empty running shoes in the sunlight One more triathlon to go and then the season is over for me.  It definitely has been fun, and I look forward to doing them next year.  I’m not quite as excited to start the training all over again this fall, but then again I don’t get cool prizes or free cowbells to give to family (I’m not kidding about that one) just for showing up at the gym.

Because I was reflecting on how quickly time had gone by or more accurately how I had better not slack off with the last tri around the corner, I started to think back to what this almost a year now of preparation and competing in triathlons has been like.  While I’ve had some amazing moments, I’ve also had some embarrassing moments. To distort  Nietzsche’s words, “That which does not kill us, makes us stronger.”  I now present to you some of my experiences that suggest how much strength I must now have:

• Having to parade through the lobby of the Y in only a swimsuit and swimcap because the childwatch center interrupted my swim to tell me I needed to immediately change my younger son’s diaper
• Having to walk back through said lobby to get dressed because my son decided he couldn’t be left alone any longer
• Showing up for my first time lifting weights in years wearing a Sock Puppet t-shirt (from the dot com era internet pet food company commercials)
• Realizng that my Sock Puppet t-shirt was not only uncool, but also… a little too tight
• Performing jumping jacks with a postpartum body in the free weight area while weight lifters looked on
• The first day of spin class when I couldn’t figure out why the seat was so uncomfortable because I didn’t know I was supposed to wear biking pants with a giant pad in the crotch
• Wearing said pants with giant pad in the crotch inside out.  Alright, that was my training buddy but it was a pretty funny story!
• Thinking I was cooler than the hardcore spinners in my spinning class because they were decked out in biking gear and then realizing that they were in fact showing better judgment than I
• Asking the group trainer when I would stop having that heavy feeling in my chest when running through which I had suffered my whole life, including when swimming competitively, only to be diagnosed a few days later with excercise induced asthma that I had never been aware of
• Falling off my bike while my shoes were still clipped while standing still in the high school parking lot while a carload of teenagers drove by me

Boy do I feel strong!  In fact it’s because of this strength, I’ve decided to investigate another sport when starting my fall training:  Tae Kwon Doe.  I’ve always wanted to do it, and in fact my older son is about to start lessons.  If I could survive last year’s adventures, I should be all set for martial arts, right?  Or perhaps next year, I’ll have more anecdotes and be even “stronger.”

by Alex Elliot

Photo graciously provided by Stewart Leiwakabessy, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved