had two fun events so far in 2019 with two more in the next few weeks.

So, what's the problem? Why have I not posted in the blog since September? Nothing major. I just have not felt the words in my mind that can then go onto paper. Well, not really paper, because there is no paper involved with this blog unless you print it out. So, let me rephrase that...I have not had the words to go from my mind, into my fingers which then type them out into the computer. That was extremely wordy! There have been attempts at writing blogs, three to be exact, but nothing completed. UNTIL NOW!

Early 2019 recap...

New Years at midnight: Running of the Lights at Tanglewood Park in Clemmons, NC. This was our fifth year to do it. The temperature at midnight was 65F.

Last weekend (Jan. 5): Salem Lake Frosty 50K Relay. This was my first ultra distance relay. There were four of us, team name Clearly Alive Taper Tribe and we finished! Last year, Merrill ran the 25K on her own. It was 15F. This year...65F. It was a beautiful day and run.

Coming up is Hot Chocolate 15K on Jan. 19 and Charlotte 10 Miler on Feb. 2.

Training for the BHM 26.2 marathon in April is progressing.

In the meantime, Merrill and I signed up to do the Richmond Marathon in November. She raved about it so much that I wanted to do it in 2019.

Those are the firm plans for 2019. There are plenty of other events that we might do, but that's about it for now.

It's amazing what Tri-ing By 50 has been doing in the world. I truly mean The World.

In December, I received a message from a Warrior parent outside the United States that thanked me for what I am doing. That truly boosts my mood and helps me tor realize that what I am doing does have an impact. Sometimes, I feel like I am not having an impact. Those messages do help. Thank you!

A second moment was running the Frosty 50K. One of my team members is a fellow AI Warrior, Amber Nicole of another blog, Clearly Alive Art. This was exciting to talk about it and strategize. That person is where I was a few years, trying to find the balance of when to take our meds before, during and after a long run. There never is a perfect balance. I still experiment each long run and race.

Life is great! Keep that in mind and have a great 2019! I know I will having a great year.

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I have plans for other race events I would like to do in 2019. To help me spread the Tri-ing by 50 message, please visit and share my Go Fund Me page. Unfortunately, the funds needed to carry out what I do and want to do are more than I can handle personally.

Thank you!

BHM 26.2 Marathon is set for 2019

2018-09-10T11:33:00.000-04:00

It's official! Hello Kitty and I have registered for one of my big events in 2019. The BHM 26.2 Marathon will be my third marathon and take place in Birmingham, Alabama, on April 19.

This will be fun because many Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia and Adrenal Insufficient families live in the area. It will be a real Tri-ing By 50 meetup.

Look for more information as it gets closer to the date.

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I have plans for other race events I would like to do in 2019, including IRONMAN 70.3 Chattanooga. To help me spread the Tri-ing by 50 message, please visit and share my Go Fund Me page.

Thank you!

A trip to Chicago for some MAGIC!

2018-07-24T17:40:00.003-04:00

No one within the Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia world ever asks me why I do this thing called Tri-ing By 50. They all know why. The only person who does that is myself. It's not that I don't know why I swim, bike, run (triathlons) and run some more (marathons), and then put myself out there for all the world to see: the world of Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia/Adrenal Insufficiency and the world of those who have no clue what those conditions are and how they affect those with it.

From July 12-15, I experienced the why for myself. I traveled from Charlotte North Carolina, to the Chicago, Illinois, suburb of Lombard for The MAGIC Foundation 24th Annual Convention. Sadly, Merrill couldn't come because she had a school conference to go to in Raleigh and the girls were all busy with camps. The MAGIC Foundation is a charitable non-profit organization created to provide support services for the families of children afflicted with a wide variety of chronic and/or critical disorders, syndromes and diseases that affect a child's growth.

After procrastinating long enough to pack my clothes (it was one of my worst jobs of packing), Hello Kitty and I left around 10 a.m. on Wednesday, July 11. Way, way, way late! The goal for the day was to make it to Lexington, Kentucky. We got there and a little farther, Frankfort (the capitol of Kentucky)!

Mexican BBQ. It was good!

Cool building

The next morning we got up and started on the road to Lombard. Well, after we got a much needed coffee!

Starbucks fuels my drive!

We went through Louisville, Indianapolis, Chicago and on into Lombard. One thing I had not planned on was the tolls in Chicago. They are old school and only accept cash or coins and have a person working in the toll booths. Well, I never travel with money...SO, I had to get a slip of paper that said payup in 7 days or else...

I arrived at the Westin in Lombard, checked in, took my bike and bags up to my room on the 18th floor. What a pretty view. Unfortunately, it was hazy every day, so couldn't see the Chicago skyline.

Once I was settled, I went downstairs to the room where the convention was happening. The first day was vendor day. It was amazing! Things (medications and products) that hadn't existed when I was kid were being shown. Plus, there were children all around with their parents and families. Adults were wandering around. I met Lisa Hughes, the division consultant for CAH, and her family.

Then I got to meet Teresa Tucker. She is one of the co-founders of The MAGIC Foundation and is the one who nearly a year ago invited me to come to this amazing event.

I had dinner with Dr. Mimi Kim and her son, and Dr. Mitch Geffner joined us afterwards. If you have followed me you know who they are. If you need a refresher, they are the co-directors of the CARES Comprehensive CAH Clinic at Children's Hospital Los Angeles. It was about two years ago that I wrote the letter to Mitch that got Tri-ing By 50 rolling along. What an amazing pair of doctors they are!

Saturday was my day to speak to the CAH families. I had an hour to speak and was concerned about having enough to talk that long. Well, those who know me better than myself know that it is not a problem for me to keep the attention of a group for that long. I talked about growing up with CAH, going away to college, having my (non-CAH) daughters and finally marathons and triathlons. There were a couple of CAH children in the group. One is going off to college and runs half-marathons. Seeing them was a boost.

Hello Kitty and I ready with Camp Cortisol support!

Speaking to the CAH group.

That evening I was determined to get authentic Chicago food, aka Chicago deep dish pizza. In the years I was up in Milwaukee I never made it down to Chicago for food. I drove to Naperville for pizza at Lou Malnati's. It was delicious and Naperville is a pretty town.

Mmmmmmm!!!!

Naperville, Illinois

On Saturday, I woke up and finished up my presentation that I was going to give to a large group. I was to be the motivational speaker. What did my presentation consist of? It was photos of me through my 50 years of life. I started by reading the email I sent to Dr. Geffner in 2016 saying that I wanted to reach out and get involved with CHLA because they were the ones that allowed me to make it in life. It is impossible for me to get through it without tearing up. If you want to see me like that, ask me to read that email. The emphasis of my speech was that anyone with some kind of medical situation should not just say they can't do something because they have been told they can't. Doing the marathons and now triathlons is proof of that for me and I hope anyone who hears my story. It is what Tri-ing By 50 is about!

I am First Stroke, First Step, To Finish Line

I was "challenged" by people who will remain nameless, but they know who they are, about what I would wear. Here is my outfit:

Yes, I came riding in on my bike wearing my triathlon suit under my wetsuit. Hello Kitty couldn't get away because she was on my back while I rode in. Again, I spoke for the entire time. My measure of whether I was a success is if people come talk to me afterwards. The true measure is when I hear the words: "You give me hope for my child!" Both of those moments happened and I left happy! All I want to do is provide hope and build awareness for parents whether it is CAH or some other medical condition they or their child is living with.

To celebrate I went to another restaurant that was recommended I go to: Portillo's. I got a Chicago-style hot dog, an Italian beef and delicious onion rings. I was too full to get the chocolate cake shake. I will save that for next time.

I was done! Hello Kitty and I packed up and headed out the next day (Sunday). Before we left Chicago, I had one place I NEEDED to visit. Merrill would not have been happy if I did not stop at the fire station featured in the NBC show Chicago Fire. Sadly none of the guys or gals from the show really work there.

It's hard to see but it says No 51.

The front: There is a 51 on the glass door.

Imagine Severide's rescue squad table and chairs over by the inside door.

We avoided the toll roads and drove from there to Richmond, Kentucky for the night.

Fueled up with Starbucks for the ride home we drove on. I think I need a Starbucks sponsorship! Is there anyone that can help get that done? LOL

Fueled again by Starbucks!

On the way from Richmond to home, we made one spur of the moment, "Oh, that sounds cool," stop. The original Kentucky Fried Chicken store was not open and we didn't want to wait.

How would I describe the weekend? AMAZING! FULFILLING! HAPPY!

I need to thank Teresa, Lisa and The MAGIC Foundation for this moment in my life. Thank you for trusting Tri-ing By 50 and Hello Kitty to speak to your members.

Would I speak in front of a group again? YES!!!!!!!

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I have plans for race events I would like to do this fall and in 2019. To help me spread the Tri-ing by 50 message, please visit my Go Fund Me page.

Thank you!

A moment of questioning where I am headed

2018-07-06T11:02:00.001-04:00

Pre-race!

Post-race!

Yay, I got a medal!

I did my first running race in many months on the 4th of July (Independence Day in the United States). It was fantastic!

Merrill and I signed up for the American 4 Miler in Charlotte, NC. Actually, it was Merrill signed us up for it. I was the beneficiary. :) We did this race two years ago and I was not in a good mood for it. It showed in my time and attitude.

Fast forward to this year. I was ready. It was a completely different course, but on roads we have run before. Going into the race I had no expectations. Since Merrill has been training for the Richmond Marathon, I told her to go ahead and not stay back with me.

