Friday, June 17, 2011

Prelude to a Race

I'm currently in Sardis, MS. Tomorrow morning around 8:05AM, I'll be heading into the water to start the Dragonfly SPRINT Triathlon. It's not a long race - 0.5 mile SWIM - 18 mile BIKE - 4 mile RUN - just a SPRINT triathlon but it is an important race, if only to me.

You see, I signed up for this race once before...in June 2005. This was just another in a long list of races that made up my "two years to Ironman plan" and it was a race in Mississippi so it could be included in a vacation that Jim and I had planned...

and then along came Melanoma...and all my plans changed...

So this time, in June 2005, Jim and I made the trip to Sardis, MS by way of Memphis, TN and Oxford, MS. I got to see Jim's Alma-mater (Ole Miss) and picked up my race packet. But on Saturday morning, Jim and I stood by the sidelines and cheered everybody on. There would be no 2005 Dragonfly SPRINT Triathlon for me. I had just finished 4-weeks of high-dose Interferon Chemotherapy just a week before and I was not just on Vacation with my bouyfriend but on a "CHEMO vacation" as well - getting ready to start 48-weeks of low-dose Interferon shots 3x a week when we came back home, post-vacation.

So here I am, 6 years later, and I am finally doing the Dragonfly SPRINT Triathlon and I realized something on my drive over from my new home in Alabama...

Before I have even crossed the finish line of this particular race, no matter what kind of race day I end up having...I HAVE ALREADY WON!

Life is GOOD! LiveSTRONG!

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