"He who would go a hundred miles should consider ninety-nine as halfway."~Japanese Proverb

    I came across this quote today and it really hit home to what has been going on in my life recently. In February, I quit my full time (full paid) job, to pursue a career in professional triathlon racing. I had found my passion and anchored my dream to this star. For the last nine months, I have set my focus on quality training, racing, and becoming the best athlete I could imagine. (All which I could have never done without the love, support, and frequent flyer miles of my husband, Rob....love you!)

  This season my racing grew leaps and bounds and I finished every race on the podium. In September, at Ironman Wisconsin, I made my dream a reality. By finishing as the first place women amateur spot, I fulfilled the USAT professional license criteria. I made my dream of racing as a professional athlete become a reality and can start in 2011. AWESOME!!!!!WHAT NOW?

    Last week, I traveled to Dallas to do some training with my coach, Ahmed Zaher, and to take a swim clinic with Sheila Taromina, Olympic gold medalist and  the only 3 time, 3 sport Olympic athlete. The knowledge I gained in 3 days from the both of them was priceless. On Thursday, I went to hear Sheila speak to the Dallas area Playtri athletes. She expressed her story of perserverance while trying to make it into the Olympic Trials and onto the U.S. Olympic swimming team. She tried three times. On her final shot, she was turned away from the Olympic Training center program, and had to make some choices about following her dream and if she would have that dedication on her own to make it. She had little resources where she lived and had to put all of her faith into making her dreams a reality by setting and sticking to her goals. She did it, and got onto the Olympic swimming team, but that was just the beginning. That was the end of Sheila's speach, about making your dreams come true, but of course we all know that wasn't the end. She made it to the ninety-nine mile mark, and doors were opening for her, but the work load ahead, I suspect, grew and grew and grew.....as did her commitments and determination.

   So here I am, completing my dreams and goals for the year, listening and relating to a respected athlete that has gone through the journey, which I have only dabbled my toes into. I planned this year on going the one hundred miles it would take to become a professional triathlete. I am now realizing that I have just reached my ninety-nine mile marker. I have had to take a lot of time, and will do so even more before 2011, setting new goals and realizing the workload ahead of me is greater than I have ever imagined. I have had to decide, thinking with my heart, about my commitments to my career in triathlon  this next year, and the years to come. I have set small goals, and I have set large goals, neither being more or less important. I have hitched my new dreams on another star and am setting forth on the next leg of this incredible journey. Here I GO.........