Good Luck Erika!!!!

I love how blogging has connected me with some many wonderful women. One of these women I “met” last year through the Fit Approach, Sweat Pink ambassador program. At the time Erika (This Spartan Will) and her family lived in Michigan, but they recently relocated to Seattle.  I was lucky to have the opportunity to actually meet Erika in person when I was in Seattle to watch the Seattle Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon in June. Just like her blog portrays she is incredibly sweet, down to earth, and talented.

Over the last couple of months, Erika has been training for her first IM event in Arizona. I have enjoyed reading about her training adventures and stalking her workouts on Daily Mile. She has gotten so confident and that radiates. I find reading her workouts and her blog are inspiring to me. She has put up some impressive training times! Just last month she was riding her bike over 100 miles at a time and putting in 20 mile training runs. That isn’t including the countless hours she has logged in the swimming pool. To date (accoding to Daily Mile) in 2012 Erika has completed 5,311 training miles! Adding to her impressiveness Erika is also a full time mother to her sweet daughter Julia, a wife to Rob, and a driven career woman.  I don't know how Erika gets any sleep!

I asked Erika over twitter if she had any advice or words of wisdom to share with you. Her first response comes from one of my favorite Disney movies- Finding Nemo

"Just keep swimming"- Keep your eye on the finish line. How fitting is this? I know that Erika has had her eyes on the finish line for months. Now she is almost there!

Her second bit of advice is something that I need to learn & practice. Preparation + opportunity = success! You need to trust your training. I don't know how many times I have heard that phrase "trust your training"  and it just goes in one ear and out the other. Erika has embraced this, even though she might say differently. :-)

I recently purchased one of Erika's t-shirts showing support for IM adventure. If you have never been to an IM, most people make shirts supporting their friends or loved ones during the race. It is always fun to see the different types of shirts and logos that people come up with. Erika's good friend designed a really classy logo that has a spin off of her blog name and even has Spartan green on it  (see full logo below). The proceeds of her shirts were donated to her favorite charity- First Descents. I have proudly worn my shirt all over Spokane and I will be wearing it on Sunday as I track Erika's IM journey.

Sorry, don't look at my face, just look at the cute shirt :-)

This weekend is the BIG weekend- All of Erika’s hard work will cumulate in Arizona as she swims, bikes, and runs 140.6 miles to cross her first IM finish line. Be sure and cheer Erika on as she competes on this Sunday 11/18. The race starts at 7:00 am PST- you can track her from the IM website

Erika Myers bib #696

SOURCE

--Tasha