Mother of Encouragement

One of my earliest blogs last year occurred when I told my mother at lunch one day what I was doing. Or rather my son brought it up, no doubt knowing that there would be some confusion and fun around explaining to my 84 year old mother why I was doing it.

From her initial "your going to kill yourself" response to the phone call with her last weekend. I expressed that I was sorry now that I hadn't taken Dustin out of school for a couple days to come along- to have someone there, knowing it was going to be emotional both at the beginning and at the end, and that recounts of other athlete's Ironman experiences revealed how important that family or friends siting along the way was to them.

I'm prepared to throw up, or have diarrhea and to suffer the pain through it telling myself to keep moving forward but I'm not prepared for starting or crossing the finish line alone. That will be tougher than anything I've ever done. And I've had a big big baby, and felt that great sense of alone that follows a divorce. I didn't expect it. I didn't expect to need that so much.

I told my mom how I was excited, nervous, and a little scared- all true, but that my goal was to focus on enjoying the experience - and realizing all the time that this "first" will never come again- regardless of whether another Ironman does or not.

She piped in- "right, you don't have to win it, just do well." How far has she come?? To be referring to Ironman and winning in the same sentence! One thing is for sure- I can't keep up!!
Oh my. Winning in this event is finishing for me! And having the experience of a lifetime, being able to walk away choosing to do it again or to be satisfied with the day.