With a new registration to Ironman Lake Placid, and another year of rugby under my belt is seems like it could be 2014 all over again, other than the fact I’m in a new state (North Carolina), with a new club (Charlotte Rugby), and most importantly, my supportive girlfriend is now my supportive wife. Looking back on last year as a whole, I was surprised by how many big items myself and various racing partners/rugby teammates had crossed off the “to-do” list:

• Attended a Pro Rugby tryout combine. It’s too bad I’m not 6’5” or with my 33” vertical I’d be playing in the NBA, haha.

• Had a successful spring season with Charlotte Rugby, where we advanced through the playoffs as the DII South Champions, until being knocked out in the Elite Eight and finishing 5^th in the country. Not too shabby! In addition, two people from Charlotte have been tapped for different professional rugby leagues. I can’t help but think the higher competition level here will increase my rugby skills as well.

• In our first ever “adventure race,” my buddies Donnie, Peter and I took 2^nd place at the “Shenandoah Strong” race in the 3-person category, qualifying for the US Adventure Racing National Championship. Our day included 50 miles of canoeing, mountain biking, and trail running. To say it was a tight race was an understatement, as we got to the last way point in view of the other team and the finish line. A mad half-mile dash had us into 2^nd place by less than a minute, in a race that was 5+ hours long! Unfortunately the championship took place right smack in the middle of the fall rugby season, so I had to pass for now. I’m definitely filing this type of racing in the “when retired from rugby” category to return to.

• Back onto the road bike! After not riding at all halfway into 2016, my coworker and I dragged ourselves up Mount Mitchell, the tallest mountain in the eastern half of the US. I paid for the lack of training the whole time up the 6,000’+ climb, but finishing gave me some additional confidence since I won’t have a longer climb in basically any other race I do! Riding up the Blue Ridge Parkway for the first time was awesome as well. Smooth roads and slow/respectful traffic is pretty hard to come by. Another future “to-do” item may be a full ride of the BRP, most likely with Donnie in that adventure as well.

• Another first was my first season of 7’s rugby. This is a much faster paced and much shorter game than the 15-a-side version I typically play. Luckily Charlotte has a few 7’s teams, and we ended up winning the Airborne 7’s tournament near Ft. Bragg over the summer in our first test. The game speed helps keep the size of the players down and I can’t say I don’t like that versus having to tackle some 300 pounders during the regular season. Over the course of the summer we had a few tournaments around the US South East, culminating with a shot at Nationals during the South Championships at our home pitch. We played teams from as far away as Oklahoma, Miami, and New Orleans, and unfortunately came up short. Looking forward to next season already, although practicing in 90 degree temps with 90% humidity can be quite exhausting.

• The final “mission accomplished” has to be my 2016 New Year’s Resolution of running 1,000 miles in 2016. Happy to say, even with traveling, buying a house, fractured foot, etc., I was able to keep myself on track and knock out that goal. Being a notorious procrastinator, I did save a half marathon for the last day, although it could have been much worse! Now that it’s over, I do feel a sense of relief I can do more swimming and biking, in lieu of all that running. Looking back on my training logs from the 2014 IMLP, I DRASTICALLY under trained on the bike and will be looking to reverse that this year. Also helps that I can ride in January in NC, instead of waiting until April/May in Syracuse!

Here’s to just as good of a year in 2017!