It’s OFFICIAL! I got the official link to sign up for the Ironman World Championships in Kona in October!
Phew! I’ve been more nervous about this email than the race itself! Will it come to the right email address? I have a dozen, you know? Will it end up in my spam box? Will I miss the deadline? I have been checking the promotions and spam inbox of three different email accounts almost daily and FINALLY! It arrived with an aloha and a registration deadline of August 20. Have I signed up yet? No! In fact, I’m going to wait a bit so that I can savor the moment. If I ruminate on it, I can savor the joy of having made it this far and two, I can make a big deal about the commitment. Like signing day for athletes.
Plus, technically, I have to do one more Ironman race of any distance (Chatty 70.3) and then I’ll be set. That race is May 21 and I thought of waiting until after that race to sign up. That would be May 22 and that would have been mom’s 75th birthday. That might be special.
The email couldn’t have come at a better time. It was literally on the heels of my first race anxiety dream. The dream was like most dreams: nonsensical and non-linear. I think Kona was moved to Coeur d’Alene and was predicted to be as hot as the one I did in 2021. For some reason, they also moved the start time to 11:00AM - despite being CDA hot.
Jen and Sami were there to race, too - which was a fun surprise. But, we were all irritated about the changes. We all had to sit out in the transition area (a large park) at picnic tables while everyone took showers at the two available stalls in the public restroom. We couldn’t understand why everyone was going to take a shower before we jumped in the lake or biked or ran. So, we snuck out of the transition and decided to start ahead of everyone else.
We didn’t get in trouble, but the feeling of getting in trouble was anxiety and thrill producing. And as soon as we jumped in to swim….the dream dissolved away. Thank goodness. I hope this is the one and only race dream of the year.
Here is the song I’ve been singing all week. Here is the playlist to my Coeur d’Alne race.
