Steady is our walk. Ignoring the pain that is radiating from my feet, I continue to place one foot in front of the other. Again I wonder, “Why am I doing this?”
Thousands of spectators lined the shore and bridges overhead. When the announcer said, “Welcome to the best day of your life,” the possibility was still there for all of us.
It was the morning of Ironman Newfoundland 70.3, I felt queasy. I didn't want to eat or drink anything. I had a full blown case of the pre-race HEEBEE GEEBEES.
Athletes were buzzing around, adding last minute things to their transition bags. The sidewalks and grassy areas are filled with spectators and cameras. Announcements were being made.
It is my opinion that even though everyone else considered her a triathlete, she did not consider herself one. I think she still felt like she had no fitness direction and had given up on triathlon.
When the air horn went off, I did my best to simulate laps in the pool, but that dang panic came over me again, causing me to breaststroke until I could calm my breathing.
I just had a couple of problems, I could count the number of triathlons I had contested at zero. Secondly, I could count on one hand the number of times I had been swimming in the last 17 years.
My First Half Ironman Experience-A Slow, Fat, Old Triathlete. Here is my story of my first, and probably only Half Ironman. I’m an almost 52 year old, VERY Athena triathlete.
At one of my last swim sessions the week of my first Ironman, one of my training partners told me how she was envious..."your first Ironman is fun, you have no pressure and no expectations!"
I can't say it enough, the feeling of treading water for that final minute, helicopters over head, Mike Riley's Iron-voice over the P.A. - just awesome. I cannot believe I'm here!
Pain shows us how strong we are. After last weekend I am convinced of this. After 151 training hours of swimming, biking, and running, I flew to Sonoma County, California for the race.
I am not tough. I cried during the Lion King stampede, during Armageddon when Liv Tyler collapsed on the TV as her dad wished her farewell and, most embarrassingly, E.T.
