Ironman Arizona: The Village

Photo credit: Mama C

When I first joined Lake Grapevine Runners and Walkers 4 years ago, Marty was training for IMCdA. He wrote a great article for RAW's newsletter, The Footprint, about how it takes a village to prepare an Ironman athlete for their race.  I remember reading his article thinking about how lucky he was to have so many people that rode with him, swam with him, and helped him get there.  Turns out, I'm just as lucky.  I stole this idea from him, thank you Marty!

Photo credit: Mama C

Greg, Dat, Erin
I owe so much to these 3 people!!! I am the kind of person that always has ideas about adventures. And I tend to not just talk about adventures, but actually do them.  Greg, Dat, and Erin are my soul mates because they are the kind of people that always say, YES! LET'S DO THAT!!! Then they *let* me plan everything and they show up.  They commit to their YES and they never back out.  Here's how it normally goes, "Hey guys I found this 2 day bike rally in Tulsa in June.  Wanna go? Looks fun!" Them: "Ok!" Me, "I found this 100 mile ride down south called Purgatory.  That sounds right up our alley, wanna?" Them: "Sounds great!" Me: "What about a week long cycling adventure across New Mexico in the summer." Them: "IN!!!!"

New Mexico: Espanola, Los Alamos, Taos
Greg, Me, Mitchell

Tulsa Tough: Tulsa, OK
Greg, Fiona, Dat, Me, Erin

Wild Horse Century: Poteau, OK
Me, Dat, Erin

Greg convinced me to ride my first century in June.  I was so scared and thought it was way too early in my season to ride 100 miles and didn't for a second think I was ready.  He said he would stay with me no matter what and we would make it.  Well, we did and it was an awesome experience.  I remember driving home and calling Evan in tears because it was the first breakthrough moment in my training.  I realized that day that I absolutely could and would do an Ironman.

Pinewoods Purgatory: Lukin, TX
Dat, Greg, Me

Erin should get her own blog post.  I'm so thankful for her friendship.  One of MANY examples I could list, one Saturday this fall I was riding my normal 6 plus hours and she was coming along for a good chunk of it.  She rode the first 3 hours with me and then offered to follow me and meet me at different points with water and ice because it was over 100 degrees.  Who does that?!  Not only was she my #1 go-to cycling buddy all year, my daily shoulder to laugh and cry on, she is also my massage therapist!!  Go see her, she is the BEST. 

New Mexico, almost to Los Alamos
Me, Erin, TPG

John, Jeff, Frank, Jason C, and Jason B
My open water swim buddies.  John hooked me up with this group of guys in June and I swam with them every Friday in the lake.  I don't think John missed a single Friday until late in the fall.  Once my IM buddy, Jason B, got in on these Fridays I always had someone to swim the second mile with.  I love open water swimming so Fridays became my favorite day of the week.  I would swim 2 miles and then run 5-7 miles.  It was always around 9:00 when I started running and it was so quiet and peaceful.  People were at work and I had the trail to myself.  I loved my Friday workouts!

Labor Day Run: Ft Worth, TX
John, Me, Jeff

Me and Jason post Friday swim

Nick
Nick was my running buddy during training.  We started running together on Wednesday's at the end of May.  Every Wednesday through the Texas summer we ran.  We normally ran 12-14 miles and did an interval workout on the track.  At the beginning we had to do the track work first and then run 6-7 miles afterwards. OH MY GAH. I still have nightmares about those workouts. They changed me though.  I became so confident in my ability to run tired...perfect training for an Ironman! Not only did Nick run with me every week but he acted as a coach to me.  We talked about my nutrition and training every week.  Every time I freaked out about something I texted him and he always had an answer for me.  Did I eat enough, have I rested enough, what was my last workout? I'm so grateful to him for everything he's taught me and for all the advice he support he gave me!!

RAW Anti-Turkey Trot

Dan
Dan is my "bike guy." He found my bike for me, bought my bike (he said, it's perfect for you but if you're not ready I can always sell it...haha!), and keeps my bike in working order.  He answers every question I have about bike training and bike maintenance.  He loans me race wheels.  I really don't know what I would do without Dan.

Diana and Dan when we drove to Colorado for TransRockies
Buena Vista, CO

Troy
This is all Troy's fault.

