One Year Anniversary

It’s crazy to think about, especially because it feels more like 3 years, but this week is the one year anniversary of my intro to endurance racing. Before 2009, I had never run over 6 miles and I was the last person on earth that wanted to do a marathon or triathlon. I was a soccer player and I mocked anyone who actually enjoyed running. It sounds stupid now, but I just didn’t understand why people would run when there were real sports to play. Well, now I know the answer.

Twelve months ago, I was a complete rookie toeing the start line of my first, and what I thought would be my last marathon. The idea to race a marathon came to me when I knew I wanted a challenge in my life, but I honestly had no intention of becoming a marathoner. I just wanted to test the waters in triathlons and I thought that if I completed a marathon, it would make triathlon training manageable. So there I was – young, foolish and full of hope. Without going into too much detail, I came into that race undertrained, uneducated, and underprepared for 26 painful miles. Needless to say, it was a major eye opening experience.

Fortunately, I came out alive and thankful that I could finally put marathons in my past and focus solely on triathlons. I preferred the biking and swimming over running any day so I was pumped to get started.

Initially, training was a stress reliever and a way for me to make time for myself. It was a release. I could just hop on the bike or jump in the pool and forget about everything but the training goal at hand. But over time, and courtesy of the tear-jerking Ironman videos online, training had a much bigger meaning – 140.6 miles.

Call it foolish, call is cliché, but just like every other triathlete that watches an Ironman video, I pictured myself crossing that finish line and I was sold. Don’t get me wrong – yes, my disastrous marathon was behind me but the humbling experience still stuck. I knew it would take plenty of dedication and hard work, but having a dream (and yes, completing this race is a dream of mine, as cheesy as it may be) made me feel like I was back in middle school hoping that someday I’d become a European soccer player. Only this time the dream was much more realistic.

So from that point on, I buried my head in triathlon books and learned as much about the sport as I could. I would never be that underprepared racer at the start line again. Only problem was that at this point, I was just weeks away from my first Olympic distance (S-1M, B-26M, R-6M) race but my mind couldn’t help but think about the longer term goal. I was already planning out a schedule and putting a temporary goal date for racing an Ironman in the summer of 2012.

Fast forward a few weeks and I’m slowly charging to the finish line of my first triathlon. It wasn’t pretty but I felt great and after the usual post-race cookie binge, I began thinking about the next race – a half-Ironman triathlon. This was the next big hurdle before diving headfirst into the Ironman dream so I signed up a few months out and trained harder than I’ve ever trained. Once race day rolled around, I felt more prepared than I had ever been before and was even getting a little greedy with my secret goal time. Long story short, after a little over five and a half hours, I was crossing the finish line well under my goal time and even got on the podium for my age group. Success! I couldn’t have been happier and despite a disappointing lack of post-race cookies, I was ready to start planning for the big one.

So last September, way ahead of the original plan, I signed up for Ironman Coeur D’Alene and now I’m just six weeks away from (hopefully) finishing my dream race. Funny thing is – I’d be lying if I said the dream hasn’t grown ten times larger since this time last year.

17 months ago, I thought finishing a marathon was impossible. 16 months ago, I had never run more than a slow six miles. 11 months ago, I had never completed a triathlon. And today, I could never imagine my life without endurance racing.

And yes, that even includes marathons.