My day is done

So today was not my day.  It started out great -- my swim was 1:32, right on target.  Even better was that I felt truly amazing, really thought I could do this.  The first part of the bike was going well but the hills got the better of me.  I ended up having to walk up the big ones starting around mile 35/40 and  the smaller ones around mile 55.  
I was at mile 70 and it was 2:00 and I knew doing the final 40 miles in 3.5 hours was just not going to happen.  Eve the smaller hills were making me stop and recover one, two, even three times.
SO many lessons learned by everything this weekend.  I am so proud of what I have accomplished and think that it's time to stick to what I CAN do without sacrificing so many things.  I have a sprint coming up in a couple week with my fiancee (so glad I got her hooked on these things!) and I think next year we may do the Rev 3 Cedar Point half -- if they do the half there again in September.  
I need a much bigger base to be doing the full and who knows in a couple years it may be time to try again.  Then again the sacrifice made by family may just not be worth it.  Who knows what the future holds but I have NO REGRETS about this race.  I'm totally stoked about what I accomplished and have done.
Now it's time to get back to the most important training -- growing and nurturing my relationship with my fiancee in preparation of our wedding in 7 weeks.

I'll post a race report in the near future as it was a totally cool experience!
--Dan

Dan,
You should be proud of yourself, your accomplishment was great!. Your attitude is even better! Congratulations on your upcoming wedding!
Mary

Hey Dan,

I've heard about those hills.  My friend from school got 2nd in his age group the past 2 years in that race (bib #300 this year) and even his stories of them make me feel your pain.

Like I often say, you never know what a race will bring until you experience it on that particular day.  I'm glad you feel like you did the best you could do today with what you had to work with.  I very much understand this, and I also am proud of you and the training and effort you put forth to get here today.  Like you said, maybe in a couple years...  

Take care of yourself and enjoy the wonderful things coming up in your life!  

Linn

Proud of you bro!

Awesome job!
The win is in actually daring to give it a shot!

Congrats on a job well done!  You have much to be proud of!

i was watching your (and Chad's) splits yesterday, i feel for you and am proud for you at the same time.  your attitude is sincerely amazing, i can learn a lot of lessons from you about what is truly important.  great job.  hopefully we'll be able to get a race scheduled some day (hopefully a tri) that we can get a majority of the post-op-pr's together.

Dan you should be proud of what you accomplished.  I want to commend you on your attitude, you have such a healthy perspective on the whole experience.

It sounds like you have come away with a lot of positives and a life long memory to boot.

Congrats again, just the desire and dedication to attempt to undertake this is praise worth.

Scott

You've really got me inspired and I thank you again for sharing.

I even wrote a quick blog post about you today!  (and no, I'm not just trying to pimp my blog)

Dan, Good effort.  So that wasn't your day but look how far you've come and what you gained while training for it.  We're all proud of you.  Looking forward to the full report.  Maybe I'll do the Rev 3 with you next year.  I've been eyeing that one too.

Duane

Dan I tried to post on my phone in Coeur d'Alene but it didn't go through. 

You've got a great attitude man and you need to hold your head up and be proud of what you accomplished.   Rest easy knowing that the IMCDA course is one of the TOUGHEST in the country.  The bike was simply unforgiving.  I struggled all day, flirting with EVERY cutoff time.

I'm sorry that we didn't get to meet up.   Hold your head up dude and keep that positive attitude!  No regrets!   

Chad