I'm awesome and I'm not even a womens!

Geek ;-)

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

Quitting smoking no matter how is pretty awesome. What did you do when cravings hit - how did you distract, white knuckle your way through it, etc?

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

I didn't really have any. I decided I was done, and that was pretty much it - I felt like I'd cheated somehow, because it was eerily easy once I got my head straight about it. My husband - who quit at the same time - had a tougher go of it, but managed to hang on because he knew he could beat it.

Cheers!

-mistress k

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ill advised racing inc.

PERFECT! i've thought of starting a FB page to do just this.....nothing wrong with a forum where we tell others about our accomplishments and equally congratulate and support each other. we feed off this energy as athletes and its healthy.
my entire background is gymnastics and running. loads of marathons. i started cycling april 2012 when i did a century ride with 2 friends on someone elses bike! loved it and bought a road bike that next week. started swimming Oct 2012. my first tri was a half ironman; Gulf Coast Tri May 2013 that i did with my boyfriend (an amazing triathlete) where i broke 6 hours. that ocean swim scared me the most but i did it and loved it! since that race my cycling has improved by leaps and bounds. i'm faster and stronger and i owe that to my BF. in october i will do a half ironman distance tri in tempe, arizona (my home is scottsdale). i will be at IMFL to cheer on my BF and plan my first full ironman next august; Louisville, that he and i will train for together. i love these 3 sports and am proud of my accomplishments with it. i love reading about what others have done; its inspiring and motivational! more bragging; less complaining!!

I am so happy the ladies are speaking up rather than downplaying all that we do. I am doing the marathon leg of Challenge this year as well so perhaps we have seen each other out on the KVR or Kaledan trail or Eastside road. My son cleverly got me to train and run a 5km race four years ago and since then he has coached and coaxed me into 10k's and a half marathon and the Blossom 10 miler and the Steve King Relay. If you look at my times many would think why does she bother? BUT having never run in my life and watching my progress over the four years I am so proud of myself and I was so touched when my son asked me to do the relay with him. He has raced elite for years but he said that since I have been there since the beginning of his racing journey he wanted to do the inaugral North American Challenge race with me .I have been training all winter and the plan is to run then walk through the aid stations. Yesterday was my first long run where I had to make myself stop and walk for 1 minute after 10 minute intervals, really weird at first but after a while I got the hang of it.
I am awesome because I can run now for very long distances and I am awesome because I raised three amazing young men who have very good and gentle hearts. My goal at Challenge is complete the run with dignity and a really big SMILE.

totally

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"How bad could it be?" - SimpleS

I'm doing the marathon at Challenge relay too! Woo hoo us!

Thanks to all of you for playing along. We are an awesome group of women.

I'll chime in now. I really need this today because I'm disappointed with my race yesterday. And I really shouldn't be. I ran 2 minutes faster than my half marathon June 1st and this was a hillier course. I didn't execute well but I'm still faster than January by almost 20 minutes. Perspective needed!

Here it goes:

My parents actively discouraged athletics for me all through elementary and high school. I think some of it was gender related, girls don't play sports, and some of it was not seeing value in sports. They were never athletes, college professors, and while they enjoyed watching sports they didn't get that it could be beneficial to me. They encouraged my brother, of course, but that's another thread entirely.

• I played 2 years of tennis in high school and stayed in JV. I decided to skip a year of HS and get out in 3 instead of 4. That meant I didn't have time for tennis my last year. My coach was disappointed because she was going to move me up to varsity. So close. My parents never came to watch me play.
• In my mid-20s I started running a bit. Had no idea what I was doing and ended up with a stress fracture.
• Stopped doing anything until 32 years old when I signed up for the Breast Cancer 3 Day walk. Not sure why I signed up but it was life changing. I learned I could do stuff that was hard physically.
• From there, I did my first 10k a couple months later then my first half marathon a couple months after that. (2001)

Since then I've done:

• Too many 5ks and 10ks to count
• 10 or so Half Marathons
• 5 stand-alone marathons
• My first sprint tri in 2002
• Gained a lot of weight and lost it again in 2003 (40lbs which is a lot when you are only 5'2")
• 2 or 3 half Ironmans
• 3 Ironmans
• 4 or 5 50ks
• 1 official 50 mile and 1 unofficial 50 mile
• A double marathon as part of an Ultraman relay team with CaptainCanada.
• A 100k
• I've also crewed at Ultraman Canada 2 times and crewed at Badwater 2 times.
• I hired Joanna Zeiger to coach me back into running shape after a 10 month break last year. I'm getting faster and feeling better than I have in a very long time

It has taken a long time for my parents to come around but after my mom came and watched me do my first Ironman in 2005 they finally get that I'm an athlete. I still get articles on how running with ruin my knees and my mom questions me on why I feel driven to do it but they respect it and ask me about my races.

In my personal life I went through a heartbreaking divorce almost 2 years ago after 15 yeas of marriage. I sold my house at a loss and moved into an apartment. I handled all of the details of the house sale because my ex has never been capable of doing that stuff. It was a huge source of stress for me and finally everything was wrapped up in January. I'm free to move on with my life which is what I'm doing now. I can also finally get a good night's sleep.

