First and foremost, it is official that we are the second largest fundraiser for the Janus Charity Challenge. This means that a total of nearly $ 25K was raised, with $16,140 in donations….THANKS TO YOU!….and $8,000 being donated by Janus Investments for a total of $24,140!!!
As I prepare the for race, I am finding that I really don’t have the pre-race jitters that I was expecting. Was near the medical tent after a practice swim yesterday and saw a woman getting coated with antibiotic gel. She was all scrapped up…arms, shoulders and face….from getting blown off of her bike! I will use the fact that the wheels on her bike have a aero feature that makes the bike much more susceptible to side wind to say that won’t happen on my bike! (Whether it is true or not, it is a great rationalization!) The weather is ever-changing here, but the forecasts for Saturday were showing less wind (yeah!!!) more heat (a few degrees) and way, way more humidity (hot and hotter.) The forecast can change again, but it looks like wind may not be in the life threatening range…but maybe the heat will be. And sure enough writing this part later it turned out to be both hot and windy this afternoon…go figure. Who knows what tomorrow will look like?
The classes have helped a lot with getting more confident and getting to enjoy the event. The caliber of the top athletes here are amazing in terms of what they can do. And yet the thoughts are similar. I don’t know if I already mentioned this or not, but the fifth top woman last year, who was the top US woman, gets off the bike and is mentally saying to herself and practically in tears saying,”There is no way I can run a marathon”. ( I can relate!) After getting going, she then proceeds to rip-off a sub 3 hour marathon (wish I could do that!)
There are 1800 participants, but less than 400 are doing Hawaii for the first time and an even smaller group have this event as their first Ironman.
Most are very surprised to hear that that this will be my first. One person, a seven time Ironwoman, ominously said, and really meant this as words of encouragement, that actually it is good I haven’t done an Ironman because you don’t have the worry and fear of knowing how bad it can really get. Ignorance is Bliss. So I am feeling very comforted by that knowledge!
Part of the reason that I am not as nervous as I should be is that the same issues of “what can happen and what can I do about it?” are things that people and families with type 1 diabetes are successfully dealing with every single day. One of the focal areas of the training camp was all about how many carbs per hour, what are the right foods to eat, how do conditions effect the processing of the fuel needed to move forward, for example. Other areas were how to minimize risk on injury and what to do in various challenging situations. As inevitable low points are reached during the event, I will be thinking about all the kind donations and all of the support. I will be thinking about all of you. Best wishes, good thoughts and prayers are always welcome so thanks for all the calls, texts and emails!! Mark