How many stages are there?

Stages of grief that is.  I recieved word last weekend that my father had died in his home.  So far I have gone through shock, guilt, sadness, ugly cry and now I am not sure what to call the stage I am in and sometimes I regress back to one of the other stages.  In some ways I feel like I am becoming numb to it, but I think I kind of have to since I (along with my siblings) need to figure out what to do with his estate.  There are still so many things that will strike me and make me feel teary.

Dad lived alone in Las Vegas - the only reason he was in Vegas was to get away from cold winters back east.  Of course then he didn't like the extreme heat of the summer here.  He was found becuase the mailman noticed that the mail was piling up. Since moving here almost 2 years ago, he never really seemed to have a social life or even know anyone outside of a passing wave at a neighbor.  Of course I worried about this situation. His older brother actually died in a very similar situation.  Despite being worried this could happen, and despite his refusal to go to a doctor for any reason, I feel guilty that I didn't keep closer tabs on him. 

 I don't know yet what the coroner ruled as the time/day of death.  My younger sister talked to him on August 4.  My older sister's birthday is August 6 and she didn't get a call from him, so our suspiscion is that it happened around the 5th. The sad part is that he must have been dead in his home for almost a week. We were notified on August 11 what had happened.  I had not spoken with him for some time - even if the conversation would have been unremarkable compared to any other, I still wished I could have had it. 

This picture is about 24 years ago, but this is how I always pictured dad in my mind. This is when he seemed to be happy.  Even as he got older this was still the lasting mental picture that I had of him and I guess I will forever have of him.

circa 1988

(from left: Lynnann, me, Dad, Chris, Joseph, my remaining half brother Sean would be born about 3 months later)

John Michael Eagan

10/10/42 - 8/2012

Rest in Peace Dad

Tri for Real - Series Complete!

It usually takes a race to get me out of a blog hiatus and this post is no exception.  Sunday was the final race in the TBF Tri for Real Series.  I was vying for overall 4th place in the 3 race series.  I figured I was pretty solid in 4th.  Mathematically the best I could do was 3rd.  The woman in 3rd has beaten me the previous races so I would need to come in 3 spots ahead of her to move up to 3rd overall.  Honestly if I hadn't been in the top 5 for the series I would have considered not doing this race.  We had been on vacation for a few weeks and of course my minimalist training program was further reduced.

The official results:

4/9 AG, 87/194 overall

Swim: 29:15 (99)

T1+Bike+T2:  1:15:25 (53)

Run:  58:49 (111)

2:43:29

I was lucky enough to be able to carpool with my friend.  Although she likes to leave early, it is nice to not have to do the driving.  On the way she played some inspirational videos.  I don't understand why she gets so nervous when she does so well (she won our age group in the 1st 2 races) but she likes to go to races together so I can be a calming influence   We got to our rack and met up with a few others who were also trying to win the series in their age groups.

Swim:  The past few races I felt like the wetsuit really slowed me down in T1, so although I brought my wetsuit, I had decided I would go without to see the difference in the swim.  The water was plenty warm and we got in and did a little warm up.  My wave is the last to start.  As soon as the wave was off, I felt like I was losing contact with the front runners of the group.  It felt so good to swim without my wetsuit, but I think it did slow me down a bit.  On the last leg, I felt like I was swimming way off to the left, but my garmin had the distance as 0.92 (the course should be 0.93).  When I got out of the water and checked my time all I could think was what a bad swim time it was.  Garmin split: 28:59

T1: The whole reason to go without my wetsuit was to speed my T1 time, which I did.  I cut out about 1 minute on my transition time. However, seeing all the bikes gone from the rack by the time I arrived meant that I was definetly behind.  Garmin split:  2:17

Bike:  The only new equipment I had for this race was an aero helmet.  I was curious if this would even be a noticable difference.  I felt like after my swim I had a lot of ground to make up.  As usual, I passed many more people on the bike than passed me.  I recall only one woman passing me (not in my age group thankfully).  As usual, there was a bit of a tailwind on the way out.  I got to the turnaround in around 35 minutes.  Overall the bike went well, I felt pretty strong.  Garmin split:  1:11:40 (20 mph)

