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So, I have this super, great training buddy, Kelly who I've been training with for 2 seasons (she's the one on the right, I'm on the left & our cohort Donna is in the middle). A lot of you know the kind of partner I'm talking about - she meets me at pre-dawn hours to get our long runs in, doesn't hesitate to change days for me when I have to accommodate a family conflict, listens to endless tales of my oldest child's college application process (and all those other unmentionables too) & she basically gets me through those long, hot summer runs when all I want to do is go home. She even ran my first 20 miler with me last year on my 40th birthday just because I needed to affirm that I could. I could go on & on but, in short, Kelly is the partner who just gets me through.
Her husband, Ben, has called me an enabler since I seem to be the one always trying to talk Kelly into doing events that she might not otherwise do - (Marine Corps Marathon '07 among others). However, I'm convinced that deep down inside she really loves doing them & just wants to see how hard I'll push before she says yes :) I enable the sign-up. She enables the summer of training because once committed, she makes sure we make it to the starting line.
Anyway, earlier this year, we started talking about maybe switching to trail running or triathlons after Marine Corps this fall. Kelly has done some tris & really likes them. Now, as you probably know by now, I always like to go for the hardest, most difficult task possible so this discussion quickly went from Sprint tris to the Steelhead Half IM then it made the big leap up to the full Ironman distance. As usual, I was the one pushing Kelly to come along for the ride because, quite honestly, I wasn't sure I wanted or could tackle it without my super, great training partner!
Committed to register for the race, we spent all of the last weekend in August volunteering in various capacities for the Louisville Ironman. We were both having a great time & things were going great until the end of the night. Our final jobs on Sunday were to be "catchers" at the finish line. Very exciting since we actually got to congratulate the finishers, give them their medals & blankets, walk them through the finish line & help them in any way they needed. However, we only got to do this for a handful of athletes before we got pulled off to man the Convention Center. This is where the athletes were to go after they left the finish area. They could get their dry clothes bags, eat, get a massage or, if necessary, visit Medical. Apparently, athletes & family were wandering over there without any real idea where to go or what was offered. We were there to take care of them.
Well, turns out that we spent most of our night escorting exhausted athletes to medical. While there were certainly many that came into the building that only needed to be pointed to food or massage, there were still lots that had reached the point of utter exhaustion, dehydration & injury, often requiring rest, medication & IV fluids to speed the recovery process along. Some even required emergency trips to the hospital.
Needless to say, watching several hours of a constant stream of athletes in all forms of medical distress can begin to wear on a person. It might even make one begin to question the sanity of attempting a race like the Ironman. Kelly is obviously way more sane than me because she ended the night with the decision to not register for the race in 2008. I, however, am apparently not sane because I was one of the first in line Monday morning to fork over the ridiculous sum required to be allowed to participate in next year's event.
Now, I have to say, I was a little bummed out. Instead of blasting through 100 mile bike rides, 20 mile runs & hours in the pool with my fave buddy, I was going to have to trudge through by myself - even in the heat of summer. This was definitely going to be dicey (am I showing my age with that word?)
So, on a daily basis I asked her if she wanted to sign up. NO!! was always the resounding answer. "Come on," I wheedled. No go, she wasn't to be moved.
Then, all of a sudden, I get this email, totally out of the blue, that she was in. Yeah, yeah, yeah! I was jumping around the kitchen like a total idiot while my flabbergasted children (and in-laws) looked on. I tried to explain my excitement but really only got blank stares. Who cares, I was excited enough for all of us. MY TRAINING PARTNER WAS IN!!! Now, all of a sudden, the thought of all the training to come didn't seem so bad. I knew I could make it through with her at my side. One way or the other, together, we'll make it to that starting line next August.
Thanks Kelly! I'm actually looking forward to participating in the torture with you:)
ps - you can click on the link above if you want to read about what swayed her decision
TODAY'S WORKOUT - Rode Bike 23 miles (with Kelly) then ran (kind of) 2 miles
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