As I’m sure you’re starting to learn, everything goes back to a song for me, and this song kept going through my head this week! This song reminds me of summers going to country music concerts with my sister in the late 90’s early 2000’s.
This post really is for the girls and I am challenging all my girlfriends to Stop Pausing and Start Moving with me on August 12, 2018 for an all-women’s sprint triathlon. A sprint triathlon’s distances are a ½ mile swim, 12 mile bike, and 3.1 mile run. If you just can’t swim there is a duathlon option. For the duathlon you run 1.57 miles, 12 mile bike, and 3.1 mile run. The event is called Iron Girl, and we all are Iron Girls and wouldn’t it be awesome to have a medal that says Iron Girl on it! The event takes place in Pleasant Prairie, WI which is only about 15 minutes north of my house. I’m registered and want all of you to join me. Here is the link to register: https://endurancecui.active.com/event-reg/select-race?e=48253453
My first blog post was The Year of the Pause and I’ve decided to make a team for this triathlon. I’m calling it “Stop Pausing, Start Moving.” When you register click on team other and then type in “Stop Pausing, Start Moving.” I will be back by then and I’m done pausing and I want all of you to move with me!!!
To continue the motivation, I created a Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/1476535579082527/?source=create_flow . If I haven’t already added you, please join and post your successes, near successes, and failures in training and in everyday life. We are here for each other and all your smiling faces will make by days better. To know you are all out there and we’re training together, makes me so happy. I can’t even put to words how awesome it is to know all you amazing athletes. My cousin Katie Vervoren is already training and working on lowering her 5K time. We’re in this together “all around the World.”
I don’t want any excuses. So I’ve created an FUE (frequently used excuses), and you are welcome to reach out to me at any time and we’ll talk. I’m here to motivate. I want to bring the biggest crowd of amazing women there.
- I live too far away: If you need a place to stay before and after the race, you will stay at my house.
- I’ve never done a triathlon before: You can do this and what a better way to start than with all your closest girlfriends cheering you on!
- I really can’t swim: Register for the duathlon!
- I don’t have a bike: You can find one to borrow (like your kids), or I heard they have cheap ones at police auctions, Craig’s List, or Ebay! First come first serve to TJ’s. I’m sure he’ll give it up for one day when I ask him nicely!
- I’m slow: We’re all slow relative to someone! There are no rules against walking. All I’m asking is you smile while doing it!
- I’m not sure I can: You have 10 months to train and this is for fun, so goal number one is FUN. Goal number 2 is simply finishing!
- I can only do one of the events: There is a relay, I’ll connect you with 2 other amazing women who can do the other 2!
I an effort to help motivate you, let me give you my triathlon history. See it is so brief this won’t take very long. My first triathlon was in 2000, I did a sprint distance triathlon with a few of my cross country friends in Steven’s Point. I probably placed in my age group, but there were probably only 3 of us in the 17 and under age group. I didn’t even wear goggles for the swim, people were questioning my sanity at the start. I rode an urban bike and probably took FOREVER in transition. What I did do was have fun so the following year I wanted to push a little harder so I did the Olympic distance triathlon as well in Steven’s Point. I think the shirt I’m wearing in the photo above with my sister is from the race. I did it less than 3 weeks after my first marathon, and I was so wiped afterwards. This time I think I wore goggles and I had a proper road bike. It was a used Cannondale, but it worked. After those first two triathlons, I went back to focusing on marathons and kept dreaming about the Ironman.
I didn’t do another triathlon until 2016, so just a short 16 year break. I did have 3 kids, ran 13 marathons (I’m at 15 now), and too many half marathons to count. Now I do have a proper road bike, but it had been collecting dust in my garage or in storage for about 10 years. I received the road bike as a Christmas gift from my parents in anticipation of an Ironman I still haven’t done. I did register for the 2010 Ironman in Madison, but Timyra put a stop to that.
In anticipation of finally completing an Ironman, which has been nagging me for at least the last 16 years, I decided to do my first sprint triathlon since 2000. I register for the Big Foot Triathlon in Lake Geneva in late June 2016. We spend the night before at my Uncle Kevin and Aunt Ann’s house, they watched the kids and I drove myself over to the park. Now let me back up, I literally had not ridden my bike since before Timyra was born, and she was 6, so at least 7 years. I did take it to a bike shop and have it tuned up prior to the race, but the first time I’d been on my bike in 7 years was in transition. Unfortunately the swim was canceled due to lightning and now I have to run my bike out of transition and ride 12 miles in the rain on a bike I haven’t sat on in, yes, 7 years. To say the least, I was a little nervous about falling, but the bike wasn’t that bad and I didn’t get passed too often (I’m not the best biker, as you can imagine). As you can see in the picture below, I never untied my running shoes and had to take the time in transition to do that after the bike. An extremely amateur move. The run was a 5k on trails and it was very hot and extremely humid. I passed people the entire run and said good job to everyone as I passed them, it was a tough run, but that is really all I can do well, so I needed to take advantage.
Well I didn’t want to finish the summer without finishing a triathlon, so I decided to register for an Olympic distance triathlon, I mean why not? So the last weekend of July 2016 I did one in Wauconda. The race was great, but the temperature was not. The course had a time limit and everyone had to be off the course by 11 because of the heat. I didn’t have a problem finishing in time, but I did have flash backs to my first, and only other, Olympic distance triathlon. The Olympic distance is a long hard distance. You are out there for 3 hours racing, which is not all that much shorter than when I’m racing a marathon. I did fine on the swim. I was passed the entire bike, and passed people the entire run. It was so hot and the run course was extremely hilly, if you were not a runner you were walking. I did take 3rd in my age group, but I’m still very much an amateur. I don’t have a tri-suit. I wore a 2 piece race suit to swim, put bike shorts and a tank top over for the bike and run. At least I knew to wear goggles. I did forget to bring my Clif Shot with me on the run and I did get hungry despite the heat.
Last fall I once again registered for the Ironman. A friend of mine from Life Fitness, James, finished the Louisville Ironman last fall and he told me if you want to do an Ironman you need to do it now, you never know what is going to happen. You should do it while you can. TJ and I planned our summer around my training and I was planning on racing in the Louisville Ironman this October 15th 2017. All that, and everything else, changed on November 16th, 2017 when I found out I had to come over here. So once again I registered and paid for an Ironman and I couldn’t be there. This time Ironman is letting me defer a year. So 2018 turned into the year of the Ironman instead. I decided to stop pausing, and start moving towards an Ironman finish.
Since I’m stuck in Afghanistan I can’t race against others, but I can race against myself. I completed one sprint and one Olympic distance triathlon since I’ve been here. I’m swimming in a 17 meter pool, biking on an in door bike, and running on treadmills. I don’t mind and I enjoy the challenge. I just need to keep moving towards my Ironman. I decided it’s my time to complete this challenge which has been in my head for over 16 years.
I really hope every girl I know over the age of 12 will join me on August 13th 2018. Stop Pausing, and Start Moving! Even if you can’t race, put it on your calendar and cheer us on. We can support each other in many ways. I plan to host Mimosas afterwards! So if you can’t be there to race or cheer us on, come over for orange juice and champagne, we could use a good bartender. If you are reading this and you are not a girl. Don’t feel left out. You can stop pausing and move too. I also bet you know a women who wants to be there and you should encourage her to come. We also want you there to cheer us on, and watch the kids of course! I can’t wait to see all of you, and it’ll be sooner than you think! STOP PAUSING, START MOVING!
Darchelle's Vacation with Uncle Sam 