Oh my GOD- You are going to do an IRONMAN?????

It always makes me giggle when people who are unfamiliar with the sport of Triathlon let alone an Ironman, find out that you are going to do one. I went to a Daughters of God luncheon with my mother on Saturday (day before Mother's Day) and while we were sitting at the table people were introducing themselves and making small talk my proud momma has to interject about my triathlon 'stuff.' One of the sweet lil old women asked what that was so I told her. She had seen something like that on TV during the Olympics, she thought.

Then my mother announces my plans to finsh a full Ironman this year in August. OOOOh lordy you would have thought I became Oprah or the first woman ever to take on anything athletic in a man's world of sports. It was hilarious! But I was touched. After I explained them the distances and the training process it was funny to watch their eating habits change a bit during lunch. When I passed around the cookie platter only two of them took one and they were under the age of 15. When I took TWO some of them relented and said, "Well OK.. I guess this is a special occasion." People are so funny!

When the lunch was over some of the women had been asked to showcase their talents. There were a few booths set up of different crafts and skills and art forms. I got to be equally proud of Mom's talent with glass work as the women of the church came over and "Ooooh'd and Ahhh'd" over her pieces.

As I was leaving the luncheon and walking back to my car, one of the women stopped me who was extremely over weight and asked if I was the girl who was going to do a 'marathon thingy.' I politely said yes and let it be that. She said I was such an inspiration to youth these days because she had apparently lost a son to drugs and another family member had a heart attack at a young age from obesity. She said she wished more young people would be more active so that when they grew up they would have developed healthy habits. ( I was gathering by the way she kept saying "young people" that she thought I was barely of college age.) I was so touched by her effort to come talk to me and share some of her heart with me.

In my world, and to some others who have embraced the multisport lifestyle, something like doing an Ironman kind of seems like the next thing to check off the list. To some of the average population, it seems like something so unattainable and unimaginable. Those reactions catch me off guard but then reel me in. I am grateful that my body is healthy enough to attempt this and that my mind is crazy enough to think it is possible.

Sometimes as multisport athletes, we lose sight of the daily gifts from God while we are busy scheduling, planning, organizing, calculating, and working out or training. When we get sucked into automatic pilot, going through the motions of training, do we realize who would give their 'right' arm to be in our situation? Do we realize how many people we may influence by our decision to be a multisport athlete? Do we realize how lucky we are to be able to put our bodies through this? Each day we rise and put on those shoes, or spandex outfits.. do we thank God for that opportunity? Probably not. Probably some days we groan at the fact that we 'have' to go to the pool at 5am, or do a 2 hour tempo run.

It IS amazing that I am going to do an Ironman. And it IS amazing that I have the support of my family and friends to allow me to do this with out compromising my relationship with them. It IS amazing that God has given me TODAY, to be the best that I can be!