Short recap: I felt good at the start. We got separated from each other and I felt like I was ahead of Merrill the whole race. I kept to my intervals. I swear by intervals...at least for me. They aren't good for everyone. Mile 1...Mile 2...Mile 3...and finally, Mile 4, the Finish Line. I knew that I was comfortable and had a good pace. I crossed and had a nearly 4 minute personal record for 4 miles. Holy Cow! Where did that come from? I hadn't trained exclusively for running. Merrill reminded me that while I hadn't been training for a road race, all the triathlon training had built up my endurance.

Something I need to make clear: I was not in front of Merrill. We aren't sure when she passed me, but she did finish nearly a minute ahead. She is a BEAST!

All of this brings up my mood yesterday. Doing so well and being in a such a good mood about running got me thinking about training for a marathon. I do like that distance. It is crazy long and challenges me to prepare my Salt-Wasting Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia body for the 26.2 miles. There is also a time goal that I want to work towards.

Wellllll...this got me extremely conflicted about life, who I am and am I betraying Tri-ing By 50. I also got caught up in the monetary cost of triathlons versus marathons. It is also difficult to train for three disciplines (swim, bike, run) versus the one for marathons. Two attempts at a 70.3 triathlon has me feeling a little deflated.

These things happen when you have been going non-stop with training and competing and then there is nothing on the schedule. I need something on the schedule.

Regarding the monetary cost: I joke that it would be fantastic to have a steady source of income from someone.

After a talk last night, Merrill brought me down from the ledge...as she always does. There is only one 70.3 left in the year that I would consider entering. That is IRONMAN 70.3 North Carolina held in Wilmington. If that isn't a possibility, I will do the smart thing and concentrate on some shorter triathlons: sprints, international and Olympic distances.

Then in 2019, I will look at running the Tobacco Road Marathon again and crushing it. Follow that up with a possible 70.3 and some massive training and short distance triathlons. Later in the year, I would be looking at IRONMAN Chattanooga. That is a full distance triathlon (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run). YES, I am crazy! There could be the added bonus of doing it with a friend whom I've never met, but she is the reason I started training and competing with Hello Kitty. Here training partner is Snoopy.

Where does all of this put me? I still don't have a triathlon or running event on the calendar, but I will keep looking. I am taking suggestions. Also, if anyone could help financially my Go Fund Me link will be at the bottom. What I am doing as Tri-ing By 50 is to bring the hope and awareness to those with CAH, their families and the general public. Weekly I am reminded of the impact that I have. It is good to be reminded otherwise it does get a little discouraging.

Next week is a big week for Hello Kitty and me. We are getting in the car and traveling to Lombard, Illinois, for the MAGIC Foundation's Annual Convention. We get to meet up with Drs. Geffner and Kim from Children's Hospital Los Angeles! This will be our third speaking engagement. We are NERVOUS!

Thank you to everyone who has joined this journey!

Life is good. Life is happy. Just keep reminding yourself of that!

Fun random photos:

Merrill and I had a fun date day. First a bike ride and then visiting the Mint Museum Randolph.

I went "golfing" with Molly and Maggie.

Molly (left) and Maggie (right)

4th of July fun. This was our first Independence Day celebration in the house.

Doesn't get better than hot dogs on the grill!

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If you, or anyone you know, could help in any way, that would be wonderful. Follow this link to help: gofundme.com/help-triing-by-50-spread-the-word.

I am now 50!!!!!!

2018-06-26T14:56:00.000-04:00

All done and in front of the Furman University Paladin statue!

June is my 50th Birthday month. When I was born, I was happy and appeared to be healthy. As I have written several times, that fact of healthy was far from the truth. This week is a week I can't imagine what it was like for my Mom, Dad and 6-year old brother, Pat. The healthy appearing baby was far from healthy and declining fast. Thankfully, in just a few days I will be celebrating another 50th milestone. The day I entered the doors of Children's Hospital Los Angeles. The day that my life and my family's life were saved and changed forever. This is why I am fundraising for CARES Foundation Comprehensive Care Center for Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia at CHLA (CAH Clinic), which is housed in the Center for Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism. To learn more, please follow this link: http://connect.chla.org/goto/tri-ingby50.

The fun of my 50th Birthday continued...

The 50th Birthday Triathlon Blitz came to an end on Saturday, June 22 at the Tri the Swamp Rabbit at Furman University. As a 50th birthday comes along once, I think doing four triathlons in four weeks should only come along once, also. Notice I did not not say NEVER come along. With triathletes and runners, NEVER say NEVER!

If someone came along and said, "I'll give you the chance to do four triathlons in four weeks," would I say, "No, I have done that before and it was crazy?"

Heck no! I would say, "Sure, bring it on!"

I have learned a lot from each of the races, especially the last two; Three Little Pigs Triathlon (June 16) in Smithfield, NC, and Tri the Swamp Rabbit at Furman University (June 22).

The only picture from Three Little Pigs Triathlon.

Smithfield, where the Three Little Pigs Triathlon put on by FS Series is held, is 3 hours from home. Preferably, we would have gotten a hotel room the night before, but this was my birthday weekend. On Friday (June 15), I went to dinner and a musical (Grease) with M1 and M2. This was so much fun. Unfortunately, it meant that I did not get to bed until around 11 p.m. We needed to leave the house by 3 a.m., so the alarms were set for 2 a.m. All of that means, not much sleep! This was a major lesson learned from the Blitz...sleep is extremely important.

After getting the van packed with two sets of triathlon gear, bikes and all, we headed out in the dark of the morning. Yes, two sets. Merrill did the race, also. The swim was in a pool, 250 yards. I had a decent time. The bike was a nice course that unfortunately had a good amount of traffic along it. The run did me in. I have not been able to master the run, yet. Part of the problem is that on the bike I take in too much fluid and I slosh at the beginning of the run. I think I solved that at Tri the Swamp Rabbit.

I felt my time was pretty acceptable when I finished, but I saw Merrill on the bike and the run. In my mind, I knew what that meant, but I was not mentally ready for what happened. She beat my time by about 11 minutes. She had cruised on the bike going a whole mile an hour faster than me and she was killer on the run. When she told me the final times, I was not the most pleasant person. I was not angry at her at all, but frustrated with myself. Yes, I was a little jealous. When the adrenaline, hormones and emotions wore off, I was extremely proud of her! Tri It for Life had prepared her well. Plus, she has a pretty awesome bike. She's a BEAST!

Breaking it down afterwards...sleep deprived me of my complete energy and that is why my bike time was lacking.

A little pre-race motivation. F is for Furman University.

Sometimes a little bribery helps bring the middle girl child, G, to a race. Tri the Swamp Rabbit was held at Furman University. When the middle child has an interest in attending a college with a great music program you entice the trip with a college tour. We began the day doing that before packet pickup.

The fountain and chapel at Furman University.

I was excited to do the race. It was a shortish pool swim (250 meters/yards), longer bike ride (16.5 miles) and regular 5K. It is put on by Setup Events as part of the South Carolina Triathlon Series

I used some knowledge I gained in the three previous races and decided to skip the bottles of INFINIT on the ride and instead use the Hello Kitty Camelbak with INFINIT in it. This would control my fluid intake and hopefully, limit my fluid intake and not have the sloshing I had in almost all my other triathlons.

The swim started and I felt good...until about 150 yards. That's when my shoulders started really aching. This had me stopping for a few seconds to regain my stroke. Amazingly, I hit transition with a faster time than I have had. If only I hadn't needed to stop. There are no pictures of me coming out of the pool area, because, well, as Merrill says, "You were not happy!" She's right. I said no pictures. I dislike when I get that way.

It is amazing what can be captured in a photo.

I also thought through some changes for transition. Those worked and I was off with a quick for me time. Unfortunately, one of the straps on my shoes came loose so I couldn't tighten it. That change didn't quite work.

Overall the ride was good. My time wasn't great because I had to stop right at Mile 4 and catch my breath. This added a good amount of time to my result and affected my overall outcome. It was a beautiful ride through country and the little town of Traveler's Rest. Traffic was handled well with one lane being blocked off in the town. My plan with hydration did work!

HELLO KITTY!

Transition 2 wasn't as quick as I'd have liked, but it was better than it has been. Took off the bike shoes and helmet and replaced them with running shoes and hat.

Immediately, I knew that the run would be better. I had more energy and could maintain my intervals better. PLUS, no sloshing in my belly!

Downhill start, really?

The namesake of the race, the Swamp Rabbit Trail is a beautiful trail in the Greenville, SC area. Merrill ran a half-marathon along it a couple months ago. The problem with this race...the first half of the race was UPHILL!!!!! Going back downhill was nice! I finished with a happy time.

A great finisher pic from Merrill!

My overall time was not what I wanted...at all. Saying that, I finished and I am quickly realizing that may be what it is all about. JUST FINISH! There were quite a few positives and the changes I have made truly helped. Learn and Finish! That may become my new mantra.

What is next? The work Tri-ing By 50 is doing does not end. Not at all! There is so much more to do and keep doing.

Merrill and I will be traveling to Fletcher, NC, for the LPC Throwback Triathlon on July 8. Then I will be traveling to Lombard, IL, to speak at the MAGIC Foundation's Convention. I had thought of going to a triathlon near there, but it is not looking like I will able to do that.

For now, I believe that is everything! Take care and thank you for coming along on the Tri-ing By 50 journey. Someone told me I should change it to Tri-ing At 50, since I celebrated on June 17! NOPE!

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As always, you can help me personally by visiting my Go Fund Me page. I am going to donate 20% of all funds back to the CHLA CAH Clinic!

