Finished!
After six months, thirty pounds, and too many hours (and dollars) to count, it took me three hours, three minutes, and fifty three point seven seconds to swim from Alcatraz, and bike and run my way to and through the Presidio on Sunday.
I can't believe it.
It was a fantastic race and against all my expectations I had a wonderful time. I finished twenty five minutes ahead of my goal and felt great at the end. I had the idea that I would try to keep my heart rate below 170 the entire time, well below my lactate threshold, and I finished feeling like a million bucks. Sore? Yeah. Tired? Most definitely. Completely exhausted? No.
I began this as a way to do something, however insignificant, to honor my friend Lisa who has A.M.L.. That morning I grabbed a Livestrong bracelet and put it on to help me remember her and in some small way take her with me during the race. I wore another for a boy who is a cancer patient in Harper's hospital. I wanted the race yesterday to not just be about me, and in my mind, at least, it was not.
But I had not expected how much it was going to change my life. I feel like a different person, living in a different body than I did six months ago. I feel like I can do anything I set my mind to; I can pick a seemingly insurmountable goal and with a lot of work achieve it.
It also felt incredible to me that my dad flew all the way out here just to see this, that Harper provided me with so much support, that my friends Andre and Amber and Jeff and Aimee (with their week old baby!) came out early in the morning to come cheer for me, and for all the phone calls, emails, text messages and the like from my friends and family all over the country. It was amazing. Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
I feel like I have a lot more to say about all this but I am, quite honestly, still pooped and a little slow mentally today.
Again, thank you!
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Comments
Looked at your Flickr pics and wow, that's one messed-up transition area! (not yours, just the whole concrete steps). I could see that being kinda dangerous when you're a little dazed after the swim and trying to rush off to the run.
Yeah, that first transition area was weird, especially because it wasn't blocked off, so spectators were milling around in there. Also, there was a huge crowd in front of it (where you would exit) to watch the swim. When I came out, I was a little confused, I don't know if it was from the cold water, adrenaline, being tired, or some combination, and although I knew ahead of time which way to go on the run, I could not remember and had to ask.