I love this idea! I know I am always pushing to the next thing or trying to do stuff better and don't take enough time to be happy with what I have done.


So I will start -- last week on July 4th I ran 10 miles for the first time! It is a huge mental hurtle for me to get to the 10 number.

I'm very proud of what I've done. Completing the races that I've done has completely changed me - especially the one and only ironman that I did. I am so much more confident now than I ever was before. I will likely never be very fast (don't train enough), but crossing the finish line in one piece is enough for me. Here's my list (including a few non-races that I'm proud of):

- couple of sprints
- 1 Olympic distance
- 2 half ironmans
- 2 marathons
- 1 ironman
- 2 babies (natural birth)
- 5 championships for my U14 volleyball and basketball teams (I coach)

Dropped the ball on consistent training after the ironman several years ago. I'm now signed up for my first triathlon since 2007.

JenSW not only do you crack me up at times but your spirit glows through the net. This is a great thread to start. My list of awesomeness can take up an entire page so I will not go there but something I did that surpasses all others was pace a woman to a half marathon finish.
As posted times before, I volunteer with the homeless in the city where I live. A few of the people in the rehab program train for the local marathon/half marathon/ 5k. This is a very big deal for a lot of them because of their backgrounds and past abuse and addictions. Since they know I am into fitness, many ask for advise on how to improve their health and overall performance. Right before the marathon I tell them that I will be out cheering for them until they cross the finish line. A few years ago there was only one female running the half marathon who kept it a secret. I found out the day before the race and thought about how difficult it would be for her since she is a smoker and hard drug abuser of 30 years. During the race, I was on the street cheering like a nut and spotted her. She looked good and said she planned to finish at 2 hours or so. I told her I would watch her cross the finish line. At mile 11.5 I waited and waited for her to pass. She was no where in sight so I locked up my bike, still waited for her with my handheld then spotted her 45 minutes later. She was a mess but still running. I grabbed her hand, gave her water and ran with her. She wanted to quit and I was having difficulty breathing due to asthma but the end was nearing so we pressed on. She kept asking how long the race was and how much further she had to go. She was unaware of how far a half marathon is. Once she got to mile 13, she flew like a bird to the finish with the biggest smile on her face. It was cute.
Two days later with tears in her eyes, she thanked me more times than I remember. She said if I had not been there for her, she would have quit. This story was shared at her group meeting and on a visitation day with her daughter, she brought her in to meet me. That experience nearly brought me to tears and made the volunteering that I do worth its weight in gold.

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_____________________________________
DISH is how we do it.

I really love this thread idea - my best friend keeps telling me I need to be "more gentle" with myself. This is a great way to focus on the good.


In October of 2012, I limped across the finish of a 5k, both my calves completely cramped up. I felt weak and awful. Since then, I've done a half marathon, Tough Mudder, and 2 sprint triathlons - and I'm not about to stop there.
Not only have I gone from 36% body fat to 22, I sleep better, feel better, and am better at work. I even got an award for dealing with a "hostile work environment" at a client!

Today was a biggie for me. Despite it being quite windy outside (14mph felt like a lot) - I was FINALLY able to get into my aero bars and feel strong. I must have looked like a crazy fool for the massive grin on my face during the last 2 miles. I've never been able to ride on them outside before.


Edits: other proud moments.
Performed in Carnegie Hall
Earned my master's degree by 22
Successfully planning our wedding for September
Can cook /anything/ and improve on a lot of recipes as second nature
Great relationship with my parents
I volunteer regularly at the local food bank and blood bank
I escaped a physically and mentally abusive relationship, on my own

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You. You make me stronger.

WOW! That's a heap of accomplishments (race and non). Good for you for getting back into it - I love that you recognize that you are more confident for the sport!

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You. You make me stronger.

Ok, I'm super stoked today so I'll share today. I took up horseback riding last year - it's something I've always wanted to focus on but haven't ever really had the chance. I only get to ride about once every two weeks because of where my stable is located and only in the summer since they don't have a covered arena and it's in a mountainous area (aka - lots of snow in the winter).

Today I *finally* figured out the canter (just shy of a gallop) and managed to canter with one hand on the reins and one hand off the horse entirely. I'm so excited - it just clicked today. My trot is feeling strong too but at one point today the horse got a little spooky and took off much faster than I was comfortable but I was able to quickly and confidently reign him in without falling off. It was awesome. Seriously, every time I take a lesson it reminds me of swimming b/c it's SO technique driven!

