"Do what you like, like what you do"

This familiar motto from the Life is Good company is a phrase that most people have seen but I don't think a lot of people have considered how powerful a statement it is. It is to me any way.

Living this phrase is not easy, nor should it be. I know that it has taken me a long time to find a career path that combines my personal and professional passions - but it has happened. In June I started a new adventure as head of marketing for Montague Bikes. Even though I only started a few months ago I can say with certainty that I'm doing what I like and like what I do. In fact, I've been so busy liking it, it's been several months since I've been able to update this blog.

You'll see some changes to this blog as a result of my recent change.  I have struggled with what to do with my place on the web - how do I combine in one place my passion for cycling, running, swimming, triathlon, endurance sports, marketing, social media and technology?  My solution up to this point has been to maintain two separate blogs, one covering the sports side of me and the other covering my professional interests of marketing and technology.

Just as I've found a role that combines all these things professionally, I've combined the two blogs and will cover all topics in this one place.  I love what I do and the industry I do it in and look forward to sharing my new adventure! 

Catching up

Hanging out the with the Tour de France devil at EurobikeWow! It's been a long time since I got a blog post up. To bring everyone up to speed, here's the short version of why.

After my DNF at Lake Placid last year and with my 40th birthday this year I decided in early 2010 that while I couldn't get back to Ironman to redeem myself just yet, I wanted to do something big.

After doing some research and talking to friends I decided on the Vermont 50 ultramarathon. I had never run longer than a marathon before and in the long term I thought it would help with the mental and physical stamina needed for my next Ironman attempt.

Soon thereafter I landed a dream job as the Marketing Manager for a bike company which meant a trip to Interbike. However, Interbike ended the day before the Vermont 50 which meant no go on the Vermont 50, so, I looked for a different race, and found the Rhode Island 6-hour Ultramarathon in November.

Training was progressing well until the trade show time in September. While it severely limited my training, I felt privileged to be able to go to Eurobike in Friedrichshafen, Germany and Interbike in Las Vegas in September. But, between the travel, jetlag and 12+ hour days at each one week show, I missed several key long runs.

Unfortunately this left me playing catchup on my training. If you've ever tried to play catchup on any endurance sports training you'll soon find out that it just doesn't work that way.  First I injured my achilles and missed 2 long runs. Then on my last 20-miler I was getting severe IT band pain.

So, after consulting with my coach and family I made the decision not to do the ultramarathon. It was a very disappointing decision but it's the way life turned out this year.

And so now I start planning for the next event. Now that I've settled in as the Marketing Manager for Montague Bikes I hope to be able to update this blog on a more frequent basis.

I'm very fortunate to be working in an industry I'm passionate about in a field I'm also passionate about. It's providing me with incredible experiences that I want to share and hope this blog will be the medium that allows me to do that.

Thanks for staying tuned!