360 Days to go...

This past Saturday I joined about 20 of my friends in Panama City Beach FL to volunteer at and cheer on the athletes at Ironman Florida.  It was an absolutely amazing experience.  I was assigned to work the kayaks and woke up early Saturday.  Well yes at 2 am.  I set my alarm for 3:45 since we had to be there at 5 am.  But in true triathon fashion, I woke up early and laid in bed staring at the bottom of the bunk bed I lay under.  After a horrible experience at Waffle House, note to self: only drunk people go to WH at 4 am, I ran to the beach while eating my food out of a plastic container.  It was 37 degrees outside.  That was just plain wrong.  Originally supposed to be a lifeguard, I was elated to my upgrade to kayaker.  It was peaceful and serene despite the cold temps and amazing to see 2500+ people swimming by me.  I only had to help out one guy who was struggling.  And I was so happy to see Ben Holiday who is a friend of mine when he stopped to say hi.  The rest of the day is a blur.  Cheering, drinking, celebrating with friends.  Mostly watching everyone in the marathon since the bike portion was impossible to watch.

We dressed in costumes so that we could add some cheer to the long day ahead.  I'm pretty sure the athletes loved it.  Especially when we yelled out their names.  I was hoarse by mid-day.

But certainly the best part was the last hour when everyone went crazy bringing in the remainder of the competitors who were still on the course.  It brought tears to my eyes.

I went to Florida 100% certain I would not sign up.  I had no interest.  So I'm not sure what happened that I woke up Sunday morning and decided to walk down and sign up for next year's race.  It came out of peace.  There was no question in my mind that it was the right thing to do.  And I'm still sure of my decision.  It feels good knowing that in less that a year, I'll be making the same journey.