it’s never too late

i am feeling extremely grateful right now that i can write the following post and that i don’t have to try and wrap my head around all the events of the past ten days – you know where i was doing all that “ING” of the prior post.

instead, i need to, feel compelled to, have to write about my upcoming triathlon. i’m not going to write though, about how nervous and antsy i am, about how my to-do list grows as the days to race day gets shorter. i am going to write about why i signed up to do this race in the early january and how, for the last five and a half months, this team has become a quirky family to me.

these are not easy things for me to explain, for me to air to the masses – for these are things we don’t necessarily let just anybody read.

but for the cause … i will say this … cancer is an unavoidable part of so many lives and has affected my family and friends on several fronts. most immediately, i have trained all season in honor of my cousin carrie. her spirit and smile were indomitable (even in the face of cancer!). carrie would have turned 19 this past sunday, july 5. i hope that on july 11, when i make her and our family proud. i also cross my fingers that she will smile down upon me as i am in the midst of this challenging endurance event.

A tear is mid-way down my check up as i write this and maybe, you are welling up as you read this because maybe you knew carrie or maybe you had a carrie in your life that left just a wee bit too soon. maybe you think, damn, that really sucks.

that is what i think now and thought five months ago when i joined TnT. cancer sucks and this was a way, a concrete and tangible way i could affect some change. what i didn’t think was that i was going to enjoy the process of training with and relating to such an immensely diverse and dynamic group of people.

over the past five and a half months, we have had late night swims at middle school pools and tested our metal in far-from-tropic open water (this IS minnesota after all). we have spun our wheels inside and ridden circles over and across the mississippi river. and we have run – run when it’s blazing and run when it’s near freezing. we’ve run, we’ve biked, we’ve swam when we’d rather be … [you fill in the blank]

and that would almost be enough to guarantee SOME level of camaraderie, and yet it’s not really the training that made it come together for me. it was the talking during the runs, at the wall in the pool, as i was passed (yet again) on the bike. it was the cheers — coming from any and all directions during a brick workout.

so, for my families – the one that i hold dearest to me, the one connected by blood – and to the one connected to me through sweat and cheers – this weekend is for you.

i run. i bike. i swim.

i just hope i make you all proud.