Anticipating The Year To Come

It's always too early to quit. -- Norman Vincent Peale
No matter how many goals you have achieved, you must set your sights on a higher one. -- Jessica Savitch
It has been anything BUT a recovery month since we came back from Ironman Florida. The weekend following IMFL, I ran the Susan G Komen Race For The Cure in Austin. This was a commitment I made back in May when we shaved my head. I expected to be in such bad shape that I would walk the whole thing, but I ran most of it. The walking I did was at two points in the race where I was so caught up in people traffic that I would have run over somebody if I had tried to run (yeah, isn’t THAT hard to believe? – me running over somebody on a run!) It was a decent run, the legs cooperating a lot better than I would have expected. Sometimes I wonder if I didn’t push hard enough at IMFL, since I could walk and run as well as I was afterward.
The following weekend, I headed out to Tempe Arizona to meet up with the IronHeart Racing team for the first time. First and foremost, we were there to support a teammate participating in this year’s race. I met Jim O. at IMKS 70.3 in June, and he is the one who introduced me to the IronHeart group. Second to that, we as a group would be registering for IMAZ 2012 as our documentary event – from registration to finish line. Out of the group, I was the only one who actually volunteered at IMAZ 2011 so that I could be in the volunteer line early the next morning to register for next year’s race. The rest of the group had to wait until all the volunteers were registered before the onsite non-volunteers could sign up for 2012, but since I was the only one who had to catch a flight out that day, they were in no big hurry.
While out in Tempe, our IronHeart team was able to meet and interview Mike Reilly, the voice of Ironman, and a number of professional triathletes. Leanda Cave, who actually ended up winning IMAZ 2011, was a very gracious, supportive lady. Tim O’Donnell was on the interview list, as was his girlfriend Mirinda Carfrae. The team had dinner together a couple of times, and it was during one of those nights that my teammates Jeremy and Scott noticed Mirinda sitting at the other end of the patio. Team founder Dave walked right up to her and had an interview set up in about 3 minutes!Race day, we were at the swim start to see how that would work. You have to climb into the reservoir and then swim out about 200 yards to the swim start buoys. The water temp was 61 degrees, so I am hoping that swim out to the start will help me acclimate to the frigid swim. We noticed a number of people were walking along the sloping wall and getting closer to the start line before getting into the water. I haven’t decided which makes more sense yet. Once the gun went off and people were quite a ways down the long leg out, we went over to get a good spot to watch the swim exit. The pros started coming out of the water at about 45 minutes (yeah, HALF my swim time!). We were able to see Brittany, our BT friend and Team RedWhiteBlue racer, as well as Jim O, come out of the water. The IronHeart folks had secured a number of press passes so they could have the cameras in the midst of the action, so I got some pics of the whole crew as Jim made his way through the swim exit. We watched both Brittany and Jim exit transition on the bike, and then wandered toward the run aid station where we would help with setup. Our plan was to hang around after setup, and watch some of the pros come by. I got a number of decent pics of the pros, as well as some shots of Brittany, so I was happy about that. After that, we headed off to get some lunch and then I had to do my solo interview. Even now, it is still an emotional time when I have to talk about the heart attack, the bypass and all the great support I have received throughout.
Unfortunately, Jim didn’t make it past the bike cutoff time, so his race came to a premature end. His family did meet us for dinner and then we all went to the finish line for the last 2 hours. That is the most emotional time of the race – so many are struggling to finish before the midnight deadline (the group I thought I would be in at Florida) so lots of folks show up to provide encouragement and support; even the pro winners traditionally come back for this. We were able to see Bryan, one of the characters in the “You Are An Ironman” book who we met and from whom were able to get an autograph the day before.
Monday early we were up and out to the registration line. The IronHeart team was doing some additional filming with the crowd sitting in line, so we got a chance to talk to a number of folks who also have a story of their own.
After registering and talking to the team it was time to head for the airport and the trip home.
Since then, it has been a bit sporadic – I ran the Turkey Trot at Thanksgiving which is a 5-mile run in downtown Austin; I ran the Lights of Love 5K for the Ronald McDonald House; the Jingle Bell 5K which is a fundraiser for MADD; and the Round Rock Rotary Reindeer 5K, which supports the Playground For All Disabilities. This project is being built in my town and should open this coming year.
Throw in a bit more running, some swims at the rec center, and a couple of bike rides and that pretty well sums up my December. It is time to get serious about it, though, with the 3M Half-Marathon coming up at the end of January. I also signed up for the Run For Chocolate 15K in Dallas in February – after all, if there is ANYTHING that can make running more palatable, it has to be chocolate!
Well, that’s not quite ALL my December – I am very excited for my daughter, who became engaged on the 10th. They are planning an August or September 2012 wedding – although I DID say that it better not impact my race schedule! JUST KIDDING!