Tuesday, August 10, 2010

I Can!


I've been thinking  a ton lately about how crazy I am to think that I can do an Ironman!  This sport is so addicting, and it just makes you want to push yourself to new limits.  I am not fast, I am not an elite athlete, I just like to do it!  Plus I have this 'need' to go to the n-th degree of everything I try!  I have  2 hr sprint and I'm probably going  to have a 4 hr Olympic at the end of the month, I'll probably have a 16:59:59 Ironman (if I'm lucky).  In my mind this is pretty sad since I've been working on this all year.  I've thought a TON about giving up and just keeping with the sprints and keeping with my " I'm last" phenomenon.

I'm very motivated by sports in general, things like the movie Rudy make me cry!  I love sports, I love seeing people overcome obstacles, and just plain managing to "do it."  I've had a tough couple of months, battling my hyper-mobility and most recently I discovered I'm allergic to something and I think its whey!  The whey (if it is that) allergy is lovely considering I'm trying to eat better and fuel properly for the longer races.  The attack put me in a ball on the couch/floor for four days!  FOUR DAYS!  This is in a critical period before my first Olympic tri!  UGH! is all I have to say.  Again, I was ready to give up, and just say "F -it." 

So Sunday rolls around, a friend came over and we were supposed to bike, instead we went shopping.... on a good note, after eating a bunch of crap (chicken fingers, spinach and artichoke dip) I actually felt pretty good!  While stuffing my face, another friend texted me to remind me that KONA was re-airing, so I asked John to record it for me.  Even though I've seen it, I knew I needed the motivation.

For those that don't know, Kona is the Ironman championships, you have to come in top 3 in select OTHER Ironman races during the year in your age group to even qualify for Kona.  - These are the best of the best!  Now there are some others that participate, I'm not quite sure how they get in there, but for the  most part it's the best!

They start out with the athlete stories, first is the woman who had a stroke 2 years ago and was told she would most likely not walk- so what's she do? 2 years later, completes an Ironman!     Next, this man who was born with birth defects that rendered his legs useless and he had them amputated, he completed the swim and the bike but missed the cutoff by 7 seconds.  A 75 year old man who has completed Ironman Kona for 20 years straight.. a Cancer patient, A man who has lost 300 lbs, etc.

Then I think about Rick and Dick Hoyt, I've had the honor of watching them compete in triathlons, I am dumbfounded knowing that  they do IRONMAN too!  Dick is amazing, what I struggle to do as a 36 year old, he does as a 70+ year old PUSHING his son!!!  I have to think, seriously? what is my problem?

I sit and watch these stories and wonder, what the hell am I thinking, I'm just a regular Joe with no excuses, get off my butt and DO IT! 

Why???

Because I CAN!!!

1 comment:

  1. We just need to do an Ironman together. Both of us are slow, but we get the job done. Keep on Triing! Do you compete in the NCC? If so, what club do you belong to? I'm with the Alaska Tri Club and my email is helga.horrible@gmail.com. Drop me a line and I'm going to keep tabs on your blog.

    ReplyDelete