Biffle Dinked!

Say what?  Yeah - Biffle Dinked.  I just returned from a short trip to Key West.  It's definitely a cool place to relax for a few days and punish your liver but this post is really about the journey to get there.  It all started Thursday when I arrived in Miami and met up with Jim, Tommy (Timmay), Bill, John, and August.  Collectively we make Team Biffle Dinked and we were running the 198 mile Ragnar Relay from Miami to Key West. I was the new (and young) guy on the team but I think I fit right in.  They put me in charge of the pre-race lodging in Miami so I promptly booked us rooms at the Embassy Suites...more on this later.  The basic concept of the relay was, well, a really long relay.  There were 36 legs mapped out varying from about 2 miles to just over 11.  Since we only had 6 runners we were considered an ultra team.  Most teams were 12 people but that's just weak sauce IMO.  And because everyone but me was old we were technically classified as sub-masters.  So you rent a big van, load it with Gatorade, water, peanut butter, and gels, then hop-scotch your way from one exchange zone to the next swapping out runners as you go, creeping ever closer to the finish at Duval St.

Intro - why a blog?

I thought I'd kick this off with a little about why I decided to start a blog and what you can expect to read here.  I'm not huge into the social media thing - I don't Tweet and have no idea what that Google+ account I have is supposed to do - but I am on Facebook.  It's been great for finding old friends but aside from that I consider it mostly a novelty - a place to share random thoughts, post fun photos or YouTube vids, joke with friends, and pass the time while you wait for the work day to end, but not necessarily to share every detail of your otherwise mundane life.  Honestly, I don't really care that Boots the cat just got her shots or that you just went the gym (again).  And that brings me to my point here.  I'm going to use this space to talk about stuff that doesn't fit the mold of "novelty" for FB - my forays in triathlon and running, maybe some traveling, and definitely beer.  Those of you that are my "friends" on Facebook should know that micro brews are a sort of hobby of mine - drinking them, not brewing them.  This isn't going to be a training log so don't expect to see my detailed daily workout but I will be posting about my journey through the season building up to the inaugural Ironman U.S. Championship in August and some fun events I have planned along the way.  Stay tuned, I'm kicking off 2012 by joining up with 5 other idiots to run (yes, RUN) from Miami to Key West Jan 6-7.  I'll also throw in some posts with more of my background in running and triathlon and how I got to the point of wanting to race Ironman distance or spend 24hrs running solo.