Why even tri?
Warning: This is a tad longer of a post.
If you spoke with me for more than an hour last year, you probably heard me reference my favorite TED Talk: “Start with Why”, by Simon Sinek. Here, I’ll save you the search:
So if we’ve never met, this may not be a question you’re pondering. But it might be helpful to know that I haven’t always done triathlons. Last year in Chicago was my very first official one. (I don’t count the one time I did Sprint distance with a coworker before driving into work…) In fact I ran my first ever mile in 2014. Before then I couldn’t really go 800m without needing to walk. But see until this point in my life I’ve mostly gravitated towards things I already had a natural gifting for (we’re also not counting beach volleyball here, that’s just fun!) And while this list isn’t exactly small, I have always been a “Jack of all trades, Master of none.” Growing up I never really considered myself an athlete, let alone one “capable” of completing a triathlon. Psshhh I didn’t even know triathlons existed!! I won a backstroke sprint once in high school, and I’ve always played sports recreationally. But racing the Chicago Tri last year was a very different animal And the speeds I will have to hit and maintain throughout the duration of my Chicago race this year exceed any I’ve ever done! So I guess the heart of it is to find an arena to perform and excel in.
Like a number of the things I’ve come to appreciate in life, this sport is one I stumbled into. In the late summer of 2015, I succeeded in snapping my right ACL in two on my third attempt (two soccer injuries, and finally a volleyball injuy that tore the last string). After the surgery that November, I was banished to a life without soccer or basketball or volleyball for a full year. It sucked. I had spent most of my free time the summer before out on the volleyball courts of North Avenue beach. As it turned out, about the only activities the doc and PT permitted were swimming, biking, and running. That’s when I first had the idea of a triathlon (leading to that fateful pre-work, Sprint triathlon I referred to earlier) but it wouldn’t be for another 2 years until my friend David Hall dragged me along for the crazy ride that is swimming and biking and running with 7,500 of my favorite strangers and friends across the city!
Here’s the thing: I am convinced - thoroughly convinced - that anyone can do a triathlon. Maybe not an Ironman, but at least a Sprint distance. What I’m excited about is to apply myself to something that while many people do every year, but in such a way that most people simply won’t. I’m excited to push my boundaries and see, maybe for the first time in my life, what I REALLY am capable of! No, I won’t be competing for an age group podium. At least not yet. Others in the sport have the advantage of years of training and discipline and teaching and gear; but breaking 2:30 is still a feat, personally and in the world of triathlon.
So…why even tri? Because finishing a triathlon - hitting ANY crazy goal you set for yourself - makes you feel like this:
And I think that’s something we all need to feel at least once :)
