Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Finding Your Gut

There's something that I think everyone training for an Ironman distance race should have. That one day on that one ride when you feel like the road and the route and the hills and the heat have torn you to pieces and left you twitching on the side of the road. I've had a couple that come close, but I'm hoping for one more this weekend. But there so very necessary. Because you come out on the other end with an inflated bank and a new sense of ability.

Meet Erin. I love Erin. I can't for the life of me figure out how I just found her blog. Check out her post about the Dairyland Dare, a 120+ mile, 10,000+ feet climb, BEAR of an organized ride out in Wisconsin.

This thing put ELF through the ringer and she's two Clif Bars short of being a pro. She earned her spot in Kona this year and the Dairyland Dare tried to break her.

(Oh, and by the way, ELF went 100 miles -- including the last two around the parking lot for good measure. Erin? The whole 120. And then she ran, cause she rolls like that. AND THEN, the very next day, she raced an Oly. Mah-Sheen.)

So, leave Erin a little comment love and remind her that when you leave everything you have out there on the road, it remembers who's boss when you return.

4 comments:

Spandex King said...

When you live in Wisconsin you always know where your gut is. Bring on the cheese curds!!

Erin said...

Awwwww. You made me cry (I honestly don't cry this often usually...something about this whole ironman thing)-- but in a really good way. Thanks for starting my morning off right. Appreciate it!

RunBubbaRun said...

I was out there at the DairyLand Dare as well, it was a really, really tough ride.

I did not want to run after that.. Erin is one tough girl...

It was really about just finishing the thing..

ShesAlwaysWrite said...

Holy. Crap.
Erin seems amazing and I can't wait to meet her in Madison - thanks for pointing out her blog.

But I kind of wish I'd never heard about that race... cause I live close enough to that I should really consider doing it. Someday. Maybe. Holy crap that sounds hard.