Mary Eggers

I don’t believe Ironman Lake Placid to be a hilly course. Before you slap me understand that where I live, it’s hilly. Ironman Lake Placid doesn’t have any stand and grind hills. Every hill on that course is a slow rise. Around here we have some good steep and die types of grades.

So when I tell you that this 10K (10 ISH) I am running on Saturday is hilly….. you’d better believe it.

A friend of mine asked me this the other day “Aren’t you afraid of having a slower 10K published where other people can see it?” I could feel his anxiety.

“Buddy…” I told him, “I am a triathlete. On July 20th no one will give a rat’s ass what my 10K time was in January!”

So no, I am not afraid to have anything published. I have had slow times, I have had fast times. All published. And guess what? Here I stand! Alive and well. I just don’t worry about the small stuff anymore. The only one who will really care is me, and that’s all that matters.

Whatever kind of performance this Saturday’s 10-ish K brings me, I am looking for a few things. Hills….. got that. Some intensity….. until this week it’s all been E Paced. Fun…. that will naturally happen, many from my team are running. Something a lot out of my comfort zone….. I don’t love road racing in the winter because I hate wearing tights…. so this will give me an opportunity to turn resistance into strength.

I am also looking to HTFU. Trust me on this course, that’ll happen.

To push past plateaus, to make breakthroughs, you have to step outside or in my case run outside of your comfort zone. What will happen? I don’t know. I am putting my head down and running to the best of my current ability, I will look for the edge and I will see what I can do with it.

Because it is all part of the plan. One thing will roll into the next. The next part is built on this part, and that part is built on the next part. It will all lead up to one day…. July 20th.

As I am heading down the chute of my fifth Ironman I want to be able to answer one question. Did I do everything I could possibly do to achieve this goal?

I can assure you this…. the answer will be yes.