T2:  Uneventful - Garmin split:  1:15

Run:  I can't say that I hate this run course, but I have never liked it either.  It is always hot, even on this day when it wasn't a particularly hot day.  The course is on a combination of fire road and dirt path so you are dealing with uneven surfaces.  I also knew that this is where I get beat.  The woman who places ahead of me every time makes up all the time on the run - I am faster out of the water and off the bike.  Given what I felt was a poor swim, I had no idea if she was ahead or behind me.  She wears a green singlet, so I was on the lookout for her.  There is a short out and back section about 2.5 miles into the course and this is where I saw that she was about 1/2 mile behind me.  From that point on, I was trying my best to keep my pace up to hold her off.  This kept me pushing through the run.  I actually was playing the olympic theme music in my head to keep me motivated.  After the out and back section, the run route kind of zig zags a bit along a wide trail. Where I could, I peaked back to see if I saw that green shirt.  And I didn't.  Until I did.  It was about 3/4 of a mile from the finish and she passed me.  I felt so defeated at that point. I had pushed as much as I could to keep my pace up and didn't  have enough to try to catch her.  If it had been at the chute, I would have done my best to out kick her, but I didn't have a 3/4 mile kick in me.  I slowed to a walk for about 30 seconds before picking it back up for the finish.  Last race she passed me about 1/4 mile sooner, so I guess I did a little better but still - it sucks to get passed so close to the end of the race.  Garmin split:  59:14 (9:30 pace)

I was actually pretty shocked to see that my overall time was 2:43 and change.  This was about 2 minutes faster than the last race which until this race had been my fastest on this course.  Looking back over my splits, the gain I made was in the bike.  Was it the aero helmet? was it trying to make up for a "bad" swim? not sure.  Did my decision to not use a wet suit help or hurt? well, the swim time was bad but T1 was faster.  If you combine the swim and T1, this race wasn't really that far off prior performances.  I do think I could have done a little better with the wet suit, but it would be a minor improvement.  The real area I need to improve on is the run.  My run times have been consistent, but consistently slow compared to the top people in my age group.  I always lose positions on the run.

I did maintain 4th place in the series but I was disappointed that the race organizers didn't even recognize anyone except the overall series champions.  I wasn't expecting much, but I felt like what is the point of doing the whole series if they don't even mention it.  They don't even show the final series standings on the results web page except for the overall champ.  Since my friend will now be the returning champ, I am sure that next year she will be trying to get me to do the series again too.

So you may have realized that there was no race report for the 2nd race.  This race was just prior to our leaving on vacation and I just didn't get to posting a report but here are the official results....

6/9 AG, 86/183 Overall 
27:23 (80)
1:18:29 (88)
59:13 (100)
2:45:05

At this point I don't have any other tri's planned. I have been thinking about doing Women's tri festival but my friend is trying to convince me to do Big Kahuna again.  I am also saying that I am training for a half marathon in October....  

Tri season has begun

Although I had not really planned on doing the Tri for Real race today, I was talked into it by a friend. Last week I ran into her on a run and she convinced me that I should do the race. I think somewhat selfishly on her part because she tells me that having me around calms her down at the races.  I am a stronger swimmer, she edges me out on the bike, but she definitely is the stronger runner. It isn't like it took a lot of arm twisting for me to say I would go, but I was a little concerned that I wasn't really ready.  Particularly for the swim since I have only been to master's swim 3 times in the past 6 months, 1 of which was earlier in the week.  But I figure it would at least give me a starting point for the season and an idea of where my fitness is on the swim and bike.  Tri for Real  is the same course that I raced last June and July so I am pretty familiar with the course and more or less knew what to expect.

As you can see from my neglected blog,  I haven't been really into races and my training has been somewhat sporadic.  I didn't even write a race report from my most recent half (Sunrise Run).  I guess I just felt a little disappointed that I couldn't/didn't break 2 hours (2:02:37, 8/21 AG).

Today's stats:
5/15 AG, 121/216 Overall
2:53:16 official time
swim - 31:39, rank 92
T1+bike+T2 - 1:21:12, rank 116
run - 1:00:25, rank 134

As typical pre-race,  it took me awhile to fall asleep the night before.  I kept trying to turn my brain off and not worry about if I was really ready or not and just not have to many expectations for the race.  Good thing was that my son wanted me to sleep in on Saturday morning, so at least the day before I got plenty of sleep, so a little tossing and turning pre-race shouldn't be too bad.  A nice change of pace was to actually carpool to the race. It was nice to have someone else drive even if it meant leaving a few minutes earlier - it was worth it.  There ended up being 3 of us racing (me, Joann and Dave) and Joann's husband was kind enough to be our driver.

Pre-Race:  I had to go through race day registration,  but as it turned out the line was faster than the pre-registered lines.  We racked our bikes at the third rack from the bike/run transition exit (although this is farther from the swim entry).  Although I had all my gear, I had not practiced setting up my transition area, so it took some time to organize myself.  We got down to the water about 25 minutes before our wave started and just did a little swimming around.  I had new goggles that I tried in the pool but was still a little worried they would leak.

Swim:  The swim courses always look so long.  This was sort of a triangular course with the long side perpendicular to the shore.  Although I haven't  been swimming, I feel pretty comfortable in the water, I just hoped my arms wouldn't turn into noodles before I got out of the water.  I lined up at the front of the wave, even if I am not fast, I didn't want to be behind people and have to swim through a crowd at the start.  The wet suit helps a lot as it keeps me floating on top much easier. The first buoy was pretty easy to sight. It took me almost until I got to the first turn before I settled into a swim rhythm.  After making the turn, there was an orange buoy halfway across the back leg of the swim which was good for sighting.  The problem was that after passing that you had to find a white buoy marking the turn back to shore.  It was very hard to see. You were looking into the sun and with the splashing and waves of other swimmers, I couldn't just peek out and see it. I ended up doing a lot of breast stroke to keep myself on my line (or I hoped I was on a good line).  After finally getting around that buoy, I pushed a little harder to get into the shore.  I intentionally didn't look at my splits from last year.  As I was coming into shore I was thinking that under 30 minutes would be a good time. I was a little disappointed when I got out of the water and saw nearly 31 minutes on my garmin, but nothing I could do about it at that point.  Garmin time: 30:51, official time: 31:39  (I am not sure exactly where they take the split times since the race is not chip timed)

T1: I always have a problem with getting my wetsuit arm over my garmin, so I decided today to take my garmin off, then the sleeve then put it back on.  Probably slower, but it worked.  I was shocked to see Joann's bike still racked next to mine. Although I am the stronger swimmer, I thought my lack of swim training (and her consistent training) would mean she would beat me out of the water.  But after I got out of my wet suit, she had come into transition, so we pretty much exited transition at the same time. Garmin time: 3:37 (no official T1 time)

Bike: As soon as I started to mount my bike, I realized that the chain had dropped.  Since I haven't ridden my TT bike at all, it took me a few extra seconds to figure out which gear shift was the front and get my chain back onto the gear.  By this time Joann had taken off but I was hoping I could catch her or at least stay near her for the ride.  The bike was pretty uneventful.  The course an out and back and mostly rolling with no real big hills.  I was only passed by 2 or 3 people on the bike, but passed many more than that.  I saw Joann after she made the turnaround and I would have guessed she was just 2-3 minutes ahead of me.  At the very end I passed someone in my age group, only to be passed back about a mile later on the home stretch back into transition.  I forgot (as usual) to clip my garmin into the handlebars, so I didn't really see what my speeds were.  I got to the turnaround in about 40 minutes and from the splits, seems that I did about the same on the way back.  Garmin time: 1:17:47, official time (which has T1+T2): 1:21:12.

T2:  I knew that the run would be hot, because this course always is. I quickly changed shoes, grabbed my handheld and visor and I was off.  I realized as I exited that when I took my helmet off, I also left my sunglasses. I wasn't going to go back so it was good I had the visor.  (I messed up my transition split on my garmin, so I only had :35, but it was probably about 45 seconds more than that)

