Almost There!

As Keith reminded me today....just 6 more days! I am looking so forward to this race, and I think I might even be more excited for it than I was for my first ironman. I am going to Wales!!!! I am going to take on this awesome challenging course- freezing, choppy water, hilly hard ride, tons of wind, and hilly run. The Wales tourism website, in return, has told me they have beaches, castles, and mountains for me to enjoy. I think it is a fair trade.

My race plan simplified:

• I will start the swim on the outside and swim longer if I have to and slower than I have to in order to enjoy the day. Period. I love to swim, but I definitely have open water anxiety (people trying to kill me anxiety).
• I will ride with HR and RPE, not by speed. Luckily I have raced so long without a computer that I never know what my mph is anyways. When you don't have some random mph that you just have to hold, it makes it so much easier to listen to your body and stay within your HR zone.
  
• I will run much the same way. Super slow at first- and I will use my garmin to make sure my first miles are reasonable, and then I will just do what I can do for that day. I will know it when I am doing it. I have some ideas of what pace I think I can hold, but for me, I also know that every day can be a little different for me, so I will listen to my body and find a pace that lets me run the whole marathon.
  

I still feel like such a newbie at all of this sometimes. I have only done 1 other ironman, and 4 half-iron distances. That does not seem like a lot of experience to me! But, I definitely have a lot of enthusiasm to bring to the course and a love for the sport. I am so excited to keep having opportunities to do longer events.

We depart for London tomorrow and then begin the journey to Wales. I am not sure how much I will be on the computer overseas, and Dave and I will not have a phone over there, so this may be it for the blog and phone for a while.

Before I leave, good luck to Julia in her first IM at Wisconsin this Sunday. We have been having an insane time with email lately- paragraphs and paragraphs about our concerns, preparation, hopes, etc. They have been wonderful to read- thank you for the support Julia!

I have many good friends to thank, as always. Little notes, cards, phone calls, texts etc.. do make a difference, so thank you to my friends and family that have reminded me of their friendship this week. And, thank you Nami and Bekah for taking care of the dogs and my house for me. I have never been away from Rooney and Cayenne this long, and I am really, really sad about it. I am glad they are in good hands.

And Joy- thank you for my care package, complete with fudge rounds that were for after the race but became part of my pre- race carbo loading. That was total sabotage, but I loved it! And, how did you remember I always paint my nails opposite colors before a big race? You rock- I almost cried when I got that package.

And, to sign off. I always race in memory of Mac and Chad. This time many of my PT kids picked a mile for me to race in their honor as well. One of my younger boys with muscular dystrophy had trouble picking his mile, and he asked me "which is your best event?" I was surprised that he really understood I would be doing 3 events, and that I might be better at one than the other. I am not really sure (although I KNOW it is not the swim- ha!) so I told him usually the bike. So, he picked mile 1 of the bike because he wanted me to think of him in the event where I "go the fastest." This is from a kid that will never walk again. Ughhh!!!! It was just crazy hearing that from him and it has been on my mind all week long, so he definitely has mile 1 of the bike, and all of my other kids have their special miles for many special reasons as well.

Okay! Over and out!
Tues: airplane
Wed: London + Opera!
Thurs: Bristol
Fri: Tenby
Sat: go crazy
Sun: Race!