Have I Lost My Mind?

My first Half-Ironman is approaching quickly (56 days - YIKES!) and I bounce from excited to nervous, to feeling confident, to wondering WTF was I thinking I can't possibly do this!  My plan was to do the HIM distance this year and a full IM next year.  In the last couple of months or so I began to question this plan.  Should I wait?  Can I really do it?  There was also the question of which one.  What race did I want to work that hard for?


Then, a couple of weeks ago Sydney sent me this link.  And since then my mind has been turning over.  Two new Ironman races were announced for next year and Mont Tremblant in Quebec was one of them.  I've been to Mont Tremblant in the winter to ski and it's so very beautiful.  I looked at the website and the details of the course.  It's a tough one.  Lots of climbing on the bike and scary descents.  The run course is hilly.  The swim, well, any swim for me is a challenge.  Could I do this?  If you would have asked me a few months ago I would have given you a resounding, "Hell no!" but cycling in Tuscany changed something in me (a post about Tuscany is coming, I promise!).  It was really hard cycling and the climbs were crazy hard for me.  The descents scared me like nothing before.  But you know what?  I did them.  And although most of the time I was the slowest of the group I got it done.  And by the end of the week I was a little bit better at the climbing and little more confident on the descending and I proved to myself that with alot of hard work I can accomplish what I set my mind to.


And so in 14 months - a year after Steelhead, I will tackle Mont Tremblant.  It's going to be the challenge of my life.  I hope you stay along for the ride - I'm going to need all the support I can get!