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| Panama City Beach |
SWIM 1.2 MILES - BIKE 56 MILES - RUN 13.1 MILES
I Came. I Saw. I Conquered.
There is nothing sweeter than setting a goal for yourself that seems so unobtainable you repeatedly fail at achieving it, but instead of quitting you keep plugging away at it, attacking it, trying to wrangle it... and then one day you actually accomplish it. That is the taste of success, and let me tell you ~ I have never experienced anything like it. The high that I am riding right now is indescribable. After two years of trying to get an official 70.3 distance triathlon under my belt, I finally did it. And I did it in a way that surprised even me.The purpose of my original blog (December 2009) was to allow others to follow along on my journey from being a couch potato to becoming a Half-Ironman. After what I considered to be an Epic Fail at my first attempt to conquer New Orleans 70.3 (although it did have some good points and I did learn in the process), I jumped back on the band wagon of race redemption with goals of destroying New Orleans 70.3 this past April. When the event was turned into a 69.1 because of the weather, again my goal was shattered. Two years of training, and visualizing, and pursuing that race... gone with the wind. Literally.
As soon as the race was over, my Coach suggested I sign up for the Gulf Coast Triathlon three weeks later and try once again at completing the distance. My response? I am done. D-U-N, dun. Don't even talk to me about another race this distance anytime soon. It's not meant to be. I am dun.
Obviously, my ability to rebound after a disappointing race has improved, as last year it took about two months before I could even consider doing the distance again. This time it only took a day. By the time I returned home from New Orleans, the decision was made. I just decided that I wasn't going to advertise it. I'll admit I was wavering outwardly, but inside I knew I was going to do it. My approach however, was going to be different. This race was personal now. My inability to accomplish my goal had gone on too long. I was going to do the race, and I was going to race it alone. No support, no family, no friends, no distractions. No need to explain myself afterwards if once again the goal wasn't achieved. The less people who knew about it the better. The thought of going to Florida alone for such a huge race made me very uncomfortable, as it was putting me far outside of my usual mode of operation, and I questioned my decision many times leading up to it.
