IRONMAN - Kona

OK, so I'm a few days late to the party, but I have to talk about The Kona 2010 Ironman competition.

I finally caught this in 50 parts or so on Youtube and talk about inspirational. Wow. The stories, the drive, the competition. I haven't even pulled off a long run of more than 13 miles but somewhere deep inside, I got that nagging - "I wanna try that someday..." feeling.  Why would I have that feeling? I haven't been on a bike since I'm ten and I haven't really swam a lap in a very long time. Though, anything is possible. I never ran for a minute in my life before last February and if a year ago today you told me that I would be a running loving fool training for a marathon, I would've told you that you were insane in the membrane, insane in the brain.

But here I am. I'm 38 maybe I'll try for a tri for my 40th birthday and see how that goes... I have some time. ;)

Anyhoo - if you missed the Ironman - you can find it on youtube. It's pretty awesome.



It's totally  heartbreaking to see the guys who don't make cutoff in time, I can only imagine how crushed I would feel in their shoes for that to happen.

Anybody know of any Ironman training blogs to follow that I might be missing? Now I'm really piqued.

XO

Jen

Role Models...

Wow. This was so nice and touching I can't believe it.

Jason Bahamundi

Recently, I became blogging buddies with Jason Bahamundi. Jason is a marathon coach based in Dallas (he's formerly from NY) and he'll take you from couch potato to marathon runner in 40 weeks. If you're considering joining me in San Diego or simply need help beginning your own journey, you can check out his programs here at Marathon Makeover. There are both online and in person training programs available based on where you live.

Jason is no joke, he's a true athlete - a triathlete, marathon runner, motivator, trainer and ironman competitor, so you could imagine my sincere surprise when I heard that Jason decided to write an article about role models and include me in there.

He spoke about my journey as well as the journey of his training coach, Claudia, a woman who just competed at the 70.3 Ironman Championship in Florida.  Claudia raced that Ironman with a BROKEN HAND and INJURED QUAD! 

In under five hours she swam for 1.2 miles, biked for 56 miles and finished the 13 mile 1/2 marathon run. Claudia is a ROCK STAR.  

In any case, I am humbled and flattered to be placed in the same article as Claudia - it makes me feel incredibly lucky and blessed that a true athlete like Jason who can teach me about 100,000 things about running, being an athlete, and crossing finish lines would put me in an article like that. 

If you want to read it, here it is:  Are You A Role Model?

Who are your role models?

My role models are all of you guys - the running community and group of friend's who have uplifted me, supported me, encouraged me, passed along tips, kicked me in the ass, ran along side, educated me and everything else. I really couldn't be a luckier girl. I would've never started running if it wasn't for me being totally impressed by Angela's run last February and Nicole's encouragement of aiming for my first 5K.

By the way, I take nothing for granted here. I will always struggle with my inner fat girl and dare not become cocky. I will always be in the fight and while I feel fairly confident that I'll never go back - I've taken the time to really develop life long habits, I know how easy it is to slip back... A cheeseburger here, a drunken night there, a blown off work out... I'm a hop, skip and a milkshake away from 81.8 pounds - I know this - but the power and option is mine to be a mile, marathon and finish line ahead of it at all times and that's what I intend to do.

XO

Jen