The whole world dealt with many challenges throughout 2020 and into 2021. I can’t necessarily speak to all of the challenges Zane and Brad had to face but many know that Zane battled through Kaitlin being diagnosed and treated for breast cancer while also pregnant with their fourth child. They had a wonderful outcome with a healthy Kaitlin and a healthy, adorable Gabbie. Poor Brad and Molly had to postpone their wedding from May to September. And while our race was originally supposed to be on June 19, 2020, they ended up rescheduling it the end of April. At that point, I was about half way through my training plan. They rescheduled it for October 4th, so I toned it down a bit and started my training plan again in the middle of June. Again, I got halfway through my plan and the race was again postponed, but this time it was June of 2021. That knocked Andy out of being able to do the race with us since Autumn’s sister was getting married the same weekend.
When I originally signed up for the race in 2019, I had high hopes of getting a better time than my previous 70.3. But that just wouldn’t be the case. My obstacles came in several different forms-not having a place to swim since the Aquatic Center was shut down, surgeries and life just being busy with the kids. I had to swim on a tether at the Depot Inn until the race got closer and I was able to do a couple swims at 1000 Hills. My hysterectomy had me starting at almost zero since I was not supposed to workout for 8 weeks. Plus, it seemed like my body just didn’t accept the training after the surgery like it did with my previous 70.3. And the PRK eye surgery oddly affected my ability to train and my recovery is still ongoing. Lastly, life just seemed busier and kept me from being able to get all my training in.
Race weekend brought some obstacles too. I had originally planned for us all to go up to Des Moines on Friday, but Ellie and Lincoln’s championship soccer tournament ended up being rescheduled for that Saturday. So, Jackson and I went up on Friday while Andrew took the others to the soccer tournament on Saturday. I got checked in on Friday and got all my race stuff so that I could label my gear with my bib number. Jackson and I walked around a bit and got dinner. My parents, Kaitlin, Zane, Owen, Lola, Molly and Brad got into town Saturday early afternoon. Zane and Brad got checked in, we got some lunch and then we needed to drop off our bikes at the transition area. While there were many great things about the race venue, some of the different parts of the race were far apart. We decided to just ride our bikes there and after a few wrong turns, we finally made it. We got our bikes racked and I covered my electrical components with trash bags because of the forecast for that night and the next morning. We looked around the area a little bit to get an idea of where we would be going in and out and went over to the lake to check out the swim course. My dad picked us up so we didn’t have to make the 2 mile trek back to the hotel and we all had an early dinner together. Andrew and the kids were still in Moberly at the tournament, so they didn’t get to Des Moines until late Saturday night.
The next set of obstacles came with a couple delays of the race because of storms. In the end, we started at 9:50 instead of 7am and while we did the full 1.2 miles swim and 13.1 mile run, the bike was cut from 56 miles to 27 miles. They had permits to keep the roads closed for only so long, plus there were more storms forecasted for early evening. We had limited time to get everything set up in transition in the rain before we started making the trek to the swim start. At this point, I’m super nervous but it was nice to have Zane and Brad there where it seems I’m usually on my own. Zane and I ended up starting the swim at the same time and Brad was right behind us. This was my first lake swim without a wetsuit, so I was nervous about that. My time wasn’t what I was hoping but it was a crowded swim and I had to navigate around people so that I didn’t get kicked or hit in the face. The sun was out by the time we got out on the bikes and it was a great course. It was closed to traffic and was pretty speedy. I decided to hammer away at it since it was a shorter distance. Also, I knew my run wouldn’t be that great, so I wanted to have a good time on at least one part of it. And I was right. The run was brutal and it seemed many felt the same way as me. I was so thankful for all the volunteers with all the water, Gatorade and ice. I would drink a cup and throw a cup over my head, then pour some ice down my top. And finally the end was in sight. I finished with a time of 4 hours and 54 minutes. Zane finished almost 1 hour 20 minutes ahead of me and Brad was about 15 minutes ahead of me. They also agreed that it was hard, but they did amazing! It was so fun to see my family out there cheering us on and I’m so grateful for them as I know it isn’t easy and was a long and hot day for them too. There were a lot of great spectators with fun signs to make you smile along the way.
