Monday, July 02, 2012
If any of you are in any doubt as to whether you could ever complete say a 5km race, then I will say to you that you almost certainly can barring physical disability or illness. Even then I have see some people complete incredible feats.
Last Saturday I raced in a sprint distance Triathlon in Athlone in Ireland. (750m Swim, 20km Cycle & 5km run). It was a horrible day weather wise, raining and windy and wild, and still I came home with a little sun burn on my face.
All that aside I had a great race which I really really really enjoyed. And the reason why I'm posting this here is to tell you, you would not believe the buzz of enthusiasm you get to enjoy after completing a race. It seems to me the more races I do the bigger the buzz. I find myself dying to get out training and dying to train more and to work on being able run faster etc and this feeling lasts for days after doing a race.
You may not come first, and like me on occasion in the past you may in fact even come last or second last. However, when I've been feeling a little too foolish and unfit in the past to even be trying, I've found myself looking around the office at the people I work with who are all men, and gave myself a great big pat on the back with the full and certain knowledge that I was capable of completing a race that not one of them would have a hope of doing. So remember, there's no shame in coming last. There isn't even any shame in not being able to finish if that should happen to be the outcome. You will still in both instances be faster than those people who never even get off their couch to go out for their first training walk/run. That places you very high up the rankings at a national level with everyone in your age group in your country. How cool is that????
Any before you even get to race day... that first training walk/run that you go out and do places you ahead of all those people too. Then your second session puts you that bit further ahead that all those who said, "this is too tough for me, I'm not doing that ever again" before they give up on even going out a second time. You've just climbed the leaderboard again in your age group at a national level. Well done you. And so it continues.
Personally I love triathlon. I love that you get to have a variety of things to do when training. I love being able to go for a swim this morning and still count it as training even though the body is feeling a little stiff after last Saturday's race. I love that when the weather is bad I can pop in to a spinning class to get in a cycle, or again to the pool for a swim. I am even finding that I love to go for a run in the rain lately. I love that I seem to have a different mix of people to train with depending on the session I'm planning to do, and most of all, I love the people in the triathlon community. In Ireland, Triathletes come in all shapes and sizes, all ages and all levels of abilities, and ALL are made to feel welcome.
I hope in reading this you got some sense of the buzz I am feeling after having completed another race a couple of days ago. And most importantly I hope that you will get to enjoy the sense of achievement for each extra little bit you do towards getting you to that first, second or third race as might be the case for you.
Do it. Go for it one day at a time. One session at a time. And lap up that feeling of achievement and remember... you will never regret having been out for a training session once it's done however you feel about it before you head out. It's always worth it.
Member Comments About This Blog Post:
You go, girl! 
on your halfway mark. It is a milestone to be proud of. You have worked hard to get there, and I'm sure it won't be long before you reach your goal. 
