No one told me there were hurdles in Ironman.

So I had this dream last night that I was thin and doing Ironman Wisconsin. I got to the run and was running strong when I saw someone setting up a hurdle and then jumping it. I looked at the runner next to me and said, "what's going on?" She said, "Haven't you been setting up your hurdles and jumping over them?" I said, "No one told me there were hurdles in Ironman." I stopped running and looked around and sure enough people were running to the side, getting a hurdle, running back a little and then jumping them. I found an official. He told me I could run back and do the one's I missed or on my second loop I could do them twice. I was really frustrated because I couldn't understand the logic of us setting them up ourselves and then running back a few feet and then jumping and I was frustrated because my coach had never told me their were hurdles in Ironman and I wasn't even sure I would make it over. I got to the next hurdle station, grabbed one, ran back, and then jumped it. The lady behind yelled, "Leave it up." I was mad cause she was going to use the one I just set up.

Then I woke up.

I was telling my husband about my dream and it hit me. I have so many hurdles to overcome to get to my Ironman that my subconscience incorporated them into my dream. It was fun to see myself thin in my dream and fun to see that I actually made it through my swin and bike and only had the run left. I hope to have many more Ironman dreams.

By the way, my friend Michael finished his 14th Ironman race yesterday. The world record for races in a year is 14, so he just tied the world record and will try and break it next week. Please keep him lifted in your prayers as he is having some major knee issues. He is doing this so that when he gets interviewed he can raise awareness for kids with Trisomy. Way to go Michael. I'm so proud of you and so honored to have met you. I know you can do it and these kids and families appreciate all you are doing to raise awareness for their cause.

Have a happy Sunday everyone!!

This sign says it all.

This is my friend, Chris' (The Clyde) daughter who was holding this sign cheering on her daddy during IMWI. I love this picture so much and it got me thinking, am I made of Iron?

I'm about 115 pounds overweight, can't run my 5k's yet, been having some trouble with my biking lately and will need to take private swimming lessons due to the fact that I cannot put my face in the water yet due to some near drowning accidents. The world would look at me and say there is no way I could ever do an Ironman. I could listen to them and keep going the way I am going or I can prove to them that ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE. The thought of an Ironman right now seems overwhelming, but as I ponder the question, am I made of Iron? The answer is yes. As my friend, Michael said recently Ironman is an event where ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE. I can do this, I deserve to do this and with God ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE, so Ironman here I come.

I was thinking I want to do a different Ironman because I have been scared by stories of the IMWI bike, but I decided today that I have to do Ironman Wisconsin. This is the year that I first volunteered, met awesome people, learned about the cause I would be racing for, and ultimately decided to do an Ironman, so here is my next big announcement. I WILL BE DOING IRONMAN WISCONSIN IN 2013. Some of you already told me that you will do whatever Ironman I decide to do to be there for me. Well, there you go put it on your calendar now.

Here is my tentative race schedule:

2009- 1-2 sprint tris, 1st Olympic distance
2010- 1 sprint tri, 1 Olympic distance, and a 1/2 Marathon
2011-my first ever 1/2 Ironman in Effingham Illinois. It is a smaller venue. I would also like to do the Nation's Triathlon in DC this year.
2012- Steelhead 1/2 Ironman, Chicago Marathon
2013- Ironman Wisconsin

Oh my gosh, just looking at that is awesome and a little scary, but I know I can do it because I am made of Iron. Chris, can your daughter come and cheer me on in 5 years? Again, I look forward to how God will use my journey to help others. I will and can do this. I have given this all over to the Lord and he will see me through. Melissa Black, you will be an IRONMAN!!!

Two AWESOME phone calls

Yesterday I got to talk to two amazing people on the phone.

As I mentioned in my last post about Ironman Wisconsin I met an amazing man named Michael Hennessy. IMWI was his 13th Ironman this year as he is going towards a goal of beating the Guiness World Record of 14 in a year. He is set to do number 14 this weekend in Oklahoma.

