I Be Bloggin...

For a while people have been asking me why I don’t have a blog (in the triathlon world it seems to be a requirement these days). Honestly, I don’t really think I have that much to write about and I feel it’s a little narcissistic. I am not the type that likes to rehash a race once it’s over (although Jim may disagree with that statement) and I think writing about my training would just be painful for others and myself.

So why am I writing this blog?

I was presented with an amazing opportunity to be a guide for a visually- impaired athlete, Patricia Walsh. This is something I have always wanted to do, especially after Jim and my brother both guided athletes and loved the experience. I thought I would start small, maybe with a local 5k race just to get the hang of it. But then my friend Aaron Scheides (the #1 visually- impaired triathlete in the world) called and said he wanted to know if I would guide a friend of his in the Sprint World Championships in Beijing! So much for starting off small…and she wants to win…no pressure at all.

While I was flattered that he would even consider me, my immediate reaction was no. After racing IMCDA this year I got a nasty case of posterior tibular tendonitis and stopped running altogether. When Aaron called I had actually just left my first physical therapy appointment where I was told I wouldn’t be running for at least a few weeks, maybe months.  After telling Aaron that I didn’t think I could physically be ready to race in 4 weeks I called Jim to ask him who we knew that might be able to do it. He immediately said, “YOU, you are going to do this.” He was right, it was an amazing opportunity and I really wanted to do it. That day I called my coach, Joanna Zeiger, my doctor, and my family and everyone agreed I should do it as long as it wouldn’t make my injury worse. I called Aaron back and told him I was in! I think he was as excited as I was!

So in the last 3 weeks my injury has healed much faster than anyone predicted thanks to the amazing team at ISPI and the guidance of my coach who has kept me sane while making me do “long runs” on the elliptical (if you thought doing a long run on a treadmill is boring try an elliptical). Anyway, I did my first speed workout yesterday and thankfully a 5:45 pace felt comfortable so I guess those elliptical workouts really worked.

Now that I feel confident in my running fitness I have to tackle my next fear…riding and racing a tandem bike. Anyone who knows me knows about my lack of technical riding abilities (to put it nicely) so I am little worried about being in charge of a huge tandem bike. Thankfully my friend Eve has volunteered to be my test dummy and rent a tandem bike with me this weekend. Yikes!

So back to the point of this blog… I wanted to document my travels and experiences in China (since roaming charges are outrageous and I probably won’t use a phone for the next week). And who knows, maybe I will like this blogging thing and try to keep it up for awhile.  We’ll see…