Let's Go to Ohio!

In the days leading up to the race I became very calm. Focused. Ready. Calm.

This is very unlike me. Usually leading into a race I get very excited and butterflies start nesting in my tummy. It's a mix of nervous energy, expectation and a dash of anxiety.

Calm is a new feeling for me.
I wasn't scared. I wasn't nervous.
I was just ready.

I knew that the calm would not last. How could it? How could I be toeing the line of my biggest race to date and be this CALM? Relaxed? It made me nervous. I kept sending text messages to Coach telling her that I was scared of this feeling.

Then the vomit hit the fan...so to speak.

We were going to leave on Wednesday to drive to Ohio. We rented a huge minivan (a Toyota Sienna, which I am in love with btw). Wednesday morning, Lola got sick.
Really sick.
Fever.
Projectile vomiting (grapes across the living room, sweeeeet!).

The calm left and the anxiety, worry and panic set in.

My biggest fear is that I would not have my little girl, my inspiration, my heart with ME. All of this change came about because of HER and the finish line would be missing a huge part of ME without HER there. I wanted nothing more than my family with me to celebrate this accomplishment.
It broke my heart.

My other fear was what if I get sick too? 

I started to have a mini-freakout complete with tears, anger and frustration. I felt such a complete loss of control over the situation. This race was the culmination of years of hard work and I was afraid it would slip through my fingers with nothing I could do to stop it...

There were lots of prayers happening.
We delayed our trip by a day in the hopes that Lola would feel better and get to go.
The thought of driving 15 hours to Ohio alone wasn't thrilling but back up plans were made.

Casey would stay home with Lola.
My friend/athlete/training partner Marc was able to come with me if Lola did not improve and he would pack and be ready to roll at 3am if need be! (Thank you, Marc!!)

Thursday morning we woke up super early and finished packing up the van. We woke Lola up shortly before ROLL time and she was fine. She woke excited and ready to GO TO OHIO!

She seemed to be doing great and then BOOM! Sick again...no fever but she was started throwing up again. We debated back and forth what to do. I called my Mom seeking advice.
I wanted Lola and Casey with me but I did not want my daughter to suffer through a very long car ride sick. I did not want us to be 8 hours in and have one of us get sick. I did not want to get to Ohio and spend the weekend throwing up myself...My Mom said to roll the dice, bring a bucket and go.
Casey was not too on board with this idea and was very concerned about Lola being stuck in a minivan, sick. But we rolled the dice...

Two hours of driving brought some vomiting, crying and she was afraid of the dark. It broke my heart to see her like this and I wondered if me made the right decision. She started to get warm again and when the sun came up, she finally fell asleep.

She woke up a NEW GIRL.

No fever. No sickness. The spunky, high energy girl we know and love was BAAACK!
It was all going to be OK

Lola re-enacting the action with the puke bucket

Let's get GOOFY! 

Yup, she was feeling better for sure! Shaka

The drive to Ohio was pretty cool! I wish we had more time to make some stops along the way, like Niagra Falls, the Football Hall of Fame to name a few.

We took Route 90 all along Lake Erie and it was a beautiful drive!

NEXT STOP: Sandusky, Ohio