I Go 100

So now we’re near the end of this journey. It’s been a long haul. I started the igo100 journey back in August 2009, with a dream and no idea how to get there. But I learned what I needed to each step of the way and just kept putting one foot in front of the other. It hasn’t been easy, and the hardest lessons learned were those about myself. About my ego. And here is what I’ve learned:

This is not about me. This not about me rowing 100 km.

This is about you.

Do you have a dream? Do you want to make a difference?

What is holding you back?

I’m proof that you don’t have to be famous, or brilliant, or a super athlete to chase a dream. You don’t have to be born into the right family. And you certainly don’t have to be perfect. There is never a perfect time to do it either.

You just have to take a deep breath and jump.

You’ll learn what you need to along the way. Sure, it will probably be hard at times, but that makes it worthwhile. People will come forward to help, to give you what you need, at the right time.

But what if you fail?

There is a risk in everything. You can risk failure while chasing your dream. Or you can risk living a failed life by not trying anything. Someone once said that we never regret the chances we take, but rather the things we never attempt.

I received an email from my friend Tammy this morning with this:

“Come to the edge.”
“We can’t. We’re afraid.”
“Come to the edge.”
“We can’t. We will fall!”
“Come to the edge.”
And they came.
And he pushed them.
And they flew.

Guillaume Apollinaire

I believe you can fly.

Well we’re in the homestretch now. I took a week off work to take care of some final details for Saturday. I’m nervous about the setup on Saturday (anxious about something going wrong) so I’m risk managing as much as I can.

Today I’m going to perform some maintenance on the rowing machine and do a dry run on getting it into the vehicle – it comes apart in two pieces and “should” fit into hubby’s vehicle, but I want to be certain. Then I’ll put it back together and plug in the laptop to make sure the Rowpro application recognizes the machine.

I set up a Twitter Feed CLICK HERE so that you can check in on Saturday to see my progress. Since my hands will be occupied, I’ve enlisted one of my support team buddies to send updates for me. She’s never tweeted before, but I’ve reassured her it’s pretty easy.

I might run a live video – but if I do, it will be from a laptop webcam. Apparently the camcorder I have is too old and the drivers for streaming video are unsupported by the operating systems I have. But my friend will tape some of the row for uploading and sharing later.

I started a list of things to bring to the mall, including band-aids, fan, bubble wrap for my butt, cables and extension cords, fueling etc etc. I pimped out my rowing gloves – I use NewGrip gloves to prevent blisters and after a few months of use found I needed to tweak them. So I stitched some pieces together and cut off the elastic so now they’ll feel nearly perfect.

Fueling for the day will consist of Sharkies sports gummies and an electrolyte drink. On the advice of a couple of endurance runners, I’ll also take some flat coke and chicken broth (for salt) for later in the day. Since my stomach shuts down after a few hours I’ll start with the gummies and then switch to liquids. My meal before the row will be plain pasta with a touch of olive oil and salt. This has worked great for me on longer rows.

Yesterday I went to get some brochures printed and was surprised at the high cost – so I’ll be shopping around a bit in the next couple of days for a better deal. One of my friends, Robert Lutes, has generously donated a couple of large posters for people to read as they pass by. Thanks for taking care of that, Robert.

I need to confirm the person at the mall who will be setting up the sound system – this is an important element and I’m anxious about that working out. I should just be able to plug and play my ipod when I get there. I’m hoping to make this a fun day for everyone – but unfortunately I couldn’t get a disco ball installed over the dance area

A few other things are on my list to do, but I’m confident in getting it all done. I’m glad to have these things to do because I’m really nervous. So a distraction is good right now. Did I mention I’m nervous?

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