In Twenty Ten, Turn it Up to Eleven

Thanks Nigel, for that "extra push".

2009 was certainly a successful "transitional" year! In my inevitable Ironman triathlon relapse and myriad other challenges such as solo cycling and swimming events I rekindled my PASSION for racing. While not all of my racing goals were achieved, I was able to spend hundreds of hours training with my good friends: doing the activities I love most while "sharing the passion".

That is success! That is Victory! That compels me to jump out of bed at 4:30 on a Saturday morning to meet the gang for a 7 hour ride in the Santa Monica mountains with 14,000' of elevation gain or perhaps the classic Henshaw Loop in San Diego when it is 100 degrees. Try doing that alone! Not as fun or fulfilling... It is so much better to share that type of torture/fun, as an opportunity to share stories while creating new ones.

These hundreds of hours invested will pay dividends in 2010 and beyond, in many ways, just as my nearly 20 year old aerobic base does today. Only half of the equation is fitness-related. The mind-bending experience of pushing your body to extremes-with a view-provides lifelong memories. I am extremely fortunate to have like-minded physically and mentally strong friends who just happen to share my passion for the lifelong path of discovery that is endurance sport. I am confident as we roll into TwentyTen that the best is yet to come.

This is not a dress rehearsal. One of the benefits of training for triathlon or any other endurance sport with specific goals is the daily reminder to Carpe Diem, putting the day into a reality-alarm context.

2010 will see a bit more variety, but an even sharper laser-focus on a couple "key" races. In 2009 I trained specifically for only one "A" race: Ironman Coeur d'Alene. While 9:51 and 54th overall out of 2,600 is a respectable result, I needed a ~9:20, top-20 performance to qualify for the Hawaii Ironman World Championships. The game has changed. I plan on raising my game and applying the tough lessons I learned from that experience and racing to my full potential in the future. With better planning and execution I know I have that performance in my legs and look forward to letting it rip in 2010. While reaching full potential and tearing a race course apart is extremely fulfilling, at the end of the day it's all about the journey and sharing it with others. That said, sometimes it takes a heart-breaking failure to light a fire under your butt to re-evaluate and redesign your strategy for the next go-around.

I raise my glass high (of West Coast Green Flash!) to TwentyTen being a RIPPER of a year, the best year of our lives. The only way to make it happen is "turning it up to ELEVEN" to make the most of every day.

I can't settle. What was good enough is no longer sufficient. No more sleepwalking. As far as resolutions, I plan on chiseling away the time and productivity-killers and focusing on what matters in the moment. I know I could have done a better job of that in 2009 and the mountain of lost moments wasted haunts and motivates me. I want those days back! I'm getting more organized and taking that time back in 2010 and taking this game of life to the next level.

No Opportunity Wasted in 2010!

Cheers,

Sean

Thailand & Japan

Merry Christmas everyone!

While I am a warm weather person, the Christmas season is truly the most special time of the year for me. I hope you have had a fulfilling and rewarding year with positive momentum into Twenty Ten!

I am headed to Cleveland to visit Lisa's family for a week. No trip home to Vero Beach, Florida this year.

Looking back, this was certainly a transitional year...more on this in my next post.

Things have been quite crazy here at Casa Clancy. I have balanced a rigorous job search, run/bike/kayak/strength training for the upcoming North Georgia 24 Hour Adventure Race, and a quick trip to Thailand and Tokyo!

Some highlights from Thailand were:

Having a drink at a bar that hangs off the edge of the top of a 64 story building in downtown Bangkok at night, with panoramic views of the 14 million person megalopolis, with an old friend who was actually one of my sales reps when I managed a fantastic sales team in 2002 in San Diego...

Several interesting runs with Lisa through Bangkok's neighborhoods near Rama IX park...

Coasteering around Krabi's Railay beaches, including fending off aggressive, kleptomaniac monkeys...and avoiding sea urchins!...





Spectacular rock climbing at Railay...




Longtail boat transportation...yes, that is a car engine hanging off the back...




Walking to an island, buying Pad Thai and a beer from a Longtail boat, sitting down in 85 degree water eating my lunch...

