If I actually slept well in June of 2010, I wouldn’t have a bike, and I certainly still would not know how to swim. That morning after I made the decision to fly to Phoenix in November 2010 to sign up for ironman 2011, I put on my sneaker (weren’t called running shoes yet) and walked around the block. I don’t think I walked very fast or very far, but I felt like it was “something”. I wasn’t very consistent with walking or jogging over the next few months, because I wasn’t sure that I would actually get a slot in the 2011 race. I was reading how you have to be there at 6:30 am the morning after this years race to try to get a slot for next year’s race. Somewhere along the line I read that volunteers get preferential treatment for signups. So, I became I security volunteer.
The morning after the race, I waited in line with 1500 other volunteers before the sun came up, eager to sign up for next year. I still wasn’t convinced that I would get a slot. The line was sooooo long and I know they have to cap the number of participants for safety reasons. Just before they opened the registration tent door the number of people behind me started to build longer than the number in front of me. That’s when I became confident that I was getting in.
I texted everyone I knew a picture of the official entry certificate I just received as I walked out of the sign-up tent. You can’t imagine how excited I was. Now it’s real. I went back to Scottsdale, jumped into the pool and couldn’t swim a full lap of the 25 yard pool. Good thing it was only 4 feet deep. I stood in the center of the pool, caught my breath, then attempted the other 12.5 yards. I made it, then attempted another two abbreviated laps. When I got out, I was winded. No worries, I have a whole year to figure this out, I thought. It wasn’t until April of 2011 that I actually got around to figuring it out. Just about the same time I got my first bike since I was12. At some point, I laced up my sneakers and started to jog.
Now, at least 4 mornings a week, I’m running. I don’t even think about not doing it anymore, it’s almost unconscious. I go to the pool, change my clothes, then run for a bit. The progression was slow to get to this point by some standards, but my walk became a jog which became a run. Looking back, it went by so fast, it was almost as if it happened overnight.