Run: I wanted to finish the 10K in less than an hour.  The run is my weakest discipline and I just wanted to keep myself strong mentally to have a good run.  I know at the beginning, your legs always feel heavy from the bike, so I didn't even look at my time for about the first 3/4 mile.  When I checked I was doing about 6.3 mph (still haven't figured out how to change that to pace in multisport mode).  If I could keep that up, then an hour would be very do-able.  I remember in tris past I would end up walking the little hills and taking walk breaks.  Early on I was determined to keep running for as long as I could.  I know that when I take a walk break, my body keeps trying to convince me to walk more and more.  I am on a virtual team, Team Tough Chik and the motto on our kit says "this is what tough looks like" so I kept repeating this mantra to myself to keep running as best I could.  I didn't walk at all until around the halfway point where I took my last gu.  At that point I had only been passed by 1 woman and unfortunately she was in my age group.  But the good news was I didn't get passed (by my age group) until half way into the run.  I felt I was doing pretty well, although not exceptionally speedy. I was drinking from my handheld and just got water from each aid station that I poured over my head or on the back of my neck to help cool me off.  Just after mile 4, a group of 3 women passed me and again, no one in my age group.  Another half mile I was passed again, but again it was not my age group.  I was able to run the whole way until the 5 mile point when I approached the last aid station and walked just a little.  As I got started again, I saw a woman slightly ahead and I could see her age started with a "4" but couldn't tell if the other number was a "0" or a "6".  I was able to catch up and breathe a sigh of relief that she was 46.  I didn't want to have to sprint it out at the line and we were about a 1/2 mile from the finish line.  At the finish Joann and Dave were waiting and cheering for me.  I was glad to be done and happy to see my overall time was not so bad.  Garmin time: 1:00:31, official time: 1:00:25.  Overall time - garmin-2:53:21, official - 2:53:16.

At the end, I was curious how I would place.  My time was about 5 minutes slower than times from last year that got me 6th place, so I hoped to still be towards the top.  I was surprised to manage the last spot on the podium (5th).  Joann won our AG, so we both went home with a little trophy.  Overall I am pretty happy with how I did considering I haven't really done and tri training.  Really the area I lost the most time on for this race was the swim.  If I can get to masters practice just once a week, I think I can bring that time down pretty easily for the next race.  There is a series for "Tri for Real" and I wasn't sure I wanted to race them all, but since I already have a podium, there is more incentive to race another one, plus Joann will surely be pestering me to race the next one, so I guess that my next tri will be July 8.....

Shamrock'n Half Marathon Race report

I guess it took a race report to get me out of my blog drought.  Just been busy and I guess a bit un-inpsired blog-wise, but hopefully I can start getting back to more regular updates.

This was the second year that I have run Shamrock'n.  It is a really well organized race and a good start/end venue.  Again, Brooks and Fleet Feet had a "VIP" area, which was great once I figured out where it was. Coming into this race, my goal was to run 1:58 like I did last year.  I would have loved to beat that time, but given the circumstances (more on that in a second), I knew 1:58 was going to be a good goal to shoot for.

Yesterday, I spend the afternoon at a bachelorette party for a friend I haven't seen in quite some time.  Although I had this race planned way before the bachelorette party came up, I didn't want to skip the bachelorette party.  We rented a limo and headed to Sonoma wine country.  My original plan was to not partake at all the wineries, but I was having fun and it was great to have some "girl time".  I drank lots of water, but I since I don't drink much or often my body was probably a bit confused.  It wasn't a late night - most wineries close by 5 and we had to drive back to the city and then I had to drive back from there.  I was home by 8,  but still made the mistake of staying up later than I should have, not including the hour lost to daylight savings.

I woke early and had to drag myself out of bed.  I had everything prepared, so I just had to get dressed and eat.  I was out of the house by 6.  Like last year, they race organizers suggested carpooling due to congestion, but again, I arrived and it was not bad at all.   I was concerned that packet pick up on race day would be mobbed, so a friend had picked mine up on Saturday and was going to meet me with it.  Problem was, I got there before she did.  I should have just done race day pick up.  Next time I will know.

I was starting in the first wave which went off at 7:45.  Even though I had gone to the bathroom already, I waited in line for the portapotty before the start - but with less than 10 minutes before the gun, I knew I wouldn't make it through the line, so I just headed the start anyway.  I didn't really have to go, so I hoped that I would be OK or at least make it to the first set of porta-pots on the course.  I also realized as I lined up in the coral that I forgot to put my 3rd gel in my pocket before the race.  Damn, I only had 2 gels and figured that would not be enough for the length of the race. I was hoping to get one on the course if needed.

I started out at a good pace, not too fast - which is usually what happens to me. After the usual start/stop to cross the chip timers at the start line, the crowd thinned reasonably well and there was no real jockeying around other runners.   I had my garmin, but also have been using the runkeeper app on my phone and using my phone to also play music.  Runkeeper gives me the distance covered and average pace every 5 minutes, so I could keep an eye on my average pace.  I realized after a few miles that Runkeeper is not as accurate as the garmin and was registering more distance meaning the pace it was giving me was faster than my actual pace. I figured it would at least give me a relative idea if my pace was staying the same, faster or slower.   For some reason it never occurred to me to hit the lap timer on the garmin to get mile splits.