Hiking into the rain forest via Ko Phi Phi's Tsunami evacuation route...

Ao Nang Cobra show...







Riding elephants through the forest in Krabi, barefoot, toes rubbing against the ears while I rode on the massive head...








I have over 100 photos posted on Facebook as well. We took a total of over 1,000 photos on two cameras and still need
to sort through the memory cards...

Tokyo (Harajuku and Shinjuku Christmas shopping) photos will be up later...just need to download. I did manage to see the Sunrise and Sunset in Japan...and yes, it was a bright red sunrise! Beautiful. Getting around Tokyo on the trains was "interesting". Experiencing downtown Tokyo's train stations at rush hour was quite an experience.

More news soon on 2010 Racing Plans with Team nuun-SportMulti (aka nuun-FeedTheMachine, aka DART-nuun), solo racing plans (and now for something completely different) and other life changes on the horizon.

Twenty Ten is going to be a fantastic year, full of new challenges. But 2009 isn't over yet! Plenty of adventure left to cram into this year...Don't give up on 2009 yet! Change starts now.

Don't Call It A Comeback...

After just finishing my "off season" I am back in the swing of base-building for 2010. The big news for 2010 is I will rejoin my Adventure Racing Teammates on Team nuun-FeedTheMachine.com for the Checkpoint Tracker Series and possibly one or two Expedition Races in North America or overseas.

Right now I am enjoying training more than ever. I am rebuilding my running, riding and paddling aerobic base after a few weeks of unstructured training and relaxation. The next step is picking up where I left off in November of 2008, actually right where we won the Adventure Racing National Championship in Blue Ridge, Georgia...No, literally! My first race back will be the North Georgia 24 Hour Adventure Race, January 16-17th. This race will be extremely competitive, with over 50 of the best teams from the Southeast as well as our west coast team and the new 2009 National Champions from New Hampshire. Standby for pain!



Team nuun-FeedTheMachine.com will be Glenn Rogers of Gig Harbor, Washington, ME, and Jennifer Rinderle of Atlanta, Georgia...our ringer of a "hired gun" who actually races for one of our greatest competitors, Team CheckpointZero







In other news, I left my job at AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals today and am on vacation until the end of the year. I am pursuing new opportunities and hope this calculated risk allows me to find the right fit to leverage my personality, skill set and passions into a rewarding career. When you get into your "comfort zone" you become stagnant and it's time to move on to a greater challenge. Just like endurance training. I believe that life is short, and this is not a dress rehearsal. CARPE DIEM!

Upward and Onward,

Sean

World Championships: PORTUGAL

OK, I'm not racing, but 4 of my nuun-FeedTheMachine.com teammates will be competing in the Adventure Racing World Championships that start on the 8th in Lisbon, Portugal. The 59 international Teams are expected to be finished and off the course by the 13th.

We would like to see the team improve over last year's 6th place finish at the World Championship at ECO MOTION Brazil, however this year's unique format may make luck as big a factor as fitness, navigation, teamwork and cunning. Along with the mandatory checkpoints from point A to Z, there will be Optional checkpoints available on the course. Even the teams with the best navigation and fitness can lose the race if they Opt for an optional checkpoint and wind up bogged down in terrain or circumstances that are not on the map. Speaking from experience, even the newest maps are not always 100% accurate and can be misleading to even the sharpest navigators.

It will be fun to watch!

This time I get to bring the popcorn while THEY bring the pain!

Actually I will be going long this weekend...paddling on the ocean on Saturday and running and mountain biking in the Santa Monicas on Sunday.

2009 Adventure Racing National Championship

This time last year, I competed in the Adventure Racing National Championships, a 24 hour race in North Georgia. We won!

For 2010 I focused on triathlon and bike racing, while my teammates have continued their winning ways...

On October 25, the team will line up in Texas for the 2009 National Championship. Without me! My teammate Ryan Van Gorder is taking my place alongside returning champions Glenn Rogers and Mari Chandler. I would not bet against this team to repeat as National Champions. The massive amount of wins this team has stacked up in this decade is unparalleled. Most of our team works full-time, some of us with families and "real lives" to attend to every day...

