Cindy Present | Get Out Girl

(Driving "down" to Sand Hollow - same road we'll bike back up tomorrow and Jack getting ready to go stage gear) Another day of Ironman bliss...get up, get 5 gear bags ready with what you THINK you will need in 24-36 hours from now. Get your gear ready for what you KNOW you'll need to get through today, bundle it all up in armfuls along with purse, lunch, bike and snacks to get 3 floors down to car. That was a workout in itself... We went to T1 to Sand Hollow Reservoir...wow! What an amazing drive - downhill. (hmm, means we're biking out of that hole which the locals call Hurricane Alley...because of the winds ;-) I rode 30 minutes, ran 15 then staged my bike and T1 bag (the bag I'll take with me to the changing tent after helpers tug my snug wetsuit off my wet body ;-) After staging gear I went for "the first plunge." Can I first tell you that I got on my knees this morning and prayed that I'd be blanketed in warmth and not feel the cold? God sho...

Timing is everything, isn't it. As a christian believer, I'm not too much about coincidence, but more God-incidence. Steve and I receive a daily e-devotional, which always seems to be "right on" with my life. This one showed up yesterday and totally calms me for tomorrow - "let go and let God work." Surrender: Let Go and Let God Work by Rick Warren Surrender yourself to the Lord, and wait patiently for him. Psalm 37:7 (GWT) Surrendering your life means: Following God's lead without knowing where he's sending you; Waiting for God's timing without knowing when it will come; Expecting a miracle without knowing how God will provide; Trusting God's purpose without understanding the circumstances. You know you're surrendered to God when you rely on God to work things out instead of trying to manipulate others, force your agenda, and control the situation. You let go and let God work. You don't have to always be in charge. Instead of trying ...

Meet Jack. Coltyn gave him to me for Christmas - because I did not have a stuffed animal to sleep with (like the 47 "babies" in his bed) and he felt badly for me. So shopping with Boo Boo (surprise, surprise) he came home with a snowman that he and Boo Boo found the day after Christmas half price sale (surprise, surprise). Well, Jack's been every where with us since his arrival on December 26. Camping, supercross races; I even woke up in the hospital in January and found him tucked under the covers with me. You can imagine the nurse's surprise when she dove under the covers in recovery to check my hysterectomy procedure and found a stuffed snowman. "Uh, this is Jack," I drooled to her. So now Jack's in Utah and will be sending shout out's to Coltyn - and YOU! This is Jack in the lava fields before getting to Snow Canyon - about 27 miles into the bike ride. Smile, Jack!

(Snow Canyon - part of the DOWNHILL part of the bike loop :-) 22% of the registered athletes are women. Average age of all athletes is 37. The average athlete has trained 18-30 hours a week for 7 months in preparation. Over 700 athletes are first timers here (gooooood company ;-) And me, I'm number 495 out of 2385 registered athletes. That's the number. It's already "temporarily tatooed" with spray ink and stencils all over my body. Won't be catching any rays with these numbers on - I'd be wearing them all summer. Athlete check in took about an hour today, then another 1 1/2 hours to get body marked (that's your race number on your arms and age as of 12/31 on your left calf). Met some interesting folks - and saw lots more ;-) I got a five mile run in before we went - and truly felt the altitude difference. My heart rate averaged about 10bpm more than it normally does, which tells me output on race day will be a little slower to accommodate the higher h...

Water at Sand Hollow Reservoir (swim location) is a balmy 58 degrees today! Yum!

...there is an altitude difference here...less air, drier climate, higher heart rate = more exertion. Woo Hoo!

We arrived in Vegas yesterday afternoon and drove up to St George. Wow! What an amazing part of the country this is...talk about rough! I'm humbled thinking of the trailblazers in their covered wagons trying to get through here. Seriously...talk about Ironmen! Covered wagons with wooden wheels - through this land with these rocks, ravines, gorges, crevices...I cannot imagine the time, perseverance, stamina and willpower it took. Truly, it would seem that every few minutes you and your family would be unloading, lifting, prying, leveraging their wooden wheels out of a crevice, maneuvering your horses to pull with all their might, then reloading, restarting and doing it again in a matter of feet. It's miraculous anyone ever made it across this area. I'm humbled beyond words to think that Saturday I'm going to roll across these same mountains with an aerodynamic helmet, unlimited water, carbon bike, carbon wheels, tubeless tires, then engineered running shoes with high tec...

...a friend like this! Received this from "Nif" (spellcheck :-) this morning...not sure what to think about it. Hah! But my bags are packed (almost ;-) and the plane leaves in 4 hours...too late to back out now. See what the Fat Cyclist (yes, he exists and is none of us :-) has to say about St George. (I'm thinking that number 7 is actually the only reliable and most important piece of information ;-)

Sweet, sweet words to my ears as I got home from my "long" workout yesterday at 11 - my dear momma was watching the kids (as she has for many days of this journey - I'll roll out before dawn, Steve stays in bed, then Steve rolls out and joins me for some of the workout; mom tiptoes over, boys stay in bed - seemlessly, unaware that I've been gone for hours already :-) Yesterday was the last "semi-long" workout before UT. 3 1/2 hours vs the longest I've had which was 9. Yea God!

It took me four days to push that button. The webpage had sat open on my desktop for four days; all the boxes were filled in, all info complete. However, by pushing "send" I knew I'd mentally and physically commit myself (and my family :-) for the next 9 months to preparing for the St. George Ironman . 2.4 mile swim; 112 mile bike; 26.2 marathon run. "How many days does that take?" someone later asked me? Lots. So why did I push "send"? Every year instead of New Year's resolutions I always have a word or phrase to focus on. For me, it's a "nutshell" of focus and simplifies what could be a tedious list of what I should and shouldn't do into one direct affirmation. This year it's "No Regrets". To live, act, say, make decisions with the end result of "no regrets" in mind. Steve and I created Bucket Lists last year. I'm sure we all have our own Bucket Lists by now. (If you don't, I encourage you to get...

I LOVE this interview! Take a peak and enjoy the beauty of it. The cause is wonderful and the way God answers their prayers is off the charts unexpected! See Jodi Nelson's paddleboarding for Breast Cancer interview with Ellen - and who God sent to help gain publicity for the cause :-)