all of this purple and green means, naturally, that tomorrow is race day and i’m writing names on the back of my jersey, thinking of my goals and my inspirations.

my goals have changed a lot from when i started this season. when i first joined TNT, it was because i wanted my endurance training and racing to be more than just mine . i’ve raced three marathon and countless half marathons for me, but joining TEAM was supposed to be about be involved with someone bigger than my ego. for the most part, TEAM is bigger than my ego — but as race day inches closer, my ego creeps to the surface. somehow, as race day approaches, i lose sight of the purple and green and i start to get lost in outcome-based expectations and results.

when the season started, i wanted to improve my time from last year. heck, i wanted to kick butt and take names. i wanted to podium with the athena’s and party like a rock star. while it’s not impossible those things will happen, i know my training this season has not been as consistent as last year, and i do not want whether or not my experience  was a success to hinge on a few minutes or i place i stand for a photo. i want my experience to hinge on how much fun i had, on how many times i smile, on how many people i high five. i want my experience to about kicking the butt of my seriousness and taking down the names of those who have been affected by cancer and wearing those names on my back. i want this experience to be colored in purple and green and elation.

for all of you that have donated your dollars and time and karma, there are not enough thanks. i offer to you my race tomorrow. the names on my back and the smiles on my face.

Training is going well – so far – we are still in the foundation laying stages as the event is still about four months away. In mid-April, I will be revving up my training for both the Lifetime event on July 11th AND for the half iron I am doing on July 18th. Go diesel or don’t bother, right?

As always, I want to thank those of you who have already donated. I am halfway to my goal of $2,000 and it’s only March! We are doing a bang-up job of helping stop blood cancer! For those of you that haven’t donated – I would encourage you to do so. Over 75% of your donation goes DIRECTING to finding a cure and helping those affected by blood cancer! The following link is both a safe AND easy way to give to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Look for more updates from me in the coming weeks – I have a feeling my adventures will be varied and involve at least one fall due to my new clip-in shoes …

the first-time jitters, the lack of appropriate gear (water, tube, cute fanny pack thing), the inappropriately chilly weather, the brutal wind (i may not be a petite flower, but i NEARLY got blown off my bike…and not just once), the shoulder-less and potholed road, the rolling, endless hills … i could go on … suffice to say, the combination of all those things made the ride f*&@ing frightening and when i got off my bike i kind of thought it’d be nice if i never had to ride again.

and then i completed the brick, had a premium and before you knew it, i was back in the saddle – biking to have a bloody mary, biking to ice cream, biking to listen to folk music — even making plans to bike tomorrow.

i’m not now sure what the point of this post was, as like many posts, i started it before i did one thing and then came home to find an ellipses and a half-written entry waiting for me. i think that the point is thus: today was an epic slash scary day for biking, but it was also just a rock-solid day. another day that, despite the weather, makes me continue to enjoy living here, makes me look forward to another day, makes me wonder what adventure is lurking on the proverbial [bike] path …