My finishing time didn't matter, Hello Kitty was awareness-building!

2018-06-10T18:45:00.000-04:00

The Holy Grail of race pictures as I came to the finish of Tri Latta:
Both feet clearly off the ground, smiling, waving and Hello Kitty!

CAH Awareness Month is alive and well for this CAH Warrior triathlete.

The alarm to wake me up went off at 3:40 a.m.! Getting up early on a Saturday is no fun. Getting up earlier than early is really no fun. Race #2 of the 50th Birthday Triathlon Blitz, Tri Latta, started at 6:30 a.m.

My original idea for this post, before the race, was that it would probably be another recap of how it went. Kind of blah, blah, blah, blah...

Instead, it is a true awareness-building recap that will have some race recap.

Three years ago, Merrill and I volunteered at the race. It was the first time either one of us had been to a triathlon. We were in awe of the swimming, the bikes and how much energy the runners had at the end. Now, I am one of those people!

This week, I did not need to lie down in the grass after the race. Yay, me!

At the end of Tri Latta, I was getting water out of the Water Monster instead of lying in the grass!

Tri Latta Sprint has a 750 meter (820 yard) swim, 12.4 mile ride and 3.1 mile run. The swim was longer than Badin Lake with the bike and run the same. Overall, I did everything quicker than Badin Lake. This made me happy...very happy. Improvement is always good.

Swim (in Mountain Island Lake)
Yes, I do realize the irony of the sign.

Bike
I am off and riding.

Run (a trail run...yuck!)
I forgot my A2 Bikes hat in transition and wow is my face and neck red! That is not sunburn.

After making it through the swim (Got a great comment about my Tough By Design Sport/TBD Racing trisuit) and the bike, I put Hello Kitty on my back and started out on the run. Usually, this is pretty uneventful, but this time I was in for a pleasant surprise times three. Right as I left transition I saw someone wearing a visor that looked familiar. It had three squares, one with swim, another with bike and a third with a starfish. It took a moment for me to realize what it really was but then it struck me...Tri*Fe. This a line of clothing for every woman created by Meredith Atwood. She also has started a virtual triathlon team called Best Tri Club Ever, which I am member.

Back to the run start and the person wearing the visor. I said to her, "Hey, Tri*Fe!" In reply I received, "Tri*Fe. Hey I recognize you!" This was after I had passed her and she saw Hello Kitty. There were two more times for the power of Hello Kitty to get into action.

Shortly after that moment, I was on the trail (the run was a trail run rather than a road run. YUCK!) and it was my walk interval. From behind me I hear, "I've trying to catch up to you and ask about Hello Kitty." DING! DING! DING!!!!!! THIS is why I carry her on my back. CAH Awareness-Building goes into action. We keep walking as I explain about CAH, that I have it and this is exactly why I carry Hello Kitty. My run time starts to get slower at this point, but I don't care.

I kept on going, see some of Merrill's TRI IT for Life team members and I made sure to encourage them.

The TRI IT for Life ladies getting ready for their first triathlon.

As I came back from the turn-around, I stop to get water from the volunteers to pour on myself. Then the magical question is asked. "Why do you carry Hello Kitty? Is it for a child? Is it for your daughter?" Those of you who are CAH Warriors or parents of a CAH Warrior know what came next. "No, I wear it so that people like you or other runners ask questions!" On the bad side, I lost a lot of time because I had to stop, but I didn't care. While I am not a fan of trail runs, this won't stop me from doing Tri Latta again.

Like I said at the beginning...I finished and did not have to lie down on the grass.

Was this a podium finish race? Nope! Nope! Nope!

Was it a successful race for Tri-ing By 50? YES! YES! YES!

Next Saturday, June 16 (my last day as a 49-year-old) Merrill and I will be traveling to Smithfield, NC for the Three Little Pigs Sprint Triathlon! There won't be many pictures because she is doing it also! YAY!

This might be the coolest race logo ever!

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As always, you can help me personally by visiting my Go Fund Me page. I am going to donate 20% of all funds back to the CHLA CAH Clinic!

50th Birthday Triathlon Blitz: #1 Badin Lake Tri

2018-06-05T16:09:00.000-04:00

Yes, I am ok!

I love this picture of me laying down after the race. It answers all the questions Merrill had for me after the Badin Lake Triathlon, the first of four sprint triathlons I am doing from June 2-23. All of this to celebrate my 50th birthday.

My Sherpa...and coincidentally my beautiful wife!

My Sherpa, AKA The Wife, Merrill, is the BEST. Looking busy, because she was making sure I was coming through each place I needed to be. She did admit that she followed me on the Family Share map on the phone while I was out on the bike. :)

The triathlon started with a 750 yard swim, then a 12+ mile ride and finished with a 3.1 mile "run."

There is something satisfying and agonizing about setting up transition.

"Did I get this set up right?" A triathlete seems to always say this, or, at least I do. I have always teased Merrill about a bucket to sit on, but after this race I think I really want one. It is a long way down and back up from the grass!

The calm before the start.

Merrill took this picture as I waited to get the go-ahead to start. It sums up what is really happening at the moment.

I actually smiled!

The bike ride was pleasant. As most races are in North Carolina, it went through some farmland and open areas. Added bonus: the ride took us past the local correctional facility. It definitely was not low security! Two positive outcomes from the ride: it was my fastest average speed and also my fastest top speed. Passing people on their bikes was a nice feeling. It means that I have made progress. What was scary about the top speed is that it was accomplished right before going over some railroad tracks which were bumpy!

Great action shot from Merrill of me coming out of transition for the run!

Hello Kitty accompanied me on the run!

Going out on the run was a sign that the end was near. After riding a bike for any amount of time, it is always weird to start running. It took me about a mile to actually start feeling like I was comfortable. After that I was able to run my intervals in some sort of fashion. From the beginning of the run, I had a goal of passing the runner that went by me at the beginning. It also meant finishing ahead of him in the standings. It's the little things that can make a competitor happy. Sticking to my intervals allowed me to do just that. SUCCESS!!!!

When I started this race, I had two goals: 1. Not finish last in my age group, and 2. Not finish last overall. There actually was a third goal: finish the race and it doesn't matter where you finish in the standings. I did accomplish all three of my goals: I did finish. I was not last in my age group. I was not last overall. That is what I call a successful race!

I have been told I need to practice my finish line celebration or just not do it.

Next up in the 50th Birthday Triathlon Blitz is Tri Latta Sprint on Saturday, June 9. This tri has a swim that is a little longer than Badin Lake. I have wanted to do this race for two years when Merrill and I volunteered at the race.

Reminder...I am dedicating the month of June to raising funds for the CARES Foundation Comprehensive Care Center for Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia at CHLA (CAH Clinic), which is housed in the Center for Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism. To learn more, please follow this link: http://connect.chla.org/goto/tri-ingby50.

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As always, you can help me personally by visiting my Go Fund Me page. I am going to donate 20% of all funds back to the CHLA CAH Clinic!

June, It's My 50th Birthday Month...and the AARP card came!

2018-06-01T13:28:00.000-04:00

It came in the mail last week. The sure sign of approaching that magical membership age. What am I talking about? This:

The AARP (American Association of Retired Persons) invitation!

This June, I will be celebrating my 50th birthday. 50-years ago on June 17th I was born. About 14-days later I was not thriving and my parents were worried. Then a doctor at Children's Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) saved my life by diagnosing me with Salt-Wasting Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia. 48-years later in 2016, Tri-ing By 50 was created. Now, I am writing about life with CAH and that things that seemed impossible don't have to be.

During June, which amazingly is also CAH Awareness Month, I will be doing two things to help celebrate this momentous month.

First, I am dedicating the month to raising funds for the CARES Foundation Comprehensive Care Center for Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia at CHLA (CAH Clinic), which is housed in the Center for Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism. To learn more, please follow this link: http://connect.chla.org/goto/tri-ingby50.

Secondly, I will doing a triathlon blitz! From June 2-23, on Saturdays, I will be participating in four sprint triathlons:

June 2 - Badin Lake Triathlon

June 9 - Tri Latta

June 16 - Three Little Pigs Triathlon

June 23 - Tri the Swamp Rabbit

I am looking forward to doing this blitz! Merrill will be joining me at the Three Little Pigs. It will be the first one we will have done together. Plus, it is my birthday weekend.

Stay tuned throughout the month for what is going on with Tri-ing By 50!

Thank you for being on this crazy ride with me. Shoot me a message, so I know where people are that read the blog. It will be fun to learn this information.

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As always, you can help me personally by visiting my Go Fund Me page. I am going to donate 20% of all funds back to the CHLA CAH Clinic!

The elusive 70.3 medal

2018-05-22T14:54:00.000-04:00

When I began Tri-ing by 50 almost two years ago in 2016, I had a goal. I have come to realize that goals can be difficult to obtain. Does that stop me?!?! NOPE! Those that know me, and those who have come to know me, know that this Salt-Wasting Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia Warrior does not stop. He may suffer setbacks, emotional drains and every other emotion and physical state associated with training and competing, but he keeps going.

What keeps me going? That is an easy answer. You! Those that follow me and read my stories. Those that have children with CAH/AI (Adrenal Insufficiency). Those with CAH/AI. Anyone that has ever reached out to me or stayed quiet in the background has kept me going.

Looking good in my personalized Tri-ing By 50 TBD Racing trisuit!

I did get a compliment becasue of how I looked in one of the pictures. That was such a boost! When the work you put in is noticed, it makes it all worth it!