I'm having a blast pushing myself in this new sport, learning everything I can, and I'm already trying to figure out whether I can get a pony of my own in a few years. :)

I've also just paddleboarded AND lifted the 35lb board onto the rack on top of my SUV every day for the past 14 days - my upper body is looking great and feeling super strong!

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http://smallfoodbiz.com
</blatent self-marketing>

DawnT - I know this isn't a competition but I think 'natural childbirth' pretty much wins. :)
Travelmama - that made me cry. I imagine so many people had 'given up' on that person in her life and your being there for her must have been life altering.
Agilecipher - huge congrats on the progress from that first race to now. That change in body fat is incredibly impressive!

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http://smallfoodbiz.com
</blatent self-marketing>

We rock!!! :-)

I did my first IM last year. My last triathlon before that was an OLY sometime back in the '90's along with my one & only half marathon. I've always promised myself that I wouldn't do a full marathon & so far I've stuck to it so this was new territory. Ran the whole run & came in under 13 hours.

Did my second IM this year, took 25 min off my run & made top 10 in my old chicks age group.

I'm awesome!! :-) So are you all!!

superwoman thread! you *all* are amazing - love the lesson of travelmama's post -- if you've got it, pass it along . . .

my proudest finish is still the Tough Guy i did about 5 years ago -- starting with an 8 mile run, a couple of full dunks into icy horse-pond water (January), sun going down at 3:00 while the race was full on, and worst of all, lots and lots of climbs (upper body strength is not at a premium here). Scary as hell but the exhilaration was extreme.

I think as you get older doing 'inappropriate' activities for your age becomes more and more meaningful. Now that most of them are long past childbirth and so retired from physical challenge, most of my gal pals think a tough event is getting nicked during a pedicure.

At the finish (in an unheated barn, no facilities to shower or change) i was shaking like after birth, or waking up after anaesthesia. Core-deep quakes of pure shock. But i had my crappy medal and humounguous t-shirt. If somebody rude comes along and starts ringing my bells, I just go back to that horse farm, smile, and know they'd never even get started.

i'm going to read every one of the posts that follow -- pure inspiration

Ha! I have a high pain tolerance.

Great job on the horseback riding. I took one lesson once and was so surprised at how technical it was. You must get a great feeling being with horses.

Travelmama - thank you for being a volunteer with the homeless and for sharing your story about the woman you helped. Very inspiring!

We need to hear from more womens. We know you're out there!

You womens are amazing!


I think the best thing I can say for myself is that I attempt things that scare the crap out of me and refuse to quit until I get through them.

I started racing while still a smoker, and managed 3rd in my AG at my 2nd 10k (8 months after I started running). I also raced a few road & trail 5ks, a super sprint tri, a sprint tri and a half marathon all as a smoker.

I successfully quit smoking with no external aids.

I've finished 3 x 6-hour trail races, and the longest I'd ever run before the first one was 25km/3hrs (I managed 44.2km that day).

I've raced an olympic distance tri and a 50km mtb race in a cast with a broken wrist, and a half iron tri with a nasty SI joint injury. I've continued in a freezing mtb race after a bout of severe hypothermia that needed intervention by the on-course medical staff. I've never had a DNS at a race for which I'm registered, and my only DNF was due to breaking my wrist on course at an off-road tri.

Totals so far - it's my 5th season of racing:
- 1 x track 1 mile
- 6 x road 5k
- 3 x trail 5k
- 3 x road 10k
- 2 x road half marathon
- 3 x trail 25k
- 2 x 3-hour winter trail races
- 1 x road 30k
- 1 x road marathon
- 3 x 6-hour trail ultra
- 2 x mtb race
- 3 x spring classics
- 1 x cyclocross race
- 1 x criterium
- 2 x relay tri (with my husband - I swim & run, he bikes)
- 2 x super sprint tri
- 1 x sprint "indoor tri" (pool swim, computrainer bike, outdoor run)
- 1 x standard sprint tri
- 1 x sprint duathlon
- 3 x 750m-30k-7.5k modified sprint tri
- 2 x off-road sprint tri
- 4 x olympic tri
- 1 x "long course" 2k-55k-13k tri
- 2 x half iron tri

..with another relay tri on the 20th, a 30k road race next month, an olympic tri in September and my first 50k trail race in October.

Not bad for a lazy pothead!

Cheers!

-mistress k

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ill advised racing inc.

In high school I could run ~39 min 10k in training. My senior year I ran a 1:02 15k and a 1:06 10 mile race. In college I ran a 1:35 half marathon. I've run 1:40 off the bike in a HIM. I've gone 5:45 for a 500 free and 19:45 for a 1650.
I have won 3 sprint triathlons, 2 open water swims (1.5k), a couple of 5ks, and two 10ks.
I've done 2 marathons, 3 HIMs, a 20 mile road race, 10k masters open water nationals, and a whole bunch of other shorter races.

