Inspired

This triathlon thing takes true commitment. Brooke, Laurie and I met at 6:15 this morning to go to the pre-race event in preparation for tomorrow's race. As a cancer survivor, Brooke wanted to attend the Survivors' Breakfast and invited us to go with her. Sally Edwards, the queen of triathlons was the keynote speaker and she greeted us with a hug. I took my Triathlon book written by Sally so that I could get her autograph (like a true triathlon groupie) and had a great chat with her. She said "I don't want to see you tomorrow - I run in with the last person." She's run 120 Danskin Triathlons. I asked her how/why she got started with Triathlons. She said 30 years ago she was a marathon runner and was bored so thought she'd try a Tri. Within a few years she did an Ironman (remember that's the 4 mile swim, 120 mile bike ride, and the marathon run). Sally got the audience warmed up and energized for tomorrow and then turned it over for the survivors to tell their stories.

Imagine a room of some eighty women of all ages, almost all of whom have survived one or more cancers and have then gone on to be come triathletes. When I say "all ages", I mean it. The oldest of them, a woman aged 76, will be competing in her first triathlon tomorrow. Can't wait to tell my 83-year old mother about that one. Another much younger woman - I would guess not yet 30 - told her story of training to compete in her first marathon and learning two weeks before the race that she had cancer. Her race plans thwarted, she was devastated until a friend told her "You were training - you just didn't know what you were training for." Her incredible health from her training helped her through the treatments. There were many teary moments; a lot of mothers inspired by their daughters, some of whom will race with them tomorrow. A few devoted husbands came with their survivor wives and will support them tomorrow.

As I listened to the stories, I began to feel incredibly shallow, humbled and aware of the selfish reasons why I am doing this race - to prove that I can or because I wanted to get in better shape. It was very inspiring to think that people going through cancer treatments can have the where-with-all to begin a training program as rigorous as the training we've just put ourselves through. Almost every one of them said "... and it's been so much fun," which is what I've also been saying, but I haven't been dealing with cancer either.

The race helps to raise funds for breast cancer research . A portion of our race entry fees goes to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and as participants we could raise money from those who wish to sponsor us. I know that some of my readers have contributed and I thank you.

So, inspired and humbled, we learned about tomorrow's race route, got our race packets with ankle chips/straps, purple swim caps, Danskin Triathlon t-shirts and various other goodies. We wrote our race numbers on each others arms and legs (I look a little like an escaped convict as I write this), took a mental swim/bike/run through the race with Sally, and then headed over to Genessee Park on Lake Washington to rack our bikes for tomorrow. We took a look at the swimming course and felt humbled yet again at the distance and the waves and boat wakes, but I've decided to "be in the moment" and not panic. If things go awry, at least they can identify my body from the numbers painted on it. It was 95 degrees this afternoon - I'm glad we'll do this early tomorrow. Our wave will begin between 7:50 and 8:20 and we estimate between 90 and 120 minutess for completion, so hopefully before the sun gets too hot. They tell us the Lake should be about 70 degrees tomorow.

It's pretty exciting - this time tomorrow we'll be AWESOME TRIATHLETES and can begin training for the next race.

No photos this Post - my camera batteries died today, but Laurie took some I'll add later.