Thanksgiving

I have been given a gift. It happened in Florida and apparently hasn't left me yet. I am fast.

I have not ever thought of myself as fast and now running is like something out of a movie scene when the superhero finds out they have powers. It is incredible and I can't explain it. To give you an idea, there is a loop I run that is around 5.5 miles and previously would take me about 50-55 minutes. I ran it the other day in 40 minutes. It's crazy.

I am thinking I need to make the most of of this gift while I have it and achieve what would be for me a miracle in running - qualifying for the Boston Marathon. To do that, in my age group at the Houston Marathon in January, I would have to run a 3:10 marathon time. That is running 26.2 miles at 7.15 minutes each. I need to trade 10 hours of endurance for 1 hour of speed, and knock 50 minutes off of my fastest marathon time ever, run just 3 weeks ago. It is not quite water to wine, but in the running world probably close.

I also have a bit of a knee thing. It is like this gift came with its own kryptonite. It doesn't hurt but feels like it should, or is going to later. It's a warning that I can't tell if the speed inside me is telling me to stop running on it or to speed up and minimize the pounding.

Pray for my health and speed, and I will show you a miracle.

Picture Day

Jeff finished his first Ironman in Florida!

His time was exactly 2 minutes behind my first Ironman finish!

Congrats to The Bear for staying "Hood Strong."

Bonkers

Here's my attempt to give you an idea of what kind of day I had in Florida - I have finished 5 HALF Ironman races in my life. My fastest time ever was last year in Kansas - 5 hours, 57 minutes and 9 seconds. If you double my fastest HALF Ironman ever, I still beat that time in my 2nd FULL Ironman!

And never mind that I had just swam 2.4 miles, biked 112 miles, all I did was go out and run the fastest marathon time of my life!

Quick Recovery

Saturday

Tuesday

Ironman Florida Finish

Marathon Midpoint

Hollywood

Samaritan's Purse sent a film crew down to cover the race at Ironman Florida. It was awesome. Thanks Arthur, Ryan, and Rodney for all the fun, putting a camera in my face and adding to what is already an exciting event. It made me want to go really fast!

Ironman Florida

I finished Ironman Florida - 11:51:53!

I finished with the fastest marathon time I have ever had in my life!

Ivan Drago said it best, "He's not a man, he is like a piece of iron."

Cheering Section

Bike completed

Bike to Run

Ironman Florida

Transition bike to run. Blew some kisses to his fans and spirited off into the final phase. Go Preston.

The Wait is Over

The Creators

So Good

Chillaxing

The Bot in shut down mode, The Bear hibernating, only thing left to do is wake up for the toughest day of your life.

Been Here Before

Focus

Early

Be encouraged!

Your fans are gathering once again to cheer you on!

Calm Before

It is quiet, too quiet.

Check In

Check in line.

Good Luck

Hope this doesn't happen to you on Saturday! -Katherine

A Pretty Nice Little Saturday

Strength Gain

Whatever special Chinese jet fuel I tried to sneak into my system, it didn't work. I spent yesterday getting back to neutral and am gaining strength back quickly. I have never had anything like that happen before, basically having eaten a bomb. Definitely not something I would wish for on race week, but if it is going to happen Sunday - 5 days til race day - was the best day for it.

I signed up for this race expecting some barfing, just probably not pre-race barfing.

Barfy

One thing you don't want less than a week away from race day is to be barfing a lot. I am barfing a lot. I am fairly certain it was something I ate, Hell hot spicy Chinese take out is at the top of my suspect list. The good news is I feel a ton better without all that in my stomach, I just hope that is it.

Not too many Sunday's you can be barfing a bunch and think 'I feel terrible' knowing that the next Sunday you are going to feel much much worse.