Perhaps equally important to me = working on a Ph.D.

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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

We are all awesome in our own way!

Pre-IM life - up to a blue belt in karate (had the purple and brown to go before black)

Eight IM finishes -
1. IM Cali 00 DNF (sick, wasn't going to make the bike cut-off)
2. Vineman 00 DNF in the 100F heat
3. IM NZ 2001 FINISH just before midnight
4. IM NZ 2002 DNF (injured going in, dropped during the bike)
5. UltraMax 2002 DNF (not trained enough)
-. IM NZ 2003 DNS (recovering from major surgery so I went and spectated)
6. UltraMax 2003 DNF ((got to mile 14 of the run and the next thing I know I was in a lawn chair bundled in blankets, 2 IVs later I was fine)
*Get a coach who tells me straight out that I haven't been training enough and kicks my ass.*
7. CaliforniaMan 2004 FINISH
8. UltraMax 2004 FINISH
9. IM NZ 2005 FINISH (Kona roll down slot)
10. KONA 2005 FINISH (Madame Pele was at the NZ roll down as my mom got to watch me race in Kona before she died)
11. IM Brasil 2006 FINISH
12 IM Brasil 2007 FINISH
13. Vineman 2008 FINISH

Too many 1/2 IM (aka 70.3) finishes to count. Lots of sprint and Oly distance races.

Running -
1 standalone marathon - hard!
Lots of trail races of various distances.
1 6-hour race on a 1K path
1 trail 50K finish

Bike racing -
Too many crits to count
A number of road races
Lots of racing on the track
National championships 2008/2009/2010 (made to podium a number of times)
1 crash + surgery = comeback

Lost 50 pounds.
Relocation stress + too much work - regular working out + injury = gaining too much of that back (but it's starting to come off again)
Bought a house in the middle of all of that.
Signed up for a sprint tri in 6 weeks.
So now hopefully back to the "real me" and training and racing!

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

OK I'll bite - although I admit it feels funny... :-)

- 4 ultramarathons (3x50k; 1x87k - Comrades)
- 6 marathons (with a 4th in AG at Bellingham Bay)
- 15 half marathons (including a 3rd place AG finish in the provincial championships)
- A LOT of 5-8-10k races with a whack of podiums in there (BMO 8k - 2nd FOA; Brewskidaddle 5k - 3 FOA twice; Mother's day 5k - 3 FOA, etc.)
- 3 Ironmans (IMWA 2005 13:45; IMC 2009 13:05; IMNZ 2011 12:42)
- 10 1/2IMs (Leadman 2nd in AG; Silverman 4th in AG; Spokane X3; Black Diamond X2; Oliver; Vancouver; UBC*)
- Survived AmZof CWD (before it was called CWD) :-)
- 15 Olympics (with at least 3 podiums in there - had a podium at Sooke and one at UBC)
- God at least 20 sprints, probably more, definitely some podiums there.
- 1 XTERRA (fun - interesting - I'd do another)
- 2 womens camps at Xantusia
- 6 open water races (typically 1k, 2.5k) including a 10k ocean swim
- Started, grew and sold one business
- Thinking about another one
- 1 darling daughter by c-section after three straight days of labour (she was being smart: she was breech and her u-cord was very short - if I'd delivered her vaginally, she'd have ripped my uterus apart)
- 2 divorces (1st: married WAY too young; 2nd was classic tri-ath-a-lon story of girl meets sport, girl and boy grow apart) and all the disaster zones that come with that
- Can brew a lot of beer
- Can drink a lot of beer
- Can build a bike up from a box of parts (only thing I can't do is lace a wheel - soon!)
- Paid my entire way through Uni (zero help from any one) when no one even thought I'd get there in the first place (UBC Physics 96)
- Dropped out of high school in grade 11; came back the following Sept and did 13 courses in 1 year to graduate on time
- Have dived in an atmospheric diving (hard) suit
- Have operated a Canadian Frigate (HMCS Regina - they let me drive for 5min! :-))
- Can operate a forklift (though I'm not ticketed anymore)
- Used to be an Occupation First Aid attendant (cert lasped as well)

I can't think of anything else. Now you know 98% of me. :-)

AP

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"How bad could it be?" - SimpleS

I like that one!! How many have we done? I've been at all of them, plus the November "mini camp" we had once.

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

I think I've been to three, but it's been many years since the last one, unfortunately.

There are some impressive race resumes on here. Congrats to all of you for your commitment to racing.

