Amazing Tour of California Stage 8 picture

On April 11, 2010, I got to ride the route for Stage 8 of the Amgen Tour of California. 107 miles. Tough ride. 4 laps around the Thousand Oaks and Westlake Village area.

Ford Ironman Everyday Hero

Here is what was posted on the Point Loma University website, and 2x in the Bakersfield Californian newspaper.


Corey McKenna, Ph.D., assistant professor of education at PLNU’s Bakersfield Regional Center is receiving the Ford Ironman Everyday Hero Award at Ironman St. George on May 1, 2010. The award is given to one person at each of the seven Ironman races in North America each year. The seven individuals are selected from a pool of nearly 15,000 for significant contribution to a person, charity, or organization.

Since this is the inaugural year for the Ironman in St. George, McKenna will be the first recipient of this particular Everyday Hero award. He will also be the first recognized in 2010, as the St. George race will kick off the 2010 Ironman season.

McKenna will be honored at the athlete welcome dinner on Thursday before the race and a video will be produced, which will air first at the dinner and later this year on television channel Versus.

McKenna will also receive entry into any Ironman event in the continental U.S. in the coming year – including events already full to general entry.

In addition, Ford and Ironman will make a $1,000 donation to a charity of McKenna’s choice. He is choosing Ride To Walk in honor of his late-niece, putting the money toward a memorial scholarship he and his wife have set up in her name. McKenna’s niece passed away in December at age four from cerebral palsy.

“This award is dedicated to not only my late niece, the inspiration behind this particular journey, but to all of those individuals who want to live out their dreams and to know that anything is possible as long as you set your mind and heart to do it,” McKenna said.

Ally's 5K Run

Help Ride to Walk (in Lincoln, CA) celebrate 25 years of providing therapy to children with disabilities. Kick it off with Ally's 5K Run on Saturday, June 19, 2010, at 8:00 am. All the proceeds will benefit the Ally Memorial Scholarship Fund to assist families with children with disabilities.

Check out Ride to Walk at www.ridetowalk.org for more information. You can also register on Active.com at the following link:

http://www.active.com/event_detail.cfm?event_id=1828095

If you can be there, then we would love if you could donate the Ally Memorial Scholarship Fund at the following website:

https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=334241&supId=278273184

Thank you for all the support and prayer.

Looking for 5000 people to donate $10

Hey everyone. Welcome to 2010. We are off and running for the new year. We just got back from Boulder, CO--the #1 city in America for sports and outdoor recreation. Over 750 miles of bike and running trails in a town of 90,000. Beautiful city and wonderful people of whom we came in contact. Check out Jen's post below.

2010 also marks the start of some pretty hefty goals for myself in terms of endurance: 2 full Ironman triathlons, 2 half ironman triathlons, a 50K run, several century bike rides and a slew of smaller triathlons. Whoa...I am tired just thinking about it. It is all in part of my dedication to our 4-year-old niece, Ally.

Allison Georgia Ellis (or Ally) had Cerebral Palsy. She participated in a program called Ride to Walk in Lincoln, CA. Ally passed away on the morning of December 7, 2009. She was 4 years old. Her and I were planning on competing in triathlons together, like Rick and Dick Hoyt. Ally celebrated life to its fullest and my brother-in-law and his wife want her legacy to live on.

My wife and I have created a memorial scholarship in her name for the Ride to Walk program to help needy families who have children with disabilities so they could continue to benefit from this program. Please help me raise money for this amazing program in memory of Ally. I’m looking for 5,000 people who have $10 to donate and think doing an Ironman triathlon is an inspirational way to raise funds and awareness. You can donate to the Ride To Walk program through this Janus Charity Challenge web page or contact me for info about off-line donations at jcmckenna@gmail.com. Please check out www.ridetowalk.org for more information about the program.

You can also follow me on Facebook. Here is my link:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Coreys-Ironman-2010-Challenge/191055883935?ref=nf


We hope that you can spare $10 or more to help this amazing scholarship fund. It would mean so much to forward this link to all of your friends. We are excited that you will join me for an amazing 2010. If it was anything like 2009 in terms of endurance and racing, 2010 will be even better.

Boulder, Colorado

So, one day a few months back, Corey read in his Triathlete magazine, that Boulder, CO was rated the best city for triatheletes to live in. It has high altitude, good weather, and the community is EXTREMELY bike friendly. There are miles upon miles of bike trails and bike lanes. Of course, there are also miles upon miles of MOUNTAIN trail, too.

