We are now at the last week before Ironman Florida. This is the period referred to as “taper.” The workouts are shorter, intended to just keep you loose. There is no expectation of trying to improve any athletic abilities at this point, but it is a time when you let the body rest for the most part. I look at this as the time when most importantly, you do your best to keep from getting hurt or sick – you tend to stay away from people, like sitting at the back of the conference room for a meeting so people don’t breathe too much in your direction. One triathlete told us that going into an Ironman, the week before the event she somehow managed to kick a carton of sodas and broke her toe!
This past weekend, I spent the time doing a couple short swims, small bike and run workouts, getting things organized for the trip, and pretty much just chilling. One thing I finished is the ribbons I will carry with me on the run… everybody I know that has had to deal with a cardiac issue this past year. Each one of these people has an inspirational story of survival, and I hope to honor them by finishing this race and having “them” with me at the finish. It is really an involved process packing for an event like this – I am just very glad that I am driving, rather than having to try to figure out how to pack all this stuff for an airplane trip. Fortunately, I went through this a bit with Briana last year, so I had an idea of what to expect. It is a matter of having lists for everything, separate bags to pack for each component of the race, some redundancy when it comes to the Special Needs bags, and putting it all together in such a way that come race day, it is more a mechanical process than a stressful one. Still, it is an effort to consider.
Some people will think I am anal-retentive or paranoid, or that I worry too much – I am taking not only the tri bike but the road bike as well. But for me, and particularly since I have the advantage of driving, I would hate to make the trip after this year-long journey only to find something wrong with the bike when I got there. Kinda like playing the safe odds – I am not much of a gambler, and if there is something I can do to swing things in my favor, I will do it.
The weather forecast looks pretty good… low of 51 and afternoon high of 74. Winds might be a little gusty at times, but overall a good day. Probably the last time I will look at the weather – after all, that would be one thing I cannot do anything about. You pack your bags like you need everything, and end up taking out only what you need.
Sitting in church yesterday, as I listened to the sermon, I reflected a bit on the journey. When I had the heart attack in April 2004, my daughter went to this church. The trip to the hospital was on a Friday evening, and the following Sunday Amanda brought two people from the church to the hospital, one the mother of her then-boyfriend and the other a young Jeremiah, who was the youth director at the time. We had an interesting discussion about surviving medical issues such as mine, and how God fits into those events. Even then I wondered what He had in store for me. For me it is interesting to look back at how this past year has evolved, and the plans He has in store for the next year. With the involvement with IronHeart Racing and a number of opportunities still up in the air, even the idea of a second Ironman is exciting. It has been, and I think will be this next year, more about the journey than the destination. What a trip!
