Rx: Ironman

Race Week!

I've officially been done with work for an hour now, but I've been sitting at my computer mapping out our drive, figuring out where the convention center is, getting directions to the dorms where we're staying, and finding a local church. Hopefully we'll be giving thanks for a great race by Saturday night. I requested Friday off at work, but I didn't get it, so it looks like we'll be getting up to Duluth in the evening, checking into the dorms, picking up our race packets, eating, sleeping, and waking up to the alarm clock all in about a 12 hour span. Holy cow I hope this goes well. Borsch is going to be our Super Sherpa, and boy am I glad to have him along. Now to figure out how we're going to get his bike up there with us...

After 8 marathons and 2 Ironmans, you'd think this race wouldn't really get me nervous, but it is for some reason. Maybe because it's the first marathon I'm not running in my backyard. Maybe it's because I have time goals, which I haven't had in years. Maybe the taper is just getting into my head. Probably all of the above. At any rate, the ultimate goal is to have fun with my friends who are doing it and enjoy the party afterward. Oh, and there's the planned jump into Lake Superior for the "natural" ice bath. That should make for some great stories!

My family's yearly camping trip was this weekend. It was SO much fun, even though we didn't get to go canoeing on Saturday. The river had flooded earlier in the week (along with most of Wisconsin from what it looks like), and they hadn't started to clean up the fallen trees and debris that had washed into it. There was no shortage of fun. Great company, perfect weather, lots of laughs, and WAY too much junk food. Hopefully that will all have worked its way out of my system in a couple of days!

My mom relayed a comment that one of Steve's mom's good friends had told her. We had barely unpacked our car and set up our tent when my mom half jokingly said, "So and So said that you and Steve need to stop running and start having kids." The comment left me speechless. You'll have to pardon the sarcasm here, because obviously, the two are mutually exclusive. Never mind the fact that it's truly none of So and So's business in the first place if and when we decide to have children. Never mind that I've never even MET So and So. You know, I guess since I've been finished with my doctorate for a whopping two years and graduated from my residency almost a full year now I need to hang up my tri bike and running shoes and just get to making babies. At the ripe old age of 27, my eggs must be nearly dried up. And when we do have kids, all of this "silliness" must stop. No more exercising. No more races. News flash: nearly all of the amazing people I've met in the blog world and tris in general have kids, and they make it work. Because you know what? Teaching kids to lead healthy, active lifestyles is invaluable. Showing them how to set goals and work toward them translates to all areas of life. Keeping myself healthy to fend off my daily stress and the genes I've been given (heart disease, hypertension, and high cholesterol) will only make my family stronger. Sorry. I just needed to get that out. I've been fuming about it for 3 days. I tried to run it out on my 10 miler on Sunday, but I got home just as mad as when I started. I'm not totally clueless. I know that my friends have to make sacrifices, and it's not easy for them, but they do it. And they're better people for it; they're better parents for it. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a marathon to run!

My race number is 8778, so if I don't get my results up by Saturday night, feel free to look me up! Oh, and if you'll be up there and haven't already contacted Steve or me, just let us know so we can try and meet up.

Good luck to everybody racing Grandma's and IM CdA!