Chris_McCormack

Cindy Crawford and Myself

Its been quite a year these past 12 months. I have been on every continent in the World this year for the first time ever in a single 12 months and am currently in Bermuda with my family taking a break and doing a small race here. One of my good friends Tyler Butterfield is getting married to his long time girlfriend Nikki Egard and we are lucky here to celebrate with them. Tyler is a Bermuda boy and I met him and his family here back in 1996. I have been here a few times over the years to catch up and cant believe young Tyler is getting married. I was here in January of this year and hung out and decided this was the place to bring my family for our end of season holiday. It is close to the USA, great weather and lovely friends.

We are staying at the Elbow Beach Resort on the south shore of the Island and it is absolutely unreal. Earlier this year I was able to meet Cindy Crawford at a triathlon event. Growing up in the 80's most guys my age would remember Cindy and probably had a couple of pictures of her up on their walls. I had the opportunity to spend a bit of time with her and her family in Malibu and it was a really cool experience. She was so centred and down to earth it was a breath of fresh air. Still looks amazing aswell.

Anyway the reason behind this blog is I found out today that Cindy is checking into this hotel here in Bermuda on Friday afternoon and will stay for a few days. That is the word here in Bermuda anyway. Hopefully will get the chance to hang out and introduce my family to her. It has been a hectic year, but I guess the time on the road has left me open to meeting some pretty cool people. Cindy was one of them.

Anyway my youngest daughter Sienna is screaming for me to head down the beach so I better go. Will add some pictures of this wonderful Island and hopefully a couple more with Cindy again if we cross paths here.

Safe training,

Macca

Tahlia's Hawaii Experience

I was talking with Emma Jane last night as we planned my season for 2009. I had obviously been feeling a little down after my bad luck in Kona and was really trying to focus on next year and getting my family sorted and season planned. The last 10 days has all been about this. We move back to Australia as Tahlia starts school and we have managed to plan a very soild race schedule with a specific focus on Ironman 70.3  events early season and then full speed ahead to defend my Ironman European Championship title in Germany and The World Championships in Kona.

After planning our year for 2009 we were reflecting on Hawaii 2008 and looking at some photos from the month we spent in Kona. It was then I realised how self consumed I had been and how I had forgotten about the wonderful experiences I had had in Hawaii 2008. I was so focused on planning ahead that I forgot to reflect and look at what had happened around me.

The most special memory for me from the 2008 Ironman World championship actually happened 4 days before I even pulled my race number on. On Tuesday afternoon at 5pm on October 7th, my eldest daughter Tahlia competed in her first ever race. It was such an amazing afternoon. We had planned this event for weeks and Tahlia was so excited building up to this moment. She wanted to "race like daddy" and was excited to get her new running shoes and swimming goggles. We ventured down to Dig Me Beach at the Pier, where the Ironman World Championships would start 4 days later, and Tahlia and I enjoyed our first race together. It was absolutely unreal and to see the smile on my daughters face for the duration of this race, was priceless.

We have so many photos of this day, and flicking through these with my wife made me smile and take something so amazing out of my Hawaii 2008. My daughter Tahlia, who toed the line with Kaiden Lieto (Chris Lietos son) and Gabriel Kehr (Gina Kehrs Daughter) and smiled and laughed for 20 minutes as she enjoyed racing with the other 50 or so children in Hawaii, and threw her arms up in the air as she crossed the line. I have never been so proud nor have I been so happy. It was an incredible experience and an incredible day.

The Ironman Hawaii World Championships of 2008 did not bring me the result I was after nor expected, but what it did deliver to me was an experience i shared with my daughter that will live with me forever, and photos that will fill our family photo albums. It will be the year that I remember all the wonderful things that this sport does for families and how being a healthy role model is so important for your children. I was so proud to be Tahlia's dad and enjoyed so much this day. My daughters laugh and smile will be etched in my memory forever.

I have uploaded a few photos from the day here. It was a wonderful day and thanks to all the organisers for putting this race on. To Kaiden Lieto, Tahlia wants a rematch next year. To my daughter Tahlia, I am so proud of you and love you very much. I look forward to next year and look forward to seeing you all at a race in 2009.

Stay safe and healthy,

Macca

Interveiw from Kona

Post Ironman Hawaii

Well with the launch of my new website and my lock down in training camp I have not had any time to post a blog for the past 6 weeks. Things have been hectic and have started to settle now the season is over. I am currently in Las Vegas with my family staying at the Wynn Casino. The Wynn has been a huge supporter of myself over the past 2 years and we spend a lot of time out here between events, unwinding. It has been a lovely week here in Las Vegas, after the disappointment of Ironman Hawaii last week.

I have received hundreds of emails and wellwishes from people and want to thank you all for that. Many people seem to have an understanding of what happened in Kona to my bike, but the basic fact is that I snapped the front derailure cable just before the turn around at Havi on the bike. Unfortunately for me the Tech guys that came to my aid, did not have the gear cable to replace it and after trying to adjust the front derailure with the lining screws to keep me in the big chainring, they stripped the front bolt and I was unable to continue. After talking with these guys and accessing the situation it was ultimately the end of my day. It was a devastating moment for me and I appreciate the emails from friends for their support.

The race unfolded and the winners were crowned and again Hawaii was an amazing race. My congratulations go out to Craig and Chrissie for amazing performances. The hardest thing for me to deal with at the moment was the fact that I never got the opportunity to defend my title. It had taken me 5 years to ultimately win this prize and I was very much looking forward to defending my title. I never got this chance this year and that is emotionally tough. I will get my chance next year and my focus is now all about that moment. My season this year has been epic and my form going into the event was exceptional. Without the completion of an event to draw parallels from and build a training plan into the next year, it can be difficult to build training plans. For this reason I have picked some late season races to compete in to access where my form is now.  Nevertheless, we have shifted our focus, began our season plan and are looking towards 2009 and winning my title back. Our focus is all about this at present and my season plan is almost set. I will return to Ironman Germany to defend my title in 2009 and specifically focus on winning a series of the 70.3 races in the early season. It will be a busy year.

My family and I are off to LA tomorrow before we all head to Bermuda for the Escape to Bermuda Triathlon and also the engagement party of my good friend Tyler Butterfield. I then will spend a week in New York after the New York marathon to finish filming the Under Armour Television Commercial that will air in 2009 globally. From New York we are back in Las Vegas for the Silverman Half Ironman race in Henderson before my family heads back to Australia and we finish the season. I have a 3 week stopover in South America to do some camps and seminars and will be back home to Sydney Australia in mid December. I cannot wait.

I thought I better post a blog on my site and will continue to do so now on a bi weekly basis leading into the new year and beyond. We have some new sponsorship partnerships to announce for 2009 and hope to have a tease of the Under Armour Commercial to upload in December.

Safe training and stay healthy,

Macca