Wednesday, July 22, 2009

MELLISA'S ROAD RACE ANOTHER SELL-OUT!!


Another Melissa's Road Race just a few months away and once again the race is sold out. People just love Melissa's and I have many fond memories of the 10k course.


I took this picture yesterday, (July 21, 2009)and the race start and finish for the Melissa races is just to the left. Actually, I took the picture from the bridge that is on the run course and takes the runners into the downtown area and the "big hill" on the 10k course.

Back in the days when I was running around the 38 minute mark for the 10k distance, I knew it was only a matter of time and passing years before I would struggle to stay under 40 minutes.

Melissa's was the first 10k race where I went over the 40 minute mark. For several years I could maintain around the 38:30 mark and then go to Melissa's in the Fall and be back over the 40 minute mark.

No matter how hard I tried, that big hill early in the race would scrub off too much time and I could never make up the lost time over the rest of the course. I would be 40:20 or 40:15 or 40:32 or whatever, but never, ever did I run sub 40 on Melissa's 10k course. I think that's great in many respects, because just trying always kept me at the top of my game going into the winter.

It's important to have personal challenges to keep us motivated and Melissa's will always be special to me because of that. Just the fact that I was inspired to always go as fast as possible in any given year to try and break the 40 minute barrier at Melissa's almost always kept me on top of whatever age-group I was in.

I had the pleasure of meeting Deb(the heart and soul of Melissa's) over the past few days while working in beautiful Banff and I'm glad to report that IRONSTRUCK will have a spot in the Melissa's race expo and I will once again get to be part of Melissa's Road Race, although it will be from a different vantage point.

A BIG THANK YOU TO DEB. IT'S WHEN I MET DEB THAT I REALIZED WHY MELISSA'S IS A MUCH LOVED EVENT ON THE ALBERTA RUN CALENDAR AND WHY IT SELLS OUT EVERY SINGLE YEAR. HER SPARKLING PERSONALITY IS SPREAD THROUGH-OUT THE ENTIRE MELISSA'S WEEKEND AND NOW I KNOW THE SECRET.

Hope to meet some of you if you plan on being among the thousands who will be taking part in Melissa's 2009 edition the last Saturday in September. Come by the Ironstruck table and maybe I can convince you to take a shot at your very first Triathlon OR your very first Ironman.

Get your very own signed copy of Ironstruck or if you like you can download a copy right now at "MINDSET TRIATHLON" where both of my Ironstuck books have broken into the top ten of the several thousand titles they have on-site.

A BIG THANK YOU ALSO TO ALL THOSE WHO HAVE SUPPORTED IRONSTRUCK BOOKS ONE AND TWO AND ARE PUSHING IT TO THE TOP OF THE BEST-SELLER LIST ON MINDSET. VISIT MINDSET TRIATHLON AND HAVE A LOOK FOR YOURSELF AT THE GREAT SELECTION OF DOWNLOAD BOOKS THEY HAVE AVAILABLE.

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