Are You Living It?

I was feeling VERY sorry for myself this morning after a night of being harassed by my hip, my 4-year old, and my head…resulting in little to no quality sleep. As much as I love the balls i’m juggling, there are a lot of them. And I can’t get quality workouts in to clear my head without it being clouded right back up with hip pain (ok - I could swim my butt off, but - no offense to the swimmers out there - it just doesn’t do the same job for me as good bikes and runs).

So the day started with me very grumpy and snappy (as my husband would happily attest) until a client of mine emailed me to say she’d just cut 5 minutes off of her 6 mile running loop. So I got to live vicariously through her

Seriously though, it made me think back to the high points in my training and racing career…which made me reflect on just how short it’s been. This was my fourth season of triathlon, and this is how they looked (only notable races - my memory isn’t that good):

2006 (previous to this I had done 2 5k’s and 1 10k (1:58:46) in 2001…that’s IT beside having two kids):
May:
Triathlon by the Sea, Marblehead (1:15:58 - you always remember your first time)
Sudbury Sprint (something like 56 minutes in the mother’s day 100 year storm)
Marlboro Sprint (1:12ish?)
August:
Crane’s Beach (have no idea)
September:
North Shore Olympic (3:14…I trained all summer for that baby! My swim was over 40 minutes for the 1 mile!!! Ouch.)
Met Donna Furse at the MAC…she somehow convinced me that a 1/2 Ironman was “totally doable distance.” Began training for 2007 Mooseman with her…hired Janda in january, 2007 after realizing distance was NOT so doable

2007:
May:
Marblehead Tri: 1:08
Marlboro: 1:03ish? (2nd place AG…uh-oh…caught the bug)
June:
Mooseman 1/2 Iron (cool day results in survival, going under 6 hours, and exceedance of expectations…thought crossing the finish line “I could TOTALLY do an Ironman someday”….bug here to stay)

July:
Littleton Appleman (2nd fastest bike split, 4th in AG, decide: must get faster)

August:
Cranberry Olympic: 2:45ish…1/2 hour off previous Olympic, swim in 25 minutes - down 15 minutes from year before)

September:
Told growth on saccrum may be deadly cancer - won’t know for 2 weeks (obviously it was not :). Puke my way through the heat at FirmMan RI, EIA raises its ugly head for the first time, swim 32 minutes, bike 2:52, run 7hours (ok it just felt like that)…finish in 5:52 instead of the 5:35 I wanted, fly off to father’s funeral. Good times.

Sign up for Ironman Wisconsin.

October:
PR at Tufts 10K with a chest cold…48 minutes. Totally unexpected.

2008:
The Year of Ironman! Don’t really remember any of the other races, but won 2nd AG at Marlboro again, got my ass handed to me by the heat at Ludlow and Mooseman, did 2:37 at Cranberry injured, had a great race at RI until spraining my ankle half-way through the run, and lived through 2 climbs to the clouds and one very sad century by myself around the Quabbin.

IMWI: 13:09 (we all know THAT story)

2009:
Lions Sprint: have no idea, 3rd in AG - truly pathetic effort
Marblehead: 1:04ish? (1st in AG thanks to rain and Maureen Forsythe aging up
Wilbraham Tri: again, no idea the time but 1st overall.
???

I’m so excited for all the athletes I know and work with who are making their own histories, even if mine won’t get added to until next year…

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