WHY!?

A little three letter word that could bring so much thought.

Yesterday we got news that my dad (stepfather, Sid) has Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Some of you may know ALS as Lou Gehrig's disease. To put it simple it is a disease of the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that control voluntary muscle movement. Nerve cells end up dieing which means that they can no longer send messages to your muscles. There is no cure for ALS (at least for now there isn't). This brings up that little three letter word, WHY. Why did this have to happen to Sid? Why isn't there a cure for it? Why does it have to be such a horrible disease?

Today Tulio, my sister Patty and I watched the 2010 Ironman Championship on TV. I had tears coming down my face the majority of the time as we watched it. Some athletes were out there to win it, some out there to prove a point, some out there to finish, some out there to accomplish something big in there life, some out there for a cause....the list goes on and on. Whatever reason(s) they have for doing the Ironman is their's, it is their WHY and no one can take that away from them. It made me think of all the reasons why I want to do an Ironman. I definitely want to do it to mark it off my list of things I accomplished in life. I also want to be able to be called an Iron(wo)man because I completed 140.6 miles. I'm definitely doing this because of FOMO (fear of missing out). And a little bit of me wants to do this race so that I can get an Ironman tattoo without being a poser (Ha!).

So I'm thinking why else can I do this race. How about to raise money for Sid!? He can no longer work. The doctors will not allow him to. I want to come up with a fundraiser to help support him and my mom financially. What I'm thinking is that for every mile that I do someone sponsors me. Sponsorship can be any possible amount of money that one would like to donate. I'm going to start working on this. I plan on having something up soon.

God Bless You!

FOMO Happy Hour!

Last night was super fun! My coach Carrie had a Holiday Happy Hour at her house. There I got to meet other FOMOers! There are some fantastic people in this group. People doing triathlons, ironmans, marathons, ultra marathons, there is even one gal who is going to swim the English Channel! WOWZA! I can't wait to really get to know these folks out in the trenches.

One word: CHALICE!

The chalice makes special appearances. Keep your eye out for it.



Here is a link to my coaches blog: (that is her holding the FOMO sticker)
http://www.fomotraining.com/2010/12/happy-fomo-holidays/

I'm coming for you!

This afternoon was my first time back in the pool since September. HOLY COW....I felt out of control during the warm up....more like "GIVE ME SOME AIR!" Haha! I'm determined to conquer this swimming thing. I know I'm not a bad swimmer. I just really like to breathe when I want, not when I have to. HA!

I will become a stronger swimmer!

Way to humble me today pool! Thanks for giving me that extra drive to want to be a better swimmer. You're going down! I got this!

And so it begins!

Today was the first day of my official Ironman training! I'm ready for this journey. I'm ready to pay the price.

As of today, I do not have a goal time for the Ironman. My goal is to finish the race. However, I know that will change. I think when I start understanding more about what I got myself into and how my body is handling it then I can make an actual time goal.

Psalms 23:4

"Pamela Gagot you are an Ironman!"