How it all began...

Back in July of 2013 my friend Jenn asked me to meet her at the pool to help her work on her stroke as she trained for the YWCA Women’s Triathlon. While we were at the pool she said “you should totally do this tri, it’s easy and fun”. As a former competitive swimmer I always thought about doing triathlons, but my excuse was always the same, “I don’t run”. “But the run is only three miles” she said. To me, three miles might as well have been a marathon. See, to a non-runner ANY running seems like an impossibility. So, the idea was left there in the water. But as the summer went on, I couldn't stop thinking about the triathlon, and all my friends who were still competing in Masters swimming, triathlons, marathons, doing fun races with their kids. I stewed about it, felt sorry for myself, and continued to sit on my ass and do nothing.

That is,until November 18, 2013, the day after my 42nd birthday. I don’t know what it was about that day, in that moment, but as I sat at my desk staring at my computer I said to myself, “I’m going to do it. I’m going to do the triathlon this summer”. I got up, went to the Rec Center and signed up for sessions with a personal trainer. Little did I know that that day would be the start of a new me! I could go on and on and bore you to tears with tales about my “journey”, but just typing that sentence makes me want to puke. So instead I’ll just share some way-points.

• When I started training, I couldn't run for 2 minutes at a 12 min/mile pace on the treadmill, but in a month I was able to run a whole mile without stopping. 

• By April, I ran my first 5K race (that’s 3 miles if you are wondering) in just over 30 minutes.

• In June, I did my first triathlon, and I killed it. I mean, I shocked myself. I knew I was going to finish (1/4 mile swim, 10 mile bike, 2 mile run), but I not only finished, I WON my age group. My competitive fires were reignited and for the first time in over 20 years I felt like an athlete again.

I continued to train and in August I joined Jenn, and several other friends for the YWCA Women’s Triathlon. It was an amazing experience. All those women, all ages, all sizes, all abilities, all with a common goal, finish a triathlon, and in the process inspire any woman who thinks it’s an impossibility. With no races on the horizon after that, I started to wonder what was going to keep me going. That’s when my Best Running Friend (BRF), Brandi, said we should put our names into the lottery for the TC 10-mile. Um, me running 10 miles, she had to be out of her mind! But, the “I can’ts” of my past were now buried down deep beneath the “I cans” of the new me. When my name was pulled but not Brandi’s I thought about skipping it, I mean, I didn't want to run if she wasn't going to be by my side. But she told me “You have to do it, this is YOUR year!” And she was right, this was my year, my year to prove that someone who “used to be an athlete”, someone who “doesn't run”, someone who ALWAYS had an excuse to sit on the sidelines, could do amazing things with a little hard work and determination. I finished that race, all 10 miles, at a 9:35 min/mile pace. Me, the woman who couldn't run for 2 minutes on the treadmill less than a year earlier, just ran for 1 hour and 35 minutes without stopping!

After that race I felt energized, I had to take some deep breaths as I approached the finish line to keep from bursting into tears I was so proud of myself. It was right then that I decided to finish off my first year of running with an attempt at a half-marathon. So on October 25, 2014, not quite one year after I started, I ran 13.1 miles, on MY feet, with MY legs. My family was at the finish line to cheer me on, just like they were at my first 5K, and my first Triathlon, and I was not only proud of myself for finishing, I was proud of them for letting me get to the finish line, because some days it meant I didn't have as much time to play with the kids, and some days I was too tired to help with dinner, and some days I needed Kayley on her scooter to help pace me on my run, and they were always there cheering me on, no matter what.

I have no plans on stopping at 13.1. In June of 2014 I will attempt to run my first full marathon, and in July I will do an Olympic distance triathlon, and I will run some fun 5Ks with my daughter, and maybe, in a few years I will do an Ironman, okay, maybe a half-Ironman (I’m an athlete, I’m not Super Woman)…but who knows. I really feel like the sky’s the limit. I am proof that you are never too old, too out of shape, too busy, or too (fill in the blank) to make a change in your life.

If you are like me and are already on this path, please keep sharing your stories and successes, because they inspire me and so many other people in ways you probably don’t even realize. If you are someone who is just starting to make these changes, all I can say is, STAY THE COURSE! This road has hills, potholes, detours, and sometimes is just closed for no apparent reason. But those obstacles are there so that we find another way to get to where we are going, not so that we’ll turn around and go back home. For those of you who are where I was a year ago, and you are sitting there listening to the voice in your head say “I don’t run”. Shut that voice up, because there is another quieter voice in there saying “well, maybe.” Let your “well maybe” voice scream at you. That voice belongs to a triathlete, or a marathoner, or a 5Ker, or someone who walks around their neighborhood with friends every night to stay in shape. That voice is a better you waiting to be the new you.