Mackinaw City Triathlon turned Duathlon

Rachel, Kennedy, and I went up to Cheboygan Saturday afternoon to stay with Rachel's grandma. She only lives about 15 minutes from the Mackinaw race start so it was perfect. Plus, it's always nice spending time with "Mema." She had only seen Kennedy briefly at the hospital after she was born so she was excited to spend time with her too.

I was looking forward to this race as it's one of the nicest ones on the Michigan circuit. It usually brings some decent competition as there are a lot of fun things to do in Mackinaw, besides it just being a beautiful area. Mackinaw is right where the two big Michigan peninsulas meet.

Training had been going well, but I crushed myself all the way until Friday so not much rest at all heading into this event. I figured my legs would come right, but even on Saturday I could tell I was underpowered during my shake out ride and run.

I'll admit I had a little extra motivation for this race with Kennedy being there. I want her to always give everything her best effort and even though she doesn't know quite what's going on yet, she'll be able to look back at pictures when she gets older of her at races and see what kind of athlete/person her Dad was and is. Winning in life is sometimes up to uncontrollable things, but effort is something you can always determine and I want that instilled in my children just as my parents instilled that in all my brothers and sisters. It's no mistake the way we've all turned out.

The other thing that has motivated me some as of late is how most people I talk to about triathlon tell me I won't be able to compete at the same level with having children. Sure there will be sacrifices on my end for my family, but that does not mean I can't stay or even elevate the level I'm at right now in triathlon. I won't ever neglect my family to do so, but if I choose to do the sport I will be giving it my best. I think people say those things because that's how it was for them. I don't feel I'm the norm, especially when it comes to pushing my body to the limit in training and racing. I am blessed to have a little talent, but the reason I haven't lost a multisport race since being back in Michigan is because of how hard and smart I train.

Finally, to the race. They cancelled the swim because Lake Huron was quite rough. I guess it depends on where you're from, but it would have been challenging conditions especially for those new to the sport. In VA Beach, most if not all of our ocean front triathlons were in similar conditions if not worse. Most people there grow up living in those waters though so it does make a difference. They decided to replace the swim with a 2 mile run. I would have rather swam, but as soon as they made the announcement I started to come up with a slightly new game plan. When the gun went off, I wanted to test out to see what I was dealing with. From the gun I was off the front, but a couple guys weren't too far behind. First mile was 5:15 and then I toned it back a bit the 2nd mile so I wouldn't be spent and trying to recover the early part of the bike. 2nd mile was 5:25 pace or just under. As soon as I got on the bike the legs felt strong. Getting out of town the first couple of miles was a mess with the race organizers having bikers going out on the same side of the road as runners were coming back from the 2 mile run. There were also a couple of cars to go around. Oh well, there seem to be obstacles at every race so you just deal with them and keep racing. I wanted to have a solid ride, so I kept the pedal down to the halfway point to see where I was at. I was up a minute at that point and b/c of how the first run went I figured that would be enough, but why settle for that? I kept on pushing before letting up the last mile or so to get the legs ready to run. Hopped off and got right into a good pace of about 5:35 for mile one. From there I let the pace slip a bit, but held it under 5:55 pace for the 2nd 2 miles. I was up 2 min. at the turn around and being only a 5k that would have been impossible for anyone to make that up unless they ran a sub 4 min. mile pace the last 1.5 miles and no one in the world can do that off the bike. It was nice being able to cruise it in a bit and say hi to my family who was watching. It has been awesome sharing these races with my parents and siblings, Daniel and Christina. Daniel once again was one of the youngest of not the youngest participant in the 5k run. He loves it and it's a lot of fun seeing him out there.

I was happy with my overall effort yesterday. There was some very solid competitors yesterday as a few guys who normally finish in the top 3 at races around the state were pushed back a few slots with a couple out of state people and then some athletes from the Detroit area...besides a couple of guys from northern Michigan who typically find themselves at the pointy end of the field.

Big shout out to Ryan Hamilton and Matt Stafford, two athletes I coach, for coming up to cheer everyone on. They both rocked Racine 70.3 last weekend so weren't quite ready to jump in another race, but they came up to support friends and that was really nice of them.

That's about it for me as I'm off for an easy run to shake out the gunk in the legs from yesterday. I'll throw up some pictures once Rachel puts them on the computer. Not sure what race is next, but I'll likely do a few more of the Michigan races and then at least one more bigger race this fall. Leaning towards Muskoka 70.3 right now.

Thanks for reading. Train Hard!

Kennedy Elisabeth Smith

Here she is...the little one we've been anxiously waiting for these past 9 months. Kennedy Elisabeth was born Tuesday night at 10:58PM and was a little 5 lbs. and 18 inches. Words cannot express the experience and it's such a miracle. I don't know how in the world someone could have a baby and not believe in God. She has stolen both of our hearts and we are loving every minute. Thanks so much to all our family and friends who have supported us through this and will continue to do so. If you only knew little Kennedy how much you are already loved...

East Jordan Tri and Mark Mellon

It's been far too long since I've posted a blog, but I'd been busy with all kinds of stuff since school got out (training, basketball camp, master's class, etc.). I will sit down and write a longer blog soon, but will probably wait until our baby arrives which should be any day now with Rachel's due date being the 9th of July.

I had a rough one at Eagleman. Those conditions (90 and humid) are tough to race in when you live in N. Michigan and train in temps that rarely if ever are above 80. I hate having that as an excuse, but it's there and a big reason why I failed to meet my goals for that race. Life goes on though and I've won races the past two weekends by a good margin. I knew my fitness was high after a great spring of training, but when a race like Eagleman happens the best thing you can do is race again to get your mojo back. It worked and I'm looking forward to another nice training block before I hit some races later in the summer.

This past Saturday was the Mark Mellon triathlon and 5k that my family puts on. We did it last year for the first time and we knew we had some improvements to make and I think we did that for this year's event. We received a ton of compliments and people really enjoyed the event. A lot of work goes into these events, even with only a little over 200 participants. We had a ton of help from all kinds of locals and we are very thankful for that. Our timing and race site set up was done by Runner's Edge Race Timing and they did a fantastic job once again. We had no major hiccups to speak of and they played a big role in that. So many races today don't do enough to make the experience awesome for the athletes and spectators. We tried hard to do both and I think the people who were there on Saturday really enjoyed the atmosphere. It didn't hurt we had almost perfect weather! My brother Mike won the sprint tri and then I won the Olympic race so that was a lot of fun...for the 2nd straight year! My two sisters, Mom, and little brother raced too. Chrissy who is 16 did her first tri and did very well for her first race. She loved it too! Jenny, Daniel, and my Mom did the 5k. It's so cool having your whole family involved in an event like this. Literally my entire family helped in some fashion on Saturday. We're so blessed to say the least.

Priority number one is now Rachel and this baby (not that they won't always be #1) so we'll be doing everything we can to make this birth a good experience. I know Rachel will do great...as will our baby. Rachel is tougher and more positive than most any girl I've met and that baby has a stubborn Dad, especially when it comes to pain and endurance...from what everyone tells us that pretty much sums up the birthing process!

Next time I write I'll have lots of pictures of our new arrival:)

Thanks for stopping by.