First, know this. I still have a hard time calling myself a runner or athlete of any kind. I was the overweight girl in baggy clothes who used to cut the 1/2 mile run in PE each Thursday. Running was my allergy. I avoided it at all lengths and measures, and never in my life could I have anticipated writing about any kind of sports I participated in.

I’m going to skip the psycho mumble/”inner peace” journey discovery I went through, to get to the place I am now – the peace with my body; the knowledge “Yes you are good and worthy”, the acceptance of my cellulite…that is another post.

But I tell you this, because I want to say, trust me, if I can do this, ANYONE CAN DO THIS. Just like anything in life, it’s just evaluating a desire, deciding on a goal, then taking the time to do it.

So, my journey and insight, for those of you IronMan Virgins like I was, wondering “should I/shouldn’t I” and are researching all the articles you can,  please allow me to share my two cents.

After years of running marathons then Ultra-marathons (anything between 32miles and 100 miles in the dirt) I decided to challenge myself to an Ironman.

I had this very UN-humble dose of confidence from running a recent 100 mile Ultra (in deep sand, elevation, snow and through black of night) in over 33 hours that this race would be a piece of cake in comparison.

I was wrong.

This. Was. Tough.

But I did it, and so can you. Just know these truths:

1). Massive Time Commitment.This seems like a “duh”, but trust me here. I trained for a  100 mile run, and THIS WAS MORE INTENSE THAN THAT.  I ran a 100 mile race. I was used to RUNNING – ALOT.  But not having that time on the bike or on those long swims, I needed to start from scratch. I looked up dozens of training plans, from beginning to advanced, and found one in between (with a little of my own morphing where I felt I needed extra support/miles) and stuck to it.

I gave myself 6 solid months to work with.  I slowly grew my time, and soon my weekly cycle, which worked up to was 2 work outs a day (of varying times), 6x/week. I also work full time, but thankfully from home, so I was able to flex my workouts around the workout load. I don’t know how people with “normal jobs”could do this. It is SO time consuming. I can’t tell you how many calls I made from my run, my bike, even from the side of the pool over a waterproof phone cover – it wasn’t consistent or perfect, but it worked.

Weekends were history. They were full training days. Long work outs back to back. Minimal drinking, social life and an 8:30pm bedtime (serious) became my norm. I often traveled with work and this posed the largest challenges – usually the travel was on other time zones, so I was waking my body up and ungodly hours to sit in hotel gyms and Uber to a local pool at the crack of dawn to make it happen. Once I even had a six hour bike ride that I had to do, but was traveling, so took it from a hotel gym. Committed, I was.

The majority of people out there can get through an Ironman. (Again serious). It just takes time in the saddle (and in the water and on the trails) to do so.  And tip – let everyone around you know this is your life for the next six months. It becomes very systematic, but very pervasive.

Money Commitment. This f’ing thing was EXPENSIVE.

$$$!!! The race itself was over $700 just to sign up. Travel and hotel for 5 days around the race for hubby and I at about $1500 or so, then, all the stuff! I probably spent another 2-3k in gear alone just to get to the finish line.

I already had my bike and some of the core gear –  so if you’re really starting from scratch, do your comparison shopping – it can easily run you way past $10,000 depending on the quality of bike, wetsuit and training gear you feel you need. My bike was 15 years old. There were people on that course with me that had $10 thousand dollar bikes. This is NO SHIT STUFF.

Gear alone – I spent even more money, mainly from panic, as I got closer to the race. I watched the temperatures rise and it was looking to be a lot hotter than what I normally train in, so I spent even more money on Gear. Hundreds of dollars on cool clothes (temps were set to be in the 90’s), the right socks, running shirt, cooling sleeves, helmets with the right cooling vents…then food, gu, gel, salt tabs, muscle rubs, KT Tape and lube (yep, lots of lube).

Oh and don’t forget therapy. I had some sore legs and tendinitis kick up. About 8 sessions with a Sports Specialist/chiropractor at $50 bucks a pop.

Yes, expensive, and never ending spending seemed to come with it. There are certainly ways to try to find efficiencies (I had a friend almost talk me in to a $1000 dollar indoor bike trainer, said I couldn’t live without it, but I didn’t get it and was just fine….). So choose your purchases wisely, do your comparison shopping, borrow from friends, and watch your savings account closely!

Mental Commitment. I could have put this first. This is where it all begins. I am a “If I say it out loud it must happen” kind of girl. I know this about me, and so when I got the brave impulse to sign on, I quickly told my support system (family, close friends) it was happening. I am now accountable to my word. This helps me  – as I HATE not following through with what I say. If this is you, make the brave decision, then SHARE IT! This helps!

Then visualize! I saw myself every single day coming out of the water with a smile on my face, racing to my next transition,. I saw myself changing quickly, eating, and dressing efficiently as I hopped on and pedaled off on my well stocked bike. I saw myself gliding through the hills, high-fiving my husband,  eating, smiling…energetic. I saw myself transition from my bike to my run! I felt my legs strong, my breath solid. My endurance in check. I saw myself running, slowly the 26.2 mile course, slapping hands, trading stories. I was realistic and even saw some slow moments, and a few aches and pains, but I saw myself working through them. Most important, I saw my crossing that finish line. I knew exactly what outfit I was going to wear, what my hear/hat would be looking like – In visualized the smile on my face and the leap in my step as I crossed that line and heard “YOU ARE NOW AN IRONMAN!” This, kept me going, and each day, I perfected that visualization and practiced it, until I knew, I just knew, there was nothing getting in my way of crossing. I had already done it 100times in my my head. This was going to happen for real.

And this is another truth, I always complete what I set out to do. My first 50 mile run attempt, took me three tries. I did NOT want to go back and try this a second time (at least not any time soon), and I had drained my bank account. Knowing I would HAVE to go through all that effort again, very soon, was a second, deep motivation that kept me pushing through the hard times.

Let it go! Resign. Commitment done. You are in – this is now, what you are doing. This is your story right now. This, is now your life. Know you are going to invest time. Know you are going to invest money.Know you aren’t going to have a social life, know your toenails will fall off and you’ll deplete your savings account.

But also know, you’ll swell with pride just telling people about what you’re setting out to do. Know you are each day, doing something that scares you a little to reach your goals. Know, that anyone, any of those voices or people who held you back from ANYTHING in your past, is going to get a big FUCK YOU when you cross that finish line! Know, that for the rest of your life, you can say I AM AN IRONMAN. I did this.

Trust me, the six months of training will be a distant memory. The pain, sacrifices and time will fade the SECOND you jump across that finish line in victory, and hug your family and friends, who believed in you, along with your own self belief, every step of the way.

You got this. Raise that foot and go kick some ass!