A Very Good Place to Start

Thirty eight weeks and six days.

Waiting.

Waiting.

Waiting.

"Soon?" everyone asks. Yes, soon. Because every minute that goes by is closer to the start. This baby has to arrive eventually and so, "soon" is, I suppose, correct.

But it's not just the delivery room start line I'm waiting on. By some act of grace, today I was able to get an online entry to Ironman USA 2010. I'll be lining up again under the flags with a not-yet 1 year old and a body that went from baby to iron(ish) in less than 365 days.

And I can't stop grinning.

I can't help but to wonder how many times in the next year I will say to myself that this is a Historically Bad Idea, but right now it seems just...well, just right.

My journal entry from August 29, 2008 sums it up nicely...

I spent the evening at the bookstore looking for titles that don't exist. Titles like "Heather, Here is Your Path to God and Enlightenment." Also, the ever popular bestseller "Ironman or Baby: You Choose Easily with Our Ten Quizzes."

I continue a few pages later -

So which will it be? Baby bottles or water bottles? Spandex shorts or elastic waistbands? Either way, I can expect: very early mornings, lame Friday nights, no wine,a sore crotch and a sore back.

So - I shelved my IM '09 plans and my Pills. My last journal entry was October 14th - by November I was pregnant. Thirty-eight weeks later, here I am. The newest wheelset in our house is a stroller and my feet are so swollen that I've had to remove the liners from my Asics in order to wear them. Not having even started yet with baby bottles or the sore crotch, but deeply entrenched in elastic waistbands, no wine and lame Friday nights, I turn my sights BACK to Ironman and the start lines that I know are out there......somewhere.

And. So. We. Wait.