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MORE & less
Less Strife.
More Blessing.
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Forest Townsley
Thoughts from My First Triathlon
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.jpg) Actually a Triathlon Relay - but still, the first endeavor anywhere close to this that I can remember doing as an adult. The opportunity for me, at age 57, was to do a triathlon relay on a team with my daughter (who would run) and her friend, Stevi (who would swim)! My role was to ‘ride like the wind’ for 25 miles. What would it be like to do that? I had no clue - the last time I had ridden a bike 25 miles was in high school. My total miles on a bike over the last 30 years: less than 20!
Step one - Rename it a ‘family activity’, not a race. My daughter quickly said “no” to that, I needed to be in shape and able to hold up my leg of the race! Lesson: Call it what it is!
Step three - Get a bike, and find out what it was like to ride for real! Good news here - I loved shopping for everything! On my 10 training rides before the race, I seemed to remember everything there was to remember about riding a bike! Lesson: There’s probably a lot we don’t know that we think we know - that’s where coaches and mentors come to play - they helped prepare me for what was coming.
Race day
- What would it be like?? Stevi was first out for our team - into the lake for a one mile open water swim. As she came out of the lake and into the “transition area” I had an amazing experience - I went into “Race Mode”! I’ve never been there before, so it was all new, but very exciting! I had no idea what was in store for me the next 25 miles - just a course that is rated one of the toughest on the circuit because of all the hills - hills that many cyclists end up walking up!
The first hill, Lynch Hill, is also known as ‘the killer’, but I topped it easily and felt surprisingly good! Only 24 more miles to go! Mile after mile I kept doing what I had trained to do - I peddled hard, never letting up, and somehow having that intuitive feeling that I was doing really well! The training had paid off, but more importantly, I was succeeding at a goal I had set 90 days earlier. The goal had kept me on track with my training, and now I was experiencing the joy of a new success and the discovery of a new passion - bike racing!
It was a truly amazing experience coming across my finish line, handing the baton to Anna, knowing that I had kept my commitment to her. An hour later I would join her and we would cross the final finish line together - having completed a major goal, and enjoyed a completely new and life changing experience!
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Are you ready to accept a 90-Day-Challenge
and discover something new inside of you? |
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