My Ironman

My husband has been training for this past weekend LITERALLY for over a year, he worked his tail off and last weekend, he did it. He finished his first Ironman. {And for the sake of our family hopefully his only for a while - it was draining on us all.} We had a great time in Madison, we had a marvelous hotel located a block and a half from the finish line and we loved doing a little bit of exploring around the city. We went over on Thursday and my parents came over Friday night and we all left Monday. It was great to have my parents there to help with Lucy.  Some non-race highlights in Madison were: the farmer's market around the capitol on Saturday, the endless hours in the hotel pool, the divine food on State Street, and the time spent together.

He did well and I seriously couldn't be
more proud of him. He trained HARD for a year, with some weeks getting up and around 30 hours of training. He was dedicated and rarely missed a workout, even with his major bike crash a month ago, leaving him with a broken wrist he still kept training. He had to wear a wrist brace as a result, however, it didn't slow him down. Marc claimed after seeing the event and being around it and hearing all of the hype I would want to do it. While I have enjoyed a triathlon in the past, I have ZERO desire to ever do an Ironman at this point in my life. Maybe someday down the road when my days aren't filled with diapers, sleepless nights, mountains of laundry, and pure chaos.


The Ironman consists of: 2.4 mile open water swim, 112 miles on the bike, and a 26.2 mile run - the first cannon goes off at 7:00am and you have to cross the finish line by midnight! While it was fun and impressive to watch some of the pros come in early into the evening what was even more impressive was watching those who came in the last two hours and even the last half hour. There was a ton of raw emotion and endurance there that is over the top inspiring. Marc ran with two other guys from our area - these three men have been training together all year and they have worked hard to say the least! We were all very very proud of them all. On Sunday night when we all finally laid our heads to rest, I was exhausted from moving all over the course just watching them and chasing a toddler, I can't imagine how they all were feeling.

Pep talk

I like early in the morning before I get up and have to go to work, to sit and snuggle my sweet puppy, to catch up on all the riveting news on facebook (or really any type of internet surfing), reading a few blogs, crocheting, and picking up my house before heading into work. I love my morning routine. Seriously. I also highly value sleep (true true true story). Yes, some days I do make time to get in a workout later in the day but then I always feel like it is rushed and hurried between this that or the other, it isn't fun, I don't like feeling rushed, and it is time to change my routine.

Lately I must confess my training for my upcoming half marathon has slipped a bit and I am not happy with it, it is long over due to kick it in high gear, seriously, time to stop making lame excuses and get to the gym or get outside running. It's go time. I have gotten in a few good swims and a few good runs, but nothing amazing or ridiculously challenging. I forget that you don't get good or in shape or well trained without working for it. I won't improve my times unless I work at it, unless I put the miles under my belt, unless I get out of my house and train. Seems simple, but I love my morning routine.

I secretly dream of completing and Ironman 70.3, I don't think I have it in me to ever do a full but a half, is sooo tempting, however it means it is time to get serious, time to stop making lame excuses, time to put myself to bed earlier, time to get out of my house and get to the gym.

Yes, you all just read my pep talk to myself.

Now to step up and do it.

Ironman

I should not be allowed to watch things like the Ironman: Kona on tv. I just shouldn't. I see these phenominal athletes on tv and I want to be one of them. I long to be one of them. I want to cross the finish line, have the medal put around my neck (seriously I love race medals, they even hang in my living room because I am this vain) and share in the high that these folks have, the feeling of complete exhaustion and the feeling of knowing you just did something huge in combination with 10 billion endorphins running surging through your body. I want to know that I just did something that I once thought was impossible.

Growing up I was a good athlete, I went to college on a basketball scholarship, but I never was great, I never was the top athlete (nor do I ever think I will be) however, since then I have always wanted to push a little harder to do that which I thought impossible. To prove myself wrong. To do that which many can't and don't do. It is an honor to run. It is an honor to have the time to train, to push my body to do more than it could the day before. I remember my first 5k (I seriously despised running all through high school and college and was upset with my coaches when we had to run a mile or two for practice) I was sooooo nervous, 3.1 miles was sooooo far. Now I run that several times a week. It is funny the way training works and you become accustom to this or that and what you long for changes.

I have to admit that I think I am beginning to love the half marathon distance because:

• it is a challenge
• I have to train
• I don't feel like death when it is finished
• I get a sweet medal at the end of the race
• I have friends who also run half marathons
• there are plenty of them around that it makes it possible to find lots of races

The triathlon has recently sparked my interest and I think I need to try one (a short one, not an ironman). I want to try one because:

• I do love swimming (I still teach swimming lessons at the local YMCA here in town) - I have always loved swimming and swim to workout at least once a week
• I do love running
• I enjoy biking (although leisurely - this would seriously be my weakness in the three sport event) - I think I could learn to bike competitively

I don't think I'll ever be an ironman, however there is a piece of me that now dreams of it and since watching the Ironman: Kona (which I realize is the elite of the elite) I sort of want to be an Ironman.

• 2.4 mile swim (I could probably swim this today if I needed to, although I would be EXHAUSTED when I finished)
• 112 mile bike (this could be the death of me, I have ridden 25 or so with Marc on a few Saturdays, but the idea of 112 scares the living daylights out of me)
• 26.2 mile run (no way! Seriously 13.1 is plenty in any given day and to double this would be frightening) - I have sworn never to run a full marathon particularly in combination with the other two events.

Truth be told currently I am daydreaming about maybe the Ironman 70.3 - it is half the distances of the full Ironman. Dreaming for sure. We'll see what comes of this crazy idea, I don't think I really have time to train for a triathalon but we'll see, I have done crazier.