Name: Bonnie Edward
Age: 57 (listed as 58 in races. What’s with that?)
Occupation: Registered Nurse. Worked in the OR my whole career, and now teach in the Surgical Technology dept. at Nassau Comm. College.
Family: Married with 4 children; ages 27, 25, 24, 22.
If you don’t feel like reading this whole thing, (it’s not all that interesting☺)scroll to the end for the quotes. I am the youngest of 5 children and grew up in Mineola. Athletics were just a part of every day life growing up, and luckily, we all enjoyed it. There wasn’t much of a choice in interscholastic sports for girls back then, Field hockey and basketball. I’m only 5’ tall so I stuck to field hockey and cheerleading. I began running a couple of years after high school because 1. I couldn’t afford a gym membership, and 2. I realized I like my food, and couldn’t eat like I did when I was a teenager without gaining weight.
I ran my first marathon, Marine Corp in 1988, 10 months after my first son was born. We were living in Virginia at the time, and I met a girl that had done a marathon the year before. This was pretty unusual at the time. She told me what I have gone on to tell countless others; If I can do it, so can you. You just have to do the training. I have done a total of 9 marathons over the years. Marine Corp twice (the second with the son that was 10 mo. old at my first), Chicago, NYC twice, LI twice, Arizona, Paris, and the prom of all marathons, Boston.
When I think back of all the 10k, 5k, and ½ marathons and marathons that I’ve done over the years, I rarely think of how fast or slow I was, or where I did in my AG. What I remember was the opportunity it gave me to spend time with other family members and friends that I shared the experience with. Races have become somewhat of a “thing” in my extended family and a good excuse to come together from all over the country. My older sister and her daughter had both done ironman more than once so a couple of years ago I got it in my head that I wanted to do one as well. I had been biking a bit, and had done a few sprints, but the swim always scared me off. I was convinced that if I was able to keep my anxiety about the open water swim at bay, I could do it. I call them “the snakes in my head”. Well, I pretty much did just that. I thought I had it all figured out until I went on a bike ride with “real” bikers. Holy crap, don’t these people ever stop pedaling? When do we ride next to each other and chat? Screw the swim, I need to bike until my legs fall off if I ever stand a chance of finishing. That was almost 2 years ago, and I’m staring down IM Lake Placid in less than 27 days.
I’m thankful every single day for my healthy body. Forgive me for being so corny, but I just love Teddy Roosevelt quotes.
“For us is the life of action, of strenuous performance of duty; let us live in the harness, striving mightily; let us rather run the risk of wearing out than rusting out.”
― Theodore Roosevelt
“When you’re at the end of your rope, tie a knot and hold on” (This will be my IMLP mantra)
― Theodore Roosevelt
“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.”
― Theodore Roosevelt