I THINK I CAN....

TWO incredible back-to-back training sessions over the last two nights! Tuesday evening I did my longest NON-STOP swim so far for this event - 74 [25 yd] lengths = 1.0+ mile!!! And, tonight I [easily] cycled 25 miles [took 1 hour 43 minutes] on the stationary bike at the gym! Then, I "ran" to my car in the parking lot! Okay, it didn't really count as a run...LOL..but I couldn!t resist throwing that in! I am finally beginning to feel like the LITTLE TRAIN THAT COULD! Guess, in some way, this is how Matt must have felt last year...slow but steady wins the race! I will keep pushing on...for Matt!

36F NEVER FELT BETTER....

Had a GREAT 8-mile training run today...it was a "toasty" 36 degrees...which I really love! Thinking of Matt...he had a rough time with chemo last week...and was a bit down! I still find it hard to believe that he has to have a chemo treatment EVERY WEEK for the next two years! What a brave young man he is! My eyes are good...vision is almost 20/20 again!

THE GREATEST BIRTHDAY GIFT....

My 54th birthday was yesterday! My best friend, Fran, came up from Florida...we've been friends since we were FOUR years old! She's run marathons and raised funds for TEAM IN TRAINING, too! This is us back at Walt Disney World in 1999!!! How lucky I am to have her in my life...how lucky I am to be alive! My paternal grandmother, Josephine, died from lymphoma 44 years ago when she was only 51 years old! I often wonder if current treatments...had they been available then...would have saved her life. I guess I will never know.

Four MINUTES....I CAN'T QUIT NOW!

Pitiful!!! Just pitiful! You should have seen me riding early this morning at West Creek...18 miles in an infuriating wind that burst into gusts the weather folks said was about 25 or so mph at that time of day! A couple of times I was almost blown over! With the strong tailwind behind me I was clicking along doing 18 - 25 mph....with the headwind against me there were times I was only doing 6 mph! At one point I had my own “pity party” and told myself that I had bitten off more than I could chew doing this race. With my 54th birthday looming on 2/15...I starting thinking that maybe I’m getting too old for this...training is soooo hard sometimes! But, then in the next moment I remembered that about this time last year Matt’s biggest achievement was that he walked FOUR MINUTES on the treadmill. There is no way I could face him now and tell him, “I can’t do this.” I just have to work harder...like he did every day to recover to where he is now. I love you, Matt, and your indomitable spirit...you have no idea how much YOU inspire me! Bless you always! (P.S. My eyes are improving with every day...hooray!)