chasing

5 days from this very moment, I'll be biking.

My ass will be chapped.
I will have already been racing for 11 hours.

I'll be thinking about how soon, I'll need to put my lights on, get a real meal in, and maybe add some arm-warmers as the temperatures begin to fall.

My mind will be wandering and starting to touch upon the idea that, in 6 or so hours, my undercarriage will be relieved...and my feet will be taking the burden of my entire body weight instead. However, thinking about the act of biking for the next 6 hours....not allowed.
That's a fast-track to moody-land.

The laps will blur, and I will enter my own mind, where I'll stay until it's time to clip out of the pedals for the rest of the event.

All it took was one race.
Last year, at the Triple, I found a state of being that I have not yet seen since that weekend.
It was so powerful. I was at one with my body. Completely in touch with every sense.

That first marathon after the swim and bike...it was like my feet never touched the ground.
Then everything came to a screeching halt. Ultimate high, to ultimate low, in less than 5 minutes.
The idea of finishing a big race while feeling like that is so locked into my head.
It's like...this amazing, reoccuring idea. A bolt of electricity that bounces between my heart and my brain. A spark, maybe.
I can't stop thinking about it...there is no choice but to chase the feeling.
I NEED it.

"It'll drive a cowboy crazy
It'll drive him insane
And he'll sell off everything he owns
Just to pay to play the game
And a broken home and some broken bones
Is all he'll have to show
For all the years that he spent chasin'
This dream they call rodeo"


This year is a lot different.
Last year, I was training for the Triple, and hadn't even done as much training as I have this year. I have never been more fit.
My goal for the 2x this friday is to find zen mode, and stay there, until that American flag is in my hands, and I'm crossing that line.

Thank you so much for your support thus far.
There are people "like"ing my facebook page that I don't even know.

This fills my heart with fire. More than ever. It's like I'm not going to this event by myself. There's an army, now.
No distance is safe anymore.

To the Hunt,

krp