reality, if nothing else motivated
me it was the fact that I had spent
a small fortune to sign up for the
race. I needed a coach because I
was determined that when people
asked me what my time goal was, I
was NOT going to reply “oh, just to
finish.” Bring it on, Mr. Volume.
It wasn’t long before we were on
a rigorous training schedule that
included the obvious SBR, along
with strength training and stretching exercises. To say that I did
EVERY workout would be a lie, but
I was diligent with what I could
do. Our coach Jim began the training by telling us that if my and
Marc’s relationship survived the
training, we should consider the
plan a success. Marc and I trained
together as much as we could and
had endless tri-related discussions—nutrition, rest, running
form, bike cadence, you name it,
we chatted about our shared experience. He’s much faster than I am,
so I pretty much had to check my
ego at the door and get used to
coming in last. He slowed his long
bikes down to accommodate, me
and I put up with his grouchiness.
He was my biggest motivator during training, and I missed him
when I was finding a workout difficult and he wasn’t there. Lots
happens during training… he got
hurt, I broke down crying during a
particular sucky day… we learned
when to cheer each other on and
when to back off. In hindsight, it
bonded us together even more.
Fast forward to IMAZ race weekend. We drove to Arizona with
Marc’s 16-year-old son Austin. We
arrived on Thursday and were staying about 1.2 miles from Ironman
Village. We checked into the hotel
then made our way to the Village.
This was our third time at IMAZ,
but it’s different when you’re an
athlete. There’s a quiet energy that
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