Then she moved away, then thankfully moved back and what a great way to get to hang out with her (and two handfuls of other gals from the South Bay Marathon Team), than to join Ironteam with them. The first time we went to the pool we were all a bit nervous, Yvonne admitted that swimming wasn't her strong point (we all have a stronger sport and a weaker point). By the end of my season back in May, she was passing me in the pool! Well her hard work paid off, and let me just say that despite all the training, the strongest thing about her is her positive attitude and smile! YAY YVONNE! Plus my family loved seeing a familiar face at the local hospital with all the visits we had this year!
We also had another group of marathon friends come to the Ironteam from the SGV team - Kim - another nurse with a tireless smile, Louis - our awesome photo captain; and Gordie - our inspirational and amazing Honored Teammate. I was the one honored enough to get to train with him and get to know him better, and benefit from his words and his presence!
There are so many amazing people that I've met along the way, and each one has their inspirational story, and I'm so proud of each and every one of them and can't wait to hear what crazy thing they're going to try next.
The Ironteam still has 2 events left in its season, the Louisville Ironman MDot - where my fearless mentor Carlos will be racing and grooving across the finish line, and Kona Ironman - where another inspirational beyond words honored teammate Kyle is going to rock Kona this year!
I'm also amazed and humbled by the efforts put forth by some of my teammates who fought hard at Wildflower, kept training, kicked it up a notch, and went and kicked butt at Barb's Race, earning their 70.3 badge! Congratulations Sara and Meghan! I'm in awe and still waiting for pictures!!
I'm still on my journey to 70.3, but it won't be this year. However, not one to like to sit still for long, I've jumped right into training for the FULL Nike Women's Marathon!
A group of my high school girlfriends and I decided to pay it forward at 40! So we all signed up for Team In Training and together will raise $15,000 to fight blood cancers.
As a bonus, another friend who came to visit last year when I ran the 1/2 marathon, is going to join us to run it herself this year! Honestly, I don't have to work to hard to sell this race - here's the finishline...
...and I know where they party afterwards...
Ironically, my training thus far has been sitting still for too long. I had a weekend in the end of June where I had to prove to myself that I was fully recovered from my gall bladder surgery, that I still had it in me, so after a 90 min bike ride and a 60 min run, and working a Triathlon that weekend, I realized I had a quietly nagging injury to my back. Suddenly my mind was swept back to my Gall Bladder Dr. saying "You don't have lower back issues do you? The CAT scan saw something." I said, "No, Dr., nothing more than sore muscles!"
Well I've tried the RICE - Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation - method (if I have that wrong, THAT could be the reason why it hasn't gone away), and even a little bit of ibuprofen along the way, but it wasn't getting better. I finally have gone to a doctor this past week and am on session 2 with the chiropractor, plus athletic tape, and biofreeze - so cool it's hot! I'm planning to get back out there this weekend, run 6 miles, then build by 2 miles a week and make sure I get in all my mid-week runs to make up for lost time - aah! Hopefully runnersworld.com's computerized training program agrees with my plan.
So right now, the race for the 26.2 mile race is on! This race is so worth it though! I tell everyone I meet that this is the race I will do once a year until I can't any more! You know what though? The race is amazing, but I love the journey even more!
