3 days and 17 hours to go...

Its coming, ready or not I suppose and I am still wondering if this is all real. These past few days loads of people have talked to Jeff and asked him if he is ready for the Ironman race on Saturday and his answer has generally been ready or not its here. Hearing him tell people about the race and as we discuss time, distance, transition, fueling, pace and a whole lot of other worries it all seems surreal. I don't really believe this is happening to us. We have been planning this and working towards it for over a year now and its here. He has trained so hard and we are so blessed that the race is in St. George and he is able to train on the course for almost every workout. Most doing this race just don't have that opportunity and we are hoping it has been to our advantage. As we discuss times and when to fuel I can see him think exactly where he pictures himself on the course at that time. Both of us have been obsessed with reading material and different pro ironman blogs about this distance to the point we might both be going insane with overload of information. We know each sport will be difficult and there will be moments when you body will say to your mind that its time to quit. But what I have been pondering lately is that this is more a mental race, it is physical and the time and training must be put in diligently, but when race day comes you don't know what will be thrown at you. A flat tire, no water, rain, too hot, wind anything can happen that day but what will drive you forward will be your mind. As a kid your always told you can do anything you put your mind to and mentally you have to be prepared for anything. Your body is an amazing thing created by our Heavenly Father and I personally think we don't even have the tiniest idea of what we are capable of. The training that Jeff has done is proof of that. Not only is our body amazing, but it doesn't compare with what our mind is able to do. Is he ready? I know he is, it will be the toughest day of his life mentally and physically but he will be our hero that day. His boys worship him and right now they have no idea what he is going to accomplish and hopefully that will inspire them and teach them that they can do hard things and overcome obstacles that seem impossible. So in 3 days 17 hours 4 minutes and 28 seconds we will have our own hero, our own ironman!