What Race Will It Be? Here is Clue Number Three!

As you know, I’ve made my choice for a summer event with the Purple People! I had six choices. Friday’s clue, that it is not an event that I have already done, eliminated the San Diego and Country Music Marathons. Yesterday’s clue, that it is west of the Mississippi River, eliminated the Fletcher Flyer Century Ride and the I Love the Tavern Triathlon. Today’s clue will allow you to narrow the choice from the two remaining possibilities to just one. So without further ado, here is the last clue!

Typically, I don’t sleep too well the night before a race. I toss and turn. I anticipate the early wake-up call, usually 3:30 – 4AM. I think about all of the effort I have put in for the previous four to six months. I think about all of the reasons I do this and hope that I will be strong enough to complete my self appointed task and to fulfill my commitment to all of the people who donated to this cause through my efforts. I think about completing the race and thus honoring all of the people whose names are written on my race shirt. Sleep is a rare commodity the night before a big race, but I usually get at least a few hours of it. But for my summer event, because of where it is, I wonder a bit if I will be sleepless.

There’s your clue. Of course, if I don’t get any sleep, I am pretty sure I’ll be able to find a Starbucks in this town. I will talk about why I selected this event tomorrow. But right now, I want to write just a bit about why I picked the summer team this year. Spring felt too early to do fundraising again, even after I got the news from my sister around Thanksgiving about her breast cancer returning. I liked the idea of doing the Nations Tri or the Nike Marathon or even the Tour de Tucson with the fall team. But part of me didn’t want to wait that long to get back with TNT. Plus I have some travel plans for the fall that would have interfered with some of these events. So I was leaning towards summer, especially the two events that were left after yesterday’s clue: the Lake Tahoe Century Ride and the Seattle Marathon / Half Marathon. Finally, my friend Ed’s news about having cancer for the fourth time arrived last week. All of these things pointed to the summer season, to try to make a difference sooner rather than later.

It is time to do it again. Time to test the fundraising waters once more and see if people will respond generously for a fifth time. And time to start preparing for an endurance event again. It really felt good yesterday to train with the Spring Team for seven miles. It felt like where I needed to be. And so, I anticipate with happiness getting ready to get back out there and Train, Endure, Achieve, and Matter. GO TEAM!