September 14, 2009

Incredible Journey

I'm still riding on the high from yesterday. What an unbelievable day. I could barely sleep last night and was back at the expo and in race land as soon as I woke up. I dropped my bike off, bought a massive bag of finisher gear and went to the banquet. I'll be "that girl" wearing head to toe Ironman Wisconsin gear, while writing with my Ironman Wisconsin pen and drinking coffee out of my Ironman Wisconsin mug. Ok, I didn't buy a pen.

I have no regrets, no thoughts about "what if" or how I could or should have done, none of this "it wasn't the race I trained for" even though it wasn't. I'm just happy. Ridiculously and overwhelmingly happy, that I had the chance to even show up at the start and was given the gift of the finish. It was slow, long and painful. If you had told me a year ago that I'd walk a marathon I would have said you were insane. I'm a runner, not a walker, and I quickly realized I don't have the muscles required for walking! I'll never be able to put the emotions and experience into words. I cannot think of a time in my life where I was that overjoyed. People say everything happens for a reason. If I had been overly focused on my 13:30 goal I would have missed the incredible display of humanity, joy, kindness, sadness, defeat, elation and respect I saw out there for nearly 16 hours yesterday. And I was right in the middle of it. The energy transfer from person to person was amazing.

Here is my finish. Kristin Torres, you are an Ironman.




I'll share photos and a full report soon. I want to remember every moment of it.

9 comments:

  1. K,

    You are an "IRONMAN" and AMAZING!!! I saw you as I was heading at mile 23.5 right at the stadium and while I was in my own personal battle, I thought to myself, I thought she was going to just swim and bike. I even told my buddy today on the ride home that I had to check your blog when I got home to make sure. What was I thinking, of course you did it! I know it was worth it. Congratulations!

    Eric

    ReplyDelete
  2. Eric, I wish I had seen you! You rode by me on the course in June and we didn't see each other then either! Hope you had a good race.

    ReplyDelete
  3. It is one of my life goals to hear my name and those very words. I'm proud of you!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Way to conquer – you did such a good job!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Congrats once again Kristin. Well deserved. When we spoke right before the race, I saw in your eyes that you were going to have to be physically pulled off the course before you quit. What an inspiration you are. Now GO TAKE CARE OF YOUR LEFT FOOT WOMAN! :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Eric - I am. If you can't find me in the search, send me an email at thelazymarathoner@gmail.com and I'll send you the contact info!

    Steve - very true :)

    Thanks everyone for the comments and support!!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Congrats again, K - I (also) knew that there was no way you were going to stop at T2. So glad it all worked out for you.

    We came back to watch some more finishers around 11:00 pm, but must have just missed you - I guess a meeting wasn't in the cards this time. But we'll be back next year to volunteer/spectate - we'll catch up then!

    PS - where did you find the finish video?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Absolutely AMAZING!! I waited patiently for Mom's updates and kept tracking you online. I wish I could have been there in person, but I was there in spirit. I got a little choked up watching your finisher video!! Congratulations on finishing your Ironman (and I cannot imagine walking let alone running a marathon ;)!

    ReplyDelete

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...