I was awesome.

Torrential downpour the entire day almost broke my spirit by the end of the bike. But I collected myself in T2, changed into dry clothes, thought about everyone cheering me on, and just couldn't utter the words "I'm done, I can't continue". So I put on my running shoes and headed back out into the rain for my marathon and that Ironman finish line.

It took my second Ironman to hear the words, but this time I heard them. "Amanda McGregor, you are an Ironman!".

That makes two for two. It was a completely different experience the second time. Different thoughts going through my head and I had to dig deeper to motivate myself to keep going, but I did and I finished and I had many moments out there that I truly enjoyed.

Thanks Gordon, Kate and Andy. I know it was a long, rainy day for you too, but seeing you out on the course kept my spirits high and drove me on to that finish line. Thank you.

Running and spinning and lights, oh my!

Last night I picked Gordon up from work (we're a one car family this week) and drove to Town Lake for an easy 45 minute jog. Our plan was to run part of the trail as well as do the trail of lights. As we got close to the entrance of the trail of lights, I had this funny feeling that either you had to pay or it didn't open until later. Gordon and I were looking at each other and saying "didn't something like this happen last year?". Turns out it doesn't open until 7pm (it was 6:30pm by the time we got there), which is exactly what had happened last year, and neither of us managed to remember :)

So instead we kept jogging on the trail and got to catch a glimpse of the lights, then we decided to sneak in near the end of the trail of lights and jog under the light and disco ball display. Then we jogged over to the Zilker Christmas Tree and did the requisite spin around under the tree until you get so dizzy that you nearly fall down... fun stuff! We were feeling bold by this point, so we decided to sneak back onto the trail of lights and run the whole thing, backwards. No one told us to get off, in fact we didn't really attract much attention from the volunteers who were setting up, other than the occasional "keep running!" from some bratty 15 year old kid. It was fun!

After that we went to Whole Foods for some dinner, quick bit of shopping, then went home where I almost fell asleep on the couch again (and I hadn't even been drinking!).

I love rest week!