He is racing to raise awareness for kids with Trisomy 13 and 18. I have joined his cause and yesterday we got to talk on the phone for the first time. I am very excited to see where this goes. I will be TRI-ing for TRI-somy to give a voice to these children who do not have one.

I have been reading so much about Trisomy since meeting him. A lot of these children are diagnosed in Utero. Most of the time parents are encouraged to abort them. They are told that their child, this precious gift from God, is incompatible with life. Who are we to say who is or is not compatible with life? Trisomy 21 is Down Syndrome and what I learned from Michael yesterday is that ony 10% of babies in Utero diagnosed with Down Syndrome, make it. The other 90% are aborted. I know that some of you will comment to me that it is the parents choice, but parents need to be given more choices than just abortion. These are precious gifts from God. Maybe their wrapping paper is a little different, but they are wrapped in His love and parents need to be aware of all their choices and that is why I am joing TEAM TRISOMY.

I challange you to look up Trisomy 13 and 18 on YOUTUBE. Look at these precious children and their families. Most of them have been told "you're child won't live long, so why do you want to try?" I had a sister that lived only 5 days. She did not have Trisomy, but as hard as it was, I loved seeing her. We have pictures of her and she touched our lives in such a beautiful way. Her name is Blessing and she truly blessed our lives no matter how short our time was with her. Don't these parents have the same right? A mom said in one of the Trisomy stories I was reading, "My baby is not just a syndrome. This is my baby. They deserve a chance at life." I know these parents probably wonder why their child, but God does not make mistakes and each of these babies are precious.

Most of these babies do not live to see their first birthday, but as I am searching on the Internet and finding stories I'm seeing that some kids are living to be 8, 12, 18 (check out bubbaforpresident.org) and even 32. These children have been a blessing to their families and everyone they come in contact with. Let's raise awareness for these kids and for their families so they know they are not alone and that we see their children as a gift to us and that they ARE compatible with life.

Stay tuned for more ways you can help. In the mean time check out this video of a little boy named Eliott who had Trisomy 18. Get the kleenix!:



Also, I had another aweomse phone call yesterday. I got to talk to Caroline Schnog who as I put in my last post was the last person to cross the finish line. I looked her up on the Internet and called her to tell her I had a picture of me putting on her medal. We had a great conversation and am so excited that I talked to her. She has lost about 120 pounds on her journey to doing an Ironman. We talked for awhile and I know that I must made a new friend for life. She even said to let her know when I do my 1/2 Ironman and maybe she'll come and do it with me.

Also, I have HUGE news. I wasn't going to say this yet, but I have decided to do an IRONMAN. After volunteering, meeting Michael, talking to my hubby, and talking to Caroline I have decided to do it. My 1/2 Ironman will be in 2011, so I am thinking of doing my IRONMAN in 2013. We'll see. I have a lot to overcome, but with God all things are possible. I cannot wait to see how God uses my journey to help others.

Stay Tuned.

