It was the day of my second tri of the year. My sister and I had decided to
do the Super Sprint race in Kettle Moraine. Her foot had just healed from a
stress fracture and we thought this would be a good one to start with.
The weather was beautiful - couldn't ask for better race weather. Sunny, no humidity,
almost a little on the cool side to start the day. The lake water was warm.
So we line up for our wave to be announced... nervous but ready to go!
The horn blows and we were off - the swim was only 1/8 of a mile so we thought we
could do it in about 6 mins or under. Yep we did - 5:15!
Then we lost track of eachother in the crowds until we passed eachother on the bike corse.
Only a 6 mile bike so we were hoping for about 20 mins. Yep 18!!
Then came the run... no this is where the disturbing part of the day came into play.
I had been working on my run the most - feeling really good about how much progress I've
made in a short couple of months. From a 15min. mile down to under 12!
So I was really hoping for a nice quick finish on this short 1.5 mile run.
The offroad run portion was hindered due to the mass amount of rain a couple days prior to
the race. The race officials did the best they could by laying down hay and plywood... but it was
still real squishy out there. Unperdictable footing for an unexperienced runner.
First off - I got off my bike and made my way through transition onto the run. My heart was
racing... and not in a good way. It took me a good 1/2 mile to clam down enough to be able to
get into a groove. Then I hit the squishy off road portion of the run and started really struggling.
Natural runners were just flying past me like it was no big deal... but I was having a really hard
time. This is when I really started to mentally break down. "why am I doing this", "do I really like doing this?" "if I'm having a hard time with this little 1.5mi run, how the hell do I think I'm gonna get to the half ironman or the ironman?"
For some reason I really let this get to my head - I ended up finishing in 20mins. Longer than
I had wanted but I was happy to be done.
We looked at the results... and what do you know... 2nd Place. Yeah sure it was the Athena group in the Super Sprint... but I'll take it!!
That night and into the next day - I couldn't shake that self doubt. Can I really do this? Do I really want to do this?? How am I going to get there - I've got so far to go!
After a long talk with my wonderful husband - he insured me that it's in me to do it if I wanted to. It's within reach - it's just going to take some hard work.
Do I believe in myself? I don't know... I say I want it... but do I really?
In the end - a lot of thought and a good nights sleep... YES! Today I'm renewed again and ready to start again. I'm going to do it. I just need to find a new focus... maybe someone to help guide
me though this and get me to where I need to be.
This must be one of those road blocks people talk about right?
In any case, I'm ready to get back on track. :)
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