The last weekend. I always love the question from well-meaning friends…”are you ready”? That is like asking a pregnant woman a week before she’s due the same question. Ready or not the BABY is coming. Ready or not, here it comes. Have I put in the miles? Most all of them. Is my body fat where I want it, well, maybe not for the pictures but refer back to the “Scoop and Pour” entry and you will know why. Are my watts, TSS, IF, HR, PACE, MPH numbers where they should be? I don’t know because truly I still don’t understand that stuff. I would show the graphs and data I have but then my competition might see it. Perhaps they can explain it all to me.

Yesterday was my last final longish ride (3 hours). Sean Cavanaugh, bike mechanic extraordinaire worked on my bike Friday. He put on a new chain, my race wheels on, tune-up, and then replaced a defective set of aero bars. DIALED! I was. Then Saturday morning, I hit the first bump on the ride and my elbow pad dropped on my aero bars. Problem not solved . I rode the remaining miles with my left shoulder about an inch lower than it should of been. I was riding with Rick, Paul and Stuart, it was a nice beach loop ride with a little suffering as mechanicals and heat pestered us. I got back to Bethel Cycle, threw on my shoes and headed out for a quick 20 minute run in the 96 degree weather. YUCK!

Back at the shop, Sean went to work on my aero bars. He sent me to the diner next store to buy a can of coke. He took the can and sliced it into nice shims of aluminum and used them to tighten the elbow pads to the base bars. As he applied all of his weight to bars, they refused to move. Genius!

Yesterday was Chon’s birthday. 49. Not an overly exciting birthday except when you are HUGE 49er fan. Wow, 50 means nothing when you are a 49er fan. We celebrated by going to Pancho’s Tacos and then home for some sweet cake that Sarah and her friend Grace made.

This morning was my last longish run for 90 minutes. I got up, “Miracle Grow”ed the garden, cup of coffee in hand, then headed out to run for a half hour before catching up with the Racy Ladies. The Racy Ladies meet every Sunday at 6:30. There is no confirmation needed, there is always someone waiting at the Steve’s bagels parking lot. This morning about 5 women were waiting. Then around the corner came Noreen’s huge Yukon (I can say that as I have the same vehicle,except that the entire cockpit of Noreen’s looks like a well organized desk , mine is just empty water bottles). There in the passenger seat was Kim Leslie, an ORL (original Racy Lady) who moved to Texas two years ago. I never know when she is coming but it is always a great surprise.

We ran together about 5.5 miles than Noreen and I ran another 15 minutes so I could reach my 90 minutes. In the short time I had with Noreen she filled me with great words of encouragment and pumped me with inspiration. Then as I was leaving, Kim grabbed my bagels and walked me to the car. There we stood for 10 minutes, as Kim took over the where Noreen and the other girls left off, filling me once again with wonderful words and giving me strength. Hugging, crying, and then smiles and laughter, as a scantily clad runner past (really, are you wearing that?), Kim sent me off feeling refreshed and ready to go.

Racy Ladies do that. Come to the need of each other, support each other and promote each other. When Abby and Sarah had been diagnosed last year and then I was hit by the car on my bike, the RRL (Ridgefield Racy Ladies) came together and threw me a Pity Party at Jacque’s house. It was so fun. Jacque’ had prepared a wonderful luncheon and we just hung out, a nice diversion to the week I had just experienced. We can do a lot in life alone but it is much better when you have the support of friends. I look forward to the Sunday runs, no matter the weather or the pace, it is always good.

So, “am I ready”? Yes. Ironman is a lot of work, hours of training and lots of sacrifices. The size of the day is nothing compared to this past year in our house, emotionally and physically. My family has prepared me the most and I can’t wait to deliver!

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