Inspired by the Impossible...

When I awoke at 3:50am, Sunday, August 25, I had no idea what God had in store for the day.   Little did I know my faith, patience, courage, perseverance, and mental state would be tested.   I was already prepared to test my strength and endurance and I felt ready to conquer.   Two days prior I was just in my hometown taking a 3-mile jog testing out my GPS tracker for my mom and husband to watch.     I was feeling pretty relaxed and ready to face 140.6 miles.   It took a lot of effort to contain my excitement in order to save it for Sunday.   I checked in on Friday afternoon and attended the Ironman welcome dinner where I heard my alumni give a great motivational speech, Coach Scott Davenport, coach of the Div II National Champions in Mens Basketball.   We heard stories, watched videos that got our hearts pumping and escalated our emotions. Ironman-Eve, my family and some friends came in for “Team Tiffany’s” pre-race pasta kick-off dinner.   That night, before I hit the sack early

For the first time in 9 months, I had a break in the weekend.   No LONG hours of biking.   No rushing to cram in workouts before special events.   No getting up super early to start working out (although, I can’t sleep in past 7).   These last two weeks consist of tapering, or weaning off of working out.   It’s been known to be the most challenging part of training.    My husband describes it like studying for a big test or boards for months or weeks and after it’s over, you feel like you need to keep studying.   Your mind and body doesn’t know how to relax.   In fact, I begin to feel anxious if I don’t work out!   So, I’m battling these last two weeks…a battle between my mind and body.   The last 2 weeks What do these last two weeks consist of? Catching up with life while tapering which is quite a good distraction from nerves and thinking about what I “think” I should be doing.   I’m spending more time with my husband.   Just last weekend I made us late for two big sporting eve

they are students, parents, doctors, therapists (of all sorts), nurses, analysts, engineers, computer techs, lawyers, managers, salesman, scientists, and more. Triathletes don’t just swim, bike and run outside of their daily duties but there’s one thing I love seeing among these crazy bunch of endurance junkies…is the passion for caring.  They are humanitarians.   One Sunday, I met up with a friend to run about 10 miles around our urban park that consists of 1,371 acres encompassing a host of free attractions: Missouri History Museum, St. Louis Zoo, St. Louis Art Museum, St. Louis Science Center (small fee) and the amphitheater, The Muny. Forest Park is beautiful park that holds quite some history dating back to hosting the 1904 World Fair and Summer Olympics.   It’s also a place where you see runners, walkers, people roller blading, cyclists, and kids enjoying time with their families.   A view from the World Fair Pavilion... Sunset from the Boathouse dock...one of the r