After IMC, Deb and I were having that inevitable "now what?" feeling. Most of the prior 12 months had been focused on Ironman, pretty much to the exclusion of everything else. I made the observation that I, for the rest of my life, was likely to look back on the year fondly as my "Epic Year". Not sure where I came up with that naming, but it seemed to fit.
In any case, reflecting back, it's been an amazing year in totality, and a reflection of what a lucky guy I am to be able to do the things I do:
Trips to Europe: 2 (one business, one personal)
Tour de France Stages: 2
Rides along Spain's Costa Brava: 1
Trips to Vegas: 2 (one mostly business, one mostly personal)
Gambling results: Uh, nevermind
Trips to Hawaii: 1
Hot.
Ironmans Watched: 2
Volunteer: IMCDA Run Aid Station #4!
Ironmans Raced: 2
Training Totals:
Hours: 638
Bike: 5363 miles (roughly Seattle to NY and back)
Run: 957 miles (almost Seattle to Los Angeles)
Swim: 352,743 yards (200 miles...a little farther than Seattle to Portland!)
Bikes accumulated: 3 (the first step is admitting you have a problem)
But it really was the theme across the year that tied it together and made it special. And I had no idea about what would really make it stand out for me, and only indirectly had anything to do with racing. The list above is surprising even to me taken together, but it doesn't tell the story about what really was great about it, which was the experiences and opportunities it presented. I've made some great, great new friends over the past year. This sport attracts many people with common values, interests, and motivations. They are people who don't see the world in terms of limitations or things that they can't do but in terms of challenges and going out to discover what they can do. They're not concerned with emulating what they see on TV, but with finding ways to become heroes for themselves and for those around them. I feel very lucky to have basically stumbled across something that would lead to people like that. It's given me an opportunity to spend a bit more time with my family in a completely new and different context. I got to experience all of this with someone who's been great to share it with and I've gotten to opportunity to witness the emergence of an athlete within her that she didn't even know existed. It's been very cool.
In many ways this past year has led me to focus and simplify my life in a variety of ways, and I like that. I've said before that I don't miss many of the things that I had to give up to go on this crazy mission. A year ago I thought I'd do one or two Ironmans and be done with it, but right now that's clearly not how it's shaking out. I know that priorities change as time goes on, so obviously at some point things will change. But, geez, I just happened to be able to do this at a time when it I had to make very few (comparatively) sacrifices to do so. I worked my ass off and got farther than I honestly thought I could, and I'm already thinking ahead on it. It's been pretty Epic.