This last weekend I attempted another 70.3 triathlon. The Mountains to Main Street 70.3 was a beautiful lake swim, followed by a very rural and hilly bike ride and then finished with a run on the Swamp Rabbit Trail in Greenville, South Carolina. Attempted is the keyword. I finished the swim, exhausted, and a few miles on the bike. I will take what I learned from this event and apply it to future events. It was a fun event because Merrill ran the half-marathon. She learned races that are a majority downhill are hard on the quads!

Merrill right after the Half Marathon!

I also got to hangout with a friend/"coworker," Carol Rodd. She is a principal at a school in the district I work in. Carol killed it in the triathlon and I got to see her finish a very difficult race.

Carol and I right before starting the swim.

The two of us the day before the race.

Someday I will get to have the Half-IRON distance 70.3 finisher's medal. I believe this will happen. You know how I know? Well, it goes back to my first triathlon when Merrill told someone, "I know he will finish. He's stubborn like that!" There are other ways I know, but they all go back to that one statement.

Merrill is the most supportive, loving and helpful wife, training partner and competitor. Every time I have had a goal or setback, she is there to brainstorm and plan how I can achieve and recover. She also knows what I need to know before I know it. When I was on my way back after getting picked up from the triathlon, I sent the first message and then she replied:

I am blue and Merrill is gray.

I have a couple "A" races in mind for the fall, but first I need to get there with even more massive amounts of training and shorter races.

In a few days I will be announcing my goals for my birthday month of June. Yes, it is the big 5-0! Tri-ing By 50 reaches 50! My goals will entail those smaller races I mentioned in the text.

I have put out a GoFundMe plea. This is something I hate to do, but I need to keep getting the word out about CAH/AI. Here is what I wrote:

"I need some help! The minimum amount I need by the end of May is $300. There are 4 triathlons that I would like to participate in from June 2-23. These are important because it is my birthday month. My 50th birthday month. This is what Tri-ing By 50 is all about. It is to show fellow CAH/AI families that nothing should stop you without trying. If you could please help, that would be greatly appreciated! Anything beyond that amount will always be used to keep the Tri-ing By 50 movement going!"

If you, or anyone you know, could help in any way, that would be wonderful. Follow this link to help: gofundme.com/help-triing-by-50-spread-the-word.

Bike Luck, vultures and being s#*t

2018-05-01T14:32:00.000-04:00

After the ride!

Last Saturday I ventured out of my comfort zone. I participated in a 45-mile charity bike ride called Bike Luck which benefited Camp Luck (The camp strives to improve the lives of kids and families coping with congenital heart disease by empowering them to live life to the fullest). I needed some training time on my bike and this would be a good way to have a controlled ride with a group of riders, maybe a couple hundred or so. This was my first group ride.

The ride began at 8 a.m. and I was smart and lined up in the back. I did not know what to expect at all. The ride director warned us about debris from the rains in the bike lanes and some roads in not great condition. Since it was a pack start, we all started out bunched up and slowly. Soon it thinned out and there were different groups to ride with. I even was the lead rider a couple time, which I told people was probably not such a good idea because I have never done this before. Everyone was nice and said, "Just keep cranking."

While leading a few riders, I did get the opportunity to yell out, "VULTURES!" to warn the others of what was coming up. There was roadkill in the center of the two-lane road and the vultures were hopping back and forth between it and the side of the road. I don't think the others quite understood until the rider behind me looked up and said, "Oh! Roadkill Center AND Vultures!" Dodging three vultures was a little nerve-wracking because I had no clue which way they were going to go.

It was a really great experience to get out of the city of Charlotte and see things while riding. There was a lot more elevation that I thought there would be, but I finished.

Observations while on the ride and afterwards:

Sorry about the language, but it pretty much sums everything up!

I think most endurance athletes go through these emotions. Then, soon after finishing or the next day say, "Hey, that wasn't so bad. In fact, it was great. What can I sign up for?"

About 30-35 miles into the ride I thought, "I am going to need to defer the upcoming triathlon. I am not ready. I can't do it. BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH!" I finished, got into my car and drove home. What happened between finishing and getting home? Well, I said, "Darn it! I am going to do it. I'll try to take what happened here and use it at Mountains to Main Street."

Also, my wife checked the deferral policy and said the date had passed!

So, 19 days from today I will be participating in my second attempt at a half-IRON distance triathlon.

As usual, thank you INFINIT Nutrition for providing me with one product for my nutrition and hydration. It gets me through everything!

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To help me through my journey, please visit: gofundme.com/help-triing-by-50-spread-the-word. Any help is appreciated.

Death is NOT an option

2018-04-04T13:43:00.000-04:00

Now that I have your attention... But that is a reality for me and many others just like me!

Please know that this is not meant to scare anyone, but to stress the importance of proper care, management and community for those with CAH/AI or those who care for someone with CAH/AI.

This blog post will be different from any one I have written. I have not been so blunt and upfront about the extreme negative affect that could manifest itself from having Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia/Adrenal Insufficiency. This post will hit on that, but for a good reason. Living life is the answer.

Recently in the past couple of months I have been reminded of what it means to have CAH/AI. The first time was by an AI Warrior Momma, Rebecca Lemley (Founder of Camp Cortisol), and the second time was by my fellow AI Marathoner (Boston Marathon Qualifier) friend, Kelli Lash. Each one expressed the fragility and life-threatening aspect of having CAH/AI. These two women are part of a large community that is out there advocating and helping to make advances possible for those of us with CAH/AI!

I have hinted around the situation, but never really hit it head-on. When I am running and someone asks about CAH and what can happen, I jokingly say something about it being bad. Who wants to hear that I could die if I don't take my medicine or if I go into a crisis while out on the run or triathlon courses? But, the fact is, my health is fragile. I could die if I don't have everything under control.

In my daily life I take medicine morning, noon and evening. This is what my doctor and I have deemed to be what works. That is easy. Should something happen that may cause my body to demand more cortisol, such as a broken bone (Yeah, I have some experience with that), illness or sometimes even the daily stress of life (dehydration, emotional stressors) I may add some extra Hydrocortisone. Whatever a non-CAH/AI person deals with without thinking about because their body naturally reacts, my body does not. I may not even know what's happening. It means life is fragile and I need to be aware!

When I ran the Tobacco Road Marathon, I had to carefully learn when and how much Hydrocortisone I needed to updose. To updose simply means to take more medication on top of my regular morning dose. As I have mentioned in previous posts, it has been a learning process about updosing. For short races below 10K (6.2 miles) I don't updose. Anything beyond that I do. It was well after the Flying Pirate Half-Marathon in 2015 when Merrill kind of put it together that I needed updose before and during long races. She said my mood was weird and I was "combative!"

During training for Marine Corps Marathon in the same year, I had one instance of a minor adrenal crisis. I was out on a run and started feeling wrong. I really think that is the "technical" way that people with CAH/AI describe the beginning of a crisis. There is no better way to describe it than feeling wrong. I wasn't at the point where I needed my Solu-Cortef injection that gets a high dose of Hydrocortisone immediately into my body. I simply needed to take some extra tablets.

Following Marine Corps Marathon is when I faced 'death'! Not in the realistic sense, but if things hadn't gotten under control I may have had some major problems. The marathon went well. Afterwards, I did not continue my doses of Hydrocortisone (my doctor and I didn't event think of that) and my body started rebelling. I was feeling badly, had to sit down and generally scared Merrill. After taking a high dose of Hydrocortisone and a nap, I felt better. That was short-lived. The next morning was the worst. On the drive home from Washington, D.C., I could not keep anything down and when that happens the body starts going into crisis. Hind-sight is ALWAYS 20-20. Yes, we should have used the Solu-Cortef injection. Merrill had placed an ultimatum that if I dry-heaved and couldn't keep something down she was going to take me to the nearest emergency room. Poor G was in the back seat having to hear me the whole way. I did recover, but my body was worn out.

For IRONMAN 70.3 Augusta, I trained with different dosing patterns. I also had INFINIT! This changed the game for me. Although I did not finish the event, the experience was a great experience which provided me with a wealth of information.

As I wrote in my last blog post about Tobacco Road Marathon, I nailed dosing and hydration!

With Mountains to Main Street 70.3 triathlon coming up on May 19, I will again face the reality of dosing and hydration. It is a different schedule due to the starting with the swim (1.2 miles), then the bike (56 miles) and finally the run (13.1 miles). This event will take my body, and emotions, to different levels from a marathon. As I wrote this my nerves and anxiousness got going and my mind got to thinking. Should I dose at this point or that point in the ride or run? We shall see and as I said...

Death is NOT an option! I think Merrill would appreciate that, also! :)

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To help me through my journey, please visit: gofundme.com/help-triing-by-50-spread-the-word. Any help is appreciated.

Tobacco Road Marathon was completed BEAST MODE style

2018-03-30T21:56:00.002-04:00

BEAST MODE!

When you train for a marathon like Tobacco Road Marathon (Sunday, March 18) the plan seems so simple: run, run some more and run more and more. It's not too difficult of a plan to keep. The distances of training runs increase. For me there was some running and biking included.

What you don't plan for is life: kids, work, weather and unfortunately...illness.

Training was going along great for Merrill and I until one unfortunate Sunday/Monday early in March. Merrill got the flu. When I say flu, I am meaning the flu that knocked her out and had her staying home from teaching for two days. That is really sick for a teacher. This derailed training, but worse than that, it wreaked havoc on her body. I was worried about her, but she is strong and I knew she'd battle back.

