Furnace Creek 508 ready or not!

It has been a great challenge to get to this point. Was I going to the race, was I going to have to back out. This has been going back and forth for a few weeks now.
The end result: today we will pack up the bikes and hit the road and by the grace of God I will put my best pedal forward to complete the Furnace Creek 508.

The journey of this event has come with my father being very ill again. My emotions of do I need to be with him right now or do I follow through with this race.
God has tested me over and over, has brought me to tears many times.
My father will have yet another open heart operation in a few weeks and the date was just decided yesterday. There is not anywhere I would be but right there with him if the operation was going to be this weekend! He wants me to follow through with my dream of completing the Death Valley Cup and God willing I will. The emotions of ill friends and and ill parent is the reason I will get through this 508 miles. So many people are suffering, I will ride to honor them and pray for Gods healing.

My back has been hurting to the point of tears. We have tried every possible thing on the bike to help the pain but it never went away and it continued to get worse and worse.
I have had many doubts that I would be able to take the pain for such a long period of time. Yesterday I went to see a Sports Medicine Doctor and she gave me a great deal of hope! I woke up today and the pain is 30% gone, by Sat. it may be gone!
My pelvis has rotated around close to an inch, causing me to look like my left leg is one inch shorter than the right leg. This has caused a great deal of pain to the SI joint in the lower back. All the nerves and muscles have been fighting against each other. I went to the Chiropractor (a friend who I trust and adore) it would feel better but right when I would start to ride again it would begin to hurt. The pelvis would not stay in place.
The muscle spasms started with my lower back and ended up going all the way up to my shoulder. Only on the right side and my back would burn and go numb with pain.
Doctor put me on a high dose of 2 medications to help relax the nerves and the muscles so that the pelvis could shift itself back into place.

This morning I can bend over!
Wow..I have learned so much through all of this training and pain.
Those of you who have chronic back pain, I understand the level of how debilitating this can be. I pray that you can find an answer to the pain.
I have never in my carrier gone back and forth about will I or can I do this race. It was so dependent on many things. God has taught me even more that my family comes first..balance comes first...your training and the race is lower on the list.

I have not come this far without the help, love, support and prayers of many people.

My family who has sacrificed there time with me so I could train. I pulled my kids on some rides and this was wonderful, but you can only ask a child to sit for so long:) I feel these rides pulling 50-75 pounds has given my legs strength that they have never had before but many have also been part of the back issues.

Cathy who has spent hours fixing bikes, watching me cry and has never given up on me so how could I give up..

Colleen: who did some rides with us but also had to listen to my whimpers:) Thank you for your help watching our kids to!

Barb Lindquist who I did some rides with: she pulls her twin boys!

The list goes on and on and you who are reading this blog are a big part of it all.
Thank you for the emails, blog posts with your love and support but really your belief in me as a friend, athlete and coach. This means the world to me. I will be looking forward to getting your race report on this blog about your races this weekend as well. My crew will be doing live updates and they will be able to tell me how you did at your own event so I can draw on your energy:)

Tracy Fawns: who read my blog about my sore butt and offered to send me her bike saddles to ride on. Tracy has done the 508 and RAAM. Thank you Tracy...I think your seats just my save my butt:):)

Crew: Paul Byron...check out his web site for his beautiful work:) Great gift ideas. Paul will be giving photos for some of the 508 awards!
Sparrow Hawk Photography
Wildlife and Nature Photography
http://photo.sparrow-hawk.org

So...ready or not??? This is the first bike race I have ever competed in. I will go to participate and to finish. I have a race plan but this will be dependent on many thing. The weather foracast looks like it will be much cooler than they expected but it also looks like high winds. Wind..I can deal with, bring it on. I am ready now emotionally, no more turning back. Ready physically: we shall find out. Never have doing a bike race it is hard to know if you are ready. I will give it my best and leave the rest up to Gods plan.
Here's a little more detailed forcast for specific points along the route:

Trona
http://www.weather.com/outlook/recreation/outdoors/wxdetail/USCA1162?dayNum=4&from=weekend
DV
http://www.weather.com/outlook/recreation/outdoors/weekend/USCA0286?from=search
Baker
http://www.weather.com/outlook/recreation/outdoors/wxdetail/USCA0061?dayNum=5&from=weekend
Amboy
http://www.weather.com/outlook/recreation/outdoors/wxdetail/USCA0026?dayNum=5&from=weekend
29 Palms
http://www.weather.com/outlook/recreation/outdoors/wxdetail/USCA1173?dayNum=5&from=weekend

This looks good...could be the coolest 508 in history (it usually gets up to about 105 out by Amboy on the 2nd day). The wind might be a little problem.


I have 3 bike jerseys that I will wear and they all have great meaning behind them.
1. Barb Lindquist, Olympic Triathlete gave me one of hers to train in and I will wear it with pride and drawn on all the energy she used while wearing it!

2. Paul Byron: sent me his 508 jersey..trust me this one is going to really help me when the going gets tough.

3. My husband Jay's one and only jersey that he said: you can wear it if you want to:):) I will wear it and hold my family close to my heart

I leave you with this today: sent to me from my friend Lauire.

"In my dream, the angel shrugged and said, if we fail this time, it will be a failure of imagination and then she placed the world gently in the palm of my hand".

May we all go and have a weekend full of grace, dignity and gratitude.

God speed,
Lisa