IronSister!!!

Two weekends ago, I went out of town to surprise my sister with a visit and to support her in a BIG LIFE MOMENT.  She did the Ironman Texas - and SHE FINISHED!  If you don't know what an Ironman event is, it is 140.3 miles of swim-bike-run - the mother of all triathlons, and you have to finish within 17 hours.  The swim is 2.4 miles (she killed it) the bike is 112 miles (um, I don't even like biking that much, and turns out neither does she, but she did it anyhow) and THEN after all that madness you run a marathon.  And she DID ALL THIS within the cutoff time - I am so happy for her!

This photo was taken by a friend of ours at the moment my sister saw me, just before she crossed the finish line.  (She already knew I was there, I'd arrived Friday night.)  Her face just LIT UP when she saw me - she is looking right at me, you can see the back of my head.  This is just THE BEST picture ever!  At the end of any race (but I'd imagine ESPECIALLY an Ironman) you are happy to finish - but if you see your friends and family, you are, well, just like her in the pic!  (So if you go watch someone race, make sure they can see you at the finish line!)

Now I love a triathlon and am doing several shorter ones this summer, but to me, an Ironman is, well,  a little insane.  So much time and effort goes into preparing to do one (you train for 8-12 months, and by doing very long workouts sometimes twice a day), and finishing is HUGE, especially if it's your first one.  I am friends with several Ironman finishers and they were all certain that I'd go watch my sister and want to do one myself.  To their dismay, watching this madness confirmed my belief that I DO NOT EVER want to do a full Ironman - though I am sure I would enjoy a half-Ironman.  :)

So why would my sister do something like this when she doesn't just LOVE triathlons?  I think she really thought she couldn't do this, but wanted to prove herself wrong (which, obviously, she did).  The difference between she and I is, I know that if I trained for it, I am fairly certain I would finish it.  I already know that.  That being said, I personally have NO desire to devote all that time and effort to that particular goal.  Which brings the question - what kind of a goal DO I want to devote that much time and effort to, and accomplish?  I don't have an answer right now - but I like that going to watch her follow through with such a big goal has made me think about how I want to prioritize my own life.  I am completely inspired by my sister - and any of you IronMen and IronWomen out there - in this way.  GO, IRON FOLKS!!!!

I always say a goal without a plan is just a wish.  I'm so happy my sister made her goal - believe me, she didn't just show up and hope she'd finish.  There was a lot of effort and planning and DOING for the past year that got her to that finish line on Saturday.  So now, I'm going to figure out what it is that I want to be putting in the effort and planning and DOING, myself.

Which is a whole 'nother blog... so on that note, YAY IRON SISTER!!!!!  :D