Phillip Kriss, Athlete & Chiropractor

Only one word to sum that up. Amazingfunhumiliatingexileratingconfusingenvious! Not all of us have the physical ability to perform as others do. Example being a Clydesdale probably is not going to have the same ability to run as someone weighing 160# with the same height and age. Subtracting that factor, I have the pleasure of witnessing what superior athletes do, which makes what they do seem easy. Hard working. The athletes realize they are parents, spouses, housekeepers, (multiple) job holders that realize they must do those things and still train. Sleep becomes the option. Her IPhone does not have a snooze button in it like my Samsung does. I don’t get it. Determined. There is that “be nice to everybody” spirit and attitude balanced with never, never quit or give up. Always push beyond uncomfortable and be happy about it. I do not get that. Balanced. Life is not all about the race or training. Parties, travel, turning off the TV and “making” others do things like play games ...

Goodlife Fitness Victoria Marathon Why? Heidi loves pacing, and was named the 3:55 pacer. I did not volunteer/get chosen to be a pacer for this event. I found I was going by and e-mail that said something like “congratulations! Your wife signed you up for another marathon. By the way, we hit your card for well over $100.” The Training What training? I had a combination of unfortunate things operating in symphony like a 3 week illness that hit me hard (I still have not fully recovered). A pain in my butt for the last month (a real one). 2 bad legs (likely from the same pair of shoes for almost 2 years) (oops). And a few weeks ago I did a series of box jumps and screwed my knee up. Since this is not my first marathon, and seemed to be recovering I decided to man up and get it done rather than run the half. We get up to Vancouver with our group of buddies, check in, and do all the stuff. A comment I heard on Saturday afternoon while eating a bison burger and sucking down the lo...

“The Tin Man” Why? In my head I have not yet performed well in an ironman race. Each one either had crummy conditions, or I had some issue that prevented me from performing to my expectations. I wanted redemption. I wanted to get through a race clean. I wanted to prove to myself I could do it. Last winter we were up skiing at Whistler with the Elton’s and Heidi fell in love with the place. While there she said “We are coming back next summer to watch our buddies’ race. Since you will be training with them anyway, you may as well sign up for the race”. That really meant she did not want to hear me complain about my buddies having more fun than I did. It didn’t take long for me to sign up and made the decision to upgrade my P5, which was replaced by Cervelo since my P4 had a frame failure. Several thousand dollars later I had my dream bike. I love toys! The Training I fumbled through doing what I could do to train based on the time I had available and the circumstances of li...