When a road trip starts with this song, you know it's going to be one helluva a trip.
It's been a while since I've written. I went through one of those "why do I write" phases. I used to write with a certain audience in mind. Do those people still read my blog? Have new people found it? I don't even know who my audience is anymore.
Since my last real post, I've done two races; including one this past weekend. I came in 1st in age group and 5th overall, capping off another really incredible season.
The most incredible part of the race over the weekend is that Mr. Tea was there. He hasn't been a a race of mine in years. His health has been so bad for so long that the physical stress of going to a race was too much for him. (The heat would make it even worse).
He was at my race. He hasn't seen me race since I was a back of the pack athlete. He's seen me train. He's been through all the tough stuff that goes along with training, but he'd never seen the finished product.
When I was racing, I'd never seen him so excited before. I could see the look on his face.
When I pulled into transition (off the bike) with a 6 minute lead, I could see his face. I saw two bikes on the rack, and I said, "I have no idea who those women are. I thought I caught all the women".
Mr Tea then said, "THOSE ARE MEN. You are in 1st place. You need to run"!
He was so excited.
It's one thing to watch someone training. It's totally different to see them racing and stepping up on that podium.
Coach Liz asked me to list out all my podiums and PRs for the year.
In 2017, I had 6 podiums out of 8 races and too many PRs to even count.
This year, I got my first Olympic distance podium. Then I backed it up with another one. This was something that had eluded me for my entire triathlon career.
Here we are in October. I'm taking time off from coaching.....which by the way....could mean that I don't blog very often. If I do, it won't really have anything to do with triathlon.
I want to take some time to think of my race schedule.
For the past few weeks, Mr. Tea has broached the subject of doing an full Ironman next year. (YES. He was THAT excited). I know that it's rare to have a SUPER SHERPA who encourages something like that. He doesn't merely support it. He encourages it. He said he's going to invite everyone. (Did I mention how excited he is)?
However, I'm not there yet. I'm just not ready for it. BUT, I'm willing to take the entire month to think about it.
On the other hand, I have 3 races (a half marathon, a 70.3 and Nationals) that I'm very excited about.
I also want to really think about what I did well and where I'd like to improve for next year. I'd been taking notes all year long. In a couple of weeks, I'll probably organize those thoughts. Maybe I'll even write about it?
Would you like that Mystery Audience?