The last obstacles came after the race. I sent Andrew home with the twins and I got showered (about passing out a few times because I couldn't figure out how to make the water cooler) and visited with my family before deciding it was time to go claim all of my stuff from transition. They only allowed us to park in one parking lot and it was 1 mile from transition. So, I park and make the mile walk, get my bike, big bag of gear and bike pump and proceed the mile walk back to the car. Just as I start back, it starts raining and then pouring. I’m completely soaked by the time I get to the car. Once we finally make it out of Des Moines we notice the sky ahead of us getting really dark and we got stuck in some bad storms. I pulled over twice because we couldn’t see and I eventually gave up and decided to just go to Pella to wait them out. But as we were pulling into Pella, the alarms went off on our phones and the siren was going off in town. In the end, we were all safe and decided to stay the night in Pella instead of fighting storms all the way home as I was physically and mentally taxed already. Plus, Kaitlin and Zane made it a very easy choice with their warm hospitality. But we were out the door by 5am the next day to get Jackson to football on time. But as I was driving down the highway with the sun rising, no storms in sight and the kids sleeping in the car, I was so thankful for all of it in that moment-for God’s sovereignty, for health, for family, the ability to compete, and the ability to overcome obstacles.
The summer also brough time with family whether it was hanging out at the pool or the ranch and celebrating 4th of July. We also got to spend some time up in Pella. It also brought a lot of time working on KLife stuff and preparing for our new leaders, Devon and Emily, since our previous ones decided to leave a year early.
In July, we had a wonderful vacation with my family in Florida. Besides getting sick for a day, we had a good time with lots of sunshine and time with family. It was probably the last time we could fit in the Sandy Shores house, but it did us well for 3 years.
And, of course, in July we also celebrated Lincoln's 12th birthday! Last year before officially being a teenager. He actually had his birthday at Kanakuk again, so we celebrated early before he left. We did a party at my parents' pool again with just family and kept it all pretty low-key which I think he liked. But probably the most exciting thing for him was hearing a phone ring under his pillow when he was waking up that morning.
Next up was Kanakuk. After not going last year, it was great to have them be there again. The drop off and pick up were different and we weren't able to go into the kamp, but it still looked like they had a great time from the pictures. I'm hoping it all goes back to normal next summer. We did meet up with family before drop-off and after pick-up-there were 12 of them going all together.
Next up wasn't the most fun thing of the summer, but I'm now glad it done. In August I had my mastectomy and had expanders put in. Andrew and I went down the night before and we weren't sure if I would have to stay the night or not. They gave me nerve blocks that were supposed to help with the pain during recovery, but they must have not have taken because I was in quite a bit of pain. I tried to eat a little bit, hoping that would help the pain meds settle in, but it all came back up. The anesthesiologist was a bit baffled that I was still in pain and I ended up staying the night. I still had to take pain meds during the night as it was still bothering me quite a bit. But we went home the next day and started the recovery process. Everyone helped out around the house and would go on walks with me. I had to go back a couple weeks later and they started filling the expanders. Since the expanders were under the muscle, it wasn't the most comfortable process. But I did that I think three times and then had to wait a month before I could do the exchange.
In the midst of recovery, it was time for the kids to get back to school. Jackson went by himself to get his schedule for his junior year, while Ellie went with her friend, Meia to get hers and find her way around the high school. Leah was able to give me a ride for Lincoln's orientation at the middle school and my mom took me to have the twins meet their 4th grade teacher, Ms. Pafford. It was so nice having that help since I wasn't cleared to drive yet. We ordered out our Back-to-School dinner from Coltons, but I did work on our theme centerpiece before the surgery. And thankfully, they were all back to going to school a 5 weekdays and didn't have to wear masks. They weren't super-excited about starting the school year, but it was good for them to go back.
With going back to school, came the official start of the football season for Jackson and the twins. Lincoln didn't play football this year and just focused on soccer. I Ellie was lost without a fall sport since she couldn't do club soccer. Jackson had a jamboree in Macon and even had some family in town for his first home game and first varsity start.
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