Throwback Thursday - Chasing the 140.6

Been thinking about this year and whats coming up and it made me think back to my first year in triathlon. I waited almost 2 years before I could race, I needed a bike and didnt have the money for one. So December 2007 I got it and that same month I was at my first sprint. Before I started I knew what I wanted to race, it was the 140.6 I was after. Well 10 months and 3 ( one each distance ) races I had to get into the only one I could. It was the 2008 Great Floridian in Clearmont FL. I had to pick this because we was already starting workups for deployment and I knew that 2009 was gonna be shot and I would not be around much. I got into the military division figured why not and it was a little cheaper. I thought I knew what to expect and in all I was pretty close ! No expectations that was my day, only to finish what I waited almost 3 years for but really only been traing for 4 months ( Didnt start till after May at HIM FL). Anyway it was such a great day, met this guy from GA on the run and we talked most of it till mile 15, then he stopped to see his wife and I never seen him again. That day I went through every emotion I have at least 5x, happy, sad, depressed and overwhelmed at times. I relived my entire life starting back as far as I cold remember. This good and bad I have done over a lifetime and when I seen the 20 mile marker on the run I almost fell apart. Not from anything but purly knowing I was gonna finish and at that moment I was chasing the setting sun. My goal changed to finish before sunset, didnt make it but I was damn close. In the end I finished 1st in the division, forget overall I could look it up in scrapbook but that dont matter. What did I learn ? That the 140.6 distance is by far my favorite and really do not wanna race anything else. From that night on, through pre-drployment and 2 years in the desert I could not wait to get at it again. Now well nothing has changed, only that now I have a great wife who enjoys them and I believe is her favorite race too. Never would I have expected all this in 2008 but I love my life and enjoy every day chasing the 140.6 dream again.