I DID IT!!

I'm still finding it a bit surreal but I did it. I rode all 150 miles of the MS150 this weekend, every hill included- and there were some doosies!

I was nervous all last week. By thursday, I was freaking out. By friday, after my pup Simon had had another seizure, I was practically fighting off anxiety attacks when I thought about it. We're talking, when I got home from work, I broke down into tears. I did some packing and cried again. Etc., you get the picture. I IMed with Josh during my downtime at work and he gave me more pointers and reiterated some from before. Very good coach, that one! I had a carb-loading dinner with the girls and everyone told me I'd be fine again. I headed home to shower and sleep and sent my friend Matt a text asking for a pep talk. He was around and gave me my last bit of peppy advice that got me to the starting line the next morning. Not even sure what he said that was different or if he said anything different; might just have been that I needed one more person to believe in me. As my friend Evan told me last night after it was all over, I was the only person that doubted that I could do the ride.

Funny how we can get ourselves all riled up time and again, when all it really takes to get through something is a little faith in ourselves. It definitely helps to having incredibly supportive friends though. You should have seen the girls at the finish line. Andrea practically ran to me afterwards to give me a hug, both days. Brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it!

So thanks to everyone that believed in me! And thanks to all those that gave me pep talks, rode with me, cheered me on and supported me time and again as I made it through this journey.

Now on to the next big challenge of the summer- RAGBRAI!!