You
can take the girl out of the triathlon, but you can never take the triathlon
out of the girl. In college, I discovered triathlons. I had swum like a fish since I was four,
lived out in the country so biking was a way of life, and running…well, let’s just
say we tolerated each other. Triathlons seemed to be a natural progression, and
for my four years at college, it was.
Life
tends to get in the way, and after college, I gave up racing to be more
“responsible”. Over the years, I toyed
with the idea of going back, and kept myself relatively fit in the hopes that
one day thoughts would become reality.
Recently,
I took stock. It was time to get back in the triathlon game, but I had bigger
goals in mind this time round. Ironman triathlons are the Holy Grail for a
triathlete, and so I set my sight on that goal. It didn’t matter that I hadn’t
done a full triathlon in twenty years.
If we are going to dream, dream big.
Swim?
No problem. May be a bit rusty but I had spent my summers teaching swimming
lessons.
Bike? No problem, I loved to mountain bike and
usually got a good ride in every weekend.
Run? Houston, we have a problem. Running and I
have always had a love/hate relationship. But for me to attain my goal, running
and I were going to have to come to some sort of understanding.
As
luck would have it (not sure yet whether it was good or bad luck), I was taking
a course on Health and Wellness, and the curriculum required me to run.
Figuring this was as good a time as any to test out my attitude adjustment, I
set feet to pavement. That first night,
the running got me. I couldn’t even get
a quarter mile. I firmly believed you should only run when chased, or if you
stole something.
Set
back but undaunted, I kept at it. The breakthrough happened about two months
in. I ran a mile, and felt really
good. I decided to try for two, and then
three. At four miles, I stopped and
raised my arms in my best Rocky imitation, bringing smiles to the faces of the
drivers passing by. For the first time,
I thought,”I could really do this”.
Right
around that time, I met some people who invited me to join a running
group. Misery loves company I thought,
not entirely sure if this breakthrough in my relationship with running would
hold. The first thing recommended to me
was to get some real running shoes to become a real runner, so I went to Valley
Running Company. The staff was awesome
and put me at ease. They were also busy,
giving me time to wander around the store.
Freeze! Hold up, what was that? A medal box…filled with medals. Ironman medals. The owner of the store had
completed eight Ironman races, eight! We sat down and had a great conversation,
where German agreed to coach me to my first Ironman, and after much discussion
we decided on Houston May 2014. There would be a lot of interim races,
including a 70.3, but that would be my first full Ironman.
Of
course, the first thing he said to me after watching me run was that he was
going to change everything about the way I ran. Great – just as running and I
were coming to an understanding, the rules were going to change.
The
funny thing is, after I got used to his method, I no longer felt like a clumsy,
wannabe runner. I began to fall in love
with running, and saw the beauty in it. I no longer needed to be chased to be
motivated to run.
I
know I have a long way to go before my first Ironman, and there will be days
that running and I may not be on speaking terms, but I trust that as long as I
keep putting on foot in front of the other, I will get to my goal.
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