Ironman Wisconsin Pictures-Part 2 Run-Finish Line

I worked a water station with some Army National Guard members. Here I am with my new friends Nic and Chris. Nic will be doing the Ironman next year. Nic and Chris in action. #3 1st place male Chris McDonald 1st place female-Hilary Biscay Everyone was commenting on Hilary's gait, so I got a picture of it. She would kick her leg out. When she was running across the finish line it was much more pronounced. And just a word to the lady across the street from me at the water station. You thought it was ok to make fun of the athletes out there, as soon as they passed you, including how Hilary Biscay runs. I'd like to see you do an Ironman. Heck, I'd like to see you do a sprint, honey. Are you perfect? Nobody is, but at least they are out there trying. You really got on my last nerve. And if I'm out there someday and I hear you making fun of me I'll take that Gatorade from you, but it won't be to drink. You'll be wearing it. Next time think twice before making fun of someone else. For those of you who know me, this is not like me at all, but this lady made fun of at least 8 athletes that I heard. I did say something to her when she made fun of Hilary, but it didn't matter. I just had to vent. Here I am at the water station. I think this picture is funny cause I was about to leave and all the sudden I reallized I didn't have a picture of myself, so I have my bag over my shoulder and am so posing. Too funny! I headed to the finish line to watch the pros come in before my shift at the finish line. I arrived right as the 1st place male crossed the finish line. Here is the 2nd place male #16. What is cool about him is that I got to body mark him. You know that is why he did so well. :-) Here is the first place age grouper coming in. He came in at 9 hours and 6 minutes and 56 seconds. I got to meet his family on the bus ride back from the biking loop. When I saw him on the bike he was winning the race. He came in 8th overall. Here comes Hilary Biscay down the home stretch. I'm so glad I got to see her finish. I was rooting for her all day. She got passed on the run, but came back in mile 25 to finish it. Go Hilary. This camera man hopped of a motorcycle to film something and I thought he looked funny like out of a space movie of soemthing. This is the first picture I took after starting my shift at the finish line. I wore my camera around my neck for my whole 6 hour shift so I wouldn't miss a thing. This is my new friend MichaelHennessey. He was the one running in the cowboy hat. This was his 13th Ironman this year. He is on his way to breaking the Guiness World Record of 14. He is a father of 6 kids all 8 and under. He is doing this to raise awareness for kids who are born with Trisomy 13 and 18. Most of you have heard of Trisomy 21 aka Down Syndrome. Most people including myself have not heard of Trisomy 13 and 18. These are children who are born with an extra 13th or 18th chromosone. Most parents are encouraged to abort their child before they are ever born. Michael and those parents of these children are trying to raise awareness so that parents have more choices. From what I have read most of the children born with trisomy 13 and 18 do not live past their 1st birthday, but their families say that this child has taught them more about life in their short lives than anything else ever could have. If you would like more information about Michael's cause check out his website at www.ironmanforkids.com He also has links there so you can find out more about these precious children and their wonderful families. I had the priviledge of giving my friend Chris his medal. Chris aka Clyde (check out his blog The Clyde on my list of blogs I read) I am so proud of you and am so happy I had the honor of medaling you. You did awesome. Here is Chris' first picture as an Ironman. Great job out there. I made some great friends while volunteering. Here is my buddy Ken and Katherine. Here are a couple of cheeseheads. The person who gave her her medal tried to put it on over the cheesehead. :-) Here is Ken in action. Way to go Ken. Here is the oldest man to finish the Ironman. He was 74. Ken and his babes. Actually they were friends from his tri club. Next year Ken will be doing the Ironman and I cannot wait to see him at the finish line.

Check out this video. She was dancing to YMCA across the finish line. FUN!!
Getting down to the last 20 minutes of the race. Watching the clock tick down. Will the last athlete make it? I had the honor of putting the medal on the last athlete. Here name is Caroline Schnog and she finished it in 16 hours 59 minutes and 56 seconds. She finished with 4 seconds to spare. The cutoff is 17 hours no exceptions. I am so happy she made it. My friend Chris came back to watch the last athletes and he said with 14 seconds to go she was worrying about getting her kids so that they could run across the finish line with her. Chris said he was SCREAMING, "JUST RUN. JUST RUN." Her daughter was able to cross the finish line with her. :-) Caroline's daughter, I'm so proud of your Mom. She rocks!! It was important for me to put on her medal as I am usually last at my events and I wanted to personally congratulate her because I am so inspired by her that she never gave up even when I'm sure she wanted to. I will remember her when I am struggling at my future events. Way to go Caroline. You rocked it and you, my friend, are an IRONMAN!! The race is over. As you can see the clock says 17 hours 1 minute. They were already tearing down the finish line. Good Night Madison. Good Night Ironman. I'll see you all next year.

