Thursday, March 31, 2011
10 months, 10 weeks, 10 days...
One and a half days! Man time flies. Here I sit a day and a half out, I hope to be in the last hour or so of my race this time 48 hours from now. Crazy right. First off I want to thank God for all the time and health to be able to prepare for this. I want to thank Emily, Annie, and Cameron for letting me sneak out and log some miles and for supporting me in my goal. My work has also been a great source of encouragement and letting me take long lunches and bail out early many days to get the time in. I am blown away at how many friends have been with me supporting me asking me and most of all believing in me, I am honored and touched by all of you. There is nothing more I can do till the gun fires for my heat. All the hours all the pain all the doubt, all the belief and will have been put in. I am going to leave it all out on the course, me and God running the race laid out for me. I will be using all of the well wishes and thinking of all of you that have believed in me when I was not so sure I made a smart decision signing up for this to keep me going forward. Bib number 2403 Craig Stevens 44 Ventura CA, you can see how I am doing on the Ironman site they will post up my times as I move throughout the race. I see my beautiful wife and kids at the finish line, Its a good picture in my mind. I will cry if I cross the finish line or not. Its been such a journey, I am transformed physically I have lost 40 pounds, I can not even remember the last time I was under 200 pounds. I am closer to God and so grateful for the time we spent together training. No matter what happens Saturday I will praise God. I love run rule #1 No form of locomotion other then running, walking, or crawling is allowed. Good to know I can crawl across if I have to. This morning I was stressing and worrying about the whole deal and I got an email with the time and location for the Iron Prayer meeting and knowing I am not alone out there has changed my stress level in a good way. I will keep you all up to date as I can. Keep the thoughts and prayers coming.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
2 weeks or 14 days or 336 hours
Actually a little less since its 10 at night.
Still hard to believe that its coming up so quick. The favorite question at this point is "Are you ready? yes...no...maybe...I sure hope so, not much I can do to change it at this point. I have done my best to get all the training in that I can. I know that God will be with me on this, it has been as much a spiritual event as mental and physical.
Funny how sports are the perfect analogy for just about everything. You play like you practice is one I use all the time to my softball and baseball kids. Leave it all out on the field, dont come in thinking I could have/should have done more, the difference between ordinary and extraordinary is just a little extra. I cant be 2 weeks out without having done the last 6 months of running, riding, swimming, spinning, push/pull ups, sit ups, eating right, sleeping, and praying. You gotta put the time in, cant get to the starting line without putting in hours and miles. "For physical training is of some value, but Godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come" (1 Timothy 4:8).
I swam in the ocean today. A shock to the hands and feet, the water was cold! Spending an hour in it should be fun. I was told that the wetsuit and the salt water would make me float more, I had no idea how much. I am impressed. I need to spend some more time in the ocean in the next 14 days for sure, so I am not freaked out come start time. I will be in wave 4, 5, or 6 starting at 6:50, 6:53, or 6:56 which gives me a good bit of time to finish before they close the course. I just hope my slow pace does not get me swam over by the 17 waves after me. I hope I have a bright swim cap. Randy thinks I am ready,he has never thought I could not do this and I am grateful for his help and encouragement.
I had a lot more to say when I sat down to type. It has all faded away though...I am humbled and overwhelmed, grateful that I am 2 weeks out. God has been so good to me, Emily and the kids have been wonderful for allowing me to go swim, ride, run, sleep a bit longer, my job has been supportive and encouraging, all of my friends have been there keeping me on task and honest about my training, a man named Skip who I have never met has helped with my rookie questions. I have no idea what to expect on April 2nd, but I am going to leave it all out on the course, I am doing this for God, Emily, Annie, Cameron and all of you.
When I remember what else I had planned on posting, I will
Still hard to believe that its coming up so quick. The favorite question at this point is "Are you ready? yes...no...maybe...I sure hope so, not much I can do to change it at this point. I have done my best to get all the training in that I can. I know that God will be with me on this, it has been as much a spiritual event as mental and physical.
