How did I get into this?

Jim always talked about some big race in Wisconsin and though that I should do it but I always blew it off.

In March of 2005 my neighbor Doc, with some coaxing from Jim I'm sure, brought over an entry form and told me if I got in I was going with him. I got in. I started riding my Mountain bike, a late 90's Specialized hard tail I bought from Jim a couple years earlier, on the road.

In May MDU (parent company of Knife River, where I work) annonced a team weight loss contest. 20 person teams of employees had 9 months to lose as much weight as they could and the first three teams would split $100,000! $60k for 1st, $30k for 2nd and $10k for 3rd place.

It wasn't long and I bought a road bike, a Trek 1500, and started riding longer and even a few group rides. I managed to get out 2-3 time per week and logged a whole 67 hours of riding from April until Cheq.

I had lost over 30 pounds before Cheq finished in 3 hours and 21 minutes. By the time February rolled around I had another 60 hours riding (mostly indoors on the trainer), lost 45 pounds total and had an extra $3,000 in my pocket.

Spent most of my winnings on a used Trek Fuel from one of the Sovas and in the 2006 Cheq clocked a 3:01, my best ever.

The next two years I finished with a 3:09 and a 3:03, both were disappointing and way off of my goals.

So now I am thinking about it way too much, reviewing spilts from the past 4 years, recalling where I started, what I ate for breakfast (McDonalds in 2007, Yuck) and how much I ate and drank during the race. It's really wirthless for me to be at work, I can't get anything done.

After cutting 40 minutes off of last year's time at the King of the Rockies a couple weeks ago I was thinking Cheq was going to be a breeze, then I came to my senses.

After all that my goals are pretty much the same as the last two years, I am going to be really bummed with over three hours, happy with a 2:5x, and ecstatic with a 2:4x.

There, now I can put it out of my mind until Saturday. Right.