Approaching Race Week: IM St. George

I never really know what to expect from taper.  When you cut your energy output, strange things happen.  Your mind is trying to recover and rest, but your body has all this energy that it doesn't know what to do with.  You don't get your normal endorphin fix.  Emotions run rampant.  Sometimes I'm cranky.  Sometimes I get really nervous.  Sometimes, I am so worn out, that I savor every second of taper.  This year I find myself feeling a little nostalgic.

WTC announced this week that this year, next Saturday, is the last time that St. George will be raced as a full Ironman.  Next year, 2013, it will become a 70.3 race in an effort to entice a full field of athletes.  Lets face it, we all want to call ourselves "Ironman", but when it comes down to it, there are a lot of people who are afraid of a challenging course.  And St. George is notoriously one of the most challenging courses in North America. 

I feel so thankful that (my family and) I signed up to race St. George this year.  From the very first year, we knew that we wanted to take on this challenge.  Having completed 7 Ironman events, I'm not afraid.  I know I can complete the distance- I want to see how the distance can complete me.  I want to be beaten, (emotionally) broken, physically spent and still, at the end of the day, smile and raise my arms as I cross the finish line. 

It is the best feeling ever.  To know that you've worked for 6 months (or 7 years) with one goal in mind.  To know that you have given everything in training.  Sacrificed sleep.  And social life.  And time and energy.  To know that everything you have worked so hard for has paid off in ways that are unexplainable to the uninitiated.  It's what makes me go back for more.  Time and time again.  The emotional high is matched by the fatigue that sets into my whole body.  I lie in bed after the race and feel my muscles ache.  It's a good ache.  A satisfying ache.  An ache that deprives me of sleep, and reminds me of what my body is capable of. 

I also am feeling a little bit sad.  Sad that St. George will be no more.  I have one chance.  One opportunity to prove myself on this course.  There are no do-overs.  I do not take anything for granted and as I've entered this last couple week block of training I am almost irrationally fearful that something will happen.  A crash.  An injury.  Something that will take me out of the game before I start.  Having made it to the final week, I know now I will be on the start line.  But what if I love this race?  What if it pulls at my heart like the mountains of Tahoe, or the rugged shoreline of Big Sur?  I can't come back.  There is no second time.  It's now or never.  It makes me a little sad to think about it that way. 

So, here's to Ironman St. George.  I will meet you on Saturday.  I will dance with you for 140.6 miles.  I will embrace you at the finish line.  I will leave a little piece of my spirit in your waters an on your roads.  You will touch me.  You will teach me.  You will challenge me.  You will change me.  It is everything that I love about this sport.  And I feel blessed to have another opportunity to race.  I will be...  An Ironman.