Cindy Present | Get Out Girl

It was one year ago this morning that I was taken out by a car while riding my bike. Though battered, twisted and bruised, for some reason greater than myself, I was one of the cycling miracle' situations that walked out of ER counting my blessings. It gave me a perspective of not wasting time or letting time waste me. Although I have never taken life for granted, I chose to become a bit more intentional of 'living my years'. I had realized how abruptly life as I knew it could change and instead of having someone assign my fate to me, I committed myself to become more planful and indeed make this 'one year to live.' At 5:30 workout this morning I shared with the group that it was my one year anniversary and I was thankful to be 'enjoying the morning' with them. My girlfriend was silent for a second and then spouted out from the group, "You sure have done a lot in a year." It took me by surprise for a moment while I thought about it. Yes, I guess I ...

The last thing I wanted to do before I left Kona was run. Not for the workout or to get back into training but simply 'run' because I love the movement, the freedom, the fulfillment it offers. Running in Kona is beautiful whether you're feeling the pain of IM or just taking in the sights and sounds. It is a very active environment and its not uncommon to see folks running and biking up and down Ali'i Drive. I asked Steve if he wanted to go out for a quick run together before we left and the cave man grunt and baffled look I got in return pretty much answered that question. Besides, with everything we needed to do to get ready to catch our 9:40pm flight and the questionable feeling of a blister from the event, I was pretty sure that running in Kona one last time was not going to happen. Mark and Justy had left the day before and Beno and Toni had just left to take Kristen and D to the airport. Since the race on Saturday we had done so much on the island that none of us h...

And it is DONE! "CHECK"! It was everything I expected Kona to be. Apprehension about the swim start kept me up most of the night and totally lived up to its daunting expectation; the black lava and wind on the bike course were as ominous and ever-present as rumoured, and the run - well actually, aside from a horrific blister, it was better than expected and the trip down Ali'i Drive up through the blue bannered, tropical finish line stage was the highly anticipated end to a wonderful journey. The Trip The ten days that we were in Kona were a whirlwind of race prep, taper training, adventure water and land activities, laughter, fun and good times, all woven around that ominous Ironman event. There was a wonderful contingency of Austinites at the event plus 6 dear IronSherpa friends and one IronMate husband that made it all possible (poor Leann didn't make it past ABIA after her wallet and ID were stolen even though Obama had given her clearance to travel.) However, Ton...

After a nice little shake out run and short morning swim I wandered over for some Active Release Therapy. Steve and Beno were out enjoying some SUP and self-inflicted Paddle Fit (because they love pain!) As I was standing in line, A-town boy Chris Sellers pops out of the tent to work my kinks out! I had no idea he was here - and was he s sight for sore travel hips. He worked me thru an ART session and off I went feeling awesome. Thank you, Chris. Now its time to pack up tomorrow's bags and go stage my bike in transition! Woo hoo!!

We rested today by getting up at 6 am to get ready to go on a boat outing. There were 14 of us from Austin (6 from our group)that rendezvoused ina little community south of here. We were headed out with Dolphin Discoveries until noon. Denise and Kristen had arrived last night so theu jumped right into the action first thing this morning by walking over to our condo to pack up and go. They got their first dose of Alli Drive, Kona's main thoroughfare for vehicles, bikes and runners. Picture a 2 way paved Barton Springs at its busiest weekend moment with a line of traffic moving down the center and pedestrians, joggers, bikers and runners sharing the space as they move surfside through the Kona Village area. Many are clad on the latest team gear, compression gear and are speaking a different language as they run and bike from industry tent to industry tent, sampling and needing the latest fuels and recoveries that companies have streetside for you to try. Quite the Ironman training ...

No. And I apparently don't have any balls either. It was about 6:30 last night and the sun was setting over the pacific. Steve, Beno, Toni and I were headed back in to Kona from Hawi, the 56 mile marker and turnaround point for IM Kona. It is an adorable town. A handful of hundred year old buildings with a few eclectic shops and restaurants and generations of families from days of Hawaiian royalty and founders. It sits in the hills of the northern tip of the big island and is the destination of the 1700 or so IM athletes here. It is also the peak of the bike course, the highest point in elevation and the climax of the notorious tradewinds that this event is notorious for. Yesterday it was my destination for an hour or so bike ride, per Kelly's direction, to get a feel of what one could experience at the upper end of the bike course. After a more than full day of swimming, socializing, retail taper therapy and bopping around town, we headed out to Hawi about 3:30. The fi...

After quite a late night of getting to Kona at 4am CST and getting to bed at 5:30 CST, we slept for about 3 hours and awoke to the vibration of Steve's phone ringing with a boat customer call (not the vibration that I would have had in mind for my first morning in Kona ;-) anywhooo....we rolled over after deciding the customer really shouldn't sell his boat trailer and slept for a couple more hours. I finally rolled out to the deck of our condo and did a little Skype homeschool with Cade while watching the palm trees sway to the thunder of the morning surf rolling in. After a little middle school math and some amazing Kona Mountain Java, my adrenaline was ready to start the day. Toni and I left OSHA 1 and OSHA 2 in charge of putting my bike together and headed for the the parking garage to find the car. 15 minutes later :-) we found it and left for the pier to swim. The water was really rough for the first 800m or so and then opened up so the silt settled down. It was like sw...

We are officially enroute to Kona and I still can't believe it! Well, except for the approximately 150 pounds of gear we checked at the airport and the 3 days of 'trying' to get ready to leave and never really 'quite' being prepared to leave - I really can't believe we are headed to Kona. Steve and I both have been at time warp speed for the past two weeks getting business, classes, teams, kids, co-workers, church groups, nonprofit causes, soccer, homeschooling, and who knows what we forgot..wrapped up to leave. Kelly had once told me that sometimes it is best to get to an out of town event early if for no other reason than to get away from all the hustle and bussle of home and rest. After what we have been doing lately, I totally agree. Rest came once we stepped on the plane in Austin. I manuevered into my window seat, leaving the armrest up for Steve to follow me in. I cozied into my seat while Steve wedged his butt into a seat made for someone half his size...