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Leadwoman – turned 40 and lost my dad

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Back to 2016…my dad had landed in the hospital for a surgery in Houston that just didn’t go as planned.  He really never recovered.  Over the next 3 years, he became sicker and eventually passed away in December of 2018.

My Daddy-O

I can remember when he was in the hospital in 2016 talking about my training for Leadville.  I don’t know if he ever quite understood why I did what I did.  But, he was always supportive and listened to the shenanigans.  I even remember taking my bike to Houston and riding there in between visiting him at the hospital with some lovely ladies I met on the TMBRA circuit in previous years.  Then again, when he was in the hospital before he passed, I was talking about that same race.  Telling him I was planning on doing it again.  Unfortunately, I did not get to tell him I signed up again.  Since the 2016 race was supposed to be my retirement from endurance racing, no one in my family was going to be super excited I was signing back up, including my dad.  But, he’s also one of the primary reasons I did.  I believe when you’re faced with mortality (whether it’s yours or someone else’s), it either makes you want to quit life OR do something epic.  I obviously chose the latter.

My 40th!

I didn’t mention yet that I turned 40 in 2018, which may have something to do with all of this. Two weeks before my 40th birthday in September, I hiked R2R2R in Grand Canyon with 7 other women.  This was 50 miles and took me 28 hours. (which becomes important later on.) The most beautiful views and the most wonderful time.  It was also the first time I did an event overnight.  I learned a lot during this time about my ability to just keep moving.  I was not adequately trained for this.  Hiking for that long was HARD!  And it was hot!  My nutrition and hydration was on point.  My legs got sore early on.  I started hallucinating at 2:30 a.m. from sleep deprivation.  But once I saw an inkling of sun, I awakened and all was good. Overall, I would say it was a huge success.

Day 1

South Rim

Day 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After R2R2R, I took at little break.  The rest of September and October 2018 was spotty.  I was still doing aerial yoga and bootcamp but it was football season. What can I say?  It was about this time that I also started trying to figure out with Madison Flowers how to get my mountain bike on a trainer at the Cave.  That turned out to be a 2.5 month long process.

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