I  was trying to not make the "mistakes" that I normally make - going out too fast then letting the wheels fall off at mile 10 or 11.  I managed to keep the pace pretty steady more or less.  According to runkeeper mile 4 was my fastest.  My pace crept up a little from mile 4 until 9 when I started to focus on bringing it back down.  Since I only had 2 gels, I planed to take one at 40 minutes, one at 1:20.  When I hit 40 minutes I was about to hit a downhill, so I waited until I took advantage of the downslope before walking briefly to have my gel.  I took the 2nd gel a little earlier than planned at about 1:15 - I was feeling that I needed some energy. I was still holding out hope for a gel on the course to get me through the end of the race.  I know that those last few miles are the hardest ones for me to keep the pace up and the extra energy of the gel, I hoped, would get me through.

The course overall is pretty flat and while not a bad course it is kind of plain.  around mile 9 you pass through Old Sacramento then head south (at least I think it is south) of the stadium but on the opposite side of the river.  I hate this part because it is like you see that you are almost back to the finish, but before that you need to do this loop across the river.  This was the part where I had to try and focus on keeping the pace up. I always play mind games with myself figuring out "if I do 10 minute miles from here I would finish at ____"  I know that I can do a 10 minute mile, so this makes me feel like I can do it.

Mile 11 was the test - I wanted to keep my pace up through mile 11. Once you hit 12 it is like you are almost there, so 11 was the key to getting under 2 hours.  I was also a little worried because I never did get another gel on the course. I just knew I had to push those last miles regardless.  I was successful in keeping pace for mile 11, and then mile 12 was my 2nd fastest of the race.  It was hard, but I kept pushing myself for those last 3 miles. If I had let myself slip, I would for sure not have finished under 2 hours.  Seeing my race report from last year reminds me that it is the last 5k of the half that is where I need to keep mentally in the race and push myself.  Actually come to think of it, today I had very few negative thoughts - I tend to start getting down on myself thinking maybe I can't get my goal and start to talk myself into a secondary goal "well, I won't make sub 2, but a 2:03 would be OK...." I never had those thoughts today.  Today I kept my mind on the sub 2 goal.

Official Results
1:59:41
88/641 Age group
1300 overall

Post race I headed back to the Brooks VIP area and enjoyed a little food and a very nice post race massage. Only 1 other time have I gotten a post race massage as usually they are super crowded and I don't want to wait.  But since this was just for the VIP area, it went quickly.  I caught up with the others who had run.  Everyone had a pretty good race.  The weather was actually perfect for running - 50's and overcast.  Unfortunately it was not so perfect for hanging out, so I headed home.  After a stop at Starbucks, a hot shower and a nap I felt much better.  Although my legs are sore and I can definitely feel it going up and down the stairs.

I have been looking at my training from last year compared to this year and generally my speedwork has been the same or even slightly faster, so I knew that in general, I was ready for a sub 2 hour half.  Given the day in Sonoma on Saturday and a slight sore throat I have been struggling with, I am pleased with how I did. The fact that I kept the negative thoughts at bay was also a good thing for me.  Only 1 minute slower than last year.  I am planning on another half in May. I will need to think about my training plan and what I can do. I would love to get a PR or near my PR (1:53) but cutting 6 minutes off my time seems to be a lofty goal, but we will just have to see.....

The chaos is over....

Anyone that has small kids knows how chaotic a birthday party is.  Luckily, I was able to convince the kids to combine the chaos into a single birthday party (their birthdays are only 1 week apart).  My oldest son is turning 6 and my youngest 4.  The party was at the local gymnastics center, so the kids could run and jump and play.  It keeps the kids entertained and you don't have to clean up afterwards.

And it was like deja vu -  I ended up having to re-do my cake.  A few years ago I took a cake decorating class at Michael's so that I could make the kids their birthday cakes.  This year it was all about Star Wars, so a Death Star cake was requested.  I don't know what happened to the cake - it was too crumbly and was not structurally sound.  I tried to "glue" it together with frosting, but it just wasn't working.  So I had to abandon it and start another cake...

Not working....

The second cake still wasn't perfect, but I was able to get it to stay together.  The kids still loved it, so I guess that I shouldn't be so critical.

