MN Tri Awards Night Plus Dick Beardsley

Last night we had the MN Tri awards banquet. I have never been to one of these and was not sure what to expect, other than the promised good food and of course seeing some nice people. We were excited to hear Dick Beardsley talk about his 1982 Boston Marathon duel with Alberto Salazar. Wow. What an incredible tale, and vivid memory Dick has of that day. He said he remembers it like it was yesterday. I knew Dick had returned to his farm in MN and had a terrible accident with some farm machinery, that nearly left him dead. I also knew he had struggled with addiction to Pain medication and Narcotics. But until you hear someone recount it, you cant even imagine the grip that addiction holds on someone. If you want more information on Dick, or his foundation please see his foundation website.

http://dickbeardsleyfoundation.org/

Dick now lives in Austin, TX...smart guy. Funny that he comes back to talk to us on the coldest and snowiest night we have had all winter:) If you get a chance to hear him speak, by all means take it. He was funny, emotional, honest and most of all he is real.

As for the rest of the night, well there were alot of awards to be had. I was nominated for Master of the Year and Most Improved. Tho i did not receive either award, and I had some really nice shout outs from my peers telling me that i deserved one or both, it really is fine. Every one of us is deserving, and honestly? If you had told me in April, 2010 as i lay in bed in Galveston TX before my VERY First Ironman event, the Texas 70.3, FREAKING OUT, that i had no idea what i was doing....if you had told me i would be on the dream team TEAM MN or even nominated for either of the two awards i would have said " Ha, funny."

When i come full circle, I woke up today the same person, with the same little ache in my Right hamstring and butt, ( that is getting better btw) and the joy of having a loving husband, super nice friends that love me, and even some super nice friends i have met thru racing that i didnt know at all this spring. I would be lying if i didnt THINK i deserved to win one of those awards, but at the end of the night I was sure happy to be there to support Cathy, Julie, Jenny, and those people that attended. Men and Women, we really have a great talent up here in MN.

The Committee that organized it did a fantastic job and if any of you are reading this. THANK YOU!! WELL DONE!

So, do i have the inner fire now in my belly to come back and PROVE that i deserved to win? Nah, not really. That isnt what really motivates me to be honest. I have my own goals, many of which involve racing out of state and seeing my camp friends and friends i have met thru my fantastic coach Jen. It's all good, we have to remember that people. I can tell ya, how quickly running a certain pace seems like H- E- double hockey sticks right now. Granted the snow isnt helping. But my point is you can have it all taken away so quickly, so enjoy the ups and try to weather the downs as well. Hopefully we have alot more of the ups to come!

And i think we have more snow and sub zero to come so i am gonna have to wear my new bracelet the nice K Swiss Sisters gave me that says WYAO. Its not quite HTFU. But any guess what it is?

WORK YOUR ASS OFF