The Rebuttal

Dear Megan's Will,

You need to ease off with the attitude without knowing the full story. See, I have a lot to say too, but like any other injured body part, we never get our full say - ya'll just wanna jump off the deep end and blame us for not cooperating, ruining the big plans - So hear me out.

First, know that I am not doing this out of spite. I like Megan, got nothin' but love for her (even if she did put that stupid tattoo on me - what a dumb 19-year-old move), but she needed a bit of a wake-up call and I felt that, since the knees weren't doing their job of staying injured, I needed to step up to the plate. See, the reality is is that Megan chose to do this race without having formed a deep and solid tri-base. Yeah she did a couple half-IMs, but so what? You don't just give someone that graduates from high school a doctorate after six months just because they bought the right books. They need to work up to the big time, learning and absorbing all the aspects of event and fully appreciate the enormity of IM.

Meg wasn't ready. Sure, she had the drive, the focus, and the heart, but a couple of marathons don't make for a successful Ironman. Her body just wasn't ready for the pounding she delivered. And moreover, she was doing it all inside, so her workouts were likely traumatizing her body a bit more than if she hit the actual road. We tried to warn her, throwing a couple of sore knees in there, but she outwitted us this time (damn coach of hers!) with her physical therapist to knock the knees back into place. So her body needed to do something more drastic to clue her in - I got nominated so I took her out.

Now, know that I don't like seeing her in pain. And how bad do I feel when she cries from the pain and frustration and disappointment, huh? Real bad, lemme tell ya. And I know she keeps putting in the good faith that she'll get better, which creates these emotional roller coasters of hope and despair, but I have to keep sticking around and challenging her, both mentally and physically, and testing you, her Will, because ultimately, that Will get her across the line. The stronger I help build you up now, the easier things will be race day.

I hope you can understand where I'm coming from, Will. After all, you should know all about testing people - isn't that how your build your own muscles? If we never test people, how do they ever grow, or know what they are capable of? Meg knows now - she knows what she's about and how far she can go. So we take this little experiment and all the lessons learned, and move on to the next race, even if it's not an "official" Ironman. The distance is still the same - and our girl will finish anyway.

Keep the faith,
Meg's Back