Single Digits

The countdown continues -- now down to the single digits.

Congratulations to Rural Girl on her near Kona qualifying race in Louisville last Sunday. (I still have hope for you that one of the ladies ahead of you will drop her spot and you go to Kona.)

Congratulations to Rachel on her inspiring effort and finish at IM Canada. Your race report is one of the best I've read. Split times, average Watts, or calories consumed per hour is great training data. But why we race, why we put ourselves and our families through the months and months of long training days, is really what this journey is about. I forwarded your race report to Heidi; she says she sobbed for at least twenty minutes.

As Heidi and I have had our struggles this summer over the training time, kid time, work time, gear expenses, race fees, etc., we had lost sight of the "why" factor. So as I wind down my training, my focus this week is "Why?" I'm not the fastest. Unless I grow turbo legs in the next week, I'm most likely not going to qualify for Kona. So, why do I do it? Race adrenaline junky? Probably. But mostly to prove to myself that I can; those immortal Ironman words -- "I can". I do this to see Heidi at the end of the finish chute. I do this so I can call Cole and Abby sometime next Sunday evening to tell them that their Dad is an Ironman and that they can reach any goal they want for themselves if they want it bad enough and work hard enough for it.