From Then to Now . . . and Who Helped Us Get There

We've written sixty posts over the last year, logged countless miles on bikes and running shoes, and swam countless laps in the local pool. We've nursed minor injuries and sick children, sometimes simultaneously. And we recognize, without a doubt, that none of this would've happened without the love, support, and help of friends and family.

Without the following people, we'd never have the privilege to toe the line at an Ironman event in one week:

Pickard: When Jason began running four years ago, so did Pickard. He and Jason started together, and their journeys have often paralleled, with Pickard completing his first Ironman in August even. They began with a run/walk routine on the lonely South Dakota gravel roads. Their friendship was forged in sweat, and they continue to train together still. In fact, Pickard has volunteered to drive our sore behinds home and act as Sherpa for us in Chattanooga.

Deb: I would never have tried a triathlon without my friend Deb's consistent encouragement. She still is one of my biggest encouragers. The first summer after we moved to this community, Deb and I did three sprint triathlons, and those three races still have some of the best memories for me. They planted some seeds.

Mike and Lori: These two are the Mr. and Mrs. Fitness of our community. When people have questions about fitness, they ask Mike and Lori. And we have the blessing of having them as training partners and friends as well. They've been with us since the beginning, having logged some of our very first runs with us many moons ago. They have trained with us, played sherpa with their mountain bikes as we've run, and watched our kids while we've trained.

Jason, aka Yoda, aka Nazi trainer & Red, nutrition expert extraordinaire: We've called Jason many things over the past year. And while we loathed a workout or two, we respect his knowledge and advice. After all, he has qualified for Kona . . . four times. He also survived a bike-car collision. He wrote the last 20 weeks of our training plan and told us what we needed to do to get to the finish line healthy. Red shared his wealth of training and nutrition knowledge with us throughout this journey as well, especially early on. Both experienced ironmen gave us the encouragement that allowed us to believe we could actually do what we hope to do next Sunday.

Tom and Amy: Tom spent countless Tuesday nights throughout the spring and summer spinning in the basement with Jason. Amy gave Tom the big thumbs up to do this, and she also listened to countless whines from me about the difficulty of training and managing the family. Amy also acted as a water stop on one of my worst runs during training and encouraged me mid-run.

Babs and Julie: During my longest training ride and run, Babs and Julie were home. I ran and rode by their houses respectively and stopped for ice water. They both saved my bacon and gave me more reason to keep on moving.

Steve and Kari: These two opened their home up to us and gave us a base at the prettiest and cleanest lake in South Dakota (Lake Cochrane for the win!). They encourage us consistently with their verbal support.

Jill, Mathew, Jenny, Brian, Christine, Sheila, and Brigitte: All of these people have logged at least one big ride with either Jason or me. They made the long miles bearable on days we would have otherwise wanted to cut the workout short.

Matt and Amanda along with countless high school girls provided kid care extraordinare often while we had workouts. Matt and Amanda in particular bit the big bullet, taking care of our three along with their own three for three days while we completed a half-ironman in July, and they're on call while we're in Chattanooga if our parent substitutes need help.

Our parents: I'd be lying if I said both parents didn't think we're a little whacked in the head for what we do. However, they all still encourage us, tell us to keep training hard (while worrying that we'll injure ourselves), and provide us with some very important support: kid care and food. My mom and dad both helped me in a training weekend a while back by providing frozen meals for a couple of weeks and bringing me water on a long run, and Jason's folks are the new Troxell parents for four of the six days that we'll be gone to Chattanooga.

All of these individuals do not include the MANY people who have asked us about our training, sent texts of encouragement, prayed prayers for strength and peace, honked at us or yelled from the windows as they've caught us training. The amount of people who continue to encourage us humbles us both.

In short, our journey begins and continues with support. No man is an island. When we set out to do what we'll do in a week, we knew we'd need help. We did not know how we'd manage training and family life, but because of all of these wonderful people, we did. We didn't train perfectly. We modified some workouts. We skipped some altogether. But in the end, we also believe our biggest muscle lies between our ears and somewhere deep in our chests, and with mental strength and big hearts, we'll be just fine come September 28th. d

Plus, we have a whole passel of people rooting for us.