My 16 year old dog died a couple months after the marriage imploded, I had to euthanize 2 cats and my 17 year old cat died in September, almost a year to the date I separated from the ex. My last kitty has lymphoma and while she's hung on for a lot longer than expected she is starting to show signs the cancer is catching up to her. I imagine I'll only have her for another month or two. She has been my bff through this whole nightmare process. It is going to kill me to let her go.

I'm awesome because I've done things as an athlete I never would have dreamed possible. I also survived a divorce and kept my sanity intact. I've made difficult decisions without the benefit of someone to help me and mostly they were the right ones. I'm 44 and looking forward to where life takes me next.

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

Won my ag in an aquathlon yesterday ! I LOVE attrition- The older I get the "better" I get.
The cool thing is that I don't even care how small the pool (of other 50-55 yo's) was......I won it and I finally get to brag about it.

Those years of being the un-athletic fat girl are fading. Finally ! I am an athlete.

Yaay to cantering and all things horsey ! Well done !

You are really really awesome! Divorces and losing our best friend pets are heart breaking life events, you have to be awesome just to keep going day to day. I admire you even more because you are always so positive on the forum and have made me smile many a time when I read your posts. And hey you are also one hell of an athlete! I hope all the forum gals that are doing Challenge can get together for a pre race coffee at the Bench and then a post race toast somewhere to acknowledge our collective awesomeness

Thank you :-) I need to bookmark this thread. The positive energy is really great.

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

X2.

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"How bad could it be?" - SimpleS

I'm awesome because I had a pack of 3 little skatepunks wolf whistling and giving me the "daaaamn girl" last night finishing up a hot, humid, melting-into-a-puddle of a 5 miler in split shorts and a sports bra - I'd had some trepidation about wearing so little, but it was almost 10pm, still 95f with the humidex, and I decided I was too hot to care.The standards of 17 year olds may not be very high, but I'll take it since as of today they're precisely half my age!

Cheers!

-mistress k

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ill advised racing inc.

Happy Birthday!!!!!

I'm not much of a poster either and feel rather unworthy with all that you all have accomplished!

I'm pretty proud of doing tri in general and finishing my IM's. I was once brave enough to start a Canada Cup MTB race before I knew any better (met a rock and DNF'd but did meet a very young Cadel Evans while there). Started riding horses again this winter after 10+ years off and was happy that I still don't fall off squirrley Thoroughbreds, and quickly became my trainers go to person for exercising her horses. I even still giggle when a horse bucks when jumping even when my trainer is yelling at me to do the course at the canter, not the buck. LOL Being brave as I establish in another new location is a work in progress. Hope to be proud of how I deal with this in the next few months.

You should be proud! Those are great accomplishments! The last time I rode a horse was on a trail ride in Yellowstone 24 years ago. I'm sure I would fall off if I tried it today.

The point of the thread is not to compare yourself to others but to acknowledge what you have done and embrace your awesomeness.

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

Thank you! Celebrating by riding a bike I've owned since I was 15, on the very same roads I used to ride when I was in my teens! End point will be a restaurant for dinner with my mom and my husband, and will probably go for a nice stroll with hubby after we get home.

Cheers!

-mistress k

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ill advised racing inc.

Hells yes!

So impressed with the diversity of the achievements on here.

Myself, I'm awesome because I try everything, even if I totally suck.

Early life: baton twirling, performing in parades, theater, tennis, softball, soccer, marching band and orchestra (flute, piccolo, string base, piano)

More life: found swimming! Swam my way down to a 5:18 500yd and 2:14 200IM at age 16. Did Masters Nationals at age 28 and did a 5:46 500free and a 2:27 200IM; proud of those! Swam 22 miles in one day to raise funds for charity, age 13; took 10 hours. Raced 3 10k open water ocean swims; placed 2nd overall each time. Recently did a 19:46 one mile open water.
Tried cycling! Raced in college, won the womens B omnium, then moved to A's; got my butt kicked! That was fun.
Running: tried cross country too! Was the very last to make the team; the slowest. But had a great time. I had to run HARD to get last place.
Moved on to triathlon- 4 1/2 IMs, one full; reaching my goal of sub 12. Never again though. Too expensive, too stressful. Too long of a wait to sign up.
Tried cyclocross! What fun. Won a women's B race, and threw my arms up at the finish line without falling over. Amazing. Raced some A's and tried not to get lapped.
MTB: working on it. Still a major wuss.
Ultra runnng: maybe a dozen-ish ultras; including two 100milers. So fun to run all night and watch two sunrises. Just. keep. moving.

Most proud of:
Volunteer race directing without killing anyone. That is HARD work. Thank an RD the next time you do a race.

This is a great idea! I don't have time to type much now but wanted to add this:

http://www.upworthy.com/a-female-comedian-made-a-public-service-announcement-for-women-watch-it-then-watch-yourself-6



Edit: oops, I don't know how to make the link clickable but it's totally worth a cut-and-paste.

I have not fallen asleep during work for almost two weeks ;) and I've successfully not skipped any workouts this week despite working crazy hours and a second job and barely keeping my eyes open. Yay me!

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kelly dunleavy o'mara
@kellydomara