My First Triathlon - EVER
I remember my first triathlon, like if it was yesterday! I was in my early 20s and scared shitless.
I had never swum in open water before and I had just taught myself how to freestyle by watching YouTube videos a few weeks prior to race day. To make matters worse, I had never run more than a 5k and I was about to race in an Olympic distance triathlon.
You see, I registered for my first triathlon after a drunk dare with my colleagues from the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. Toeing that start line was all for the wrong reasons. Yet, something in me clicked that day. For the first time, in a very long time, I felt alive and empowered.
The race was held in Salisbury, Maryland in late September. It was a cold morning and it rained on and off. The swim was in a duck pond and it was wetsuit legal. I had rented a sleeveless wetsuit for the race but had never tried it prior to race day. I entered the pond walking through sticky black mud, aka duck poop and line up with the rest of my age group. The swim was a in-water mass start. Typical for that era.
As soon as the gun went off, I started to swim but had to stop as I couldn’t breathe. I felt like the wetsuit was suffocating me. I put my head back in the water and again I had to stop. I was having a panic attack, all while other swimmers swam over me, pulling me under, and kicked me. I even remember yelling “what the fuck” and looking at others like is this really happening.
I had never experienced so much fear and anger all at the same time.
What felt like an eternity was probably just a few minutes. I eventually got a hold of my emotions, unzipped my wetsuit to loosen the neck area, and started swimming buoy to buoy to swim my first ever 1 mile open water swim.
Running out of the pond, I felt like a total badass warrior conquering my fears! I felt so fucking proud of myself!
Getting on my bike was the easy part of this race. My comfort zone, what was familiar. I came into triathlon as a cyclist. I had already done a few century rides (100 milers) to raise money for Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and had dipped my toes into road cycling racing too. The bike leg was uneventful, minus that it rained and I was cold.
Coming off the bike, I knew that now I was going to face my biggest fear of the day. I had to tackle my first ever 10k. Each mile felt horribly hard. Yet, when I crossed that finish line, running through the trees next to the pond, I was rewarded with the absolute biggest endorphin high I had ever felt in life. I had never felt this sensation and I was fucking hooked!
Let me clarify. I wasn’t hooked yet to triathlon racing. That would come 15 years later, when I would race in my 2nd triathlon, at IRONMAN 70.3 Cozumel in 2015. Instead, I was hooked on how running made me feel. It gave me the confidence to race in my first half marathon and several marathons, a distance that I once thought was absolutely crazy and impossible to achieve!
Triathlon racing allowed me to see what is possible on the other side of fear. It gave me, my power back that I had lost in my 20s after losing my father to suicide in my last year of college.
This year, as I turn 50 and celebrate 10 consecutive years of racing in 18 half IRONMANs, 8 full IRONMANs, and 2 marathon swims, I will remember that young 25 year old girl that was lost, afraid, and felt not good enough. I race for her and every young girl that needs a reminder and an inspiration of how fucking strong women are when we do hard things.
Next weekend, to kick off my new age group 50-54, I will be toeing the start line at IRONMAN 70.3 Puerto Rico. I’ve come a long way since my first triathlon and my why has never been stronger.
My “why” I race is to inspire the next generation all while reminding myself how fucking strong I am.