Preparing for Pancakes

Tomorrow is pancake race day! Sarah (x2), Catherine, Jodie, a few other Yahoos and I are doing a sprint distance triathlon to get a feel for race day - the soginess and grogginess of it all.

Leaving my apartment at 5am to take the 5:30am State Island Ferry. At 8:15am, I will be jumping into the waters of the Lower Bay off the east side of Staten Island. I hope to finish in 1.5 hours (a very aggressive goal). At this point, I do feel ready and I would have never thought so if you asked me three months ago. Also, there is a very big motivator at the end of the race.

Here is the rundown:

1. .25 mile swim
2. 12 mile bike
3. 3 mile run
4. PANCAKES!

We all get pancakes afterward! The race itself is called "Flat as a Pancake," my favorite kind of course. Maybe I can skip right to the pancakes.

Extra Extra, watch all about it!

Irony of Yahoo posting videos on YouTube aside, Yahoo created a great clip about our Yahoo team's triathlon training.

After the initial intro, fast forward to the 7 min mark to see our segment. Doug, our team captain, does a nice voiceover and you can hear Catherine first hand.

Click on the photo to watch:

If you need the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ED0oBuOqY5c&feature=player_embedded

BIKING

Because of some awesomely exhausting events this weekend, I didn't do the Brick on Saturday morning. I am proud of myself to have hauled my butt out of my comfortably encompassing couch at 5pm today to do 16 miles up and down the west side.

At about the 10 mile mark, my body was drained. Not having much of a lunch was probably the reason... but I had to stop. Fortunately, I had some Gu (mint chocolate flavor) and as I started to bike home, decided to turn back around and finish the rest of the journey.

I did it because I thought of the people who read my blog and who support me, and how much they would have wanted me to keep going.

Furthest I have ever run

I have never run more than 4 miles before.

Three months ago, 3 miles was my limit. Running always sucked.

One month ago, I ran 4 miles and my ankles hurt like heck.

This week, I ran 5.5 miles; the furthest I have ever run. I never thought I could do it.

Now, I am doing it for so many reasons.

Before the start of some of our group training sessions, TNT invites special individuals to lead a "mission moment," where they share why they are doing this and for whom. I am so amazed and touched by these people who open themselves up to strangers, talking about something that would generally make most people cry or fall apart. These people are survivors, fathers who are proud of their survivor daughters, daughters that are proud of their fighting fathers, with so many other stories and reasons. It reminds me of how much bigger training and racing is. And why 5.5 miles is just a small, yet critical, step in a much much larger journey.

15 Minutes of fame

Yahoo is sending a camera crew to interview/tape our group run tomorrow night.

Can anyone say: GLAMOUR SHOTS!!! Kidding. It will be great to get onto Yahoo's internal portal to spread the news about what we are doing and why we are doing it. It's an opportunity for 10,000 employees to learn about what we are doing.

We will all be wearing Yahoo shirts of some flavor; I hope Eran wears his tight Yahoo bike shorts too.

An athlete with a broken heart

My family doesn't at all support this. My uncle, aunt and parents have all tried to convince me that I should not participate in the triathlon, multiple times each. They have tried to discourage me in so many different ways, including a comparison of Albert Einstein trying to be Michael Phelps. There IS a hidden compliment in there. This weekend, I told my dad that the more they try, the more driven I am to do it.

I know it's because they are concerned and don't want me to get hurt. No one in my family has done anything like this before and as I mentioned in a previous post, I have never been considered an athlete. They also don't know (have not asked) how rigorous the training has been, to prepare me. To them, I'm working one day and swimming in the Hudson the next. Most importantly, they are worried about my heart condition. I have mitral valve prolapse, which is a non-threatening condition that I have had all my life.

Not having my family's support is harder than I expected. I thought I could just do without it, but this is such a big deal for me, that having my family at the finish line would have been amazing. In a moment of weakness, I did the whole, "I respect that you don't want me to do it but I'm gonna do it anyway. And even if you don't believe in me, my friends and coworkers do. In the form of two thousand dollars!"

I will see a cardiologist in two weeks to make sure I'm good to go and to ease my family's worry. I will be ok. I will do this race. And my family will be proud of me.

THANK YOU

With the raffle/door/drink donations from our fundraiser, the donations to my personal bucket, donations through paypal and to my LLS page, Carol's donation, and Yahoo's matching, I have (will) reach my fundraising minimum! I broke $1,000 over a month ago, and I am in awe of everyone's generosity to have helped me break $2,000 in order to raise over $2,700 for LLS.

So, I hired a bunch of little kids to stand around looking cute with a THANK YOU sign, because I thank you guys so much for helping me reach my goal. While I will keep fundraising, I can focus on training and not worry about how much more I have to put in from my own pocket (running shoes, triathlon clothes, and a road bike have all been part of the expenses so far).

Forever grateful and inspired,
Jeanne

PS - Bike this Sunday at 7:30am if you'd like to join! Sunny will be joining us!