It's In Your Head!...Not Your Muscles

My favorite athlete of all time ;) , Carrie, completed her first triathlon on Saturday. She willingly subjected herself to the distortion of my own "this sounds like a good idea" thinking for 14 whole weeks. Now, that is trust. I knew I would be receiving some last minute questions via text, and that she would have a few points at which "I am not doing this," may be said. Carrie, actually handled the whole process and stresses very well. I only remember one text I sent her during a pre race jitters moment..."Carrie, trust me, I am the expert here, you are doing it." By "expert," I actually meant I am just a little crazy, and I know you will absolutely kill it. Which she did.

  I am smiling because Carrie did awesome and allowed me to be part of her Grizzly Triathlon. She is smiling because she just traded in 14 weeks of her life for a few minutes of intense suffering, knowing it was the best investment she has ever made...don't even try to lie. She took the risk to become a triathlete, and it paid off. In anything as grand as this there will be hard times.

The accomplishment wouldn't be worth the time if it were easy. The measure of the accomplishment is not measure by the end result (1000 yds swim, 20K bike, 5k run) but more in the obstacles it took to get to the start line (not the finish line). The hard times are when you have to go to the pool and swim 2000 yds in the dark of morning knowing that after you have to ride your bike in the rain.

She never once complained or asked "why do I have to do this?" My answer would have been, "because I'm your coach and for 14 weeks you are mine, plus I said so, now get swimming." Ha ha totally kidding! I rarely had to encourage her, she was motivated to smash the challenge awaiting her. The race is actually the easy part, the hard part, and the part I respect Carrie for so much, is the part where it came time to figuratively look her fears and doubts square in the eye and say "let's see what happens." That kind of thing is never easy, but just like I always say, "it's always worth it in the end."

The journey to the start line held 98% of the challenges, mental and physical, and most of the satisfaction, but the finish line is where the party is at. I knew that once we finished the training plan the race shifted from a physically dominated challenge to a mental one. "The training is done, now it is in your head...not you muscles." Stamp her legit, she absolutely killed it. She finished the race and is now on to the next one. I know she will eventually forget the pain of the race, but I know she won't ever forget the 14 weeks in 2009 that she had the courage to dream big, believe in herself, and go through a systematic assault on a seemingly insurmountable task.

Well guess what girl, you did, and those kind of accomplishments last forever. Period. Now I have said 20 times that I adore Team Carrie (Carrie's family, fiance` Chris, and friends, they even had signs), but one more time can't hurt. They were absolutely awesome, some of the nicest people I have met. I had a great time spending the day with all of them. For the record I would so eat a chicken burrito-ice cream combo with them, anytime. Even though I could not race, Carrie (including Team Carrie) allowed me to be part of something special. The past 14 weeks have been some of my favorite race memories.

I was given the opportunity to give back to a sport that has given me more than I could ever ask for (except awards, I will never get tired of awards and medals, gimme gimme gimme, kidding!). I appreciate that when Carrie crossed the finish line she allowed me to share in her accomplishment. This is only the beginning, many more adventures to come.