It's been quite a while once again since the last Grand National race, which was back at Daytona in March, and I always get asked that question of what it is like to have to wait so long after the first couple of races of the year in Daytona until the next ones. My response has pretty much been the same for the last 13 years, and that is, "Yah, it sucks". Espeacially since I won the last race at Daytona this year, so that makes it even worse having to wait until the next ones. But I have been keeping myself very busy with the family and lots of racing, riding, training, and more. Last February or so my wife DeeDee who is an avid runner, and another friend of ours said that they were going to compete in a 1/2 marathon in the middle of May. I looked at the calendar and seen it was the weekend before Springfield this year, and I had that day open, so I decided to tackle the 13 mile run with them in May, as I thought it would be a good confidence builder for me the week before the next two big races the Springfield Tt and the Mile. I used to run alot right after high school for training and enjoyment, but I got burned out on it after quite a few years of doing it, but I would still run ocassionaly with DeeDee for 4 or 5 miles, but only like a couple times a month, and she runs darn near 4 or 5 times a week. My main training for racing is my stationary bicycle, weights, bicycling, and riding my dirt bike now days, so I was not too sure just how I was going to tackle this 13 mile race, I mean run. Well I knew I was gonna have a race on my hands trying to beat DeeDee, as she had beat me in some other 3 or 4 mile races in previous years. But I was thinking I might just wear her out in 13 miles. hahahaha, yah, right! I knew I had to train for running to let my body be able to make it 13 miles, but I was finding it very hard to take the time to go running, as training for my racing is my primary goal, and training for running is pretty much just putting in alot of running miles down the road. So I had two goals to train for, Springfield and the 1/2 marathon, but the marathon was much lower on my list as far as importance. As the marathon approached, I knew that my body was physically in shape, and my cardio was good too from my main training, but realistically, I think I only ran like 5 or 6 times outside in the last couple of months, but I had rode the heck out of the bicycle and motorcycles. hahahaha

    So in the mean time I also planned on competing in an off road xcountry motorcycle race the day after the marathon an hour from home. Maybe a mistake, but once again I thought if I could tackle this weekend, I would be more than ready for them at Springfield the following weekend. A few days before the marathon, our one buddy "Chuck" we'll call him, backed out of the running race, as a ten mile training run a couple of weeks ago had hurt his foot, and he had been training for this run way more than myself. So I was cussing him, and at the same time wondering if this 13 miles was gonna kick my butt or what. Dang, the farthest I think I have ever ran was 7 miles or so, so I knew it was gonna be tough, but at the same time, I felt my body was ready, but I was not too sure about my feet, as I have always had some issues with feet blistering in certain shoes while running, so I was hoping my new shoes were gonna do the trick with thet problem. I used them a few times at home this month running, and they seemed to be working good for me. So I was now ready. I know my wife  and a few others probably thought I was gonna back out of the run, but that's not how this guy works.

    So the marathon comes and I feel ready, but I threw in a few bandages in my pocket just in case I had blistering probelms. It was a blast to go and do this with my wife, but at the same time it was kind of weird doing this as most of the runners are pretty serious if they are gonna run this far, and pretty anything I do to compete in, I am gonna take serious too. So I was serious too, but not totally ready I knew for it, but if they throw some bikes or anything with wheels into the mix about now, I'll kick their butts. hahaha I ran with DeeDee for a couple of miles, and then after about 3 miles I could tell I needed to pace myself a little better. Everything was going great, as I felt great, but then about mile 5 or so, sure enough, my left foot started hurting down by my little toes. This was not where my feet usually blistered so I just thought I would work through it soon. Then my right foot started hurting in the same spot, then another mile or so later, I could feel my usualy blister places starting to hurt too. So now I'm around mile 6 and I'm pretty sure my feet are blistering and DeeDee is quite a ways ahead of me, but I can still see her at times, maybe a 1.2 mile ahead or so. I knew that she had not seen me since mile one or so, and I really wanted her to know that I was still hanging in there, but my feet were getting very sore. So I started pushing it pretty hard, as I was really wanting to catch her before my feet got too bad. So I work by rear end off and catch her at mile 8 1/2 or so, and I mean I was wooped by the time Icaught her, and when I caught her, I could tell that she was suprised and all I said was that I had to stop and see what I could do with my feet. So after that 5 second conversation, she cruised on and I slowed down and pulled over shortly after that and took my shoes off. I had two pretty good size blisters on the balls of my feet, so I put a couple of big bandaids I had on them and knew I had another 6 miles or so, so I better get going. I ended up still going just fine but painful with my blisters, and DeeDee ended up beating me by two minutes or so. But I was happy as I had finished the 13 miles and still felt pretty good, at least for now,but my legs I could tell were jello for sure.

