Guess what? I made it to Basel after all to run in the marathon. It was not #35, but rather my “one to grow on” marathon, #36. I went through a maze of indecision to get to the starting line, but I did, and wow, did it pay off.
I decided not go to Basel when they changed the day of the race on me, originally it was slated from early September, then they moved it to 9/28, which was after my birthday, so I figured what was the point of that? I wanted to run “35 by 35”, not “35 just after I turned 35”. My mom thought it was no big deal, but I did, I had to finish the races before my birthday, so Basel suddenly did not fit in at all in the equation. Then my plans really flew off the rails when I decided on a whim while watching the Ironman World Championships on NBC that I would sign up for another Ironman, even though I had set a schedule for 2014 to be all about marathons. At the time I was frustrated with my current station in life and decided to throw in all of my chips and go for it, so I signed up for Ironman Lake Tahoe on 9/21. Unfortunately, the flip side of that selfish decision was that Basel reallywould not be able to happen at all, because I could not afford to race an Ironman, which are very expensive, and fly to Basel and run the marathon. Therefore, I decided to forgo Basel, and focus on the Ironman, and finishing 35 By 35 before my birthday, and throwing my original master plan for this life quest out the window.
Cut to early May when after enduring months of grueling training and soul-searching I decided to truly take advantage of this moment in my life to test myself and vowed to race both Ironman Lake Tahoe and the Basel marathon. My plan was to race IMLT on Sunday 9/21, rest for a couple of days, then fly to Switzerland and race the Basel marathon on Sunday, 9/28, this ridiculous new proposition would take “going out with a bang” to a whole new level.
Along the way I had started to look for work, then stopped to solely focus on my BIG races of the Summer and the Ironman in September, when an opportunity came my way that I did not have the heart to say ‘no’ to. Hannah’s Varsity volleyball coach asked me to be the Program Coordinator for the Alemany Girls Volleyball, which was awesome, but I had an inkling it would be a pretty demanding position, and my training may suffer, but I said ‘yes’, because I wanted to help as much as possible, and I wanted to be involved for Hannah’s sake. Honestly, I don’t think she really cared either way, but I took on the voluntary position, which added some heft to my already ambitious load.
Miraculously, I was able to achieve all of the training for my races in May, June, and July, but as I mentioned in my #35 post, the San Francisco marathon humbled me, my body was finally yelping for some rest, when what I needed to do in my schedule was focus on six very intense weeks of Ironman training, which included an overwhelming emphasis on cycling due the challenge of racing in Lake Tahoe.
On top of that, this Volleyball gig was shaping up to look more and more like a “real” job every day, mainly because I needed to be available at all times of the day for questions from parents, and tasks from the coach, and even though I am confident training for 4-6 hours per day would have been possible, it may have burdened the success of the program, and the happiness of the players and parents. So in early August I made the most excruciating decision I have in years, almost as bad as when I decided not to play basketball my Senior year of high school, I decided not to race Ironman Lake Tahoe.
Luckily, I was able to get back my money from the rental house in time, but was out $700+ from the registration fee because the WTC has a laughable, if any, refund policy. Marion kept assuring me not to worry about it, I did have some cash from selling one of my bikes in July, which eased my conscience slightly, but I knew in my gut that pulling out was the right move. Next, I stopped my Ironman training, switched to recovery, and mainly running, because no matter what I was going to run the Basel marathon on 9/28.
Let’s fast forward to the morning of September 21st when I begrudgingly hopped online to Ironman.com to see what was happening at Ironman Lake Tahoe, “What the???” The race was canceled due to the heavy smoke from the King’s wildfire that had been surrounding the area. I felt terrible for all of the athletes who were at the starting line and had their hopes dashed minutes before the gun went off, on the other hand, and I feel awful admitting this, but I was relieved that I was actually not missing the race at all, that’s horrible, I know, but I am human. There have been many opinions bouncing around about how the WTC handled the call, but I have faith it was the right move, safety first my friends.
Personally, I was thrilled to have that deadening weight of bailing on IMLT lifted from my shoulders, and I was now able to fully enjoy my last few days before flying to Switzerland and simply look forward to running the marathon with fresh legs, an open mind, and Grinch-like bursting heart. This was it.
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