The weather is turning into that glorious time of year as summer struggles to maintain her heated breath while autumn pushes her aside, sighing in cooling breezes, in the hint of changing light and falling leaves. The lights of the fireflies are less numerous now as they signal the end of the sweat and arduous pressure of long days and short passionate nights… making way for lengthy, frosty, dark hours made for snuggling with your loved one and against bowls of steaming soup and cups of whiskey warmed with cinnamon, clove, and lemon. In this betwixt and between time when the world is heaving in her changes, shedding her verdant skin, I am packing and preparing to watch something amazing.
On Sunday, my love will complete his second Ironman, along with several of our friends (and thousands of other dedicated athletes).
We set out in the pink and orange hours of dawn to a place I’ve never been before: Madison, Wisconsin. I don’t know what to expect of this adventure except that I will get to visit one of my favorite breweries, New Glarus, and of course, eat lots of cheese because that’s something for which Wisconsin is known! That and watch 13 or so hours of months of preparation, grueling endurance, and loads of self-motivation come to fruition.
These men, my friends, have given their lives over to preparing for this day for most of the last year and in one day, in one large chunk of time, they will expend all that preparation for the satisfaction of knowing they completed something that most people cannot even contemplate. You can read about their journey over at Crushing Iron. I could not do justice to describing it as they have in their own words but this isn’t a journey about fame or glory. They aren’t pros, they won’t finish in under 9 hours (the winner of Ironman Louisville finished in about 8:32), but what they are is dedicated. Perhaps this is about glory but it’s an internal glory- that shining light of marking a significant moment on a longer journey. Ironman Wisconsin (#IMWI) isn’t the end of a journey for these 5 men, it is simply one stop along the way to more achievements. Real achievements. The sorts that build up the soul, that beam out in tired smiles, that reside in the chest, filling and spilling over into every aspect of life. These men are champions, they are athletes, and on Sunday, they will be Ironmen.
As for me, the experience of being the partner of someone training for Ironman Wisconsin has certainly impacted my life and I’m certain the other wives and girlfriends can attest to its sweeping affect on daily life. I became an “early to bed, early to rise” sort fairly quickly in my relationship. This affected my work days and my diet. We participated in a 30 day (well, almost 30 day) paleo challenge to round out the end of his training. Thankfully, it also jump-started my return to running and I had the pleasure of joining K on his taper runs as I train for my first half marathon since my return to running following a car accident at the beginning of last year. Now I get to travel with my friends and watch K race in this grand event- grand both in size and magnitude. I’m so thrilled. I am almost as excited as if I was running this race. This is a momentous moment in his life and I’m so amazed to get to share it with him.
For the moment, I’m simply counting down the minutes until our final preparations begin. I can’t wait to get into the van and see the miles of road pass us by, as we drive through this country in this time of change, breathing in the battle between summer and autumn, feeling the heat slip away into the comfort of the most beautiful time of year. Here’s hoping autumn wins out on Sunday with fair temperatures and fair skies.
And a little postscript here. You should read this. I couldn’t help but add it… because I think he’s brilliant. Obviously some of what he says in that post isn’t true anymore: he’s not so single and he’s no longer nearly vegetarian… the rest is pure gold.