The back story behind my inspiration for this blog? My friends and budding triathletes that I
have recently shared some of my stories with about how I got to where I am
right now. Most of them end up giving me
blank stares, because they realize a simple, yet astounding, truth. I started off just like they did.
In high school (OMG, this might be long, I’m going back to
1995) I was a three-sport athlete – soccer, softball, and volleyball. The only reason I played volleyball in high
school (well, I ended up LOVING it), but the reason I tried out for volleyball
in high school is because I was cut (eek, omg, I got cut) from my eighth grade
team. I think I was the only girl that
didn’t own knee pads in eighth grade, and probably the only one who had never
played volleyball before tryouts, but still, you can’t keep me down. I was determined to prove to that coach that she
had made a mistake.
During my three-sport high school career, I decided I would
not play any sport in college if I couldn’t play the three sports I loved at
the college level (silly me). So I went
off to college and played on zero collegiate level teams. I went from being on, on average, two teams
at a time, to doing nothing.
NOTHING. I gained weight. A LOT of weight. I never hit 200, but I think I hit 198. Well, that was not fun to share, but like I
said, this is for those people who see the triathletes they admire and wonder
if they too can become “that triathlete”.
Believe me, no matter what the obstacle, you can kick ass like you want
to!
After college I had begun playing indoor soccer (you want a
serious ass-kicking, give indoor soccer a try).
Soccer has always been the sport I loved the most and playing indoor not
only got me back in shape, but reminded me of how much I loved the sport and
being active. My very first game, I fell
flat on my face. Twice. Not a joke, I really did. I thought I was still in high school soccer
shape, obviously, I had a lot of work to do to get my body to where my mind
thought it was. Some friends from San
Diego had moved to Texas about a year before I did, they were indoor soccer
buddies…I believe I arrived in Fort Worth on a Tuesday and was already on a
soccer team by Thursday. AWESOME J
In the end of 2006 (are we seriously six paragraphs in and
still six years back???) my friend and college roommate, Susie Sanderson,
called me up with the world’s most brilliant idea. Susie said to me, “let’s train for a marathon
and then meet up somewhere to run it!”
At this time, I was packing up to move to Texas and Susie was living in
Virginia. My answer? “Sweet!
Let’s do it.” (Have I mentioned
yet, that I hated running?).
So here begins my journey into the world of endurance
sports. About a month into my “marathon
training” Susie let me know that, due to work, she would not be able to follow
through with our marathon plan (and I am SO happy and PROUD to say that Susie
will be completing her first marathon in a matter of weeks!). Well, like I mentioned before, you can’t keep
me down! I had made my way up to a whopping
five miles and wasn’t going to turn back.
There were only 21 more miles to be conquered.
In comes Scott Alexander, who I had met on a cruise right
before I moved to Texas. Scott talked up
this Team In Training organization and told me how fabulous it was. Now that my marathon buddy was no longer
going to be able to join me in my adventure, I decided I needed to find a new
path to completing this goal. I also had
recently come to the conclusion, especially because I worked from home, that
there were three things I needed to do – 1) meet people, 2) find someone to do
all this ridiculous running with, and 3) do something good. I attended a Team In Training Info meeting,
signed up for the Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco in October of 2007 and
promised the fine folks of Team In Training that I would gladly raise $4,200
dollars for their cause (Team In Training funds blood cancer research through
the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society). By
the time I got back to the house, I wondered what the hell I had just
done. I hated running, I knew a total of
maybe 10 people in Texas, I was shy, and now I have SIGNED something that says
I’ll run a marathon AND raise thousands of dollars. Fantastic.
My first marathon!!!
I raised the money. I
ran that marathon. I discovered what an
IT Band is (sh*t those things hurt when they’re aggravated), and fell in
love with this whole running thing (thanks mostly, to the amazing people I met
through Team In Training).