I said, "Hey! Let's make that our anniversary present: A trip to check out Boulder!" It took just about no convincing for Corey to book the flight and hotel room.

Neither of us had ever spent time in any part of CO before (stops for connecting flights in Denver do NOT count!), so this was a fun adventure! Things that we liked:

the clean air

bike and pedestrian paths for DAYS! They even try to route the paths, so that the cyclists and joggers don't have to cross any streets!

pretty yet not overwhelming blanket of snow

the people are soooooo nice and friendly!!!

low crime rate. 4 homicides last year --don't we get that in one week??

variety of specialty shops, as well as all the "staple" shops, minus Walmart!!! :o) :o) :o)

the homeless there are less scary than in Bako

the cold was a "dry cold." In contrast to the valley, which has a damp penetrating cold, Boulder was 23 degrees on Friday, but I was barely chilled in just a sweatshirt!

reasonable cost of living. I can't think it's much higher than Bako, if at all higher

Panera bakery. My goodness, I loved that place! We had lunch there everyday :o) Although there are rumors that a Panera is coming to Bakersfield....

Walnut Brewery. Had two dinners there, and met a very hospitable waiter!

cooler guns, of course!

did I mention "no Walmart?" heehee :o)

Turning 40

2010 is only 10 weeks away. On February 11, I officially move from the 35-39 age group to the ever so competitive 40-44 age group. So I need to take this amazing year of performances and kick it into high gear next year.

Now I have several goals in terms of races--a couple of Ironman races plus a 1-2 half ironman events and of course the typical sprint races. But what about training? As I approach the end of this year, I will approach 300,000 yard of swimming, 2500 miles of biking and about 600 miles of running. So I am thinking that I want to push it to 400,000 yards swimming, 4000 miles biking and 1200 miles running (all factors of 40; hence, turning 40 years old). I think I can do it. Aggressive, but achievable.

Now I am going to go take a nap.

Challenging end to a great season

Let's just say that I don't do things the easy way. So after completing Ironman Canada on Aug 30, I still had 3 more triathlons on the books. First up was Bakersfield (see previous post). Then came Carpinteria. Awesome finish with a top 10 in my age group and top 35 overall. Knocked off 3 more minutes off my time. So if I can nail about a minute off of each transition and be a bit faster on the bike, I could break 1 hour. Ran a sub-8 minute mile, which is great. So back-to-back weekends of sprints. It was a great way to end my sprint triathlons this year and the last in my 35-49 age group.

So to challenge myself, I decided in May to register for the inaugural Magic Mnt. Man half ironman distance triathlon. Let's just say that this was a very challenging bike course. 50 of the 56 miles were either up a hill or down a hill. Right out of the first transition was a 8-mile climb at 5-6% grade. Nothing like getting the heart rate going right out of the gate. Then it was simply up and down on the old Golden State highway located on the grapevine. Then once you finished 2 14-mile loops, you had one last climb at 8-9% grade before heading back into town. After a series of challenging climbs and descents, we had a 13-mile run to do. I actually felt great coming off the bike and ran a pretty decent half marathon. Overall, a nice challenging end to a great season--my final year in the highly competitive 35-39 age group. Multiple top 10 finishes and 3 top 3 age group finishes. It will be interesting to see how they 40-44 age group will be for me.

Now it is time for some well-deserved time off. I don't plan on at least riding a bike for at least a couple of weeks, but certainly swimming and running will be in store, but not anytime soon. I can already feel the relaxation. I won't have any triathlons until March or April. There are a few running race between now and then.

Until then, enjoy your Winter.

Bakersfield Triathlon ROCKED!!!

Okay, here we go. 4 triathlons in 4 weeks. Woo Hoo. Triathlon #1--Bakersfield Triathlon. Just a sprint and fun to do. Fast paced and small in size. 1/2 mile swim, 12 mile bike and 5K run. Super fast swim, solid bike and pretty decent run. I was 11th overall and finished 2nd in my age group. Wow, what a year!!! 5 top 15 finishes, a first place, a second place and third place finish in my highly competitive age group.

Up next: Carpentaria Triathlon. Looking to break 1 hour. Very aggressive goal. Then the Merced triathlon, olympic distance and finally ending with the brutally challenging Magic Mountain Man half Ironman triathlon.