Funny how sports are the perfect analogy for just about everything. You play like you practice is one I use all the time to my softball and baseball kids. Leave it all out on the field, dont come in thinking I could have/should have done more, the difference between ordinary and extraordinary is just a little extra. I cant be 2 weeks out without having done the last 6 months of running, riding, swimming, spinning, push/pull ups, sit ups, eating right, sleeping, and praying. You gotta put the time in, cant get to the starting line without putting in hours and miles. "For physical training is of some value, but Godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come" (1 Timothy 4:8).
I swam in the ocean today. A shock to the hands and feet, the water was cold! Spending an hour in it should be fun. I was told that the wetsuit and the salt water would make me float more, I had no idea how much. I am impressed. I need to spend some more time in the ocean in the next 14 days for sure, so I am not freaked out come start time. I will be in wave 4, 5, or 6 starting at 6:50, 6:53, or 6:56 which gives me a good bit of time to finish before they close the course. I just hope my slow pace does not get me swam over by the 17 waves after me. I hope I have a bright swim cap. Randy thinks I am ready,he has never thought I could not do this and I am grateful for his help and encouragement.
I had a lot more to say when I sat down to type. It has all faded away though...I am humbled and overwhelmed, grateful that I am 2 weeks out. God has been so good to me, Emily and the kids have been wonderful for allowing me to go swim, ride, run, sleep a bit longer, my job has been supportive and encouraging, all of my friends have been there keeping me on task and honest about my training, a man named Skip who I have never met has helped with my rookie questions. I have no idea what to expect on April 2nd, but I am going to leave it all out on the course, I am doing this for God, Emily, Annie, Cameron and all of you.
When I remember what else I had planned on posting, I will
Monday, March 7, 2011
T minus 26 days
Its hard to believe that the Ironman is in 26 days. When I signed up I had forever till April 2nd. Funny how 30 days can seem like forever when you are waiting for something or how quickly 30 days becomes 1.
I had a great week of training last week. Some days I feel like I could ride or run and yes even now swim forever. Then other times before, during, or after I feel like I cant even go one more foot. I think that they should call the events a quad not a tri. You have the swim, bike, run, and the forth is the mental part. Its really a mental challenge as much as physical. I am really trying now to keep in mind pace, I know from past events that the emotion of the day will make me feel like going super fast, then bonking way too soon. I have not used music for quite some time now and being in my head for hours on end can be a scary place. I also find it funny that I can remember song lyrics from 20 year old songs when I hear the music but can only remember one annoying verse or song I dont want in my head without music. So I pray, I use Dore's just keep swimming/running/ridding, or the one two, one two, one two. I am a chatty kind of guy maybe on race day I will find another snail that like to chat.
I really appreciate all of the support I am getting. I cant tell you how much it helps to be asked how is the training going? It keeps me on task and honest. Most of all though I am so grateful to God for allowing me the opportunity to do this.
I had a great week of training last week. Some days I feel like I could ride or run and yes even now swim forever. Then other times before, during, or after I feel like I cant even go one more foot. I think that they should call the events a quad not a tri. You have the swim, bike, run, and the forth is the mental part. Its really a mental challenge as much as physical. I am really trying now to keep in mind pace, I know from past events that the emotion of the day will make me feel like going super fast, then bonking way too soon. I have not used music for quite some time now and being in my head for hours on end can be a scary place. I also find it funny that I can remember song lyrics from 20 year old songs when I hear the music but can only remember one annoying verse or song I dont want in my head without music. So I pray, I use Dore's just keep swimming/running/ridding, or the one two, one two, one two. I am a chatty kind of guy maybe on race day I will find another snail that like to chat.
I really appreciate all of the support I am getting. I cant tell you how much it helps to be asked how is the training going? It keeps me on task and honest. Most of all though I am so grateful to God for allowing me the opportunity to do this.
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