The Warrior

"Run like you're a warrior!" were the wise words Woody usually gave me as I was walking out the door to go running during my training. Although that was my mascot in college, I can't say that I've ever thought of myself as such. Quite frankly I never was able to really visualize it. My ability to talk myself into a walk from a run came much more easily!


All my training efforts of the past year finally paid off as I completed my second annual Tri for the Cure yesterday. I had a great time. I started off with a mixture of excitement and nerves as I stood waist-deep in the reservoir, sporting my bright orange swim cap with the rest of my age group. Then, 3...2...1...go! I was off, but I quickly remembered how different it is to swim in open water as opposed to a pool. I couldn't seem to catch my breath and occasionally rolled over to my back to slow my heart rate down. The first buoy seemed so far away and was tricky to see through my foggy goggles (that I borrowed from Megan). Alas, I reached it and was almost half way there. Just a little more to the second buoy and then I could head back to shore.


From there I hoped on my bike and headed out. Thankfully, one of my friends pumped up my tires that morning. I realized that I had been riding on half flat tires (20psi) for the past year. She filled them to the recommended 70psi and I think that might have helped me go a bit faster. There still were a lot of ladies that effortlessly passed me by as if they were floating along the pavement. Good for them.


Finally the run. Thanks to Woody's encouragement to do longer runs during training, I was able to run most of the 3.1 miles in the tri. Having an iPod helped a lot too. I was pretty tired by this point, but I knew the more I ran, the faster I would be done. Then came the finish line. O, how I love the finish line. Until next year...maybe.