Daily Mile Launch

I watched with awe the very exciting Ironman World Championships coverage on NBC over the weekend. It was different this time, as I tried to imagine myself during each stage of the race. I was also struck by all of the things that went wrong for some of the race leaders—flat tires, snapped break cables, upset stomachs, cramping and dizziness, etc. It’s amazing to see the world’s greatest athletes truly humbled and brought to their knees by Ironman. Most impressive, of course, was the race performance and sheer determination of women’s champion, Chrissie Wellington. She blazed past the other competitors, always with a smile on her face, and quickly jumped back into the race after a disappointing flat tire and CO2 cartridge mishap half-way into the bike leg.

The coverage certainly bumped up my excitement for next year’s race to a new level, as did an online article my friend Jen sent me this morning. It's an article titled “Wisconsin’s Kona Bound Women" on Ironman.com, in which both of our names are quickly mentioned. The article is written by Gaylia Osterlund, an Ironman staffer who writes a series on the Kona Bound age group women. It was definitely more rewarding than my debut in the Regent Neighborhood Association Newsletter, in which I was featured as "Kim" in an article about neighborhood Ironman Finishers. Sigh.

And in the most exciting news of all, my brother and his friend, Ben, officially launched their Web site, Dailymile, this afternoon. It’s been in private beta for several months now, and has increasingly gained momentum with over 100,000 miles logged to date. You can sign up for the site and invite your friends to join at http://www.dailymile.com/. Of course I’m a proud sister doing everything I can to support Kelly and Ben, but I also think it’s an incredible social network that I look forward to logging into each and every day. Please take just a few moments to check it out (and don’t forget to tell your friends!). The only thing more rewarding than putting in good miles, is doing it with friends.