The picture at the top describes Merrill. She is BEAST MODE!

Sooooooo, the week of the race arrived. I kept asking Merrill if she was ready
and would be ok. Her answer...YES! I finally shut up and accepted that she was doing the marathon.😀

Hello Kitty is ready for the ride!

I had all my hydration ready in baggies
for pre- and during race fueling.
Love my personalized INIFINIT Nutrition blend

We left for the race on Saturday, March 17 (also known as St. Patrick's Day) after Merrill went riding with her Tri It For Life group. The drive up to Cary, NC, is about 2 1/2 hours from home. We needed to get up there to pick up our race bibs and shirts.

St. Patrick's Day green!

The morning of the race came bright and early. The runners and triathletes out there will understand this. When a race starts at 7 or 7:30, it means getting up earlier then you ever would. Say, 4 a.m.! Then the process of getting everything put on and organized begins. At this event, G was with us. She also got up at the same time. Hello Kitty and her Camelbak were filled up with INFINIT. We left the hotel room and G went back to sleep.

Let me get this out of the way at the beginning. My personalized Ultra Run Blend of INFINIT Nutrition is amazing. It has enabled me to have one single source of hydration, electrolytes, caffeine and protein in one thing. The blend is my own special one created specifically for what I need because of my Salt-Wasting Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia. I am an ambassador, but that only happened after I used the product. Merrill says that my energy level is crazy. During training she said it was like I was on something. Ok, back to the race recap.

Also, my Hydrocortisone dosing seemed perfect. I dosed 5 mg at 5.2 miles, 10.4 miles, about 16 miles, 20 miles and 26 miles. Then after the race I had about 10 mg two hours after the race. From there I dosed extra when I felt I needed it throughout the afternoon. The day after, I thought I was pretty good until I felt "weirdly." I dosed extra at that point and then for the next few days as I felt needed it. It is not an exact science and those miles might be a little off, but it is pretty darn close. For me, updosing is critical when I do endurance-type events.

The race was amazing. The Tobacco Road Marathon course is only about 2.5 miles on road before getting onto the old Tobacco rail trail that brought the tobacco leaves from the farms to the factories. Now it has been made into a trail for everyone to enjoy. It is relatively flat with some very moderate hills. Not at all like Charlotte hills. It is the shape of the T: the first and last 2 miles are the vertical line, then it is out and back for about 10 miles to do the right side of the T and finally about 9 miles on the left side of the T. The numbers aren't exact but close enough.

Merrill and I had our intervals set and stuck to them. We would look at the pace every once in a while and not say anything to each other, but they were better than we had ever run! I did the runner math (yes, it is a real thing!) and we were both on a pace to set an amazing Personal Record. I had my Marine Corps Marathon time to beat and Merrill had her time from last year's Tobacco Road to beat.

The beginning of the race was hampered by some STUPID rock or little stick that was stuck in my sock! We had to stop twice for that.

Around mile 11.5 we came back around to Team Mimosa. We passed it at around mile 5.5, but I wasn't ready to stop. Team Mimosa is a location on the race, who call themselves the unofficial libation station, which serves mimosas to eager runners. I was not eager, BUT guess who was????? Hello Kitty made her way up, tired of facing backwards and said, "Give me one of those!" As I couldn't take the picture, Merrill happily did.

Hello Kitty enjoying her mimosa. Thank you, Team Mimosa!

13.1 miles, halfway, had us stopping for a break to visit the bathroom. I needed to reapply some anti-chafing stuff. Stuff is a technical phrase. Really it is!

We restarted and kept our pace going. It's a long way from the halfway point to the other end of the T in the course. When we crossed over the start and finish part of the T we started seeing the half-marathoners and the finishers of the marathon. I even got a shout out from a fellow Charlotte Running Company racer!

When we started getting to about 15 miles it seemed as if Merrill was struggling a bit. I was getting concerned about the flu catching up to her and making it so she shouldn't continue. Beast Mode kicked in and she said she was fine.

Then round about mile 19 or 20, things started to get out of sorts. Our walk breaks got a little longer. The runs got shortened for walk breaks. We stopped at the refreshment table that had all of the good late in a marathon treats: PB&J sandwiches ("Fresh. Never frozen. Made that morning!), pickles, candy (sadly no Starbursts for Merrill, but she did get Twix Bars) and Coke. I don't usually stray from my INFINIT and a little water, but I will tell you, THAT COKE TASTED REAL GOOD!!!!!! I believe I may have taken a volunteers Coke that he was pouring for himself, but I did not care!

Then around Mile 21 it happened. Merrill was done! Her legs were hurting and she could barely move. Emotions were coming out of both of us. We had just done 21 miles and our bodies and minds were drained. She was upset that she couldn't go any harder and kept telling me to go on and set my Personal Record. I was not talking for about a mile and a half. Too much was going through my mind, mainly frustration. Then around mile 23 I got myself together and said, "This is the race we were going to finish together and that is what we are going to do!" It was nice to walk and talk the rest of the way.

One thing I will tell you non-runners, different muscles are used for running and walking. Our legs were done. Oh, and the blisters we each had on our feet were popping as we kept going...not fun at all. For me, the blisters also came from not wearing socks I trained with. I did not listen to the age-old advice: DO NOT TRY ANYTHING NEW OR THAT YOU DIDN'T TRAIN WITH ON RACE DAY!!!!!!! Oh...and I blew out the heel of my shoe. Thankfully, it didn't rip apart my heel. In fact, I didn't know until I took the shoe off.

How did this happen to my Asics GT2000-5s?

Our official time: 6 hours and 27 seconds. Way past what we could have done, but as we all find out...we finished. 26.2 miles on our feet. I finished my 2nd marathon and Merrill finished her 4th marathon! She is a BEAST!

Hello Kitty was tired!

While we were struggling at the end Merrill said, "I don't think I can ever do another one of these again. I think I am done." Yes, I hear all of you runners/marathoners out there laughing. Later on after a shower and dinner, she said something along the lines of, "Disregard what I said about another marathon. It was emotions." The week following the race she said, "How would you feel about a trip to Richmond in November for the Richmond Marathon!" Yep, that would be runner mentality.

What is next? Let the picture explain:

This would be a trip to Starbucks on a date with Merrill to create my fully dedicated training schedule for Mountains to Main Street 70.3 Triathlon on Sunday, May 19. Merrill is doing the short race, the half-marathon. Yes, we know it. We are crazy! My Dad has some other words for it, but they aren't appropriate for a family blog.

When you have a few A2 Bikes hats, you need to label the one
that you need to make comfortable to wear at Mountains to Main Street 70.3.

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To help me through my journey, please visit: gofundme.com/help-triing-by-50-spread-the-word. Any help is appreciated.

Marathon #2 is fast approaching, We are READY!

2018-03-04T10:39:00.001-05:00

Merrill has told me that I need to post more. I will work on that...

Extremely important news: my website (triingby50.wixsite.com/tri-ingby50) is up! Tri-ing By 50 is now in the 21st Century!
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March 18 is fast approaching. What is special about that day? It will be the day I run my second marathon, Tobacco Road Marathon in Cary, NC. What else is special about that marathon? Merrill and I will be running it together. We aren't doing the race at the same time, each of us running our own pace. No, we will be running side-by-side for the whole 26.2 miles. We will cross the finish line together in triumph. While this will be my second marathon, it will be Merrill's fourth. She is a BEAST!

Getting here has been a roller-coaster. Training hasn't always been consistent. Life has presented some obstacles. There was a coming to terms moment a month or so ago that both of us were concerned I would not be ready. Then the past few weeks have happened!

First there was Hot Chocolate 15K Charlotte. We did this for the first time in Atlanta a few years ago. 15K is a different distance, plus there is hot chocolate and chocolate at the end...who wouldn't want to do that! There weren't many expectations. We did want to set new 15K personal records. It was a misty run, but fun...except when Merrill passed me and said, "What's up slick?" At the moment I wasn't too thrilled with that. I got over it and we had fun.

The next week was the Charlotte 10-miler. Well, the Charlotte 10-miler, plus 6 more miles afterward because marathon training called for 16 miles. For this race, ran it together the whole time. It was good to get our pacing together. Beforehand we met up with Carol Rodd and a friend of hers. She is a principal in the school district Merrill and I work in, and shes a fellow triathlete! During the race, around mile 8, I finally got to meet Kelli Lash. She is a fellow adrenal insufficient warrior and has children with it, also. We had been virtually communicating for many months.

Carol Rodd in the green visor!

Kelli Lash

A photo I have never had, but absolutely love!

The past two weeks we have had 18 mile long runs on the schedule. I think Merrill wondered how I would do. Two weeks ago it was warmer than usual. Yes, it was the end of February and we were in shorts and short-sleeved shirts. It was a fantastic run that set us up for our race! Our times for the first 9 miles and second 9 miles were absolutely identical. Yee Haw!!!!

Preparation for an 18 mile run
with a Salt Wasting Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia Warrior!

The end of 18-miles! Hot and worn out!

Finally, we ran this weekend. The temps were cooler. Our final pace was quicker than anything we ever imagined! Woo Hoo!!!! There was a scary moment when Merrill had a major asthma episode around 16.5 miles. It hit fast and was scary. There is a reason that inhalers are called rescue inhalers. It truly rescued her. We walked the final mile and a half. She recovered quickly, but it knocked her out for the rest of the day.

When you forget the traditional pre-race selfie
you take it where you got the food that sounded delicious, Sabor Latin Grill!

What does this all mean? We are READY! Tapering begins and we plan for the trip up to Cary!

