Very Exciting Stuff Coming Up

Couple of things.

Number one, fun group 40 mile ride planned for tomorrow. It'll be the longest ride to date, with the most people to date. Should be a great new experience and I can't wait to tell you all about it. It's like Christmas for you I know.

Number two, can't spill the whole can of beans quite yet, but a very exciting fundraising partnership is in the works. Sorry...that's all I can say for now. Maybe this is mean and I shouldn't have said anything at all, but I'm pretty excited and keeping that in isn't healthy.

Besides that, not too much new over here, hence the radio silence this week. The weather has literally been horrible all week. We had just enough of a break in the rain Wednesday for me to get in the 16 mile loop after work. But other than that, I'm coming up empty this week. Chad is going on the ride with me tomorrow, so we should both get in a little mileage before mileage Monday, but not an impressive training week, that's for sure. On top of that, on Tuesday I agreed to run a half marathon on Memorial Day, which I have not been training for. Becky thought it would be fun to do a race on the Cape that weekend as we'll be hanging out with friends there. She found an event that has a 5K, a 7 miler, and the John Kelley Half Marathon. She's been running a lot this spring and thought that we could do the 7 miler together, ya know, nice little jog, post run food, love it. Then my buddy Jamie caught wind of this and thought he would join the fun. However, as you may have already read, if you read the comments on this blog, that he then proceeded to call me out for doing the wussy 7 miler. Well after some not so careful consideration, I decided I could probably man up and go the 13.1 miles even though I have yet to go for a jog yet this year, so there we are. Oh, and Becky is now going to do the half as well, and will probably run laps around me, should be a great weekend.

More about Me.

Not that you wanted more, but you got it.

So it occurred to me that at some point, it's possible that more than just my two brothers (and my wife when forced) will read this blog. Sooooo, if you are interested enough to read some posts, than you may be interested enough to want to know a little bit more about me. Very egotistical I know, but I'm already writing about myself to no one in particular, so I figure you might as well go all out.

First things first, I'm Clay. Nice to meet you. While I now reside in Connecticut and have for some time now, I was actually born in Iowa. Loved Iowa, still have family there and love to visit, but the East Coast is now home for sure. My parents were great about getting us out to do "New Englandy" stuff when we were kids so living near NYC, Boston, the beach (RI not CT), etc is now a must for me.

As you already have figured out, I have 2 brothers, one older, Chad, and one younger, Clint. Contrary to common beliefs, I liked being the middle child and we get along great. After this century ride experiment I may harbor some ill will towards those who conned me(not really) into this, but I'll take it like a man and bury it somewhere deep down inside(also, not really).

I got married last summer, and yes, married life is good, thanks for asking. My wife Becky, is a 3rd grade teacher God bless her, and she loves it. She's wanted to be a teacher her whole life. My 3rd grade teacher was the semi-terrifying Ms. Atkins, who always lost her glasses on her own head and had leather-esk skin due to decades of waaay too much sun, so the kids that get Becky don't know how good they got it. (Sorry if you ever read this Ms. Atkins, but you know it's true)

For some reason I am very prone to trying new things and having a ton of hobbies. I played soccer, lacrosse and swam until college when I finally settled on just swimming. I love to surf, snowboard, run, and it's been a while but I was very passionate about rock climbing for years. While I love to do stuff, it is sometimes hard to get my butt off the couch so I've found that I need an event sometimes to get me motivated. This century ride isn't the first time that I've agreed to do something I really have no business agreeing to. A couple years ago a friend signed up to run a half marathon and I agreed to run it as well. I hoped that with the race looming at the end of the summer maybe I would get out and exercise once and a while. I didn't train quite enough and I struggled a bit in the Virginia sun, but I finished and a new hobby was born. Now I do the VA Beach Rock-n-Roll Half Marathon and the ING Greater Hartford Half marathon every year. This year I entered the lottery for the NYC marathon but I'm not sure if I am dying to get picked or terrified of getting picked.

Cycling is obviously new for me, but I like the challenge that it presents. Learning a whole new way to train, getting to know a whole different group of good people, and riding with my brothers, all in the name of a good cause is very cool to me. Being brand new/terrible at something is humbling, kinda fun, and exciting because the potential to improve is so great. I'm open to any and all help, tips or tricks that would make me into a better cyclist. I know that now and until I really know what I'm doing, I'll be "that guy" while cycling, but I hope to learn the right way to ride, i.e. etiquette, form, rules of the road etc., so I'm not "that guy" forever.

That's enough for now, if I'm tired of writing about myself, you are definitely tired of reading about me. Thanks for the interest and I hope you follow along,. If you can donate in the name of cancer research and survivorship please do.

Thanks