I'm OK but not awesome. :-)

I think the bravest thing I did was move to Japan for three years when I was 24. I knew no one, and didn't read, speak or understand a bit of Japanese. It was a great experience.

I've raced a lot but that's not such a big part of my life anymore. I'm going to attempt to get certified in scuba next week and it kind of scares the shit out of me. We'll see how it goes.

Oh no, you're awesome. Let's see, just to name a few - you've rescued two dogs (and how many cats?), are my go-to for book recommendations, and you can shoot tequila like it's no one's business. :)

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http://smallfoodbiz.com
</blatent self-marketing>

Sorry yer totally awesome. My daughter still asks about the "crepe lady who dresses very nicely..." :-)

Scuba is awesome. I got my cert in Grand Cayman and love diving, don't get to do enough of it. I was scared too, esp. the whole remove your mask underwater, put it back on, and blow it clear... I have trouble equalizing so double dive days are a bit rough/slow on the descent/ascent.

AP

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"How bad could it be?" - SimpleS

"crepe lady who dresses very nicely..." :-)

Hahah! This made my day. Fashion is always important :-)

OK, I did think of a special skill that I have. I can pick up almost anything with my toes. For example a bobby pin off of a tile floor. That's pretty awesome!

I love this! I've been thinking lately how I also down-play my workouts and races because they're "slow". Just because a pace is slow for someone else doesn't mean it's not impressive for me...or at least that's what I'm trying to remember. Plus, I think about how someone slower than me would feel when I insult my own times. We all need to own our accomplishments!

For me, I'm a runner coming into triathlon training for the first time this summer. I'm pretty nervous on the bike, so my biggest accomplishment has been overcoming so biking fears. Taking corners faster than I'm used to, going on group rides, learning to deal with traffic. All these things have been big deals for me! I'm proud that I've stuck with it, even when it's been scary or frustrating. There have definitely been moments when I've wanted to throw in the towel on this tri stuff and focus purely on running again, but I know that would be taking the wimpy way...and I'm no wimp! :)

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Beth @ http://www.racingrobsons.com/beth

Hi girls! I'm a long time lurker but rarely post. I feel like I know all of you!

History...42 years old. Didn't get into exercise until 4 years ago when I met my now husband. Back then I was a smoker who hadn't exercised since grade 9 PE. Did my first 5k in 2010, have done sprint and olympic distance triathlons as well as running races up to half marathons. I am not a gifted athlete, in fact my motto is "I'm not slow, I'm just getting my money's worth out of my entry fee!"

My husband has done 18 Ironmans (I think) including 6 Konas, and is doing Ultraman Canada this year (JenSw maybe we will meet?) He is very well known in our area. In fact when Steve King called me across the line at a recent 10k race, he said my name and then said "of course we all know her husband <insert name here> is doing Ultraman Canada this year so he isn't here today as he is out putting in the long miles instead". This has happened to me at more than one race. Depresses me that I try so hard and then my accomplishment is not recognized, but his are...:(

ANYWAY...today I am awesome because I survived my longest run ever...24km. It was pretty slow (2:36) and it probably wasn't pretty, but I did it! I'm training for the marathon portion of Challenge Penticton. I couldn't have imagined running another 18km today so I am not sure how I will survive a full marathon in 6 weeks. Only bonus is hubby is swimming and biking so that should leave me something like 11 hours to complete the marathon...;)

Great thread girls. Love reading about all of your accomplishments!

Well here goes...

Started racing about 7 years ago. Have done quite few sprint's and oly's, hubby got me into racing. Did my first marathon last year coming off an ankle injury so not spectacular time, but hey I finished. Have completed three 70.3 races, twice at Grand Combian which is a hard race. This past year has been my best racing and I attribute it to my coach and a lot of hard work. Since last October I have PR'd at a half Mary, (local event called trail of terror 2nd in AG) did the Handicap Hangover 5 mile fun run Jan 1st to benefit disabled, went to the Xantusia camp this year in April, participated in the lilac century ride in Spokane in April (did metric century), in May did half marathon locally as a training run, June was a training 30k trail run in Montana (4th in AG) and yesterday did a sprint tri in Hayden,ID (2nd in AG). The rest of the season is an 80 mile fondo next Saturday, and my A race is Challenge Penticton in August. On top of that I am a wife, mom and Pediatrician, so ya I guess I guess I am awesome ;)

History...42 years old. Didn't get into exercise until 4 years ago when I met my now husband. Back then I was a smoker who hadn't exercised since grade 9 PE

You are awesome!

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

Geek ;-)

---

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?

---

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