Thursday, December 6, 2012

Crowie's Coming to Town

Crowie and a fan at the July 2012 Runners High 'n Tri event
What do you do when you hear that an Ironman world champion will be in town? You drop everything, including the day's workouts, to attend.

That's what I did in July--and two years ago--when Runners High 'n Tri hosted Craig Alexander and Dave Scott (two Ironman champions in one room, can you blame me?) at what has seemingly become a summer ritual of sorts. Crowie races Racine, Crowie talks to triathletes in Arlington Heights.

But next Tuesday, no one needs to drop everything to drive out--or train it--to Arlington Heights to meet the three-time Ironman world champion (five-time if you include his wins at the 70.3 distance). Sure, it's nice to get out of the city every once in a while (and Runners High 'n Tri always puts on a great event), except for when said location involves driving on 90/94 at rush hour. And you decide to attend said event at the last minute, didn't do your workout for the day (that whole I'll get it done after work backfired), and technically should still be cranking in front of the computer. It's just that this time, on December 11, Craig Alexander is coming to the Core Power offices, which are located in Chicago's West Loop at 1001 W. Adams.

So it's not steps from my front door. Given that it's December, it's probably not going to be bike-riding weather. And the 5:30 p.m. event start could mean zig-zagging across the city to avoid some traffic backups. But I can't miss an Ironman superstar. Especially one who is nice--and talks with an awesome Australian accent. One who is not only an Ironman champ but also one of Men's Health's Fittest Men of All Time. One who is knowledgeable--I get a new tip about triathlon every time I talk to him. And one who is signing his new book, "As the Crow Flies: My Journey to Ironman World Champion."

There's a Q&A session to start off the evening, followed by the book signing--I can imagine the line already as we all try to grab a minute with the pro. But at least we can sip Core Power (yum!) and enjoy other refreshments while we wait.

Seeing Crowie yet again has me excited (way better than an evening on the bike trainer, watching The Big Bang Theory), and so does the book. I have yet to purchase it--either hustle over to Amazon.com or hope that there are enough copies on hand at Core Power for those of us who didn't get to the book store over the weekend. But I'm loving the preview I flipped through, full of images that show Alexander as the family man and the athlete, stories and evening parts of his training schedule (can I survive one of his swim workouts?). Have any triathletes you still need gifts for? The book, especially an autographed copy, solves that problem.

For more details on next Tuesday's event and to RSVP, click here.

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