Road to Ironman

So this will be my last post before Ironman Mont Tremblant.  I have dreamed of this moment for years and now that it is finally here I wish I had more time, a few more months, or weeks to be ready. I have swum, biked and ran 1000's of km in the last 2 years to prepare for this day, I have run 4 marathons and completed 4-70.3 Triathlons to prepare, I could not have done more, I know that but I still wonder.  My bib number is 2584 and I start at 7am EST.  I hope to finish around 10pm and you can track me on the Ironman site and watch me finish on the live feed.  The one thing I have learned is that races never turn out as planned and you need a plan A, a plan B, C, D and maybe all the way to Z.  As long as I make all the cut off times I will be happy but ideally this is my plan, swim 1:30, bike 7:30 and run 6:00 and 15 mins in transitions.  This would put me at 10:15pm finishing time and I have time before midnight in case I need it.  I have said from day one that as long as I finish before 16:59:59 I would be happy and that still holds.  I asked for one thing for my birthday, to have Mike Reilly call me an Ironman and I plan on collecting my gift on Sunday.

Someone on a FB group asked what song would say represented your Triathlon journey and after a few minutes I realized it has not changed since the start, the Climb by Miley Cyrus has been and always will be my song. I wrote about this in a June 20, 2012 blog post The Climb and it still holds true. I have had a dream for 3 years and along the way obstacles have come and gone, I have become the person who can do this and I realize it is about the climb.  Yes the view from the top is beautiful but it is what you accomplish to get there that matters the most.  So yes, the time is now, I have done enough, I have dreamed enough and it is time to climb.

The Climb

I can almost see it

That dream I am dreaming

But there's a voice inside my head saying

"You'll never make it"

Every step I am taking

Every move I am make feels

Lost with no direction

My faith is shaking

But I gotta keep trying

Gotta keep my head held high

There's always gonna be another mountain

I'm always gonna wanna to make it move

Always gonna be an uphill battle

Sometimes I am going to have to lose

Ain't about how fast I get there

Ain't about what's waiting on the other side

It's the climb.