Happy August! It’s one of my favorite times of year - mainly because it’s my birthday month. (August 26. Send gluten-free cupcakes.)
I haven’t been writing a lot here because there hasn’t been a whole lot going on. I’ve been consistently training, but without a race on the calendar, it’s hard to give updates or find newsworthy. Plus, I’ve been addicted to the Tour de France and the Olympics and let my writing on the blog slide a little.
I have been compiling stories about past races and adventures in an attempt to sum up what this journey has meant to me so far. It’s been fun to look back, summarize and organize all the training and racing that I did to get me to where I am right now.
In honor of the Olympics, I looked up some of my podium pictures. It wasn’t until my third year of racing that I got on the podium. I was thrilled. There was a woman in her 80s that had been getting on the podium at all the local sprint distance races for as long as I’d been in tri. Sharon would do a cartwheel, accept her award and step up on the wooden blocks labeled 1, 2 or 3. I wanted to be like her. So, when my name was called, I skipped up to the announcer, did a curtsy bow, accepted my prize and stepped up on the block. I’ve been doing that dance ever since.
For the most part, in races I like to beat my time from the year before or try to beat the women on my level, in my age group. What that means is that I would look up all the women in my age group and rank them based on a past triathlon or their run speed. I would rank them A+ for the best, B for the middle of the pack and C for newbies or back of the pack. My goal was to pick one woman from the B group and try to out swim and bike and run her. It fired up the competitor in me who likes to chase and be chased.
I always tell my athletes that a podium is icing on the cake. It really all depends on who shows up. I could be in my top form and have a personal best and three ex-pros might show up to race each other - and knock me down to fourth place (my least favorite). It’s not wise to go into a race with that mentality. It’s not the best mentality if it’s the only reason you are racing and it robs you of joy.
But, that’s what the Olympics are all about. It’s all about gold, silver and bronze. If getting onto the podium — stepping up onto the box at local races - were an actual event, I would need to go into the repechage stage. In 2014, I raced did the White Lake International and came in second. I was feeling pretty proud of myself and after my skip and curtsy routine, I tried to jump onto the box. I failed. I slipped off the back and was able to catch myself in some pose that looks like twerking. Fortunately, I didn’t fall over and best of all, because my age group is one of the last to be called, the crowd had thinned and there were a lot fewer people to laugh at me. The woman in third cupped her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing, Erica and Jen howled and Mary T - the race director who had called my name said something like: maybe you should stick to swimbikerun.
At the next race that I made the podium, she pulled a ramp up to the step to help me up.
Azalea Triathlon 2015(ish)
Wrightsville Beach Sprint Tri 2015(ish).