Dad This one is for you!!

Today I will race Ironman Mont Tremblant! This race was not on my list! I really want to target IM Wisconsin 6 weeks from now. But the week before IMLP my Dad went into hospital with respiratory issues. While I was racing IMLP I too was having my own issues and thought of my Dad alot. The day after Placid my mom told me my dad was diagnosed with lung cancer! Cancer, the horrid disease that  you cringe every time you hear someone has it. A few years ago I lost a dear friend to lung cancer and now I was getting the dreaded news that my dad was about to go through the same fight.
I quickly arranged for a flight to South Africa to visit with them. I will arrive on my dads birthday! Its been 2 years since I have seen them so it will be wonderful to see them again, even under these circumstances. We got the news last week that his cancer is an aggressive cancer that has spread rapidly in the last 6 months and on Monday he will start chemo and radiation.

The last 2 weeks I moped around. Coach Jesse had suggested me doing Mont Tremblant! I had no interest in training or racing! I know there a lot of amazing girls racing and they are all trying to get valuable Kona points. So I went back and forth with Coach Jesse that perhaps it would be a good option as I have hopefully sorted out my breathing issues and it would be good to see if I could still race with my fitness from Lake Placid.
The days ticked by and by Thursday I still had decided that I just had no energy to race. It was going to be a long 9 hour drive to race and then an IM no easy task and then another 9 hour drive back to Jersey followed by a 20 hour plane trip to SA. Not sure I could handle it and everyone was telling me I was crazy to attempt it!

But somewhere along the lines I got to thinking about the Ironman journey and what it represents. To me it parallels life. I was frustrated by my moping! I was telling my Dad to be positive yet I was back here in the states distraught.

There is no better fight than an Ironman. It is a lot to comprehend. The distance of the day can be overwhelming. There are a lot of things that can go wrong but its all in how you to choose to handle them!

Today I will race for my DAD! I will race to show him the mind is an amazing thing. If you perceive that something is too big to handle it probably is...but if you take one day at a time, or in Ironman's case keep moving forward with a positive mind set the impossible can be achieved.  Its about fearing the unknown but trusting that it will all work out!! Its about controlling what you can and being rational about the things you can't control!!!

I race for HOPE and I race for strength! I will appreciate each moment and I will cheer as many of you on as I know we all have our own reasons for doing a race like this!  Never before have I wanted to just finish a race as much as this one!!! So for you Dad  I race! I will pray for you while I race and I will feed off the energy of all my friends out there!!! This race is not about time or place...its just about having fun..enduring...surrounding myself by like minded people. Its about stepping up to the challenge!
All the best to all of you racing today!
I found this snow globe that I got for  my daughter...but it will be a good reminder to appreciate life...what you have and live in the moment!!
Even as I am about to post this I fear failure  but I need to trust and believe I can do this no matter what!!! Number 26 I am ready!!!

You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face.  ~Eleanor Roosevelt

Live in the moment!