Fulfilling my Dream to KONA

Hello. My name is Dotty Johnson.  I am a tri-athlete from Urbandale, Iowa.  I have been doing triathlons for the last 5 years.  I started doing local races and found that I really loved the level of competition that the sport offered.  As I trained to become stronger, I found that in order to do better and achieve my goals,  sacrifices in my life had to be made.  A local coach noticed my untapped potential and contacted me about training with him.  We met and he got me set up with an awesome training plan. This plan was relentless.  It invovled a total change in my nutritional habits (became mostly Vegan in 2015), sleep schedules and training schedule.  As I worked hard and continued to train and improve my times, I found a thirst to try more difficult races.  I have traveled to neighboring states to find a higher level of competition.  I always dreamed of getting to a level where I could compete nationally.  
Last September, while racing at the IRONMAN Wisconsin, I was blessed enough to have qualified to compete at the IRONMAN World Championships in Kona, Hawaii.  This was a dream come true for me.  I accepted the spot for the race and have continued to train hard for the last 11 months to become even stronger.  
Along the way, I have had so many people from all over the world who have given me the support I needed to keep going, even in the face of adversity.  I have always been extremely thankful for every piece of advice given to me by other athletes.  Without their help, support and encouragement, I would not be where I am today.  
Unfortunatley, through all of this hard work in trying to achieve my dream, I was unable to maintain my marriage.   I believe 100% that God had a plan for me and he put racing in my life for a reason.  I found that if you believe you can achieve your dreams, God will be there to make sure that you receive them.  I have found that my passion for this sport has led others to find their dreams, and I truly enjoy passing along my knowledge and experiences to them and assisting them in any way I can.  It was all the support and encouragement that I received that got me where I am and I hope to help others in the same way.  And to top it off, the race is on my BIRTHDAY!  What bigger sign is there that I am to do this race!  God is telling me to GO FOR IT!
This brings me to my go fund me reasons.  Due to my recent divorce, I have found it very difficult to make ends meet.  As you can probably guess, getting to Kona, Hawaii is not cheap.  There are airline fees, not only for myself, but also my bike as baggage! There are hotel costs, which, as you can imagine, are rather expensive in Hawaii. And the cost of food.  Wow.  It all adds up.  And to top it all off, I lost my job this week.  And the race is October 8.  I am asking you, if you have read through all of this, to find it in your heart to help me achieve my dream of racing in Kona, Hawaii. I want to make all of my supporters proud and show them that dreams can come true.  Any amount of donation would help me out.  I plan to use the donations to help pay my airline baggage fees, hotel stay and to purchase food for the time I am in Hawaii.  Any help you could give would mean the world to me and I would be unbelievably grateful.  Because the race date is October 8, I would need funds available to me by October 1, 2016.  
Thank you so much for reading through all of this and I hope and pray that you will find it in your heart to help me fulfill my dream and do the best that I can!!!!