Mission 18 Hour Adventure Race (Finaly)!

Last weekend I raced the Mission 18 hour adventure race presented by DINO (http://www.dinoseries.com/). This was a qualifier for nationals and one more chance to try to accomplish our goal of beating the remarkable Missouri team Alpine Shop. I won't bother writing a full race report because Mike Garrison already did, but I will post the link to his blog and you can check out all the technical details there. http://www.indyrootstock.com/v6/2009/05/2009-mission-18-hr-ar.shtml
Our team was comprised of Matthew Jourdan, Mike Garrison and myself. We knew we had the talent and navigation skills to give Alpine Shop a run for their money, but luck would have to also play into this game. Fortunately, we all felt great for most of the race and we pressed hard finishing in just over 17 hours. We cleared the course and finished about 50 minutes in front of Alpine Shop. We have been trying for 3 years to beat them and FINALLY--with lots of focus, patience and determination; we pulled it off.
I found myself in a very dark place the last few hours of that race. It is ironic how I don't remember the pain of that final 10 mile run/trek to the last check point, but believe me it existed. It would not have been so bad if we weren't pressing hard to keep our lead. The pain from each step got worse and worse with each stride. I don't know what hurt worse, my quads or my feet!
With this race under my belt, I am ready to focus on the triathlon season for the rest of the summer. I have a lot of goals that I want to accomplish and the first one of them being Kansas 70.3 (http://www.ironman.com/) on June 14. In a concentrated effort to qualify for Clearwater, I am going to hit the 70.3 circuit in full force and try to get myself one of those world championship slots. I will have Jason in tow as he continues to try to get his pro card. ROAD TRIP!
I still have lots of work to do in the pool and the Terra Haute race this weekend should give me a great benchmark on my current fitness level. My power is all over the place. I set a new personal best power output for the monrovia time trial a few weeks ago, but I'm struggling to replicate that in my workouts. Now that I have a power meter in my Zipp 808, I should be able to document all of my races and that information will be incredibly valuable.
I am totally 100% focused right now and I am looking forward to the season ahead. I have lots of fun races on the calendar with the grand finale being Ironman Louisville! Of course I hope that the 70.3 and/or the ironman world championships find their way into my fall schedule:)