I have not blogged for a few days and for a good reason. Last weekend was the culmination of lots of training for my kids. Jochi and Gaby came out of Ironkids as champions along with coach K who has become part of our family and has helped our kids live some of their dreams and look ahead to the future. I never expected to be recognized for much in life. Lets just say I had lost faith in society. I am now thinking I was wrong. I had blocked cancer for many years and now I am starting to fell how wrong I was. I am learning what I can do and how I can influence.
Last weekend I had a meeting and dinner with Dawn, WInters mom and the whole family. I had some moments with Dawn where we spoke about some profound issues regarding this deadly desease and how it affects family and friends. Ironicaly we did this as we saw the Susan G Komen race go by. I feel fortunate to heve her trust to talk about things like that. I took the oportunity to ask Dawn if she had crossed the finish line with a survivor before. Her answer was no. I was glad I could probably have that oportunity to be the first one, although I would not mind at all if she has a similar oportunity before IronMan Canada. As I get to know the family and her better I realize how real and how human these folks really are. Today I know that for Dawn to walk thru a finish line with a survivor will be very emotional but will eventually bring some added meaning to her conviction of helping Winter make a diffrence. She will know, no, that is wrong, she already knows that cancer is survivable, I should say, she will feel the precence of surviving cancer and then go on and do something amazing like finishing an IronMan race. It will be such a priviledge to be the one. I know my little friend Winter is also paying atention. She mentioned my efforts in her award speech which touched our whole family. Winter has such carisma that Prostate Cancer can never ask for a better spokesperson in the world. She is a true role model and a true champion with the heart of a kid. I know she was happy with what I was doing and I am very happy to be involved with her Team and her family.
I have lost a lot of valuable time. Today I know that. I should have done something before to help others or help create awareness. I am know ready to do just that and make up some time. Lots of people are looking at me and supporting me. I have to take advantage of that and that is why I am training so hard. You know I changed from wanting to just finish to I wish I could make it in 8 hours like the pros. I know it will not happen at least this year but thinking that way will for sure allow me to train harder and better. Following that spirit I went out for my 50 mile bike ride yesterday. I rode stricktly by heart rate and kept it aerobic the whole ride so I could finish. I was decided and kept my word. The end numbers were 3:19:00 on the bike and 50.01 miles. Actually I felt pretty good except for that saddle. After 2 hours it was tourture, and that made my back ache some in the last 6 miles. I have to say the last 10 miles were the hardest but in the end that is what I left out to do and I was very happy. I will try not to increase that distance or time for a while. I have time to go further. I will take this mile stone to make it better. I will try faster paces and faster times and I think I can now start climbing. Somehow I will start at least once a week to climb. I will need it eventually. The way I see it I can now bike half the course in 3 and a half hours. That puts me in T2 in 7 hours which gives me 8 hours for the marathon plus whatever I can shave from the swim. However this is flat biking and I am asuming a 14.5MPH average which would be confortable for me. That means to keep this in that order I need to climb at a steady pace and I need to be quicker in the down hill part of the course and the flat spots. In the end I feel very good about it.
It has taken some time to learn the ins and out of how you can really infuence people. I have learned that from Winter and her Team. The role of being "point" in the effort is much better played by Winter, but today I know exactly how I can make a diffrence for others and have lots of more survivors. I knew the Ironman would be a learning experience. It has tought me that I knew very little about making a diffrence and that even being a cancer veteran and survivor, it will take some time for me to learn how it is that you make a real diffrence. It is really a "learn as you go" process. There is an old saying that goes "God does not give you anything he does not want you to use". God gave Winter the carisma she needs to make a difrence, he gave me some atributes also, Winter has learned to use hers I am in the process of learning how to use mine.
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