Never Say Never!!

There are two things that I have always said I would NEVER do: run a marathon and do an Ironman.  Well, you all know that I did my first marathon in October at the Denver Rock-n-Roll event, and I will be doing my second marathon in January at the PF Chang's Rock-n-Roll event!  The second thing, well...I have some exciting news!!

Ironman Arizona: Nov. 20, 2011.... HERE I COME!!!  Yay!!!


Why Now:
The reason why I always said that I would never do an Ironman was because of the 2.4M swim and the marathon.  Seriously, the swim TERRIFIES me!  So what changed my mind?  Well, I think that I have really improved with my swimming this year and have overcome some of my open water fears, which was a major issue for me.  Don't get me wrong, I am still TERRIFIED of the swim, but I have 7 months to get rid of my fear!  Then, after I started training for the Denver marathon and realized that I actually COULD run over 20 miles, the idea of doing an Ironman started swimming around in my head.

Without even discussing it with my husband, I bought the book, "Be Iron Fit" and started reading it along with some Ironman forums/articles online.  It was exciting to think about actually doing an Ironman.  But, I knew that I would have to have my husband's support if I was ever going to make it work.  I started talking to him about it and he got really excited about the idea too! :)  Now, with two kids, I still don't know how I'm going to make it work, but at least I know that I have my husband's support and encouragement.  I know it will be crazy, but we are a good team, and I know that we will work together to figure it all out.    

Reasoning:
You might be wondering why I choose Ironman Arizona.  Well, there are lots of reasons actually!
1.  Family:  My mom and dad, two sisters, and my husband's parents all live there.  So, I will have lots of family support with me on race day, which I think will be key for me making it through the race.

2.  Spectator Friendly:  The bike and run are both 3 loops.  Yes, it might get boring, but it's going to be so cool to see my family multiple times throughout the race.

3.  No hotel:  We won't have to pay for a hotel because we can stay with family.

4.  Childcare:  Someone will be able to watch our two boys during the race.

5.  Convenience:  We can drive there and I don't have to worry about packing up and shipping my bike to the race.

6.  Thanksgiving:  The race is the weekend before Thanksgiving, so we're thinking about making it a mini vacation and celebrating Thanksgiving with my family, which is something my mom has always wanted!

Registering:
Registering yesterday was absolutely hilarious!  My husband had the day off, so we parked ourselves in the office with the main computer and my lap top.  I signed into Active.com and had the "registration" page open on both computers.  Then, once 12noon hit, we just kept hitting the button over and over again.  We kept getting a "the system is busy...blah, blah...please try again later" message.  It was really nerve wracking!!  Finally, my husband made it through and I said, "You got in, MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!"  I took his seat and started typing as fast as I could.  Why do they make you answer all of those lame personal questions about previous races and accomplishments???  Anyways, I finally finished filling out all the information, clicked submit, and got a confirmation!  WOOHOO!!!  We were so excited that we both started jumping up and down and giving each other high fives!  It was awesome!!

I think I'm still on an adrenaline high from actually getting in and actually registering for an IRONMAN!  It's sooo crazy!!!  I'm excited about the adventure that lies ahead of me, and I am so grateful to have so many awesome blogger friends that have experienced racing in an Ironman event, or will be doing one this year too!  Oh, and now I can be like all the other cool bloggers and join the 201Ironman blog HERE! :)  Yay!