Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Calm, ready, and waiting.

So tonight I dragged out the PDF file of the Louisville course and Google Earth, and tried to do a virtual flyover of the bike course.

Is it just me or does being a triathlete have a requisite amount of obsessing one must be willing to do? I visit the 10 day forecast almost daily.


Tonight was Turbo bricks with the Jimmy. We do running intervals alternating with spinning on our bikes on trainers.

This was my last Turbo Brick workout until after the Ironman tonight. It was 95 degrees out, but we were working in the shade, and despite the heat, I was okay. Not ecstatic, mind you, but okay. I think I've reached the point where, given enought water, I can tolerate just about anything.

I've reached a stage in which I feel calm. I have accepted my fate. That doesn't sound positive, but focus on the work "accept" just for a moment.

It's like my friend Holly used to say to me, "What are they gonna do, take away your birthday?"

I can look forward to doing my best, and knowing that my best is a little better than it was a few months ago.

What's done is done.

Training time is over.

The course lays before me.

For everything I've read, it's a beautiful course. Rolling hills and many shady spotsl, starting with a 10 mile flat and ending with the same.

Sweet Baboo is hundreds of miles away at the APA convention. We've always gone to this together, but this year my only days off are being used at Ironman Louisville. Whenever he's gone, I always watch Bridget Jones' Diary.

I love this movie. My favorite part is where the character of Mark Darcy tells Bridget Jones that he likes her just as she is. Not apart from all her flaws, but including them.





I like this part because it reminds me to like myself, not inspite of my flaws, but including them.

And then there is that moment when the antagonist offers her a life in which he has settled for her, and she says, "That's not a good enough offer for me...I'm looking for something more extraordinary than that."

I suppose that's what I'm looking for in this life. Extraordinary events that I can be a part of. And in the end, whether I officially finish or not, I've had the chance to be part of something extraordinary.

To start something that not many will ever start, and possibly, finish something that even fewer have finished, that is a life worth living.

So that's where I am right now.

Calm. Ready, and Waiting.

...

14 comments:

  1. No matter what I'm sure it will be an amazing experience. You've done the work, you'll be successful! I look forward to hearing all about it. Enjoy your taper time.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great post! The closing will be what I ruminate on today, very cool.

    ReplyDelete
  3. GG-You ARE extraordinary! Stay calm. Stay forcused-you will be an Ironman!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yes, extraordinary events that we can be a part of, you have put your finger on it. Reading about your training has been wonderfully engaging and inspiring, and I cannot WAIT to hear how the race goes! I have a strong feeling that you're going to do much, much better than you think, think of what good mental training it was to have your bike fall apart on you like that!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Our life together has been a string of extraordinary events. I miss you!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi, Geekgirl,

    You are such an inspiration. It's going to be very cool to hear your stories from Louisville...Thanks for sharing your journey with the rest of us!

    BTW--did my preview of the bike course land in your e-mail account? I'm not as tech-savvy as you, so just clicked on your e-mail link and sent it from my Wisconsin account....hope it got there....but no matter! You are totally ready for it...and it is beautiful!

    Amber

    ReplyDelete
  7. Nail on the head with this one, GG.
    I agree there is a certain degree of OCD tendencies in triathletes. That's my excuse anyhow.
    12 minutes to Wapner, yeah, 12 minutes.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Calm. Ready. What a good place to be!!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Very well said - very well indeed.

    I do believe obsessing over the course, our pace, how we feel, every little twinge and our mental game is all part of the process. In the end it is mostly a mental game and yours sounds like it is going well.

    I have that song "Live A Life Less Ordinary" by Carbon Leaf stuck in my head now.

    May everything go just right for you as you cover the course in pursuit of Iron.

    ReplyDelete
  10. obsessing is like the 5th discipline!!

    your well prepared and ready..!!

    rockon`

    ReplyDelete
  11. I've never told you this before but here's what I know about you:

    I haven't known you long, but this is the most focussed I have ever seen you. I think you're amazing

    They can't take away your birthday, and it doesn't matter anyway 'cos you're gonna do it!

    At my first sprint they told me you only get one first time - so enjoy it.

    Go enjoy your first ironman!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I am not sure how you can be so calm? This peep here is so fired up for you guys I want to run through a wall (more than once). You go get em' (and take names while you're there).

    ReplyDelete
  13. You only have one time in your life to experience Ironman for the first time. Enjoy every minute. It is a celebration of your training and dedication. Ironman aren't made on the course they are made from the training and you have achieved that.

    I hope to meet up with you in KY. I will be any support that is needed. I am at T1 and will be there at the finish line working until midnight.

    By the way--I love the Penguin!!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hi,

    I have been lurking around your blog for months now. Can't recall now how I got here but I keep coming back because I love your writing style and have been pulled into your journey to Louisville. I am very excited for you and will be thinking of you as you GO FOR IT on that day!! Good luck!

    Stef

    ReplyDelete

Comments containing links to commercial websites from people with invisible profiles are deleted immediately. Spammers are immediately deleted.

Moved.

 I'm no longer involved in multisport or endurance sports. I've started my own business, a psychotherapist specializing in anxiety d...