Sometime in 2008 my friend, or so I thought he was a friend…Carlo
Capua, talked me into doing a triathlon. Now, I knew I could swim, but I also knew my
swimming proficiency ended with my ability, simply not to drown. I got out of this triathlon predicament for
awhile, simply by telling Carlo that I didn’t have a bike. No bike, no tri! I was home free! In comes Dianna Fuller, who showed up to a
Team In Training workout with a mountain bike.
Well, crap. The training for my
first tri consisted of about three mountain bike rides and one test ride on
Maria Capua’s (Carlo’s sister) hybrid bike.
The Capua siblings took me on a lovely ride, in which (after a whopping
three training rides on the Trinity Trail on a two ton mountain bike) I got to
experience Stephen’s Hills…one flat tire, one trip in a pick up back to the Y
with some strange country woman, and one ass-kicking of a hill ride later, I
was headed off to do my first triathlon.
I was nervous, but also somewhat excited. I completed it and kind of fell in love with
triathlon after that.
Let me mention a small note here, that I met Jeff Rizon in
the pool at the Benbrook YMCA while training for my first triathlon. Carlo and I (probably mostly Carlo) convinced
him that he could do a triathlon. Jeff
was just about as good as swimming as I was at this point (have you seen him
now???)
In 2010 I began heart rate training. This is where the fun really began for
me. In early July I ran the Ryan Run 5k
with my Team In Training team, with the caveat that I would run in my heart
rate training zones. So, I ran (if you
can call it running, ask Don Armstrong, he accompanied me on the Ryan Run that
year) in my zones. Texted my coach – “I
PRd!”. He tore my head off in his
response. So I followed up with, “I set
a personal record, I ran the slowest 5K I have ever run in my life.” Thus (this is for my athletes) TRUST THE
PLAN! During this introduction into
heart rate training, I went from running a sub-8:30 marathon to running about a
12-13 minute mile. Ego shot? Oh yeah.
This is Don and I after that speedy Ryan Run...good friends stick with you even during your SLOW runs :)
Enter Jeff Rizon and Chris Etter, who had recently completed
Ironman Coeur d’Alene. For weeks they
tried to get me to ride with them. To which
I responded, “NO!” I finally caved and
met them at the Benbrook YMCA. For those
of you who know the route well, you know the gate in the park where you have to
stop and lift your bike over. Well, Jeff
and Chris were patiently waiting for me at this point. As I rode up, Jeff asked “did you get a flat?” Talk about deflating :/ He did not mean any harm by this comment, but
I was in no way anywhere near the shape they were in.
I made a decision at this point in my training that there
would be days that I could train with the group and there would be days I had
to train on my own. That being the last
one in, being the slowest one in the pack, would pay off. If I stuck with the plan, good things would
happen. And they since have.
So for those of you, who so kindly compliment me, on my
achievements in triathlon. STICK WITH
IT. It does not come without hard work
and dedication, but you can do whatever you put your mind to.
As a recap (J):
-
I have been cut.
- I have been overweight.
- I have been the last one in.
- I have been “that guy” at the pool that can’t complete one lap, whose arms flail all over the place like they’re in the middle of the ocean during “The Perfect Storm”.
- I have had endurance sports heartaches, like missing the Boston Marathon by 4 seconds (yes, you read that right, that wasn’t a typo).
- I have overcome those heartaches, by realizing that I still had a 20+ minute PR in that marathon (BAM).
- I have been told “you can’t do it”, “you don’t deserve it”, and “you won’t do well, so why train for it?”
But through it all, I still know I LOVE THIS SPORT!
When I’m training, I do MY training (well, when I’m not
coaching, but I love coaching more than doing triathlons, so it’s well worth
it!!!)
My main rule when racing?
I only race myself. You can’t
compare your time to the finish time of anyone else. They are not you. They do not have your history or your future.
Decide what YOU want to do for YOU. I have seen some of my athletes accomplish
goal times they never thought possible.
I have seen some of my athletes complete race distances they couldn’t
fathom a year ago. You can do
whatever you put your mind to!
