It’s hard to leave the comfort zone, but so great on the other side

I had three goals for the Triathlon, the first one was to finish and I did that. The next two, I didn’t do–to break 2 hours–I finished in 2 hours 4 minutes.  I came in #157 out of 202.

There were seven women in my age group, I came in 4th again, even though I was slower than in 2010, when I did it in 1 hour 53 minutes, but faster than two years ago, a time I’ve blocked out because my knee hurt — I think it was 2 hours 11 minutes!  (Turns out it was 2 hours flat!)

I didn’t sleep well Saturday night and was anxious, so when we started the swim, I must have gone out too fast and then couldn’t catch my breath and panicked.

It was scary in the deep water with people thrashing all around me and it felt like my lungs had seized up–very scary. I had to call out for help to one of the ‘swim angels’ and he lent me a noodle for a few seconds. After that, I’d lost my confidence and did the breast stroke most of the way. So instead of less than 20 minutes for the swim, I got out of the water at 25 minutes.

The bike was fine, I felt pretty good and the run was slow and steady. There were definitely moments of struggle and effort but I literally thought of my sister Sharon and her brain surgeries and her being in the ICU after and said to myself–you can do this, you will do this, so just keep putting one foot in front of the other, or in the case of the swim, one arm in front of the other.

Landon was so great–he saw me go through what I did in the swimming and was holding his breath. I was so happy to go through the finish line at the end–very joyous. I was so tired yesterday that I didn’t do anything–took a nap and read a book, had Landon cook for me–I was a noodle.

Today I felt fine and led a writing group all day, so this is the first moment I’ve had to write. I received a few sweet emails asking how I was–are you okay, it’s alright if you didn’t finish, etc. Thank you all. You were my angels yesterday helping me to keep going.

It reminded me a lot of childbirth, how you forget how hard it is and then go ‘oh yeah, now I remember this’ but by then it is too late to turn back!

The women, the other competitors were great. We had our ages on our calves in bright black felt pen, so when I passed a few women younger than me on the bike, they called out ‘you go girl, you’re my inspiration!’.

People lined the streets and clapped and cheered. Lots of little girls watching and I couldn’t help think how when I was little, there were no role models for women doing athletics at all. These little girls are growing up in a different world, thank goodness! Lots of young women competing too, though the woman who won was 47 and did it in 1 hour 13 minutes! Isn’t that amazing! I’m so impressed. I’d have to have had a motor attached to me to do it in that time! But that would be cheating.

We raised the 2nd highest amount–so thank you again for your generosity. It meant a lot to me.

Best wishes on taking some risks and stretching in life. It’s hard to leave the comfort zone, but so great on the other side.