Kathleen's Adventures

Pre-Race I came into this race feeling unprepared compared to last year. I had just run (sort of) the Chicago marathon three weeks earlier and I had trained for that for four months. I knew I had a decent running base, but was not sure that mattered if I blew up before even getting to the run. I had not swum 2000 meters since my Ironman in April, I think. I did not hit the pool until a few weeks before Ironstar – I was exhausted from training for Chicago and just could not get motivated to do it. I also knew I could “cram” the last week or two there. I had also had mono much of the four months leading up to the race, so I was fortunate to even be doing the running that I was. The swimming and biking were just hard to find the time and energy for. Biking is where I really felt unprepared compared to last year. Running Chicago meant not biking two of the four weekends before Ironstar, and 48 miles was the farthest I had ridden in the two months before the race. I did manage to swim four ...

I started training for the Chicago Marathon in June, four months ago, just six weeks after Ironman Arizona. Many of our training runs were before 5am to try to shield ourselves from the Houston Summer heat. If I had a dime for every time I told myself “just think how great it will be in Chicago” when things were getting tough, hot, or just way too early, I’d be rich now. However, I am now trying not to dwell on that prospect since weather is something I just have no control over. I’m not telling myself I wasted four months of training and sacrifice to go out and run over an hour slower than I wanted to. I’m trying not to remind myself I was in better shape for this marathon than any other and that I have trained harder for this one than any of my previous five marathons. I’m not telling myself I failed either, because on that day I did the best I could given the circumstances that presented themselves. I (along with Karen and Charmaine) happened to make several right decisions about th...

This race report is unlike any other I have written before. My contribution to the race was swimming a whopping 200 meters, but I feel like my participation in the race was more important than almost any other race I have ever done. It is up there with my Ironman - my Ironman being up there only because I raised $4200 for the American Cancer Society. However, this race yesterday taught me far more about cancer and the people it affects.My niece, Molly (9) completed her first triathlon yesterday, and my sister, her husband, and I competed in the adult relay. The adult race was a 200m swim/6 mile bike/2 mile run. The kids race was a 100m swim/3 mile bike/1 mile run. The swim was a pool swim, so it was seeded by race number, fastest swimmers first, slowest last. I volunteered for packet-pickup the day before where I met Stephanie and Greg Johnson for the first time. They truly are amazing people. I had noticed on the registration list that Stephanie was racer #1. I thought that was so a...

The months before I do not remember the exact date that I signed up for IMAZ 07, but I know it was towards the end of April. There was a delay in registration opening up and I checked the site hourly for about 2 weeks after the 2006 race to see when the 2007 date was and when registration would open up. I was half hoping it would be after my first half ironman in mid-May, but when it opened in late April, I signed up that day because most American Ironmans fill up the same day the registration opens, a year before the race. It turns out the race did not fill up until the end of summer, but I did not want to risk not getting in. Pushing the “submit payment” button was one of the scariest things I had ever done, but it began just over 11 months of the most amazing journey I have been on. I went on to do my first half ironman in Panama City in May and finished knowing I had a lot of work to do, but I was ready, not scared, to take on the challenge ahead of me. I did one more half ironman ...

The Saturday before the race both my left and right IT bands quit working 8 miles into a 12 mile run. So that wasn’t very cool and I was left very apprehensive heading into Sunmart. It was unfortunate because I had been looking forward to it so much. I went to the chiropractor on Monday, got a massage on Thursday, and did lots of foam rolling, stretching, and icing leading up to the race. Saturday morning started pretty early at 5am. I had a car load of people riding up there with me, so that was fun. Mishele, Elizabeth, Ruthie, Jill, and her husband Bob all piled in the car and we were off, with Madelyn and Charmaine following. The temperature slowly dropped as we headed north and fell from 40 in Houston to 31 in Huntsville by the time we got out of the car. A quick run through the breakfast line and it was time to start. By the way, breakfast was awesome. They have a huge buffet all lined up with steaming hot food. Loop 1 – 6.1 miles, 1:20 The first part of the course is a 6 mile out...

How do I do it? What is the secret? I clearly do not know. I have always thought that a little humility goes a long way, but at the same time I am realizing having a total lack of confidence in myself is not helping me in the least. When I look to others for that confidence, or know someone does believe in me, I am good to go, but when that someone, whether it be a friend, boyfriend, or family member no longer believes in me, my world is shattered - sometimes just for a short while and other times I think a part of me is gone forever. I am just so torn on all of this and just plain don't get it for the most part. So what if I walk around through life really thinking I am great and it turns out I really am not? Then what? I look to others to judge where I stand because to me it does not matter if I think I'm great - if no one else does then what am I left with? Me, my great self, and absolutely no one else. I did something awesome just over a week ago. Really, really awesome. I ...

What are you supposed to do when the people closest to you think less and less of you the more they get to know you? The people who know you, but don't know you well, say you are great, that you do good things for people, etc, etc. But those closest to you don't think the same. They see more and more of an ugly person the more they get to know you. They are less and less impressed and then eventually decide you aren't worth their time and energy. What are you supposed to do? When it happens over and over again? Crawl in a hole where no one else is, that way there is no one to let down or disappoint? Lose a heart so you don't care what people think? Just accept that you are never going to be good enough? I just don't know. I do know this is a disturbuing trend in my life and I hate it. I feel disgusted at the thought that deep down I really am not a good person. I know God will not give me more than I can handle, and I pray about all of this each night. Sometimes it ...