NEVER FORGET

Take time to remember those who lost their lives in New York on September 11. Please remember those families who lost loved ones.

YOU ARE NOT FORGOTTEN. NEVER FORGET!!

Ironman Wisconsin Pictures Part 1 Saturday-Swim

The sign says it all. Wahhoooo!!

This is the transition 1 room. On Saturday I helped all the athletes check in their gear. This is an important job because if the bag is put in the wrong place or misplaced altogetherit can mess up a whole year of training for these athletes.

When I was cutting through the male changing room I saw this sign and it made me laugh.

This is the room that I helped in. It is the transition 2 room. This is when the athlete's are coming in from the bike and heading out to the run. See how empty it is.

This is my friend Larry. We met through an active.com message board about 2 years ago. We have emailed off and on since. This is our first time meeting in person. He has severe asthma and had to teach himself to swim. He overcame a lot to get to the Ironman. He did awesome.

Larry here is the sign I made you. I still do not know how I ended up with the wrong number. Oops.

Here I am meeting my friend Chris aka The Clyde. We have never met in person either. We follow each other's blogs. This is our first time meeting. Check out his blog at www.theclydesdaletrot.com A Clydesdale or Athena in triathlon is a heavier triathlete. A Clydesdale is the men weighing in over 200 and the women are called Athenas who weigh over 150 I believe. We now call Chris IronClyde or at least I do.

Here's the sign I made him. Clyde, did you see it out there?

Check out this awesome volunteer. I hear she is there every year. Her son ran the race. I'm already planning what I can wear next year or how to do my hair.

Here is the T2 room after it was full and after we had checked to make sure every bag was in numerical number. We closed and locked the doors at 3pm. All the athletes knew this well in advance and I had to turn away some very mad athletes.It ends up one door didn't get locked. The room opened the next day at 5am so it wasn't like we were turning them away from the whole race. I held the door open a little bit to tell them they had to come back and one athlete put his foot in the door and was pulling to open it, but I held my own and said in a very firm voice, "SIR, YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE TO LET GO OF THE DOOR AND WAIT FOR MY TEAM CAPTAIN." Anoter man would not step back and was right in my face and I had to say to him, "SIR, YOU ARE GIONG TO HAVE TO STEP OUT OF THE ROOM. I WILL GET MY CAPTAIN." He sighed and obliged and in the end we won. They came back at 5am. After that the door got locked.

After volunteering I got to meet up with some of my fellow bloggers none of which I had ever met in person. The person I was eager to meet the most was Megan. Check out her blog at www.projectprocrastination.blogspot.com Her boyfriend is Kyle aka cheese His blog, when he blogs is at www.startingnextmonday.blogspot.com Just don't read his while eating. :-) Also, met Erin and her almost hubby Aaron. Her blog is at www.erinslongandwindingroad.wordpress.com and met another Erin a few weeks ago through our blogs and volunteered at two stations together. Her blog is at www.wipaddler.blogspot.com. Another lovely couple I met was Bob and Gay. His blog is www.teambrazo.blogspot.com. It was a great dinner. Make sure to check out all these awesome people's blogs. They rock!!

RACE DAY!!! WAHOOOOO!!
Here we are getting ready to mark some bodies.

Here I am marking a body. He was a good sport about it.

Here is the sunrise over the swimming area. The calm before the storm.

Here are the pros.

Here is everyone else.

There was a hot air balloon that went over the lake. You can see the swimmers too. It was pretty.

On my way to watch the atheletes get out of the water I got to see this pro heading out on his bike.

This was the most fun to watch. When the athletes get out of the water there are teams of volunteers there to rip their wetsuits off of them.
Here is Larry's family anxiously waiting for Larry to exit the swim. He had a wonderful support team. His wife is in the cowboy hat. The way I found them was when I was watching the swim someone walked by in a bright yellow shirt and it said LARRY SCHULTZ on it. I jumped down and asked her if it was the same Larry Schultz I was cheering for and it was. She took me to where his family was, so I got to meet them. They are wonderful.

