Mary Eggers

Quakerman 2008 Kid’s Race. Luc is the second in from the left of the girl in the red shirt. I am the one in the water. Obviously!

First order of today’s business: Kerri W was hit by a car in Colorado yesterday, Kerri you are in my prayers and I am wishing you a speedy recovery!

Hip Hip Hooray! Or as they say in Texas….. Yeee-Haw!!!!

Slowly but surely the head is getting better. During some intervals this week each time I hit a certain power level my head began to hurt. Nonetheless I have gotten in some good solid training. I should be cleared to road ride on Sunday, however I may not be cleared to race at the Summer Sizzler.

Which bumms me out because I looked and looked and the next race is the Finger Lakes Triathlon at the end of September (That I can get to) Silver lining: I will jump into some 5K’s and enjoy training with some speed….. hopefully beginning next week!

Let’s not tell the doctor I have been out on the mountain bike. On a flat crushed stone trail (come on!!!) That can remain our little secret. Okay? Good.

Every day Texas is getting better and better. Kevin, also known as the Wev has found us a house near the good stuff in Austin, and far enough from the bars…, although you’d better believe that on Sunday night post race I will be on a mechanical bull. With a seat belt. And a Helmet. And bubble wrap wrapped around me!

And we’ve potentially got another cowboy on board. Ken from the Stud lane is looking for a fall 1/2 Ironman to do and needs just a little more convincing….. come on…. come to Texas with 2 people you know and 3 people you don’t! Hey fly with us, at least you are not flying with me before I overcame my fear of flying…… back then you’d have nail marks up and down your arm (just ask Curt).

There are a few things you might want to know when traveling with Cow Girl Mary. Just a few.

1. I often wear the same clothes for days in a row. Just ask Ashely and Marit how many days I wore my red board shorts in Florida. With luggage fees these days you can guarantee this!

2. I can live with or without the Internet. Believe it or not.

3. I can assemble my bike and yours. No problem.

4. I get up early. But I won’t make you get up. You may find me on the front steps or balcony waiting for the day to unveil. What can I say every day is like Christmas when traveling!

5. I tend not to brush my hair on vacation. Yes, I only consider it a vacation when I am racing.

6. I can go with or without the shower. Don’t care. You might.

7. I am in charge of coffee. Period.

8. I don’t care where we eat out but please take me somewhere specific to the area. I don’t’ want to go to Applebees…… when in Florida I go to Dirty Dicks…. when in Texas I want to eat whatever Cow Boys eat and wherever they eat it.

9. I can sleep anywhere. Couch, middle of the road, in your bed. I don’t’ snore and I don’t care if you do. You can set off a nuclear bomb next to me or lay your feet on me and I won’t wake up. Call that a special talent of being a nurse.

10. The afternoon before a race I east spaghetti and meatballs. Every time.

The only 2 real requirements that I have aside from racing my heart out is that I need 2 bona fide cowboy hats. One for me and one for Kari M. And of course the mechanical bull.

So just when Western New York is hunkering down and gearing up for fall….. just when the leaves are continuing to turn the beautiful colors that they turn….. just when the triathlon season comes to a close…..

This Clan has out salt licks ready and we’ve got lots of excitement. This Cow Clan is taking on Texas and we will be ready. Turn up the furnace or really treat us and turn up the Texas chill. No matter what it brings to us we’ve got one thing that’s damn unbeatable…..

We’ve got each other and we’ve got mojo. With that combination….LOOK OUT AUSTIN! And wait till you see the cool house we rented!!! Near coffee, Austin and most importantly Lance’s Bike Shop!

Ashley and I the morning of Gulf Coast 2008. Photographer…. Marit!

We all know those people who are incessantly negative. They drag you down. In my world if I ave nothing positive to say then I will remain silent. Most of the time .

Hamburg, Germany ITU Professional Race… World’s 2007

My friend Karen Wilson is a talented physician at The University of Rochester, and she’s also an avid triathlete. She sent me the link to this really interesting article from the NY times:

Recent Triathlon Deaths Have Experts Searching for Answers

The most interesting point she made was this:

I don’t think they autopsy the brain routinely, and sudden head trauma may not show up that quickly anyway. It doesn’t even appear that CHI is a consideration

Now does this mean that everyone who dies in a triathlon has been hit in the head? No. But say I was killed at Ironman Lake Placid. The most likely place a medical examiner would have looked to would have been my heart.

I could have very simply been knocked out, and with 2000+ people swimming over me, well you know the rest.

Plus think about this…… feel the back of your head…. that big lump right in the back. Now move your hand down your neck to where you feel that second bump, that vertebrae at the top of your back. That’s unprotected area.

We’ve heard of the lacrosse player around here who was hit right there with a ball and died. And the softball player who took a hit there and died. It’s a rarity, and it takes the perfect hit, but get wailed there and you are done.

So there letter has been written and has been sent to various people. When a swimmer complains about a swim people tend to listen. Listening is all I want. Will there be change? I don’t know. But as you take a look at the profiles of the people who have unfortunately died in a triathlon, they are not people who should have problems with their heart. As Karen pointed out, a head injury isn’t going to manifest quickly enough for an autopsy.

Are we overlooking something? Are we overlooking the head?

While my accident is certainly a combination of being in the right place at the right time for three separate blows to the head (if I could only be in the right place and the right time for the lotto), it doesn’t discount that another cause of death could be completely overlooked.

Before we begin….. CNF= Could Not Finish…. which Missy so graciously pointed out! And…. stay tuned…. Dawn from Splish is designing a cool Texan suit for me, as soon as I have the design I will let you know! I told her any color, anything…. just make it Texas…. with Eggers on the butt of course! How else will I meet my creepy Internet friends????