I want to give a great big shout out to Infinit Performance Nutrition and Colin who works thre. He dialed in a blend that has worked great for the long runs. I was concerned about hunger in the later miles. He dialed me in and seems to have gotten it right. Also, my dosing with Hydrocortisone seems to be on spot. I take 5 mg every 5.2 miles.

Bring on March 18 and the Tobacco Road Marathon!

There has been one unfortunate thing that happened last week. My triathlon and marathon chariot was rear ended. I am ok. Unfortunately, my car is in the shop to get repaired. I did save the magnets on the back!

I did remember to take off the magnets.

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To help me through my journey, please visit: gofundme.com/help-triing-by-50-spread-the-word. Any help is appreciated.

I got angry at CAH

2018-01-23T15:19:00.001-05:00

My Facebook and Instagram post on Saturday, 1/20

This past Saturday I experienced something that I really haven't felt before while training for an event. As Merrill and I were getting ready to run our 12 mile, I got upset. I was gathering up everything I needed beyond running clothes.

This is a simple picture of what it looks like. There are the water bottles, the Camelbak, Hello Kitty, the INFINIT hydration solution, the Solu-Cortef emergency shot, the pickles, the list goes on and on. Or, it seems that way.

Merrill was ready and I just couldn't get it together. I snapped! The message I sent out was my feelings at the moment. I know we are all allowed to get frustrated, even angry.

Once we got out on the road and ran our 12 miles, some of it carefully bacause of lingering ice patches, all was right with the world.

Moral of the story: Get angry. It is normal and part of life. I do NOT hate CAH. It is who I am and as I have said, I AM CAH and a CAH Warrior!

I am so looking forward to the Tobacco Road Marathon on March 18. I haven't felt this good in a long time.

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To help me through my journey, please visit: gofundme.com/help-triing-by-50-spread-the-word. Any help is appreciated.

A snow storm and being house bound provides time to get things done

2018-01-19T15:15:00.002-05:00

Creating Tri-ing By 50's website!

The past week has been an adventure as only the Charlotte/Matthews, North Carolina area can have. There was a snow storm that brought more snow than expected.

For this area that means a shutdown of the city and schools. So, the Hacker family stayed put in the house for two days.

What was I able to get done:

-As the picture at the top shows, I got the first step of many more to come done in creating a Tri-ing By 50 website. I want to bring all the places I have together into one. This way people will be able to know what Tri-ing By 50 is about, what events (both racing and appearances) are coming up, what foundations and groups I support and can use monetary support, and the most important thing is to give information about Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia. This, unfortunately, will take some time, but I will definitely let y'all know when it goes live. Thank you WIX!

The Training Room

-This room has evolved and is finally coming together into what we have wanted. It is our Training Room. In a pinch it could convert to a guest room. Merrill and I have wanted a place to hang our medals and pictures from races. The pictures you see on the right are from our first marathon, Marine Corps, a painting that Merrill's cousin painted that shows her running and a special print from IRONMAN 70.3 Augusta. The two athlete pictures on my Motivation Wall to the left are of A2 Bikes athletes Kennett Peterson and Adelaide Perr. It took the storm to get us motivated to complete this task. It is fantastic. Having the bike set up so that we can watch TV while riding has made the time pass by.

And the final picture is of me training in the Training Room:

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To help me through my journey, please visit: gofundme.com/help-triing-by-50-spread-the-word. Any help is appreciated.

Confidence! Commitment! Goals!

2018-01-09T14:27:00.000-05:00

2018 is a year that has many wonderful things that are/will be happening.

First of all, as the title of this blog says, Confidence is foremost. It has been a couple of years since I have started the year confident. Tri-ing By 50 is getting socially involved and also, as always, running and triathloning (is that a word?).

Hope Building, Advocating and Awareness Building:

-I have been named to the Board of Trustees for the CARES Foundation. This is a tremendous honor. CARES Foundation is a nonprofit organization committed to improving the lives of families and individuals affected by Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH).

-In mid-July, Hello Kitty and I will be traveling to the Chicago area to speak at the MAGIC Foundation's 24th Annual Convention. If you have interest in attending this convention, the information will be coming soon. The MAGIC Foundation is a charitable non-profit organization created to provide support services for the families of children afflicted with a wide variety of chronic and/or critical disorders, syndromes and diseases that affect a child's growth.

-In August, I am planning on attending Camp Cortisol for the second year. This was such fun to go to last year and such a great opportunity to meet families of CAH/AI Warriors

There may be other opportunities that come along as the year progresses.

Racing:

Those are Cookie Monster pajama pants Merrill is wearing!

-The year began the same as it has for the previous three years at the Running of the Lights! It is a fun 5.5K "run" through the lights at Tanglewood Park.

-On Saturday, March 18, Merrill and I will be running in the Tobacco Road Marathon in Cary, NC. This will be my second marathon and we are deep in training.

-May 19 will bring my second attempt at a 70.3 triathlon. This time it will not be an IRONMAN branded event. It is the Mountains to Main Street 70.3 Triathlon in Greenville, SC. This is a locally produced event and sounds like a good race. The best part is that a half-marathon is part of the race festival and Merrill is going to be doing that. Here's to hoping she gets to see me cross the finish line!

There will be many other running races interspersed throughout the year, but these are the biggies. I have some ideas about other triathlons I'd like to do and hopefully finish off the season with a nice race.

One race that I would like to participate in some year is the Nautica Malibu Triathlon. The charity for this race is Children's Hospital Los Angeles, specifically the area of cancer. It would be fun to "crash" this race and represent the CHLA Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia Comprehensive Care Clinic. (Anyone want to help get me there?!?!)

There are many things that I am in need of on my journey. One thing that I would really like/need is a logo. Tri-ing By 50 and everything that it encompasses needs a logo.

Eventually, I will have a website that incorporates my information, events, fundraising and the blog!

Thanks for being along on this journey. My, oh my, this has been a journey!

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To help me through this journey, please visit: gofundme.com/help-triing-by-50-spread-the-word. Any help is appreciated.

One year later and more families are going!

2017-11-14T12:44:00.000-05:00

It has been one year since Dr. Mitch Geffner and the Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia Clinic at Children's Hospital Los Angeles trusted me to speak at The Painted Turtle Camp for the CAH Family Camp. Read all about it at this link: tri-ingby50.blogspot.com/2016/11/the-moment-finally-arrived-what-moment.html. More families are traveling in a couple of weeks and CHLA needs donations to make sure everyone that wants to go may go. You may make donations here: http://connect.chla.org/goto/tri-ingby50.

Meeting those families and their children that are Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia Warriors was a moment that strengthened me and my direction for Tri-ing By 50. Everything that has happened in the last year was built upon that weekend. Building hope, advocating and creating awareness! That is a slogan that carried through to IRONMAN 70.3 Augusta.

Please help in any way that you can. Any amount, no matter how small, will help in a big way.

Thank You!

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If you could help me with my journey please visit my Go Fund Me!

Moving on and moving UP!

2017-10-16T10:04:00.002-04:00

Hello Kitty #Tri_ingWithHK watching the start and finish of the
professional women at the IRONMAN World Championships in Kona, Hawaii.

It has been nearly three weeks since I participated in IRONMAN 70.3 Augusta. There has not been any frustration about not finishing. Definitely disappointment, but no frustration. As the saying goes, "The show must go on!"

What does it mean for me to have the show go on? Well, I took about a week off from doing anything training related. There may have been a very short swim in the pool and a short run, but not much else. After that, I started adding more to the schedule.

The first thing I did...signup for a super sprint triathlon, TriSumter, in Sumter, South Carolina for this weekend, Oct. 21. It is a 300 yard pool swim, 16 mile bike ride and 3.1 mile run. Why did I sign up? It is something that I can finish and I need that. Well, I needed it more at the time I signed up than I do now, but it will be good. I will be driving two hours to race for less than two hours. This time math will make sense to runners, triathletes and anyone else who participates in races.

This is an easy part of the Hartness Half-Marathon.

The second thing we (yes, we) did was sign up for a new half-marathon relay. Merrill and I had been looking at a new half-marathon in Greenville, South Carolina. Hmm, there is a South Carolina theme going on. We have never done a relay and neither one of us was wanting to do a half-marathon. The description of the race said, "Cross-country style run." If running through fields, on double track and single track trails is the meaning of cross-country style then it lived up to its description. The Hartness Half was two loops of that "fun". Merrill and I were exhausted afterwards, but it was really a lot of fun to get out there and do something like this together. I did not take Hello Kitty with me and this will probably be the only time I will say, "THANK GOODNESS!"

What else have I been up to? It is ambassador application time. That means companies are accepting applications to be ambassadors for their products and even some companies have racing teams that you can apply to join. While this can be a disappointing time of year, it can also be a fun time of the year. That happened to me last week. I was accepted to be a member of the Team Revinylize for Bicycle Makeover. This is the first time they are having a team and it would be truly exciting to be a part of this! It is a really cool company that will completely redo the look of your bike. It's not a paint job as Triathlete Magazine tried saying, but a vinyl wrap. It is similar to what is done to race car. I could get a custom wrap that would promote Tri-ing by 50 in the most cool way! Check them out! I will also be applying to be a member of Team INFINIT Nutrition. They are creating their first age-group team. INFINIT is a product I use and believe in for hydration and nutrition on the course. The powder, which is added to water for a drink, is customized for each athlete. So, for me with Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia I can have enough sodium and electrolytes to get me through a race.

