Changes in the wind

This summer will be my four year anniversary of being diagnosed with MS. I'm also going into my second year being in remission and mostly symptom free (I still get a touch of numbness and fatigue when I over train). My life with MS has taken a massive turn from where it had been heading before my diagnosis. There is no arguing that I'm in a much better place now then I had been four years ago and I'm feeling called to do more and take a huge step embracing my MS.

I've come so far in a short amount of time since my diagnosis, and a huge part of that has been my attitude towards MS and my commitment to my overall health and fitness. Combine all that with being a writer, and to sum it all up, I'm feeling called to tell my story and share what I've learned and how I've managed to overcome some of the worst parts of having MS. In addition, I want to take my fitness even farther and push myself to levels a lot of people wouldn't think about going, especially with a chronic illness. To that end, it's my intention to register and train for Ironman in 2014.

Talking with a good friend of mine who's done Ironman, I have my sights set on either Ironman Arizona or Florida in November 2014. According to my friend, they are two of the best first Ironman triathlons out there. The rub is that they're both really popular, and tend to sell out quickly not to mention the cost of doing Ironman in general is pretty expensive. I can't try to sign up until November this year, and cross my fingers that I can get a spot, but that's not going to stop me from training with that goal and date in mind; if 2014 doesn't work out there's always 2015.

Now some people might wonder... Why Ironman? Do you hate yourself that much?

A big part of why doing Ironman is really important to me is to prove to myself that I can, that with training and eventually coaching, I can push my body to its limits and beyond, that MS wont stop me from achieving my dreams. I know that one day, hopefully a long way down the road, my body won't be able to handle the rigors of training, that the MS will have progressed to a point where my physical mobility will be impacted, but until that happens I want to do everything I can while I can. I want to face the eventual relapse without regrets, that I did everything I could do to keep my body strong and I want to have the memories of the things I did accomplish to remind myself when things get hard that I didn't give in.

So the plan in a nut shell...

Start training for Ironman Florida/Arizona 2014
Locate a trainer/coach who will kick my butt up to the next level
Research as much as I can about nutrition, running, cycling, and fitness in general
Find other people with MS who exercise/train and talk about what they do
Write about everything
Generate interest in my book and try to find ways to offset the cost of training

Finally.... kick ass in 2014 and cross the finish line!

I haven't yet put together my training program for Ironman. The first thing I feel I should do is see my neurologist and get him on board, do the whole check up, new images, talk meds... All things I've kind of avoided. After that, find a coach, ideally someone who is familiar with MS and working with athletes who have MS. Until then, I have two half marathons in April, The Platte River Half and the Horsetooth Half, BolderBoulder in May and Bike MS in June. I'm also thinking of adding a sprint distance tri or two to the schedule. One thing I learned the hard way with my schedule last year is that its really easy for me to over train and that way lays all sorts of badness. So, I have to figure out the best way to train without over training.

There are definitely changes happening this year, changes is my focus, my goals, where I see myself and most importantly changes in my calling. Instead of living with MS or just in spite of MS, I feel called to use my experiences with MS to try and reach out to others.