Good Coaching

So, FB, our triathlon class coach, is giving us the route for our run the other night. "Take Songbird Street to Rich Dead Guy Street to Pink Bird Street and then retrace back." (Names of streets have been changed to protect the innocent . . . okay, actually it's to protect me because I live in a tourist town and I don't want to get sued. It's CYA all the way.) And so, off we go.

As I'm approaching Mohave Lodging Road, I see FB's pickup on the side of the road. Now FB normally drives to the halfway point of our runs and brings beverages for us if we want/need them. However, I know that Mohave Lodging Road is nowhere near the half way point, so I'm surprised to see him. "Water?" FB asks. "No, I'm good," I reply. He nods and then, as I'm running off, as if it's an after thought, he nonchalantly says, "Hey why don't you take a right on Mohave Lodging Road. It just occured to me that right up there (our original route) is where a lot of people get shot." Yes, he did say SHOT.

A coach who is diligent in directing his athletes away from gun play. My kind of guy.

Ladies and Gentleman, introducing Sprint (wo) Man!

On Sunday, September 24, 2006, I completed my first sprint triathlon. This day has been two years in the making.

Now you might be thinking, "hey, I bet there's a great story here. Honey, gather the kids! Wow, two years to get to the place where this woman can swim 750 meters, bike 12 miles and run a 5K. This must be someone who has overcome serious obstacles, someone who has an inspiring story to tell."

And the answer is (drum roll please): umm, not so much. Though I could say that I am paralyzed . . . ("guys, a paralyzed triathlete!") . . . ahh, by my fear of the water.

Yes, I know, believe me I know, it's quite a letdown. I guess another way one could say it is that I am a big wussy scaredy cat crybaby. Let's see, after consideration Alex, I'll go with water paralysis for $100.00.

I first got interested in triathlon two years ago through people at the gym where I work out. I was taking cardio kickboxing classes and someone that I met in that class encouraged me to try the bootcamp class. And Bootcamp is where I met FB, who remains the most sarcastic, sadistic, hilarious instructor/coach/personal trainer that I have ever met.

Besides bootcamp, FB ran the triathlon class. And he was always recruiting. When it came my turn, I pointed out to FB that I could NOT swim AT ALL. Yes, despite the fact that I grew up in Minnesota, the land of 10,000+ vile and evil bodies of water commonly referred to as "lakes," and despite the fact that in MN fishing is considered a "sport", and despite the fact that everybody in MN (and their brother too) have weekend cabins on the lake where they go to water ski and do water activities, I had never learned to swim (hello, my mother is from Ecuador. It's a well known fact that Ecuadorians cannot swim. Hey, that's my story and I'm sticking to it). FB being a diabolical genius said something to the effect of "oh, that's okay, just come and do the bike and run portion and see how it goes."

And so with that my triathlon story and journey began. And now having been inspired by the stories and journeys I've found in blogs, I'm sharing mine.