Iron Woman

Have you ever met an Ironwoman?  Or for that matter an Ironman?

Someone who has completed the real-deal triathlon - 2.4 mile swim and 112 mile bike followed by a marathon.  Yes, you heard me right, followed by a marathon, 26.2 miles of running.

Meet Kaylyn.

She's it.

An Ironwoman - she completed the race.

And to top it all off, she's family (George's cousin, more like a sister).

My hero:  Kaylyn.

Last summer I spent a few days with Kaylyn.  She had just completed her first (and possibly only) Ironman.  She told me about training.  About hours on the bike.  Hours in the pool.  Hours hitting the road.  Hours in the gym.  She told me about short races and longer races she'd done in preparation.  Just talking about the training exhausted me.

I asked her about the race.  How did you do it?  Did you ever want to give up?  Was it what you expected?  Could you keep up with your husband?

Believe me - the idea of an Ironman is so far out of my realm of imagination I needed to ask the questions just to get a glimpse of what it was like.

I don't recall all the details of our conversation, but the part that I will never forget is when she told me about her tears. 

She cried.  

The race of a lifetime.  The race designed for super-human people.  The race that very few can claim to have completed.  

And while she was running it, she cried.

Ironwomen don't cry.

Do they?

She did.  She had a good bit of the race behind her, she was on the way to the end, and as she thought about the road ahead, she cried.

But what she didn't do was quit.

She cried.

She did not quit.

She trained for this.

She was prepared for this.

She was strong enough.

She knew the end goal.

She had partners running with her.

She even had people along the way cheering her on.

No matter how hard it got, she was not going to quit.

But yet, she cried.

The fire this past week is not a race we chose to run.

But we are prepared for it.

We have trained for it.  Short races and longer races in the past.

We are prepared for it.

We know the end goal.

We have partners running with us.

We have people along the way cheering us on.

We are not done.

No matter how hard the road ahead is, we will not quit.

But we might cry.

Hebrews 12:1-2

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.