Unfortunately, there is a cost to being a part of these teams. It is generally to cover the cost of the team uniform. These costs range between $200-300. After that there are discounts for products and the overall camaraderie and teamwork that comes from being a part of a team. That makes it all worth it. As a low-budget, independent person who is working to bring awareness and hope about CAH these cost are very prohibitive.

If there is any way that you could help with this, I would truly appreciate it. Throughout the year I will be needing some help with training, equipment, race entries and travel. I am expanding my request to explain that doing this is not just for triathlons, but to expand my ability to bring Tri-ing By 50 to people in a variety of forms: visiting conventions and conferences; motivational speaking; website, and any other way that brings hope, advocates and builds awareness for CAH.

To help, please visit my Go Fund Me page at gofundme.com/help-triing-by-50-spread-the-word. Please share this with anyone that may have the opportunity to help. Any amount would be appreciated.

Thank you, as always, for reading!

I need to make changes!

2017-10-03T13:59:00.001-04:00

Meredith Atwood/Swim Bike Mom

Yes, I am aware that is not a picture of my wife, Merrill. This is a picture of Meredith Atwood, AKA Swim Bike Mom and leader of Best Tri Club Ever (FYI, public registration will open up Nov. 1). What you see in this picture is pure joy, and also her true personality coming out after 70.3 miles of swimming, biking and running at IRONMAN 70.3 Augusta triathlon. This was not my experience, as I have written about.

Meredith is an amazing athlete. Also, she has the friendliest, most amazing smile when you are around mile 10-15 of the bike in Augusta. As I was riding at my plodding pace, this bike passes by me with an athlete in the BRIGHTEST outfit. She turns and flashes her smile and says, "Hey, YOU!" It was not the usual comment I was getting about Hello Kitty. It was more of a personal greeting. Unfortunately, at the time I could not for the life of me quite figure out who it was, but I did knew that I knew this person. To be honest, I couldn't figure out much of anything around that time. If Santa Clause came and stood in front of me I may have thought it was the Easter Bunny! Ok, ok, I wasn't that bad.

Who is Meredith? She is a woman who has gone through changes to get to where she is now...an athlete, a wife, a mother, a blogger and a business owner. Most importantly, she is an inspiration...mostly to women, but I know this man is inspired by her. Meredith has overcome big obstacles to get to where she is today.

The changes I need to make are not on the same level as Meredith, but they are changes I need to make in order to get a picture like her's at the finish line of IRONMAN 70.3 Augusta in 2018. I could have easily titled this post, "What Went Wrong!" From the moment I pulled myself out of the race and heard the stinging words, "Number 1780 is a DNF", I never regretted my choice. Nor, did I think for one moment that I had done anything wrong.

Before the race

One week later

This was a very symbolic moment when I cut this off. Wearing the IRONMAN 70.3 wristband was a badge of honor for me. Even though I did not finish, it still meant I tried.

Now, I move on! What's in the past is there and will stay. I need to move forward and get ready for next year. I have already started that by signing up for a sprint triathlon in 2 1/2 weeks. As soon as I got home, I was feeling unaccomplished. I needed to finish an event. That is why I will be participating in TriSumter on Oct. 21. Also, on Saturday, Oct. 7 (this Saturday), Merrill and I will be doing something we haven't done. We are going to run a relay half-marathon, Hartness Half. I am really excited about this. I hope Merrill is, also.

Something else that needs to change is this:

Yes, I am slouching in the chair...a little bit. Yes, I am wearing a skin tight shirt. That belly has got to go. I believe there are a couple factors at work, one of which may be an increase in medication, but that is not the whole reason. I haven't been disciplined in my eating habits. This will be difficult, but MUST be done. Every extra pound is extra work while swimming, biking and running. I can't have that again.

The last thing that MUST change is training. I know that I was under-trained for Augusta, but truly hoped I could get it done. That under-training with CAH created a perfect situation on the bike and is why I had to stop. Getting injured or worse was not worth the risk of continuing. Merrill and I will be doing, FINISHING, together, Tobacco Road Marathon together in March. Our training will be together and when we have done that the discipline is there. We both had this happen for Marine Corps Marathon two years ago. As I read in a Facebook group, somewhat sarcastically, triathlon training is just training for a half-marathon/marathon with some cross-training of swimming and biking thrown into the mix. It's not that easy, but I really like the description becasue I have run many half-marathons and a marathon.

So, yes, there will some change in my life. It's nothing drastic. Things that need to be done will be done! I truly appreciate all the encouragement I continue to receive on this journey.

Soon I will write about how my hope-building, advocating and awareness-building are constantly reworking for the better. There are some truly amazing things happening which I cannot talk about quite yet. One thing I can talk about is that I am going to be rewriting my GoFundMe story. My fundraising goal is no longer to just get me to Augusta. It is to help me spread the word about Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia. One of those ways, which is a major one, is training and participating in IRONMAN 70.3 Augusta. Speaking at conferences and to groups are other ways. Creating more of a web presence would help in other ways.

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To help me continue this journey, please visit: gofundme.com/help-triing-by-50-spread-the-word. Any help is appreciated.

My IRONMAN 70.3 Augusta journey

2017-09-29T14:50:00.003-04:00

Camp Cortisol shirt!

On Sunday, September 24 I participated in one of the toughest events I've done, IRONMAN 70.3 Augusta. This was an amazing experience and one that I have learned and grown from. I want to say Thank You and I Love You to my beautiful wife, Merrill! Without her, I would not have been able to any of this craziness.

Hello Kitty is ready

The mess on my wrists.

Pre-race selfie!

That's my blue back!

This is my swim wave. I am in there somewhere.

That's me on the far right coming out of the water.

Last picture of me. Heading out on the bike.

As many of you may know, I did not finish this race. Between miles 22 and 23 on the bike I decided to DNF (Did Not Finish). While this was extremely disappointing, I did it on my own and was the absolute correct choice. With Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia it is not good to push the body to a point where the solu-cortef shot needs to be used or worse, I ended up in the back of an ambulance on the way to the hospital. Why did this happen? A combination of things beginning with being undertrained. Due to that my body just could not keep up with what it was being asked to do. Also, the weather was HOT!

The hardest part of doing what I did was when I saw Merrill for the first time after being brought back to where the bike transition was. She was worried about how I was mood-wise that there were tears behind her sunglasses. I think It's best she had those becasue I would have joined her. In reality, I was at, and still am, at peace with my decision.

I am not upset at all. This was such a learning experience. The things that happened in the race will be used to train more effectively for 2018! Yes, I will be back. This is not the end of me or Tri-ing By 50!

Decision: I have made the decision to not attempt a full IRONMAN in 2018. Training and preparing for Augusta again will only make me stronger and more prepared for the following year, 2019. While it is early, the plans are being laid for an incredible meeting at IRONMAN Chattanooga. That's all I will say.

What is the best takeaway from the race? This is what makes me the most proud. I brought SO MUCH awareness to Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia. Everyone who passed me made a comment about Hello Kitty. A few asked why I had her. Another person asked in response to Hello Kitty's "Ask me about CAH" button, "What am I supposed to ask you about?" I proceeded to answer. Yes, I did this while riding a bike and someone speeding past me! :) Posting my picture brought even more awareness. THEN, someone asked the question in the picture. At this point, I knew that what I was doing was the absolute best thing.

One final THANK YOU goes to all the CAH Warriors, whether you live with it, are a parent or family member. Your support through the past year has been amazing. Your support after Augusta has been even more amazing. I am doing this for myself, of course, but also for all of you! There will be some things coming up in the future that will be a tremendous honor.

Remember this is Tri-ing By 50 and Tri-ing With HK! Hope providing, advocating and awareness building are what it's always been about and will continue what it's about.

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To help me through this journey, please visit: gofundme.com/help-triing-by-50-spread-the-word. Any help is appreciated.

A practice run, half marathon-style

2017-09-14T09:41:00.001-04:00

Merrill and I truly enjoy going to Virginia Beach for the Labor Day Weekend! It's become a tradition the past four years to go there. Why, you ask? Answer: Rock 'n Roll Virginia Beach Half-Marathon.

Ready for the weekend!

The past two years have been a tough drive there. Last year, we drove through Tropical Storm Hermine to get there. The whole story is here! This year, we drove through the remnants of Hurricane Harvey. This adds at least an hour to the minimum 5 1/2 hour drive. We were supposed to arrive in Virginia Beach around 10:30 p.m.. We finally pulled into the hotel around 12:40 a.m.

Looking scruffy due to a long drive and early morning.

Saturday morning came VERY Early. Thankfully, our hotel was close to the start of the Mile in the Sand. What is this you say? Exactly what it says. A one mile "run" in the sand. The first year we did this, Merrill and I learned that running in loose sand is not fun. Since it had rained Friday night, the sand was wet. This meant not wearing our flip flops. So, we set out on our walk together in our backup running shoes and crossed the finish line together. Oh, I should say one of us, Merrill, somehow finished 3 seconds before I did.

Mile in the Sand medal.

Saturday is when we go to the Race exposition to get our race bibs and shirts. Since we had signed up at last year's race, I had forgotten that Tri-ingBy50 was going to be out on my bib. Somebody was excited!

Hello Kitty was so excited that the bib said Tri-ingBy 50

The OTHER bed in the hotel room.
Good thing no one else came with us!

Sunday morning did not start out as early as it has in the past three years. Our hotel was only about 1/10 of a mile from the start line. Wake up, get ready and walk. That was SIMPLE! Hello Kitty was filled up with my INFINIT Nutrition hydration. The INFINIT provided the electrolytes I need and worked perfectly. I never felt drained or worn out.

