Committed

Cash has been given. Well, cash in the form of my Visa card...but still....charge is looming on my bill.

Up until Monday, this was all on the premise that I would be able to register. By going up to Penticton this past weekend, and being about 20th in line Monday morning, I guaranteed myself a spot. Now the real training begins.

A big change in which event I'll be doing though. Ironman Canada is no more. The contract with Ironman was up this year with the town of Penticton. The city council brought in a couple of groups to give presentations of hosting a long distance event. And the winner? Challenge Family-This will be their inaugural event in North America, so they were pretty excited and they treated us really well in line, with coffee and snacks. Challenge Penticton it is!

The details of the event are still the same. The distance is the same, the course is the same, it's just not "Ironman". I'm okay with this. It was never about "Ironman". It was about doing that distance and living to tell the tale.

In summary of my weekend, I can sum my impressions up like this, "Ironman triathletes deserve your respect". Wow.

I missed the swim start, but was able to see them come in. Arms thrashing, water splashing.

One thing I didn't know about, they have volunteers do a crap ton of stuff for you! Once out of the water, you unzip and pull down to your waist and then once in the transition area, you lie down on the grass and two people yank your suit off and then hand it to you. Once your changed into your bike gear, people slather sunscreen on you as your leaving. When you come in from the bike to the run, they take the bike and rack it for you. I wonder how I could get one of them to do the run for me........

My coach was up there, so I met up with them and they gave me the low down on a ton of stuff. Mostly though, I just took it in. I was there by myself, so I really had a great opportunity to just absorb and not have to give my opinion at that moment. These were the emotions and opinions I felt: Excited, nervous, happy, impressed, like puking.

While in line for registration I did what I do. I started chatting with people around me and met Bill.

This will be his second Ironman (now Challenge). He's from BC, and runs a company helping people recovering from traumatic brain injury. I really enjoyed getting to talk with him and learn his story. I am sure that I will continue to make new friends along this journey, but Bill will hold the distinction of the first!

And so, I am in. Committed. Not backing out. Money down. All in.
And as many of you have commented, completely nuts. But so completely HAPPY!