Running on Faith

If you are just joining our irregularly scheduled blog post, please go to my Timbeaux site for the first part of this story.

Okay, so you now know that I sprained/fractured/broke my little toe a mere two days before my 20 week marathon plan is about to start.  For those without a calendar, I hurt my toe on Saturday and my plan starts on Monday.

I had left off my story with the question, “What does this mean in the grand scheme of things?”  So what does it mean?  It means I am in exactly where I want to be:  In Pain.

Not a lot of logic in that statement is there?  Let me see if I can explain further.  I have noticed a component of my personality that comes out when I am raising money for charity.  I usually feel very unworthy of every dollar donated unless I have in turn given a pound of sweat, blood or tears.  If it comes too easy, then I am not doing everything I can.

Somehow I want to put myself in the shoes of those children I am attempting to help by suffering as much as I can.  Of course, I would never assume to understand the depths of their and their family’s mental and physical anguish.  I have been through the living and dying of adult family members with cancer.  But as with all things, children are a different story.  It just never seems fair.  And it never will.  I may never understand why some children get cancer, and that is not my job.  My job is to help the ones that do have cancer in anyway that I can.

And that is why it seems every year I find a new mountain to climb.  The peak of the mountain is always the same: raising money for a charity.  It is the terrain that I try to continually change.  And the more obstacles the better.  Have you ever seen the show, “Wipeout”, where they run an obstacle course at the end?  One part has a long uphill ramp with barrels rolling at them which they must jump.  Without the barrels, it would be boring to watch with no challenge or reward in it.

My little toe is the latest barrel on my ramp.  It wasn’t the first and I hope it is not the last.  Because when I reach the peak, it will be the barrels that I jumped that made me feel like I had done something to deserve the donations.  And the donations to St. Jude are what it is all about.

Yep.  This is Timbeaux….again.  I set up this website for the team.  I gave everyone a login name and password to write posts.  And I am still the only one who is writing.  Everyone hold out your hand…..SLAP!

The problem is that when something strikes me, either physically or figuratively, I usually write about it on my Timbeaux blog.  Most of the mayhem and destruction that swirls around my training and racing is over there.  So what am I going to put over here: stories of bunnies and flowers?  Not my style.  I am hoping that the rest of the team steps it up and gets things rolling over here.

And today is the perfect opportunity.  As I write, Paul, Marci and family are riding the Baton Rouge Bike Club Fall Century in St. Francisville.  Now Christine and I were supposed to ride, but we bailed because of the predicted rain and thunderstorms.  It is actually raining as I sit here.  And because we bailed, I have already been called names by not only Marci, but their two sons as well!

So Paul & Marci, here is your chance.  You can write a race report without me being able to say one thing about it (except good things).  There will be no post race after smack coming your way.  Feel free to express yourself in anyway you like.

By the way, while you are dodging lightning bolts in the rain, I am going to sit on my back porch and drink some coffee.  I hope you had a great ride!

So who is Timbeaux?  For that matter, what is a Timbeaux?  In Mississippi, I think it is a restaurant.  In relation to this website, it is me.

You could probably delve deeper into my psyche by visiting my other website, www.timbeaux.com.  But for the purposes of this “Bio”, I will give you the Cliff notes version.

I was a runner for most of my childhood (after a 4 year motorcycle racing career).  I loved to run.  I ran everything from the 400 hurdles to a marathon when I was 15 years old.  It was great…..until my senior year of track when I got burnt out running in circles.  So I quit running after high school.

Fast forward 15 or so years and now I was married with children (much better looking wife and kids than the sitcom).  The first time I played with my kids in the back yard I realized I was out of shape.  And that was not good.  I tried to take up running, but I found myself comparing everything to my teenage years.  Quite frankly, my 30 something body was not living up to my 17 year old recollections.

It became a pattern of run for a while, get disgusted and quit, and then try again later.  In 2003, I tried a different tactic by venturing off into the world of triathlons.  Because I had zero experience in this area, I could not compare it to my youth.  It was virgin territory!  Every race I entered and finished was something new.

In November of 2004, I got up in the wave of enthusiasm known as the Baton Rouge Triathlon Club and entered the Ironman Florida Triathlon.  For those who don’t know, this was a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike ride, and a full 26.2 mile marathon….all in less than 17 hours.  I decided the only way I would do this is if I could raise money for a charity at the same time.

And that got me started with fundraising and races.  Since that time, I have completed 2 Half-Ironman races, 2 Full Ironman races, 2 marathons, a 50K (31 mile run), a 50 mile run, Rouge Roubaix (100 mile brutal bike race), and many, many shorter triathlons.  And most of them I did while raising money.

But now we have come full circle to my childhood.  In 1981, a few days after my 15th birthday, I ran the Baton Rouge Marathon in 3 hours and 26 minutes.  At the St. Jude Marathon in December, I plan on attempting to qualify for the Boston Marathon which requires a time of 3 hours and 20 minutes or better.  To meet my goal of this year will mean to confront my teenage self and kick its butt.  At 43 years old, that is a daunting task.

So that is me, and this is I: husband, father, son, fundraiser, dreamer, ironman, ultramarathoner, and butt kicker of 28 year old demons.