Yoga has been my mainstay for a few years now, and if you don’t think yoga involves great strength…. come on over to Breathe and we’ll just see about that. In addition to yoga one of the best purchases I made was the Vasa Trainer. In college I spend many many hours on this awesome piece of equipment and there is so much more that you can do than just work your swimming form. You can do just about anything on this machine, which enables me to use cords and my own body weight to build strength.

So if strength training is something that is important to you, take the time to figure out which mode fits you and what you are looking for. Keep it, fun and keep it simple!

Here is the IMLP swim, actually this section looks pretty tame compare to where I was, there are spaces in the water between people and people have their heads up!

A few side notes before we begin today’s DNF therapy session:

Yesterday I got this amazing card from an amazing young lady:

I started to cry. I was so immensely touched. That Kari would take the time to write to me was such a statement about who she was, and who she is being raised to be.

I began to think about what’s next. If I am to be a role model of some sort, what am I to do next? When my son and Kari see me get knocked down how can I teach them that in life we get knocked around? Sometimes we don’t wear a swim helmet and sometimes we get hurt.

At that moment, when we are laying on the ground on our backs and looking up at the sky we have 2 choices. Stay down or get up.

So I have asked myself a series of questions. I decided my first instinct would be the right choice:

Do I need a break?

NO.

Do I want a break?

NO.

Do I need a break from the Ironman.

YES.

Do I want to go into an early off-season and rebuild for 2009?

No, I am just not done yet.

What looks good to me?

Some local races, maybe some 5K’s and heck….. I am beginning to dream about Texas. I have never been to Texas! Now with the gang that is threatening to accompany me, I am even getting excited about it.

Texas.

Yes.

Texas in October?

EVEN BETTER.

After spending so much time aiming for and completing 140.6…… 70.3 seems just awesome. And that Coach is on board is even better.

So it’s time to get back up and do something with this Ironman fitness. We need a little speed, a little wizardry, a little hurt box….. call it what you will.

But Mary Eggers is really good at one thing kids….. getting back up. I think of all of the times in my life I have been knocked down, and I have gotten up each and every time. My passion for this sport is burning. I have no desire to retreat and find a career on the Golf course.

That’s not me.

What is me, is looking myself straight in the eye and dealing with what I see.

I’ve always told my team that I have just as much of a chance of a DNF as anyone else. Because I’ve done 4 IM’s doesn’t take me out of that. In my entire life I have never been one to say that I’d never DNF…… I have DNF’d 2 races in my life and both for medical reasons.

One I could have controlled and this one…. I just could not. Never say that you will never DNF a race. It will eventually happen to all of us and you need to have enough humility to accept that. It’s just a fact.

2 DNF’s in 12 years…. pretty darn good I think.

So this week I am dusting myself off. Rumor has it that at Masters yesterday Erik Grimm did in fact bring me a swim helmet. Not to worry, I will wear it next Wednesday morning and of course I will have pictures.

One thing I vowed to myself when I started this blogging business is that I would hide nothing. I would sugar coat nothing. I would be honest about my goals in this sport and I would be just as honest about my successes and my failures. The only thing I have ever hidden are some health issues, and I imagine you can understand that.

If one person out there can identify with me, whether it is a weigh in that’s waaaayyyyyy too much, a bike crash, a concussion in a swim, a DNF in an Ironman, a victory beyond possibility, overcoming obstacles, if one person can find something in these stories….. then it is worth it.

There will be people who read just to see you fail. Or to see just what you are up to like a spy. I have no use for individuals like those. That says enough about those people and those kinds of people are not in my life and will never be.

Not only am I human, I am really human. I cry, I laugh, I get upset. I have disappointments, victories and I lose just as many times as I win.

What’s important is what we do with each of these things. We don’t become invincible and we don’t just lie on the ground. We take the lessons from each of these experiences and we use them to help us become better people.

So it is really, really important that I get back up and I follow my instincts and I get back out and race again. Not just for me but for Luc, for Kari and for anyone who can identify with being human like me.

So thank you Kari, for not only teaching me that you are a girl of immense kindness, love and integrity. I promise you my head will heal and we will keep moving forward. And when I go to Texas I will bring back a cowboy hat for you too!

Training for the Ironman and a concussion leave you feeling much the same. Like you are a goldfish in a bowl swimming happily. Each time you see the little plastic castle you think…. wow, a castle…….. wow a castle……. wow a castle!

We so sadly left lake Placid late yesterday and I frowned the whole way home. Not because of the Ironman, because I love Lake Placid. I still love Lake Placid. I am glad we stayed a few extra days. The hoopla quieted down and we could just hang out.

It was nice.

The pain of the DNF is healing quicker than I expected. But then again I have a head injury….

This morning things are not much better in terms of pain. Yesterday I had trouble speaking, getting though to word, but that passed. My eyes hurt and my head….. did I say that still hurts? I sometimes forget things.

I am so incredibly proud of my Ironman team. For the fifth year we enjoyed a 100% finisher’s rate (do I count? HA HA!). When I said goodbye to Ed yesterday I almost lost it. But he is in the TT family forever.

If there was ever a day I would have PR’D in an Ironman it would have been Sunday. Rain is my weather. Actually, a little more wind would have been better. As I saw those raindrops begin to fall I began to rub my hands together and lick my lips.

But I am living to fight another day. This morning I am even laughing about it.

And so life goes on in the world of Iron…… but I no longer need to say the world of Iron. You see the Ironman and I….. we’ve had a good run together. It’s time for us to take one of those “relationship breaks.” for at least a year.

Which gives me plenty of time to design the swim helmet, and believe it or not, we have tons of orders!!!!