we, two parents of three (awesome but little) children will dive into (semi-murky) river water and attempt to do something neither of us has ever done before. (I'm wondering if we'll ever want to do it again.) We'll tackle an Ironman and hopefully hear coveted words when we cross the finish line (separately several hours apart).
Some people call us crazy. I've even heard the word "selfish" tossed around in our more remote circles. We like to frame this experience as ambitious (and completely do-able).
It began with a Facebook message from a friend we've never met in person but with whom we share a couple of common loves . "Hey, some of us are thinking about doing Ironman Chattanooga. We thought it would be fun to finally meet you two. What do you think?" That was the gist of it anyway. Three weeks of discussion followed. Mr. T. has done several half-ironmans, and thanks to the three little blessings in our lives, I've had a truncated career as an amateur with single-year hiatuses when my workouts consisted of basically sustaining life. I carry more of a running mantle with a marathon and a handful of halfs under my belt. So a full-on 140.6-mile race makes me quake in my spandex. And that's not a pretty picture.
September 6 came with great pomp at our house and two items on the calendar: the five-year-old's first day of kindergarten, and sign up for IM Chattanooga. We kissed the five-year-old goodbye, wiped our tears, and headed off to our individual offices to work for a few hours until registration opened. At 11:03 I received the text from Mr. T.: "I'm in!" I finished mine seconds later and received the coveted confirmation email. Within minutes we discovered from our friends what many aspiring IMCH participants discovered: registration filled . . . in three minutes.
We still often ask each other how we both got in. But we don't question it too long because, after all, we have some work to do now. The offseason has begun, which means swapping workout times for now and watching JT (from afar) complete his last Half IM of the season.
We anticipate nothing short of a challenge next summer as we begin the official training. In the meantime, we're loving on the blessings just a little more and mentally figuring how we can workout and still maintain a family life. More of that to come. In the meantime, only 365 days . . .
