IRONMAN Texas 2017!

We did it! It was a day full of challenges and happy times. Short story: Jeff finished the 140.6 miles of IRONMAN Texas in 12:17 (49 mins. faster than 2014!) and I finished in 14:49. For more photos, click on the photo above.  For the long(er) story, keep reading:

Challenges (for me):
1) The morning rush--I had a technical issue with my bike that had surfaced sporadically during my training and on Thursday (the day before we had to check in our bikes), it was back.  Jeff fixed it a bit, but we wanted to have the bike techs look at it and thought they'd be at bike check-in.  They weren't, but I was informed they'd be there in the morning.  When we arrived in the morning, I got in the bike tech line as soon as I could but it was not moving.  Soon we were informed that they had gotten lost and were on their way.  Shortly after 6 (40 mins before the start), my bike was checked and we started the 20 min. walk to the start after saying a very quick goodbye to the kids.  It was not the start I imagined, but we made it.

2) The swim--I decided not to wear a wetsuit since the race was wetsuit optional and I was worried about overheating in the 78.8 degree water (it's never good to start out the long day dehydrated). I felt really good at the beginning of the swim and thought with the significant improvements I've been seeing in the pool that I'd have a decent swim. That was until the wetsuit wave caught up to me (they had to go last) and I suddenly found myself in the middle of a group of much larger men who were swimming over me. At times in open water I'm prone to panic and this situation brought it back. Luckily they have kayaks that you can hold onto so I took advantage and calmed down. After that, I was a bit shaken and I think my stroke fell apart and my tendency to veer left got even worse. Since that was about .4 miles into the 2.4 mile swim it made for a long time in the water. At the end, we swam down the waterway (canal) in The Woodlands and they had just laid mulch the day before so that smell was all we breathed in. Needless to say, I was thrilled to get out of the water. Looking back, I'm just so grateful I made the time cutoff, as I had no idea I was so close.

3) The WIND!: The course was 2 loops on a wide open toll road that runs north south. By the time I got out there, the winds from the north were in full force (~15 mph with 24 mph gusts). That made for a very tough ride each time we had ride the 20 mile stretches that headed north...but it sure was a lot of fun when we were heading south!

Happy times:
The rest of it! I literally had a smile on my face for every other time. I was just so happy to be out there and ticking the miles away. The run course of this race is AMAZING with spectators everywhere cheering you on, acting crazy, blasting music, and basically telling you how awesome you are (by name) every time you run by. The views are great and diverse...if you're not running by the lake or waterway, you're in a wooded path or running through a neighborhood with million dollar homes. The thousands of volunteers were so helpful and supportive. I got to run with one of my swim friends for a bit and also saw many of my other friends on the course. Last but not least, our family that came to support us made it such a special day.

I'm sure I will glean many more lessons as I take time to reflect on this first phase of Project Becoming our Best and let my body heal (overall it feels pretty good considering what I put it through) and I'll be happy to share. It's been a tremendous experience for our entire family and I thank you all for being part of it.

Pre-race Project B.o.B. (Phase 1) Learning

When I was young, my mom would frequently have me engage in what she called “growing experiences.” These were not my favorite, as they often involved me doing something that I was very afraid of (like going to the Icee counter at our neighborhood Kmart and ordering and paying my cherry coke slushy all by myself).  As I reflect on the last ten months of Project Becoming Our Best, many of the feelings associated with growing experiences come back to mind.

So, you may be thinking “sure, training for an IRONMAN is a growing experience; I get it; it sure must be hard to swim, bike, and run so frequently.” But really, that’s not it.  Sure, the training can be challenging and I love the results of spending that much time exercising my body.  However, the true “growing” aspect of that experience is much bigger than that.  Here are some things that I've learned:

Perseverance: This Saturday is much more than “having fun in my sport” or “participating in a race.”  It’s a way to continue to test my mental stamina; as a fellow triathlete said “to remove ‘quit’ from my vocabulary.” 

See, when Jeff finished his first Ironman in 2014, I remember realizing that when it came to sticking with anything and following it through, I was fairly weak.  Sure, I would get excited about new ideas and new activities, but would often lose interest and move on to the next thing (either because it got too difficult or because I got bored).  I am sure that Saturday will provide many more opportunities to see if/how I’ve grown in this area via efforts over the past 3 years.

Finding balance: I know that I said in one of my first Project B.o.B. posts that “consistency was key.”  There are numerous articles out there about the value of being consistent with your training.  Throughout the past 10 months though, I also learned how important it is to consider the cost/benefit of each decision.  Although there were many nights that I did leave my family to swim even though the kids would have preferred me to stay home, there were also times in which the right decision was to reschedule a workout or cut it short so that I could spend more time with them.  Jeff was instrumental in helping me to realize this and in finding creative ways to make training sessions fun family affairs.  There were also times where I knew my body needed emotional and physical rest more than it needed another training session. Although the butterflies for Saturday are incessant, I trust that I got in enough training to help me achieve my goals and I’m thankful for what I learned about doing the best with the time that I’m given.

Discovering new “Likes”:  No, I’m not talking about Facebook likes (although I’ll get to that later), but instead I’m talking about how participating in different family volunteering projects helped expose new interests for the kids.  If you can’t tell from my past posts, helping out with animals was a family favorite.  They’ve already asked if we can continue Project Becoming our Best after Saturday (hence the “Phase 1” in the title) and I look forward to the additional interests we can discover by participating in diverse experiences.

Learning how much people care: Whether it be my family members, swimming friends, neighborhood friends, or coworkers who show an interest in this endeavor and/or like our posts and/or donate multiple times, I’ve learned that I’m surrounded by people who care.  As I think of those who have made sacrifices to be at the race for us, I get especially emotional.  I’d love to have my parents there (I know that they’ll be watching from above) but having all of my siblings and Jeff’s parents there will be very special.

Putting myself “out there”:

First, let me say that I have a lot to learn about social media.  I was so surprised when I first started that not everyone saw my Facebook posts because I wasn’t a frequent user.  To be honest, I’m still not sure how the mysterious algorithm works which is why I’ve posted many more requests for donations than I usually would.  I have no idea if everyone has seen them (which is why I also sent out old-fashioned paper donation requests to everyone on my Christmas card list). 

However, more than learning that I didn’t know much about how Facebook works, I learned that sharing something I’m passionate about on Facebook is hard.  Asking for support (particularly financial) for something I’m passionate about is even harder.   If I relied only on the number of likes or the accomplishment of our fundraising goal as an indicator of the validity and/or social acceptance of my ideas, it could take over my mind and emotions.  But that’s not what Project Becoming our Best is about, it’s about showing people who we are and what we think is important, taking on uncomfortable challenges, sticking with something and growing as individuals and as a family as we journey to the other side.  Whether that challenge is working through cramping legs as you try to run after a long bike workout, getting over nerves about what we’re supposed to say or what we might face as you walk into a senior center, or about asking people repeatedly to financially support a cause that we think is important, it’s about sticking our necks out and starting, enduring, and working through the challenge.  It’s only through putting ourselves in these “growing experiences” (thanks, Mom) that we can more fully develop the unique gifts that God wants us to share.  I’m grateful that for the luxury of getting to choose these experiences.  And I look forward to continuing onto many more phases of “Project Becoming Our Best” (aka “life”).