Death Star - rebuilt

My older son had requested no cake and just a bowl of frosting.  I had a few ideas to try to make an R2D2.  This is what I ended up making out of frosting:

These are not the droids you are looking for...

I think in the end we had about 25 kids ranging from 2-10 yrs old and about the same number of adults.  Zach wanted to invite his whole kindergarden class (although they didn't all come) and Jake only requested inviting 2 of his friends.  I wondered how Zach would act since he had a few of his girl friends there. I figured that he would just end up ignoring them all, but he actually played with them a bit. 

Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures at the party - I know, I feel like a bad mom, but I ended up trying to be a host and talk to all the parents at the party.  I have a few I took on my phone, but that is about it.  I did take a lot of pictures of them opening presents at home afterwards. 

Tomorrow is his "real" birthday, so the celebration will continue.  Taking mini muffins to school and then a little family dinner.  Followed the next week by the same for Jake.  

Three Things.. Friday

It has been a busy few weeks, unfortunately it was busy at work and not at play.....

1.  Speed work outs really do work! I mean, I know this, but it is always encouraging to see progress.  Last night I wasn't feeling very into the workout, but when I looked at my splits compared to a month ago, they were a few seconds faster.

2.  I admit that I did not have my eyes glued to the TV during half time, but I had no idea a) who MIA was or b) that anyone made an "obscene" gesture.  I can't believe that things like that get made into such a big deal.  Did you see it when it aired?  I mean, someone had to be watching that closely, but it wasn't me....

3. This weekend is the big birthday celebration for my boys.  I convinced them to have a combined birthday party so that makes things easier (their birthdays are only 1 week apart).  So I will be busy making a special cake for them tomorrow after my long run.

Best and Worst Races

I probably should have mentioned it before, but I have joined Team Tough Chik.  If you haven't heard of Tough Chik - they are a performance clothing company making cycling/running/active wear for women.  The team has over 160 members - of all abilities, all sorts of sports.  While most of us are "virtual friends",  I hope to meet at least a few local Tough Chiks IRL.

As a way to get to know each other and to keep our blogs full of interesting stuff, a question of the week was posted.  This weeks question is "What was your best/worst race experience?"

This actually is a harder question than you might think.  I have a lot of races that I am proud of for many different reasons.  First races are always special accomplishments.  Then there are races that you get a PR.  I took a long time off from doing any racing, so my first race "back" was a big goal.  On the flip side, I can't really think of many races that were bad - maybe I am lucky that I never ended up at a race that ended up being a total cluster.  So what stands out?

Worst Race:  I guess this has to be my first mountain bike race in sport class.  It was about 15 years ago, and my husband and I had just started racing.  We probably had done a hand full of races at this point.  We also were on a local bike shop team and most of the others were in sport class.   We actually had not intended to enter sport class, but we were late for the race and I can't remember if we actually missed the start or what.  If I remember correctly, the beginner class was 1 lap and sport was 2 laps.  I think each lap was maybe 6 or 8 miles, which may not sound long but in mountain biking terms it was a pretty good distance.  I just remember that we were completely not ready to jump up to the next class.  I remember being half way through the last lap and being totally bonked.  I had never bonked before, but when it happens you know it.  I felt like picking up empty gu packets from the ground because I needed something (I didn't actually do that).  The worst part was being half way and knowing that even if I turned back I still had just as far to go.  I finished the race, but it was pretty brutal.

Best Race:  Like I said, there are so many good races I can remember, I have to say that my best race was my first half iron man.   I usually need a race to train for to motivate me to train consistently, but I don't often plan so far ahead.  I picked this race many months in advance and while I wasn't always consistent in my training, I still had the race in the back of my mind for a long time.   Maybe having spent so much time thinking about it sort of built it up in my mind. The race was hard - I have never felt such a relief to cross a finish line.  But it also was one of those races where I left with such a feeling of accomplishment. I had met (almost) all of my goals, and even though I didn't quite hit my run goal, overall I had a better time than my goal.  I also had my family there - which I know for them isn't necessarily the most exciting thing (really a 6+ hour race where I pass by a few times isn't much to spectate).  And although I didn't know it until after, another friend drove over 2 hours to see me finish knowing that this was a big goal for me (unfortunately I even missed seeing her at the finish at all, but she still made a huge effort to be there).  I appreciate them giving up some of their time (although my husband will probably say he didn't have a choice) and being there to support me.