Dear Family and Friends,
On Sunday, September 7, 2008 four amazing friends completed the Madison Ironman. For those of you unclear what this means, to me, it’s the greatest accomplishment an athlete can complete. You have 17 hours with cut off times for each event to complete 2.4 miles of swimming, 112 miles of biking and finish with a marathon (26.2 miles). Each and every one of them finished strong with smiles on their faces. It was quite the sight to see all these people making their dreams come true (corny? Maybe, but that’s exactly how I see it).
While they were on their run, I turned to our ‘professional cheerleading friend’ (she travels to support her friends - supporting Alison and ACS crew in Hawaii is when she earned her professional cheerleading status), Keri, and I said “I want to do an ironman!!! I just have to take up biking, then take up swimming, and run a marathon without my ipod.” Simple enough right!? As Keri is always supportive with all our crazy shenanigans, she said though it’s crazy, and I‘d never catch her with a thought like mine, she’d give me her professional cheerleading services.
What I have decided is this will be a 3 year program. I know me, and all I have to do is get past my first triathlon, and once I experience that sort of race, I just have to work my way up to the crazy person distances. I figure, if I post my goals for all of you to see, then it will keep me on track because it’s no longer just a thought in my head - I won’t want to disappoint all of you ;)
So here is the build up: 2009: The Naperville Triathlon; 2010: The Chicago Half Ironman; 2011: The Louisville Ironman (Which happens to fall on or around the weekend of my 30th birthday)! On this journey, I plan to fundraise for ACS for the three races. I figure, if I can get over my fear of looking like an idiot swimming, I can also raise some money in the meantime. My four heroes, Alison, Michelle, Kristin and Heath are all extremely active in ACS so I will follow their lead.
If you have ever read my write up on the Chicago Marathon, I wrote about a speech given at the ACS marathon dinner, by a marathoner who has been fighting cancer for a few years. While fighting it, with surgeries and radiation treatment, she has run marathon after marathon when her Doctors pretty much told her it was impossible. She continues to do run marathons through the ‘impossible‘, and she is no longer just a marathoner, she’s an Ironman!
I don’t know if I’ll be able to secure more participants, but I do hope to create my own little group on this Journey as Alison, Michelle, Kristin and Heath had did: traveling up to Madison for long, hilly bike rides for training. So far I have two other ACS people who said they might be interested (and like me, they are Triathlon virgins)- do I have any other takers?
Now you ask, what about my lifetime goal to run 50 marathons in 50 states? Don’t worry, this is still the goal and the reason why I’m not running the Madison Ironman is so I can complete another state. As for where I stand today, by the end of 2008, I will have completed 10 marathons. My 10th marathon is actually scheduled to be an ultra marathon - a 40 mile trail run. Here is my list of states to be completed by the end of 2008 (in order run):
1) California (Nike Woman’s Marathon)
2) Illinois (Chicago Marathon)
3) Wisconsin (Madison Marathon)
4) Virginia (the DC/Marine Corps started here)
5) New York (my favorite -ING New York Marathon)
6) Arizona (Rock N Roll Marathon)
7) Tennessee (Country Music Marathon)
8) Minnesota (Twin Cities Marathon Scheduled in October)
9) Texas (Rock N Roll Marathon scheduled in November)
10) Georgia (40 mile ultra marathon scheduled in December).
So, in the next 3 years....stay tuned :)
Tara
On Sunday, September 7, 2008 four amazing friends completed the Madison Ironman. For those of you unclear what this means, to me, it’s the greatest accomplishment an athlete can complete. You have 17 hours with cut off times for each event to complete 2.4 miles of swimming, 112 miles of biking and finish with a marathon (26.2 miles). Each and every one of them finished strong with smiles on their faces. It was quite the sight to see all these people making their dreams come true (corny? Maybe, but that’s exactly how I see it).
While they were on their run, I turned to our ‘professional cheerleading friend’ (she travels to support her friends - supporting Alison and ACS crew in Hawaii is when she earned her professional cheerleading status), Keri, and I said “I want to do an ironman!!! I just have to take up biking, then take up swimming, and run a marathon without my ipod.” Simple enough right!? As Keri is always supportive with all our crazy shenanigans, she said though it’s crazy, and I‘d never catch her with a thought like mine, she’d give me her professional cheerleading services.
What I have decided is this will be a 3 year program. I know me, and all I have to do is get past my first triathlon, and once I experience that sort of race, I just have to work my way up to the crazy person distances. I figure, if I post my goals for all of you to see, then it will keep me on track because it’s no longer just a thought in my head - I won’t want to disappoint all of you ;)
So here is the build up: 2009: The Naperville Triathlon; 2010: The Chicago Half Ironman; 2011: The Louisville Ironman (Which happens to fall on or around the weekend of my 30th birthday)! On this journey, I plan to fundraise for ACS for the three races. I figure, if I can get over my fear of looking like an idiot swimming, I can also raise some money in the meantime. My four heroes, Alison, Michelle, Kristin and Heath are all extremely active in ACS so I will follow their lead.
If you have ever read my write up on the Chicago Marathon, I wrote about a speech given at the ACS marathon dinner, by a marathoner who has been fighting cancer for a few years. While fighting it, with surgeries and radiation treatment, she has run marathon after marathon when her Doctors pretty much told her it was impossible. She continues to do run marathons through the ‘impossible‘, and she is no longer just a marathoner, she’s an Ironman!
I don’t know if I’ll be able to secure more participants, but I do hope to create my own little group on this Journey as Alison, Michelle, Kristin and Heath had did: traveling up to Madison for long, hilly bike rides for training. So far I have two other ACS people who said they might be interested (and like me, they are Triathlon virgins)- do I have any other takers?
Now you ask, what about my lifetime goal to run 50 marathons in 50 states? Don’t worry, this is still the goal and the reason why I’m not running the Madison Ironman is so I can complete another state. As for where I stand today, by the end of 2008, I will have completed 10 marathons. My 10th marathon is actually scheduled to be an ultra marathon - a 40 mile trail run. Here is my list of states to be completed by the end of 2008 (in order run):
1) California (Nike Woman’s Marathon)
2) Illinois (Chicago Marathon)
3) Wisconsin (Madison Marathon)
4) Virginia (the DC/Marine Corps started here)
5) New York (my favorite -ING New York Marathon)
6) Arizona (Rock N Roll Marathon)
7) Tennessee (Country Music Marathon)
8) Minnesota (Twin Cities Marathon Scheduled in October)
9) Texas (Rock N Roll Marathon scheduled in November)
10) Georgia (40 mile ultra marathon scheduled in December).
So, in the next 3 years....stay tuned :)
Tara
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