“I was pleasantly surprised to be picked as ‘athlete of the month.’ I feel as though I’m out there mainly to keep in shape as I am getting older and struggling to just keep up with others in the group. This has been a long road getting here. I’ve been a runner off and on since high school. Never an outstanding athlete, but I’ve always enjoyed running. And I thought I knew what I was doing. About ten years ago I ran my first marathon and began doing a few sprint and olympic distance triathlons. After my second marathon, both calves were severely cramped, and I ended up in the medical tent with severe dehydration. A similar problem at my second olympic distance triathlon where both quads cramped so bad that I could barely walk uphill and sort of run downhill. I figured that as a bigger guy, I just wasn’t cut out for these longer distance events. Fast forward ten years later, and I get the bug to do another triathlon and I jump right in and sign up for the CassadagaMan, a 70.3 triathlon in Upstate NY. The bike course has about 3,600 ft in elevation and the run course about 500 ft in elevation. So I pulled out the same old trusty triathlon books that I used previously to look for a half ironman training program since it worked so well last time. A friend suggested that maybe this time I should work with a coach and that suggestion may have saved my life or at least stopped me from injuring myself. He put me in touch with Robin Barth and my life has never been the same. I now realize I would have been dangerously undertrained and truly had no concept of proper hydration and nutrition. I started working with Robin in June 22, about ten weeks before the 70.3. Not much time. She wisely suggested I defer the Cassadagaman to September 2023 and sign up for the Patriots 70.3 in Williamsburg, VA which is a flatter course and also gave us another week of training. To my amazement, Robin got me to the starting line, made the cutoff for the swim with 5 minutes to spare and I completed my first 70.3 distance triathlon in 7:30:02 with essentially 11 weeks of training. Incredibly, I actually felt better finishing this event than I did after any of my marathons or olympic distance triathlons. And I credit that to Robin with her perceptive approach to my workouts, training, and especially hydration and nutrition. My assigned workouts pushed me but were never more than I could handle. I’ve spent my whole life avoiding excessive salt intake and the thought that I need to take in 7,000 mg of sodium, about 1,500 calories, and close to 2 gallons of fluids during my race is just mind boggling. The half ironman in Galveston, TX 4/2/23 was a race that I had been dreaming about for about 15 years and never thought that I could actually do it. My wife grew up in Galveston and we have family there. Two dear friends have been on the kayak support crew for this race for years and I always thought that there would be outstanding sentimental value to do this race. Crossing that finish line in 6:44:26, it really hit home that I finally did it! Again, no cramping at all and no severe dehydration, finishing feeling good. Finally to round out April 2023, I ran the Hyner Trail Challenge with just my underlying baseline of training, 2 trail runs in the prior two weeks and a goal of finishing and feeling good. I was able to do this again, with proper hydration and nutrition during the race. A sincere thank you to Robin and now Leslie and Kristin for improving the overall quality of my life. I am humbled by what you have helped me achieve when many of my contemporaries struggle to get off the couch (and the fact that I now routinely get 6-7 hours of sleep a night!) Lastly, a loving thank you to my wife, Lorrie, for supporting my efforts and giving me the time and opportunity to train for and compete in these events.”