T-minus 14 days

It took me a while to write this. One of the things about the Endurance Community, regardless of running, swimming, biking, tri-ing, we are a big (dysfunctional) family. We encourage each other, we motivate each other, we inspire one another to continue on-even when tired, willing to give up, etc. As of today, I am officially 2 weeks away from the start of Ironman Arizona (tapering SUCKS). This will be my third time starting but will be my second time finishing. I have put it out in the Universe so it must be true. So, what’s different you may ask? I’m not stressed out about the race itself. Surprised? I know I am but I’m not worried about it. I have a lot of other things going on in my life that has me stressed. The past 3 months, I’m not going to lie about it,  have been very challenging for me personally and professionally. Those who know me know what’s going on. When I’m stressed, upset, pissed off, angry, sad, mad, happy-I work out. When I say work out, I mean I work out EXCESSIVELY. I don’t eat my emotions, I work them out which is not a good thing because I end up forgetting to eat and then a day or two late, I realize I haven’t eaten. See, I get a little tunnel vision when it comes to following my training plan. I get uber disciplined like a military sniper (or assassin) and get to work. It’s the one thing that has held me together in addition to my friends, training partners, co-workers and you know who you are because you are effing AMAZING!!!!!!!!!

This has been a completely different journey than in years past. I don’t know what changed but something in my mind snapped. Maybe it was the encouragement from other athletes that I look up to who have seen good things that I don’t see since I am overly critical of myself. Maybe it was going to track practices and finally tapping into that sprinter gene that my family is known for. Or maybe I’m getting better. That’s it...I think.

I’ve had some interesting training days/races that I used as a training barometer.

• ITU was fun except I ended up in the Emergency Room (severe dehydration-won’t make that mistake again)
• Rock n’ Roll Chicago Half Marathon was just me having fun wearing purple and chitchatting the whole entire run with 5 Ironman athletes. I learned with that one I could have pushed the pace a little more but it was a training run but also I need to take in more salt than a normal person since I am a salty sweater.
• Chicago Marathon was just me in the role of coach jumping in and out of the course helping out my athletes and friends and random strangers along the way. I realized then and there that I could pace anywhere from a 9:30min/mile to an 11:30min/mile pace and still hold a conversation while looking fierce wearing a pink tutu.
• The Thursday in track practice where I was hitting an average of 4:30 on 9 or 10 sets of 800s. What the what???
• Going to Thursday morning CompuTrainer classes and having Ed push me more and more each week.
• Doing Thursday night CompuTrainer while watching some of Grey’s Anatomy and all of Scandal and How To Get Away With Murder (this show is the SH!T).

It’s been a journey, none the less. Do I have a time in mind? Yes. I do but I’m not going to say what it is. I have a worst case, best case and ideal case scenario. All is dependent on my migraines. They have been getting worse and I am at a loss. Some of it is stress induced. Okay, maybe 76% of the time it is. The rest, weather, smells, sounds, lights, yadda, yadda, yadda. So, I’m going to do my best, smile on the course, make friends and enjoy the race. It’s not my first rodeo nor will it be my last. Come next season, look out Cozumel. I’m gunning for ya! Now, back to work.