    The next day at the xcountry race, it was tough. I mean it was a nasty, very muddy two hour race that totally wooped me. I could really tell that the run the day before had taken way more out of me than I originally thought, as I could usually run up front with these guys, but today it was all I could do to actually stand up on the bike and keep riding. My legs were just flat useless out there today. Okay that got me ready for Springfield, right?

    The TT track at Springfield was a much faster design this year, which I felt suited my style just perfect. During practice/qualifying, my bike was working great. My lap times were not the best, as I think I ended up 7th overall, which is not bad, but I wanted more as anybody does. I was in the first heat race with Wiles, Mees, Bonsey and others. My start was not that great, as I came out in  of turn one in the fourth spot. I quickly got by Bonsey as I snuck under him in the right hand corner on the first lap. Wiles was out front and I knew I needed to get past Mees quickly before Henry had the chance to get away. Mees had a little gap on me, but after another lap I caught him, but then I bobbled a little bit and this let him get another gap on me. I did this exact same thing a couple of times, and after each bobble I had, I was able to close it back up on him really quickly, so each time I caught him, this just showed me that I was faster than him and I just needed to get past him. But with this track being alot faster flowing track than usual here, it made for very tough passing. I was right behind Mees once again, and then on the last lap I squared up turn one real nice and got a better drive up to the jump, and then I just hit the jump as hard as I could to try and get past Mees as we were side by side going up the jump. This gave me the drive I needed, as I got under Jared going into the right hand turn. Now with a 1/2 lap to go, Wiles had a good lead and took home the heat race win, with me second and Mees third.

    Wiles which won my heat race ended up having the fastest heat race time of the night, so this gave me a front row start for the final, which is pretty important for this track. I had been kind of struggling all night long with my starts, as I just was not getting the starts that I wanted, and this was really hurting my results so far. I had a pretty good place to start in, and I knew if I got a good start, this one could be mine as much as anyones. At the flash of the green light, I got a good start, as Wiles had the holeshot followed by Schnabel then myself going into turn one. I went to down shift going into turn one, and just as I did this, I must have missed it, as my bike just bogged out of turn two and up the jump. So I quickly tried to down shift one more time, but it was very hard to hear my motor at all, as the other bikes were all going by me, and when I tried to down shift it some how found neutral. So I roll over the jump in neutral and just about go on my head, all the mean time bikes are going past me like I'm standing still. I went from a third place start to like 12th in less than a lap. Yah, I was upset with myself about now, as this track was tough enough to pass on. That was pretty much my race right there, as I got by a few people later in the race, only to make a couple of mistakes and let a couple get back by me. I ended up finishing in the 11th spot. Wiles won the race with Schnabel 2nd, as I guess they had a pretty good battle up front. TT's are usually a strong point for me, but that just shows how important starts are on certain tracks and how tough passing these guys can be at times. I was pretty upset with myself after that race, but I knew I had to gather myself back up and get ready for the Mile tomorrow. It would be here real soon, as it was another late night tonight, and an early morning tomorrow.  

    Until tomorrow morning. G'day! Joe