Here is Larry waving to us on the way to T1. I also saw Chris exit the water, but he was way on the other side and I couln't get a pic. Way to go guys. You rocked the swim.

Here is Larry waving to us as he was heading to his bike.

I went out to the Verona Bike Loop and got to see the pros whizzzz by. There were also a couple of age groupers not far behind the first few pro bikers. Amazing.

I had an amazing weekend as you can tell. I will post pictures tomorrow from the run and my time working the finish line. I handed out medals for 6 hours. It was AMMMMAZING.

Ironman Breakfast

I'm at my hotel and crawled out of bed to go get some breakfast before crawling back in bed before driving home. I just met a 22 year old kid who did his first Ironman yesterday. I asked him how he did and he said, "9:15" I said, "Oh, you crossed the finish line at 9:15pm?" He said, "No, I finished in 9 hours and 15 minutes." My jaw is still dropped. The first pro to cross the finish line did it in 8:43, so this kid was only 32 minutes behind the professional leader. Crazy!!!! I'm so impressed with these athletes. I am impressed with the pros who are like living machines and I'm impressed with the lady that crossed the finish line with seconds to spare. I'm also impressed with everyone in between. There was an 80 something year old man named Frank who has done this for years. This year he only planned to dothe swim and succeeded. I say only, but when I'm 80 something will I be able to swim 2.4 miles in 2 hours? I don't think so. Well, maybe we'll see. :-)

Breakfast was great. I got to meet this kid named Jason and talk to 2 other Ironmen. Man, I'm so glad I got up for breakfast.
Gotta run and catch some zzzzz's.

Ironman Wisconsin Part 2

Here is my day in a nutshell cause I'm so exhausted.
-woke up at 3:30am and started body marking athletes at 4:45am even though we were not supposed to start until 5:00. I marked two pros. #16 came in 2nd place. #22 lives one town over from me.
-watched the swim start. AMAZING
-went down by the swim finish and saw my friend Larry and Chris (The Clyde-his blog is Clydesdale Trot) finish. It is hilarious to watch the volunteers strip the wetsuits off the athletes. If I didn't have a bad back I would love to do the job.
-went and watched my friend Larry come out of Transition and run to get his bike.
-Hopped on a bus and rode it to the Verona Loop to watch the professional bikers.
-Worked a run station. That was so cool!!
-Watched the Pros cross the finish line. 1st place male finished in 8 hours and 43 minutes.
-volunteered at the finish line handing out medals. Did that from 6pm-Midnight. I got to put the medal on the last athlete. She almost didn't make it. No one was left out on the course.
-now I am tired and heading to bed.
_more to come later.

Ironman Wisconsin Part 1

-woke up at 4:30 this morning. Left at 5:30am
-drove to Madison Wisconsin for an 8:00 volunteer meeting
-Went to said meeting
-Got my t-shirts. They have a cute cow on them.
-Went to Gear Bag Check in for my first volunteer shift.
-Helped from 9:00am-4:00pm checking in people's gear bags in Transition 2. For those of you who don't know what that means, it is the place where the atheletes come in after they bike and get their gear they need for their run.
-met two of my friends who are doing an Ironman for the first time. We have only been online friends, but now met in person.
-met up with about 6 other bloggers and their spouses or boyfriends for dinner. I only knew 2, but it was like we all knew each other by the end of the night.
-headed to my hotel.
-am going to bed. I report for duty at 4:30am for my next shift. I will do bodymarking. That means I will be writing athlete's #'s on their arms and calves.
-then I work a run station
-then I work the finish line. i will be working it when my two friends should finish and I will be able to put their medals around their necks. :-)
Stay tuned for more Ironman Wisconsin Coverage from a Volunteer's eyes.