Me and Troy PRE Redman 70.3
Oklahoma City, OK

Me and Troy POST Redman 70.3
Grapevine, TX

Lulu, Debby, Julia, Melissa, Byron
Between yoga, wine, bike rides, and pep talks, these 5 people have supported me every step of the way.  Melissa and Byron are Ironman finishers and were such a great tool to have when I had questions!! Thank you all so much for being there in Arizona!

Head cheerleader, supporter extraordinaire, and best hugger: Byron. 

Julia and Melissa
Photo credit: Mama C

Lulu and MK
Photo credit: Mama C

Mama C, MK, Marci, Gretch, TPG, Cherry, Eeeeeee, Fi
Everyday. These girls, everyday. Every bad workout.  Every good workout.  I was never alone.  I never had to be sad alone or scared alone or train or race alone.  These girls are always with me every step.  I cry just thinking about it.  One Wednesday in particular stands out in my memory.  I was beyond exhausted.  I had ran 14 with Nick that morning, worked all day, and had to run 5 that evening.  Just 5 miles, I do doubles every Wednesday, but this night I couldn't wrap my head around it.  I sat in my car at the park, dressed and ready to go, and texted them.  I said I would pay a million dollars to not do this run.  Within 30 seconds I had, "GO!!!!!" "GET OUT OF YOUR CAR AND RUN." "You will be fine, go run!!!" "You can do it Drum, think about November!"  That run was probably the worst one of my whole training.  Only 5 miles but it was just one of "those" runs.  But I did it, I never stopped, and I was better for it.  My life is better because of these girls.

Cherry and Eeeee
Photo credit: Mama C

Playtri Sprint: Las Colinas, TX
Marci, E, Gretch, TPG, Me, MK, Mama C, Cherry
Photo credit: Mama C

Family
I had a friend recently ask me what my parents thought of all this.  My response, "Oh, they're the reason I'm like this!" My parents are very active and always have been.  I'm so thankful that they instilled such an active lifestyle in me.  They've always been incredibly supportive of my racing and training.  For this race in particular I did a few training weekends at their house where I ate every bit of food that they left in sight.  They drove all of my gear and my bike to Arizona.  They found the rental house.  They drove with me and my friends to New Mexico and then followed us on our bikes for 3 days feeding us and showing us the route.  And they want to do it again.  I've always had an incredible relationship with my brother.  Even living 3 hours apart we did multiple bike rides together this summer and he joined us on the NM trip.  He was my angel the last 2 miles of my Ironman.  I'm so thankful he was there!

Brother, Mom, Dad
Photo credit: Mama C

Mother-in-law, Husband, Father-in-law
My in-laws are so incredibly supportive.
TransRockies, Colorado Marathon, Ironman.
They're there supporting me in every possible way.
Photo credit: Mama C

My husband
I don't even know where to start.  My husband is so wonderful and kind and patient.  He helps me in whatever I need to continue this hobby and to succeed in it as best I can and desire to.  He is so independent which is key to having a wife that is training every morning and every evening and all day on Saturdays.  He's never once questioned why I do these things or made me feel crazy for wanting to do them.  He's never made me feel guilty for being gone all the time.  It is not in his nature to even think of that. I don't often ask him to come to races, I race every month and he's not a morning person. Haha! But when the race is really important to me, he's always there, always by my side ready to help with whatever I need. I almost thought that having him at my Ironman would be tough because I allow myself to be weak and tired around him and maybe I shouldn't have his sympathy when things get tough.  I was going to need tough love to finish.  Turns out, he was exactly what I needed.  He was my calm before the storm and he was my tough love at mile 24. He knows me so well and always knew exactly what I needed to hear.  I love you honey, thank you!!

Photo credit: Mama C

Photo credit: Mama C

Photo credit: Mama C

Thank you so much to everyone that played a part in my year!!

Back to Troy...there's really no telling how long it would have taken me to have the courage to sign up without him, I'm very grateful for his friendship.  I did my first 70.3 in 2006 and thought IM was just too far out of my league.

Sequence of events: (Summer 2011)
1. Troy signs up for Lean Horse 100 mile.
2. I tell him I'm going to come support him, he says no.
3. I sign up for Lean Horse 50 mile.  That way I can be there to support Troy but he doesn't need to feel guilty that I'm doing the trip just for him.
4. I run 50 miles.
5. Troy tells me he's signing up for IMAZ and that I should do it. He sends me reminder emails.
6. I realize, FINALLY, that if I can run for 11 hours and 14 minutes, I'm ready to do an Ironman.
7. We both get in to IMAZ.
8. We train and train and train and train.
9. We become Ironmen.
10. The end.