Baby Girl!

On July 4th, 2008, Emilia delivered us a beautiful and healthy baby girl! Mother and daughter are healthy and happy. We are extremely happy and can't even begin to explain how this feels. My head is still in the clouds!

As you can imagine, the weeks prior to the birth have been full of anticipation and restless nights. Now it has happened, it is simply amazing!

Understandably, I have been quite bad at updating this blog but hopefully I can quickly summarize the racing news now...

After Ironman 70.3 Austria, I took about one week of little or no training to recover. Two weeks after Austria was the Finnish short distance duathlon championships and it was one of my smaller goals for the year to win. Unfortunately, with a tough half ironman still fresh in my legs, I was unable to move one step higher on the podium from last year. Again, I was relegated to second by the strong Tuukka Miettinen who was in good form and tuning up for UK 70.3 the following weekend. While second place was not what I would have chosen, I did end up with a good consolation prize... a new motor scooter!

Next on the calendar was the Forssa 1/2 marathon, which was a last minute addition to my schedule as recommended by my coach Mika Luoto. I really do need to focus on my running as that is the only part holding me back from reaching my current goals. The event in Forssa is the 2nd largest running race in Finland and attracts many top runners. I took the tactic of trying to pace off Mika who was also targeting a 1:10 finishing time. After 10km I was on track with a time of 33:30 at that point. Unfortunately, the group I was in started to accelerate of a small hill and that was the end for me. Once I got dropped from that group my pace could no longer be maintained and I ran the remainder of the race by myself loosing time ever stride. Finishing in 1:14 was slightly disappointing, but understandable as I had no time to prepare for this event.

Next up was our club's own event the Juhannus or midsummer triathlon. While the event is small, we always make it competitive for the top spot and last year I was beaten by the veteran Kai Söderdahl. This year I was determined to win despite my very sore legs from the 1/2 marathon. I suffered through the choppy swim and put in a maximum effort in the bike to give almost a 2 minute lead in less than 20kms. Then it was just suffering through the run, which felt like hell from my sore legs.

About 10 days after the Juhannus triathlon was another small event in Kisko where I hoped to test my form. Once again, I got through the swim well and stayed with Mika then put in another strong bike to have more than 2 minutes advantage starting the 10km run. Everything was going well until the 2.5 km mark where there was a water station. I had no idea if there was 2x5km laps or one 10km out and back. So when I reached the 2.5km mark and did not see any sign to turn around, I kept running. The 2 people at the water station said something to me but never tried to stop me. After 500m I knew something was wrong. I turned around and stared to run back, but it was too late. My advantage over Mika had been erased and he was now about 1 minute infront of me. Angry was an understatement and I tried to push hard to make up the difference. In the end, Mika waited just before the finish line to give a sportsman-like finish and share the win.

Now, I have only one week before Joroinen 1/2 Ironman nationals. I had originally hoped to win this event after finishing 2nd last year. Now I will have to decide if I race at all. The combination of having a baby and some lingering leg problems from running will have to be balanced with my desire to win. In addition I am only four weeks away from my larger goal in Antwerp 70.3 where I hope to qualify for world championships. For now I will just continue to enjoy the time with Emilia and my new daughter, then decide later this week if I race Joroinen.


Thats all for now... time to get back to the hospital to see my ladies!

Best wishes,
Darby