IronWOMAN!
Huge shout out to my friend, Lesley Mettler, who ran in today's Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii. For those of you not familiar with what the Ironman is, let me explain.
You swim 2.4 miles in the ocean, then you bike 112 miles up and down some very steep hills, and as if you had not had enough, you run a FULL marathon (26.2 miles). Fun, huh? And remember there was an earthquake in Kona less than a week ago. PLUS.... they had some record heat and humidity to contend with today. So figure in the race and then the chaos of the earthquake and weather to boot.... no problem, right?
BACKGROUND: Lesley had to qualify to be insane enough for this event by doing the Ironman in Canada in August, 2006, and finishing in the top 4 in her age group (very competitive). It was her first Ironman in August and it is pretty much unheard of to qualify got the Championships on a first try. WOW. Some people get in to Kona by luck of the lottery, but for those for qualified - right on!
Anyway, Lesley was supposed to compete in August, 2005 and had a horrific bike incident on her last training run for the race. She broke her collarbone, and was obviously bummed out (understatement) about all of the training she had done. Lesley was such a class act that she still went and cheered on her training partner, Mathias (a colleague of mine ironically), in the race they were supposed to do together. She also graciously ate our homemade lasagna (she couldn't cook or do much with the immobilized arm/shoulder) and told us it was good - disclaimer: she was doped up on painkillers! Hehe.
Lesley was due for some good luck and she did the race of her life this past August to qualify. We have been watching the race online throughout the day to keep tabs and with less than 6 miles left in the run (11+ hours later), she is still chugging along.
We just watched her cross the finish line on the official website. How cool is technology?!?!
Lesley - you [bleeping] rock! We will celebrate when you get back to Seattle. Marc and I are very proud of you and just so you know I was with you in spirit, I ran 6.2 miles around Green Lake today. Really, I felt your pain. :-)