The Next Big Thing

I’m 34 now…I have two kids, a job, a house, a husband that supports all my crazy whims and I’m about to ask him to do it again. I have always loved the feeling of crossing a finishline. It is emotional, exciting and exhausting all at the same time. It’s also addicting.

I have crossed the finish lines of numerous 5Ks, 10K, Half marathons even some fulls. I’ll never forget the first time crossing each of those distances. Each time I told myself…”There. You did it” as if tell myself that I’ve crossed this isolated bucket list item off and can move on to something else. I definitely haven’t ended my love affair with running. It’s still intact in all it’s sometimes dysfunctional glory but there’s more.

Back in July I ran Rock 'n' Roll Chicago.  While I was there, I ran into the crew of Got Chocolate Milk.  They convinced me to apply for the team.  I, being the ham that I am, agreed and jumped in front of the camera not entirely sure what I was going to say.  Then the camera started recording and this came out of my mouth...
 


And just like that I had put my goal out there for the world to hear.  After I threw up a little in my mouth, I asked to retape...no luck.  After that, as you might have seen, the voting began.  A month later I found out I made the team!

At first I was SUPER excited but then the reality of what I had just done set in.  I had just put the wheels in motion for my next big goal...adding Iron(wo)man to my list of accomplishments.  Now, I'm not going all the way but I am committing to doing a half Ironman in 2014.  My husband and I have talked about it and I've started looking at coaches because this is far bigger than anything I've tried and I feel like I need some guidance.

Currently I'm planning to do Ironman Steelhead in August because it's close enough to drive and my family can go with me, maybe even spend a little extra time at the Lake. Luckily I'm not doing this alone.  I have the support of the entire Got Chocolate Milk Team and I am so thankful.  They have already been very helpful. 

This goal is exactly the reason I've been doing the MAF training too.  Although this past week has been pretty pathetic with all the work travel, I'm committed to MAF for for the next month at least.

So there it is...I've heard that if you aren't scared you haven't dreamed big enough..well, I'm scared but excited.  This is going to be a long journey but the reward will be so worth it.