Be Brave, Be Compassionate, Be Grateful

The 10 month period we dedicated our initial focused effort to "become our best" as a family now only has 35 days left in it!

• 35 days to get our bodies physically ready to power through 140.6 miles
• 35 days to raise $1367 for Little Helping Hands and Doing Good Together
• 35 days to reflect on the memories and progress we've made on this journey
• 35 days to refocus on the key qualities that summarize what it means to us to become our best: bravery, compassion, gratitude

So, since I've been a little lax in posting lately, I'll give a little more detail about the top and bottom bullet point.

35 days to get our bodies physically ready to power through 140.6 miles

Training has been going pretty well, although we've had to make adjustments to our proposed plan due to work issues, minor sicknesses, and, in general, to make sure we have our priorities straight.  I knew that IRONMAN training would be a lesson in how to prioritize, but I anticipated that would mean finding a way to fit everything in.  However, sometimes it's been instead about making the tough choices about what I need to not accomplish so that I can stay mentally and physically healthy.  Although that's difficult for someone with a closet Type A personality (okay, some of my friends and coworkers would say there's no closet at all), it has been a really good lesson.  And I'm very grateful to my experienced IRONMAN husband for teaching it to me.  In terms of the three disciplines, I am feeling better (dare I say mildly confident) about the swim even though I've had to make adjustments due to my work travel, pretty good about the bike (although I still haven't ridden a century outside) and strong on the run thanks to Jeff pacing me so well.  Jeff has had to make adjustments too and although his motivation isn't exactly at the level it was before his first IRONMAN, he's hanging in there and getting it done.  We have about 3 more solid weeks of training and then the lovely taper begins.

35 days to refocus on the key qualities that summarize what it means to us to become our best: bravery, compassion, gratitude

Slightly discouraged that I haven't been posting much or doing many volunteer activities with the kids recently due to the 7 hours each weekend that we dedicate to training and the extra hours of sitting around recovering, I've started reflecting on the themes of our efforts to become our best.  What does it really mean to us?  What have our activities been about?  

As I reflected, the qualities of being brave, being compassionate, and being grateful came to mind.  Each activity and/or post that have been part of Project Becoming Our Best has focused on one of these.  So as we enter the final push, our family will be putting extra focus on these three words, sharing daily stories of experiences related to them.  We'd love to also do some crowdsourcing, hearing about each of your stories too and really keeping bravery, compassion, and gratitude top of mind.  We look forward to seeing what will come of this effort and to celebrating it on race day.  Stay tuned for more :).