Well, its amazing what God will do to put you in the right situations in life. A year after that fateful loss by UL at Cardinal Stadium, I would gladly miss any UL game to compete in any triathlon. Not just because I love triathlons, but UL sucks now. Yes, I am a bandwagon fan- love them when they are great, love to bash them when they arent great... its fun. Anyways, I digress. The point is, God has created this longing in me to compete again. Not just in any simple, or easy race, but quite possibly one of the hardest races on earth. As stated above, "The Creator will not create a longing to do that which you have no ability to do." Can I really do this? Can I swim 2.4 miles (yes), followed by 112 miles of biking (it hurts, but I have done it before) THEN run a marathon (here is the question mark)!?! I firmly believe that I would not have this in my mind or heart if I couldnt do it. I may not be the fastest person on the course, but me doing this is less a race for a place, and more a race with myself.
I may be talking a lot about God here, but let's make no mistake, this weather for this summer, is not on accident. I love hot, humid days... when I am at a pool laying down... not when I have to do 140.6 miles of exersize. So all my praying is paying off... First we have a 70 degree day during Cardinal Harbour, more than 15 degrees below normal, and now the forcast for Ironman day is a high of 74!! Unbelievable.
So now that I have the best case scenario for race day, I have to get prepared. I have tried to mentally rehearse (with some help...), pack everything for each bag during the race, and plan my 3-4 days leading up to the race, with great precision. I may be going overboard, but they run these IM events with military precision and I want to fit in, ha.
Jackie and I got a hotel room at the last minute at the Galt House... THANK YOU ARNIE!! So the plan for now is to go down on Thursday evening, visit the expo early to get that out of the way, then check in on Friday early and start organizing everything I will need. Friday is check-in/get my number (#499!!!) day, and mandatory athlete meeting, so other than a short workout, that is all I will do besides RELAX! Saturday is sure to be nervewracking, but we have a fun, 2 mile UNDERPANTS run at 11 AM Saturday to raise money for John Carr (man killed by a drunk driver during the TS Triathlon). It will be funny to see a huge group of people prancing around downtown in their undies! After that, it is rest and getting ready.
Taper officially started about a week ago, which has made me feel a little weird (I remember this feeling from swimming), but taper has increased the anticipation of the event. I still dont think I quite grasp what I am doing, although I talk about this event for the larger part of any given day now. People always want to know... "Are you ready!?" Answer- YES!! As ready as I will ever be. I have prepared all that I can and I have tried to minimize the potential for disasters, although I am sure I will come across some.
This is getting long, but in closing, if any of you out there have even an INKLING to get into this, I highly recommend it. This past year has changed my life and my outlook on life. This may seem like an end, but I firmly believe, this is just the beginning for me!
I will keep you all posted this week and with how I do. If you would like to follow me online as Sunday progresses, there will be a link on race day for the "Athlete Tracker"- I am number 499.
See the link below:
No comments:
Post a Comment