After a few years of racing Ironman, John and I have got a solid rhythm.
We have a routine that works for pre-, during- and post-race. I’m not saying that Ironman has gotten boring–because for me it definitely hasn’t–but I will say that much of the mystery and uncertainty has been revealed. The unexpected still happens, but in general, we know how the system works.
Nutrition, gear, spectating – we got our routines and they work.
So what do you do to shake things up? Well, if you are my crazy husband, you sign up for a 100 mile ultrarun.
Now, this decision to do a 100 mile run isn’t completely from left field. Before we got into triathlon, that’s what we did: we ran. Our furthest distance was 50 miles. And in the wake of those events, I could see the gleam in John’s eyes to go further.
I knew that 100 miles would come one day. He just had to get that silly Ironman Kona business out of his system.
So, here we sit at 6 a.m. in the pre-dawn darkness, wondering what mysteries will be revealed over the course of the next 20-30 hours.
I asked John what he was thinking, as we sat in silence.
“Not much.”
That’s my stud. Here I am, with a thousand thoughts racing, hoping he’s okay, hoping I can be a good, patient Sherpa, praying we have everything he needs for the mystery that is 100 miles.
And John? And he’s in a moment of quiet Zen. Ready to rock 100 miles.
He’s not worrying about the uncertainty, the mystery. He’s just ready to do it.
Bring it on, Team U-Crazy!
