Why I'm going to Tri

Now that my news is out about my upcoming triathlon, I am forced to define my reasoning on WHY I would choose to do this. I have had the majority of the people say, "You must be crazy." Maybe I am...That would explain a lot of what goes on in my brain. :) When I first started thinking about this triathlon, I was faced with the internal question of why I am doing this? Initially I just assummed I was filling the competivie void that I have. I have always been an athlete, I love being active. The more I processed this thought though, I realized that my competitiveness is not the driving force here. Quite frankly, I don't care if I come in last place. That is not the reason I am doing it. More than likely, I will come in last place, and for once in my life, I am ok with that. This is going to be such a physical challenge for me that I will be proud even if it takes 3 hours and me rolling to the finish line.

Let me take you through what I will be doing on October 1. This is a "sprint" triathlon, meaning that the distances are shorter than the Olympic style. So, I will begin at 7:00 in the morning with a nice 750 meter (.5 mile) swim in OPEN water. Not the ocean or anything, but it is not a pool. I have no fear about this, I am a fish. I love water and I can swim. I just need to polish up and do some endurance drills and I should be good to go. After I swim I will rush to my Transition area, put on my cycling attire and jump on a bike for a 12 mile ride. (Insert cricket noise here). OK PEOPLE, I don't ride bikes. I am scared to death of bicycles. I get nervous and I get sweaty palms, it's awful. So, here is the real challenge. I have 7 months to learn how to manuveur a bike in a crowd without completely freaking out. THAT is the challenge. I know that physically I can get ready for it. My legs will be ready on race day...it's my mental toughness that is going to get me through the bike ride. After the 12 mile bike ride, I will run for 3.1 miles. Don't see this being a problem, running isn't too bad and it is something I can train for.

I know that this is going to be tough. It is going to require training on days that I don't want to. It is going to require running in the Texas Summer HEAT. It is going to take sacrifices and it is going to be a journey that I have to do on my own. Yes, my family and friends will support me, but in reality it is just me against the race. Am I scared, ABSOLUTELY, but not scared enough to NOT do it. I want to experience life, I want to LIVE OUT LOUD. I want to be physically and mentally fit and this is the way I am choosing to accomplish it. I read this reason for wanting to be a triathlete on a shirt and I LOVE IT. It fits to a tee. SO, here is my #1 reason for wanting to train for a triathlon.

"The Grim Reaper will catch us all one day; but he will have to work hard to catch me. When he finally catches me, you better believe that he will be clutching his chest and gasping for air."