Week 40: Friends and humor: What gets me through

There is no way possible I could make it through this journey without the support of my friends and teammates.  And although I appreciate their shoulders to cry on, it is really their humor that gets me through the pain.

There are tons of examples and I don't mean to hurt anyone's feelings by leaving them out but here are just a few of my favorites:

First there is Cheryl, with her undying love of athlete stalking.  I don't mean the type that "someone" might do by writing down race numbers with a sharpie on her arm at a race and looking them up later.  I mean her stalking of women in our age group.  Here is a brief glmpse into the detail of info Cheryl emails to me:

3. Jane Doe (I changed the actual names) - WATCH OUT! IM Cozumel '09 13:33; IMFL '08 13:05; Tugaloo '10 and '09 3:05, 3:00; RBR '10 2:23 (4th OA, 1st AG). Relative to us, she's a slighly faster swimmer, slightly slower biker, VERY fast runner (3x BQ - yikes!!). Definite competition and I'm guessing uncatchable, unless she's injured (or tripped...hehe).

4. Lisa Smith - ^%$&. She's a ~44-46 min 10k, 2:24 Oly finisher, podiumed every single one of her 7 tris (but mainly only sprints and 2x W Pt Lake). Crazy fast in all 3 legs. We have no chance of catching her. &^*&. *&*^. #@#$.

5. Kim Jones- Darn again. Slower swimmer, bikes on par w/ us, but crazy fast runner (46 min 10k, 3:39 marathon). RBR '10 2:41 (1st AG, 8th OA). Has only done 4 sprints and 1 Oly, but  podiumed ALL of them (her only Oly was RBR '10 in 2:41, 1st AG, 8th OA). And the worst part of it all? She only just aged up this year. Damn.

6. Jane Wilson - wild card. Only one result, a 38 min open 5k five yrs ago. She could be a crazy fast swim-biker, but somehow I doubt it. Anyone fit enough to swim/bike faster than us can WALK a faster 5k than that. I'm going to say she's no competition. Particularly if she's done nothing in 5 yrs. I mean, I had a 50+ min 5k 3 yrs ago (I was injured and limping from the first 1/2 mi), but that means nothing when you look at other results. But if I had no other results? Then I just quit running altogether and NEVER got any faster. Why is this Jane Wilson suddenly showing up for an Oly w/out so much as a single sprint or 5k race in 5 yrs? Unless she just got married and has never registered under her married name before, and this is not the 38min 5k Jane Wilson. DAMN those women who change their names!

Next there is Jeff.  Who really plays the stoic serious guy until he posts on facebook and is snarky.  When I begin to doubt my ability to complete an Ironman and am having a meltdown and turn to him in complete despair thinking he will say "don't worry Patti, we will make it!", instead he quips back "We are fucked". 

And Reckers.  Oh Reckers.  He really is the funniest person on our team.  He pees 12 times at IMTX, ruins his cycling shoes, and then decides to FREEZE them to get rid of the smell?  He kept me in stitches on our last trail run with his funny outlook on life.

I love Chris' race reports and how he had to outrun a guy in a chicken suit for a free Chickfila sandwich.

There are tons more stories and truly it gets lost in translation.  I just want to say thanks.  Thanks to everyone for their humor and their support.  This past week has hurt like hell.  I feel like a mack truck ran over me and then when I got back up, it hit me again 2 days later.  Please keep me laughing so I can forget the pain. :)