Ironman Wisconsin 2012

Yesterday I got up early and registered for Ironman Wisconsin 2012. This will be my third time doing this race.  It's a fun race, and living a mile off the bike course makes this race very easy for me logistically.  I get to train on the course any time I want, and I can sleep in my own bed the night before the race.  

I've been thinking a lot about my 2012 schedule lately, and I think I want to do an early season half ironman to kickstart the season and give me some winter motivation.  I'm undecided on which one to do, but right now I'm leaning toward the 70.3 in Galveston, TX in early April.  I'll do the Liberty Half Ironman in MN in June again, partially because I got a partial refund (in the form of a credit toward 2012) for dropping out this year due to injury, so I can register for pretty cheap. It was a well-run race and I had fun so I'd like to do it again....and MN owes me some decent race weather.  I'm counting on a beautiful day.

As for a July half, I'm undecided.  I really like the July half ironman when training for IMWI so I'll keep that in my schedule, but I can't decide which race I want to do.  Door County is a great race, and I'd like to go back but I'd also like to mix things up a bit.  I'm tempted to do the 70.3 in Racine.  I haven't done that race since Ironman bought it, so it might be fun to return....although I remember the bike course being total crap (bad roads).  I'd like to do the Rhode Island 70.3 in July, but we'll see.  I can only afford so much travel in one year, so if I do Galveston I probably won't do Rhode Island as well.   

I'm also considering doing two iron-distance races next year...meaning, I'm thinking about taking a second shot at The Great Floridian.  I feel like that race got the best of me last time.  But that would mean two iron-distance races within 5 or 6 weeks.  It would be tough, but it's a tempting challenge.  Can I do well in two iron-distance races that close together?  Only one way to find out.

In the meantime, I've got two more big weeks training for Kona and then it's taper time.  I fly out on the 29th of September.  I can't believe it.  Even though I've been training for this race for a full year now, I still can't believe I'm actually going to race the Ironman World Championships.  It doesn't seem real.

When I raced motocross, I spent years dreaming of and trying to qualify for the Amateur National Championships at Loretta Lynn's Dude Ranch in TN and I never came close.  I didn't have it. I wasn't fast enough. So while I've only been dreaming of going to Kona for a few years, I feel like it's been a lifetime.  

I guess some dreams do come true....just not in their original form.