Why My First Triathlon was a Raving Success!........

....Even though I did not ever cross the finish line......

I'm still remembering, as if it were YESTERDAY, the very first Sprint Distance Triathlon (and in fact ONLY Triathlon) I have ever competed in.

I hope to do another someday, but for now the Golden Gate Triathlon of 2012 stands as the pinnacle of my athletic success (until I reach another pinnacle, the Paris Marathon, in April 2014 Lord willing!)

"How could it have been a success?  You didn't even finish the race!"

No, but I STARTED it. 

Let me explain.

In order to cross the STARTING line of the Golden Gate Triathlon in June of 2012, I had to:

Lose 130 pounds
Be able to swim 1/4 mile
Be able to ride a bike for 12 miles
Be able to run a 5K
Put all of those together and have a prayer of even THINKING I could finish it in one event.
Buy a ticket to San Francisco
Buy a wetsuit, and have it fit
Rent a bicycle when I got to San Francisco, and keep it in my little hotel room
Get up at 3:30 am on Race Day to ride my bike in the dark through the streets of San Francisco with for 1 hour with all of my gear in my backpack including my wetsuit just to get to the STARTING area by 5:00.

Every one of these task had to be accomplished in the proper order, at the proper time, with the proper equipment and in the proper place for me to accomplish my goal.  My goal of STARTING the Triathlon LOL.

And I did it.

If you ask me "what was the moment when it all came down to the wire, which was the moment when it was do or die?" 

I can remember it vividly.  It was actually when the alarm clock went off at 3:15 am on the morning of the race.  The bed was warm.  I had an inkling that I had forgotten my swim-suit for underneath my wetsuit (turns out as I was to find out later swim-suits are indeed optional underneath the wetsuit LOL!), and decided to give ONE MORE LOOK in my luggage, half hoping I would NOT find it and could crawl back underneath the warm covers on the chilly San Francisco morning.

I turned on the light.  I looked in the bag I KNEW I had already looked in, just ONE more time. 

And I found my suit.

Bear in mind, I had already told my husband the night before that I couldn't find my swim-suit, and wasn't sure if I would be able to compete in the Triathlon, so I had already sort of set the expectation for him that I would NOT do it.

But the steely resolve, that bull-dog tenacity that I have noticed in myself in some of the most interesting ways at the most interesting times rose to the surface.  For me, that moment, the moment of "Decide quickly because  you are truly running out of time to make this decision....what will it be?  Follow through?  Or throw in the towel?"

All of the preparation I had done, all the training, those laps I swam, those miles I rode on my one-speed back-pedal-to-brake $50 Garage Sale Bike with the Swarovski Crystals glued to the handlebars (yes I blinged it out myself..spent more on the crystals than I did on the bike!), those miles I ran, the weight I lost, the ticket I bought, the expectations I set, EVERYTHING came down to what seemed like a small decision at 3:25 am in a little hotel room near the Embarcadero.  Do I stay or do I go.

10 minutes later I was cycling through the fog. 

An hour later I was suiting up into my wetsuit and lining up on the beach of the San Francisco Marina near the Golden Gate Bridge.

And the airhorn went off, and I scrambled into the cold bay with hundreds of other ATHLETES. 

I think that was the DAY I became an athlete, although I knew I was one at heart.

Does it matter that the current turned into a dangerous rip-tide trying to sweep us under the bridge and out to see, and after 45 minutes of all of us swimming and very few of us even getting to or around the first bouy they apologised profusely as they instructed all of us to return to shore and they ditched the water-portion?  No.

Did it matter that I was SHAKING from the exertion of swimming for 45 minutes against a current, and could hardly pedal 4 of the 12 miles for the bike portion?

No.

Did it matter that I collapsed in a heap after biking that 4 miles and ignoring completely the 3.1 mile run? 

No.

Because that's just how races go sometimes!  But I HAD BECOME an athlete.  I WAS a participant in an amazing sprint distance Triathlon.  In my eyes I was a success because I SHOWED UP FOR MYSELF WHEN IT MATTERED.

That's kind of what we are all doing here, aren't we?  We are showing up for ourselves.  We are betting that we CAN DO THIS!  (Because we all CAN!)  And we are putting faith in OUR ability to do what it TAKES when it MATTERS.

Our life matters.  Our health matters.  Consistency and persistence matter.  Conditions can effect us, but it is what we do and what we decide when we absolutely are tired of doing all the hard work it took us to get as far as we have which determine whether we will succeed.

I could have packed it in that morning at 3:15, I could have gone with my initial assessment that I had forgotten my swim suit, been a little disappointed in myself, and come home.

I didn't.

The extra effort it took at the moment of decision, deciding to be brave and to DO what seemed INSANE (cycle 1 hour in the dark in a strange town just to get to the starting line) at the time was ME showing up for myself.  Being my hero that day.

How will you be your hero today?  For some it will simply be drinking 90 ounces of water.  Yay you!  For some it will be actually getting out that kitchen scale, dusting it off, and USING it to weigh your cooked lean protein, making sure to adhere to the amounts as written in the Quick Start Guide and intentionally adding your required healthy fats to your meal.  You see, you've been resisting that, fighting against it, and it really is to your BENEFIT to do it as written.  For some it will be saying no to that second cup of coffee with half and half in it, because you've already had one perfect cup today.  Make the next one black.  Be your hero.  For some it will be setting your cell-phone timer to 2.5 hours after you eat so that you get your next meal in on time, because you ALWAYS are late on your second Medifast Meal and go 4-5 hours in between meals sometimes.  Be your hero.  Set that timer.  For some it will be asking Aunt Penny if you can bring a salad to Thanksgiving.  Be your hero.  Be brave.  For some it will be getting the shoes on and getting out the door for that 1/2 hour walk, even though it is a little gloomy outside and you don't really feel like doing it. 

Next time you don't feel like it, picture me cycling an hour at 3:30 am in the dark.  =)  It is my GO-TO memory for days I just don't feel like it....

And it works every time for me LOL!

You can borrow it for awhile until you make your own memories of doing things you don't want to do.  The OLD you wouldn't do that.  The NEW you?  No boundaries baby.  You got this!

Rinse and Repeat!