I am a physical
therapist and teacher by profession, but my real passion in life is racing! I
live for those rare moments in races when you feel you are really putting all
the training and planning together with an all-out effort and total commitment
to achieve a goal! That goal can be to win your age group, to finish in the top
10 or just to know that you are finishing strong and leaving nothing out there
on the course.
I wasn't much of an
athlete growing up, but even as a 10 year old I would make my sister race me in
complicated multi-sport events. We had a swimming pool and these races often
involved swimming across the pool, doing a certain number of pull-ups on the
clothesline pole, riding our bikes to the neighbors and back and then running
around the house. Even then I loved the idea of one race to test every aspect
of one's athletic abilities! It's cool I ended up as a triathlete.
Well, here I am almost 50 years later and I've done a whole lot of races. One of my tricks for reducing disappointment is to sandbag. If you're not familiar with this term, it means to "build a wall". For me, that means lowering my own expectations (and those of my competitors and anyone else who knows me). That way, no matter how I do, short of a DNF, I can feel like the race was a positive experience! But really, I'm so lucky to have been able to race all these years and to have benefited from this lifestyle as a triathlete.
One thing I do regret though, is that over the years
many of my friends in this sport haven't continued and have dropped out for
various reasons. This has had two effects: first, I miss those people and I
feel like I'm in this alone for the first time, and second, its depressing
because I wonder if that's what's next for me. That is what has brought me to
create this blog. I'm hoping that I can rekindle my love for the sport of triathlon and stay connected with fellow
triathletes and other multi-sport bloggers.
Favorite quote: "...at so many stages along the way, the limits that I thought I could see in the distance dissolved as I approached them. They turned out not to be real at all, but mere assumptions. And that has been the most exciting revelation of all"
Chrissie Wellington, A Life Without Limits, 2013
Favorite quote: "...at so many stages along the way, the limits that I thought I could see in the distance dissolved as I approached them. They turned out not to be real at all, but mere assumptions. And that has been the most exciting revelation of all"
Chrissie Wellington, A Life Without Limits, 2013
I've had the blog for an entire year!!! Big accomplishment for me since I've never been able to keep any kind of journal before this.
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