363 Days and Counting - 1st Ever Perkins Twins Ironman Smackdown

It's official... Dan and I are IN for Ironman Wisconsin 2007, thus kicking off the first ever Perkins Twins Ironman Smackdown.

At 9:00 am Mountain tine this morning, the Active.com website went live for registration for Ironman Wisconsin 2007 (affectionately known as Ironman Moo), and I was there! 25 minutes later, I had my registration in hand as I waited for Dan and my friend, Matt, to let me know they were in. The race sold out in just under an hour. Fortunately, Dan made it in, but Matt did not. We're hoping he might be able to appeal it as there seemed to have been server errors on Active's part, but we aren't too hopeful.

Matt and I did Moo in 2004, and I had what I considered to be a banner day, finishing in just under 12:30. I would love to have finished in less than 12 hours, but I know I was underprepared for the hills on the bike outside Madison. A hard effort to get a 6 hour bike split left me pretty decimated for the marathon, and I shuffled my way to a 5 hour split.

This year, I face a different type of hurdle. Laura and I are expecting twins in about 3-4 weeks, and I know it's goign to be really hard to juggle family, work and Ironman. I've made a commitment to my family not to get too self-involved this time around, and Laura holds a fail-safe in the right to veto my participation if she feels I've crossed the line.

We shall see how it goes. Only 363 days 'til race day!!!