Bring home the hardware, Team!

The team name is different (we were team DART-nuun until this year), but the goal is always the same.
Watch out for team nuun-feedthemachine.com


Some more photos from last year's race:














The awards ceremony was in an open-air barn! Very cold for these this particular Southern California couple...we had to improvise with some horse blankets!

New National Adventure Racing Series!!

The CheckpointTracker national adventure racing series-that my Team nuun-feedthemachine.com swept and won in 2008-is back for 2010 with some very cool improvements and additions. This
is fantastic news for the sport of Adventure Racing in the United States and something I am very excited about. This is huge.


-SC




Year-long series of more than 50 events to culminate with National Championship where qualifying teams will compete head-to-head for bragging rights and a $10,000 cash prize purse.


Greenville, SC (PRWEB) October 18, 2009 --

Checkpoint Zero, LLC today announced the launch of Checkpoint Tracker, an innovative new concept for competitive adventure racing in the United States comprised of a 50-event nationwide adventure racing series, a rankings system featuring Sprint and Pro rankings, an entirely new Web 2.0 social networking website, and a National Championship race offering a $10,000 cash prize purse.

Adventure racing teams interested in being ranked based on their performance at Checkpoint Tracker adventure races will be able to choose from over 50 events between January and October 2010. The series includes Sprint length (up to 12 hours), Sport length (12 to 18 hours), Adventure length (18 to 48 hours), and Expedition length races, which will see competitors racing non-stop for more than two full days.

Checkpoint Tracker will publish two distinct rankings based on points earned by teams competing at participating events. Teams may compete in as many events as they choose and combine their five best results for their season points total. Sprint rankings will combine points from Sprint races only while the Pro rankings will use a weighted points system to combine results from Sport, Adventure, and Expedition length races.

"Checkpoint Tracker represents the evolution of competitive adventure racing in the United States. It's a fresh start...a break from a status quo," said Paul Angell, President of Checkpoint Zero, LLC. "Adventure racing has yet to fully realize its potential to capture the imagination of adventure seeking outdoor enthusiasts. It remains a balkanized, niche sport.

High profile events like Eco Challenge and Primal Quest have succeeded in vaulting the sport into the limelight, but they failed to deliver a sustainable foundation on which to grow the sport at the grassroots and amateur level. Checkpoint Tracker provides a framework for doing exactly that. I'm very excited about what 2010 holds for the sport of adventure racing."

Beginning October 18, 2009 adventure racers in the United States will be able to register at Checkpoint Tracker.com to participate in the 2010 Checkpoint Tracker adventure racing season, which begins on January 16th, 2010 at the North Georgia Adventure Race in Chatsworth, GA. Featuring personal Racer profiles and Team profiles that include a roster of team members and the team's racing schedule,Checkpoint Tracker.com will serve as the online hub for live coverage of events in progress via an innovative web application called Race Central.

After the last regular season event, Checkpoint Tracker will host a National Championship race that will bring together the top 60 teams by points in the Pro rankings and the top 15 teams by points in the Sprint rankings. The best adventure racing teams in the country will face an all new Adventure length course designed by Bonk Hard Racing. The National Championship will be worth twice as many points as regular season Adventure length races and will offer a $10,000 cash prize purse.


For additional information about Checkpoint Tracker visit http://www.checkpointtracker.com .
About Checkpoint Zero, LLC

Checkpoint Zero, LLC is a sports marketing company based in Greenville, SC. The company operates the popular adventure racing website Checkpointzero.com and produces Checkpoint Tracker, a competitive adventure racing series comprised of more than 50 adventure races across the United States.



Contact

media@checkpointtracker.com
http://www.checkpointtracker.com

Some Late Season Motivation For You...

My friend and nuun teammate Matt Hart made this rad video, compiling footage from several ultramarathons and some of my personal favorite training runs around the West Coast. Before you hit play, turn off the "juke box" player
on the right side of this blog...otherwise two songs play at the same time.


Dig it!