I have been celebrating my epic effort with equal (or greater) laziness.  Four day road trip followed by two days in bed with the kitties and Netflix.  Tomorrow the party of quiet fuzzy sloth has to come to an end.

I’m working on writing the story of the race.  In the meanwhile bear with me.  I give you the ubiquitous obligatory thank you speech.  They are so painfully boring.  I think they are boring because we know we all have a zillion people to thank all the time.  Because every story of accomplishment is filled with supportive people.

I’ve been trying for days to make this more interesting – to make this more than a list of people and tell a story – but it is beyond me.  Hopefully my list of gratitude may be a reminder of how fortunate we all are for the people in our lives.

To the readers of my blog.  Thank you for holding me accountable.  For keeping me honest.  For making me feel my story is worth sharing.

To the too numerous to name friends, family, colleagues, and clients.  Thank you for forgiving me my distraction and absence.  Thank you for asking about the training, for caring about my goals.

Thank you to all my clients who I consider all my sponsors.  You all tolerate that I prioritize my own workouts and then leave you for races. You inspire me with your own efforts, struggles, and accomplishments.  A special shout out to my bike sponsor Anne – who loaned me race wheels and got my bike all tuned up, and then so kindly got it and me going again after the crash.  Endless thanks to Kate and Glen – for helping me with gear, for loaning me your bike after the crash, and for providing food.

Thank you to all my training buddies!  There are more than I can name here.
Thank you to  Tim and the Strong Women Support Group who kept me lifting heavy shit and not succumbing to tunnel vision on endless endurance training.  Thank you to the Masters Swim group and to Dave Cameron whose keen eye and insightful coaching reshaped me as a swimmer.  Thank you to my swim buddy Shannon who two years ago got me going to swim meets again and generously made and delivered my pre-race salad for the road trip.  Thank you to the Running Intervals group – I’m so much faster when I run with all of you.  To Rose who organized some of my best long runs.  To Kaitlin who made many bike rides so much more fun.

To my fellow coach Laurie who delivered me food after the bike crash and then loaned me the cooler to take food on the road trip.  To my former colleague now physical therapist Robin.  Thank you for helping me assess my body and avoid injury.

To my boss/friend/fairygodmother Nicole Cueno.  Thank you for hiring me in the first place.  I am constantly surrounded by inspiration, and without that I don’t know if I would have ever dreamed this up.  Thank you for talking me out of bad decisions and believing in my gutsy ones. For supporting my training and when it was ok to not be training.  For pushing me to do better personally, athletically, and professionally.  For so much compassion when I err or simply am falling apart at the seams.  For being genuinely excited for this whole process.

Thank you to my parents.  To Zhao-Dad who started me on this journey.  For teaching me to swim, for getting me to run, for mentoring me as an athlete and a coach.  It has been especially fun to run together this summer.  To Nurse-Mom who is my number one cheerleader.  For nurturing and tending to all my wounds.  We had a pretty special summer taking care of all that can go wrong.  Thank you to Will’s parents Margaret and Paul whose house is so ever kindly open to me on long sweaty bike rides.  For providing our home away from home – the rental mini-van we named Myrtle.

To my husband Will who was there for it all, registration to finish line.  Thank you for agreeing to invest in this adventure.  For being there for the nerve racking moment of registration.  For putting up with a pretty absent wife and minimal household contributions.  For arranging the road trip and camping.  For driving long hours.  For putting up with my crabby nervousness.  For being my one man support crew for 17+ hours.  Thank you for making the entire journey more fun.  Never ending gratitude that you are in my life.

I could say so much more – but we all know that all our thanks should be never ending.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.