Never miss the pre-race selfie! It never gets old.

Tri-ing By 50 and Camp Cortisol side-by-side!

When we signed up for the race last year, we did it with the intention of running the whole race together. We have not done that in any race before.

The race was fantastic. Not much to say, other than I love running through the Virginia Beach neighborhoods. This year running through Camp Pendleton (Not the California Marine Corps base) was the first year that Merrill and I saw activity. There were families and service members. I saw Navy, Army and I believe Air Force members.

A funny thing happened during the run. I had my hydrocortisone tablets all set to take every hour. After I took my first dose of 3 tablets I realized something...these are not the 5 milligram tablets I took for my last races. These are 10 milligrams. Oh well. Merrill did say our pace picked up after that, but I don't believe it was a cause and effect situation. I adjusted to take two tablets the next time. Now I know what to do for Augusta.

About half-way through the race, Merrill said to me that she was impressed with the pace that I had going. Truthfully, I have not trained much for the during preparation for IRONMAN 70.3 Augusta. My unspoken goal for the race was to finish under 3-hours. Merrill told me she thought we'd be somewhere over 3-hours. Finishing time: 2 hours 52 minutes!

As we came to the finish line, I took Hello Kitty off my back and carried her so that people would see her. The announcer who stands right before the finish saw her and gave a high-5! There are some fantastic pictures of her, Merrill and I holding hands as we crossed the finish line and other pictures after the race!

Here are two of my favorite post-race pictures:

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Here is a link to my GoFundMe: gofundme.com/help-triing-by-50-spread-the-word

Bib #1780

2017-08-24T09:02:00.002-04:00

It is OFFICIAL! This is who I will be on September 24, 2017 for IRONMAN 70.3 Augusta...#1780. One month from today, I will enter the water of the Savannah River in Augusta, Georgia and swim downstream to the first transition area. Then get on my bike and finally run. It's that simple.

Simple is not really what it is, but I like to oversimplify at times. This is one of those times. In the past few days I have had a feeling that I also felt in 2015, one month before Marine Corps Marathon. It's a "sick" to the stomach feeling. Nerves, anxiety and questioning are running through my body and mind.

One month left to train and get ready. One month to drive Merrill crazy with all my talk about the race and what I read about it and how I am doing. Bless wives and significant others during this time. Thankfully, I know what it like because we both went through it in 2015 and also for her other marathons.

I keep having the reminders of why I am doing this, beyond for myself. I am doing it for the Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia/Adrenal Insufficiency Warriors and their families. I am doing it for the CAH Clinic at Children's Hospital Los Angeles.
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Here is a link to my GoFundMe: gofundme.com/help-triing-by-50-spread-the-word

Camp Cortisol and IRONMAN 70.3 Augusta Training

2017-08-14T14:32:00.000-04:00

April 5
If you are interested in attending Camp Cortisol, we would love to have you. So many of us parents are inspired by your story. - Rebecca Lemley

That is a message I received after my story from Children's Hospital Los Angeles was posted. Come to find out it had been passed around by many people throughout the country. I have to be honest it took a few weeks to consider this offer. I kept coming up with excuses: It's too far. I don't know what to expect. I'll be in the middle of training. Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah. Yep, I do believe those words were actually said out loud and in my head. There's a lot that is said in my head, but that would be too long of a blog post.

Ok, well, back to the story at hand.

With my wife's urging ("Why wouldn't you go?) and Rebecca being VERY persuasive, I said yes.

Camp Cortisol, located at Children's Harbor at Lake Martin in Alabama, is a new family camp created by Rebecca for families of children with Adrenal Insufficencies. I was representing the insufficiency of Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH).

See the bike in the back?

I loaded up my car with the bike, training clothes and those clothes you wear when not training. See, I am wearing a collared shirt in the picture. There was the agonizing in the back of my mind question that went on for quite a ways down the road. "Did I remember my medicine?!?!" (I am sure I am not the only one that ~~thinks~~ worries about that!) There were a couple of messages from The Wife to say that I did indeed forget something (pillow and a blanket), but nothing of importance. The drive was to take about 6 hours-ish with no stops. Hello Kitty insisted on stopping at all three state welcome centers (South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama) and to stop for a lunch. This set us back about 45 minutes.

Around 3:30 p.m. I pulled into the camp, with what I am sure was the most lost look that one could have, to check in. I was in Cabin 5B. This is the view from Cabin 5B:

Next door was Elesha. She is also an adult with Adrenal Insufficiency. She's a runner and one time triathlete!

After prepping dinner I sat down for a nice meal with the Gander family. They came all the way from Texas. We talked about what I am doing and they told me that in the past they have worked medical at IRONMAN Texas in the Houston area.

I looked around and was amazed at the number of families, about 44, and children that were there. That included those with adrenal insufficiencies and siblings. There were infants, toddlers, elementary school aged and pre-teens. Talking with these parents, as it was when I went to Painted Turtle Camp last year, was the most enjoyable time. This went on all weekend. I kept being told, "Thank you for being here and showing us that there are active adults." In return, it was my honor to be there. I enjoyed seeing all those with the medical bracelets and ID. The children would gasp when they saw that I was wearing one, also.

On Saturday, I got up in front of the lunch crowd to talk about who I was, who I now am and what I am doing. No longer was I "The (crazy) man with Hello Kitty," but Brian Hacker who has CAH and is training for a Half-IRONMAN. Rebecca had joked with someone that wouldn't it be funny if I got up on top of a table to get everyone's attention. Well, I didn't know about that conversation, but I did not disappoint her.

While not meeting families and enjoying the littles that were at the camp, I did get in some training for IM 70.3 Augusta. There was running, riding and an open water swim! The run was done in 77 degrees with 87% humidity. The ride was short, but fantastic training for cornering and turns. I think I am now comfortable on the bike. The swim was an experience. I believe it was about .4 miles from shore to buoy and back.

Run

Swim

Bike

It was hard to say goodbye, but I needed to head home. After a stop at Piggly Wiggly for a gift, Hello Kitty and I headed to Auburn University for a visit. Being there during a non-football weekend was really enjoyable. Hello Kitty had so much fun! We will need to head there this fall for a game.

We eventually got home around 7 p.m. What a tremendously fun and rewarding weekend. There are too many people to thank and I don't want to leave anyone out. I will thank Rebecca for taking the risk and inviting me to come. I still don't believe what I am doing. Never in my life, well 48 years of it, did I imagine that I would be a beacon of hope for so many.

I can't wait for next year!

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Here is a link to my GoFundMe: gofundme.com/help-triing-by-50-spread-the-word

A new house, vacations and two months left

2017-07-25T10:36:00.002-04:00

My first Tri-ing by 50 labeled apparel.

It has been too long since I have written a blog post. There has been a lot going on in the world of Tri-ing By 50. Let me sum it up:

Our new house in Matthews.

1) We had our townhouse on the market. We had an offer on it in 12 days. Yep, last time we had it on the market three years ago it was a long time with no offers. This meant we needed to find a house for ourselves. After 8 or 9 offers we made (a couple of houses were double offers) there was the luck of a house we thought was perfect. I went in the morning, Facetimed with Merrill, made an offer, went back with Merrill for her first look and then the next day we had out offer accepted. All of this can be summed up with one word STRESS!

2) There was the packing up a house that Merrill live in for 18 years. She was the original owner. I lived there for about 5 years. Boxes piled up on boxes, upon boxes, upon boxes... By the time we were done packing there really wasn't an inch of floor not covered by some type of box. About the only spots not covered were the beds and walking space. One word can sum this all up: STRESS!

3) Moving. Those boxes piled up at the townhome needed to be moved to our new home. They are now there. Many have been unpacked, but there are still some that still need attention. The animals - Cookie the dog, Hannah and Screamer cats have adjusted. It took about a week, but I believe they are comfortable. One word describes this process: STRESS! (are you seeing a pattern, yet?)

4) Vacations. These are not stressful except when you're selling a house and moving. The first trip was to Hilton Head Island with the whole family - Merrill, Me, Molly, Gloria and Maggie. We went here last year and really enjoyed it, so this year we decided to head back. I believe this will become an annual trip for the Hacker family. Hilton Head seems to be the place where we get the perfect family portraits!

Merrill, Me, Molly and Gloria (Back) and Maggie

Me and Hello Kitty enjoying the beach after a run with Merrill.

Of course, Merrill and I ran a 5K on Independence Day in Hilton Head!

Our second trip was to visit my father for his 80th birthday celebration! He and his wife, Julie, live in Dahlonega. It is a small town in the mountains of Georgia, north of Atlanta. This trip was all the more special since my brother Pat, his wife Monica and daughter Shannon were there also. I hadn't seen Pat and Monica since our wedding five years ago. It had been even longer since I saw Shannon. Merrill and Monica were able to spend more than the five minutes they had at the wedding to talk. Pat, my Dad and I got to be together and get some pictures of the three of us together.

Pat (my brother), Dad, Me. Yes, I do own something besides swim, bike or run clothes.

Unfortunately, there has been one thing that has suffered through all of this...TRAINING! I am getting back to a routine. It may not be perfect, but it is better than nothing. Oh! I got a new bike. No more mountain bike. This is exciting.

Two months until IRONMAN 70.3 Augusta!

Through all of this, there are two constants - My support for Children's Hospital Los Angeles CAH Clinic and my support of those families dealing with CAH!

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If you could help me in any way, no amount is too small, please visit: Go Fund Me.