Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Teamwork

When I was in high school I was always a member of a team. Except back then it was a team of individuals. We scored points as a team, but runners and swimmers spend most of there time competing alone. I like it this way. They say to train like you race. Which is perfect, since I spend most of my time training alone At least that was true until recently. I have actually become a member of two teams.

The first is a virtual marathon training team. Team Point Two was developed and is advised by John Ellis. This team takes a group of seven marathoners with varying abilities and experiences, all with the goal of making their next marathon faster than the last. We are supported by a group of advisors, as well as The Runners Round Table. This is a part of the Run-Net Community as Steve Runner refers to it. All I know is that it is a whole lot of fun. I am getting support from some great people and great runners. I have also been able to offer the same. I still don't truly know what to expect from this experience; I just appreciate the opportunity to be part of such an amazing team.

My other team is a bit closer to home. A couple of weeks ago I approached two of my employees about putting a team together and participating in my first triathlon of the year. The Razor City Splash and Dash Triathlon took place in Gillette, Wyoming over the weekend. This is the same race that had blizzard conditions last year. This year was a different story. The conditions were optimal; even though we encountered snow while traveling to and from the race. For the race you are allowed to build a relay team and the swimmer is also able to compete as an individual in the full triathlon. That is what we did, building a team to compete for the corporate cup trophy. I swam and competed in the full individual race, finishing third overall. My elbow hasn't fully recovered from the crash, but I felt like my swim went well. Next up was Sage, on the bike. He is a 30 year old Worland native that is less than six months off a major knee surgery. He spent most of the winter rehabbing and took up spinning at the local health club; while he was unable to run. He had only been on an actual road bike twice in the two weeks prior to the race. He is a powerful rider, with a lot of will power. Sage was able to maintain a 20 mph average speed over the hilly 17 mile course. The final leg was Myles. Myles is a former high school teammate of mine, as well as a collegiate track and cross country runner. His family all came out to watch and cheer us on. The three of us are grateful to work for a program that provides us the opportunity to work out for an hour each day. Our goal was to capture the corporate prize and hopefully set a course record. We were able to accomplish both. Breaking the old corporate course record by over 6 minutes. It was great to be a part of this team. We had a lot of fun and look forward to returning next year to defend our crown.