What started out as a joke, "Hey Jill is doing Barbs, you should too" turned into a group of 8 women all with their own stories trying to test the limits. You will have to forgive me as I indulge a bit, I knew that going to the Barb's Half Ironman/Aquabike/Full AquaBike was going to bring about some writable thoughts.
So, this past weekend the 8 of us headed up to the beautiful area of Napa to see what we could do, not knowing the outcome for any of us.
The wonderful thing about triathlon is that it opens you up to layers of yourself you never knew about. Or maybe you thought you knew all the layers but doing something like this, this crazy multisport lifestyle teaches you a new dimension, a different side of you.
Bringing friends along with you on this journey makes it all the sweeter. On the days you don't want to train, you will get out the door because you know someone is counting on you to show up. There are times when it's important to do things on your own to know you are doing it for the right reasons but there are 7 days a week to train, doing a few of those with some friends who have the same goal will make it all the sweeter. When you train with friends you start to see how you all have something to bring to the table. Maybe one of you is an amazing swimmer, or the other is a great runner....another dominates on the bike. I love this about triathlon, there are so many places to be strong, to shine it's not just one thing. In a group or with one other friend you can start to see how you can help each other and motivate each other towards our goals.
I know it's a bit long but I am hoping that maybe you can relate with one of these 8 Mermaids. It is so easy to slip into self doubt and think that we can't do it, that these goals are too big. When you get to know other people and their stories, you might just see that if they can do it, you can do it too.
Jill was coming back to Barb's this year with a very different perspective. In 2008, her first year with Team Mermaid she gave it everything she had training for her first Half Ironman at Barb's. Her dedication and willingness to push herself was amazing. We all knew that she was going to have a great day, that she would accomplish the big goal she had set for herself back at our first meeting in February of that year. Race day came and she was totally ready to go, nervous and ready to puke but ready to face the day! She did the swim and came out strong, got on her bike and headed out....on the bike she went down and her race was over. All of her training and preparation was gone....one moment and the day was done. Fast forward to 2009. Early in the year, Barb's was on the race docket for her. She was the one who started the steam train that we all got on...then two months before the race a dislocated knee would keep her from competing. Jill came out for our training rides to be our SAG, to pick us up when our tires got flat, to replenish water bottles and to make us all laugh with her tortoise speed driving. What is important here is that she had a reason for being at Barb's, she had friends to cheer on and take care of, she had a race to see and know that she would come back and try again. I was honored to have her there knowing that it had to be hard to watch everyone race, I asked her how she felt and she said she was glad she was there, but ready to come back and show that course who is boss. Everyone has a story, participating or not...there is inspiration in the cheerleading as you watch people knowing they are breaking apart and will persevere anyway. I am sure she felt some of that and is hungry to feel it again.
Ashley started training for triathlons for the first time 3 months ago. Her multisport resume up to Barb's included the Mermaid Sprint at Fremont. Not only was she training for a half ironman but she was also studying for and taking the state bar the week before. I was nervous for her and I thought of her a lot out on the course. Knowing that our bodies and our minds can only take so much, I wasn't sure what the day would look like for her. I knew she would finish without question but I just wasn't sure how pretty it would be. When I saw her out on the course, I knew she was hurting but knowing her 'never say never' spirit I was confident that she would finish come heck or high water. Of course she finished with blisters the size of pancakes on her feet, with tears in her eyes and all of her teammates screaming her name and hugging her in. She finished her own race, she had trained with all of the girls there but had completed her day, her half ironman, there is no one that will ever be able to take that away from her. She has spent her life being measured by how she performed first as a star swimmer then as a law student faced with the daunting task of the bar...subjective views deciding her future, this time, it was all her. She was racing against herself knowing her friends were waiting for her at the finish. There is something so satisfying in having reached your own goal, the one you set out for yourself, measured only by you....knowing what you had done to get there and reaping all of the rewards of the hard work or the harsh reality of not getting it all of the miles in either way, it's your moment no one else's.
Melissa, the fish of our group had decided to do this race knowing it would push her to a new level. Her dedication to training and sacrifice paid off day after day. Struggling with whether or not she could do the AquaBike, it was fun to watch her and think of her out on the course knowing how well she was going to do. It ALWAYS amazes me how we shoot ourselves down, we decide we can't do it and what a fun, beautiful, unexpected surprise when we surpass what we thought. I knew this would be the case for Melissa but just like the rest of us, she has her own story, all of the reasons inside her head why she shouldn't be doing it. But there she was, race morning ready to go. My hope for Melissa is that once again she will know how amazing she is, how beautiful, how strong and how brave she is. But when in our lives do we get to find that out? It's hard to find those moments, something about doing a race, a run or a ride reveals that.
Sara had a couple of bad races leading up to the AquaBike, a distance she hadn't attempted. When I saw her a couple of weeks before the event, I knew she was carrying the demons of the two previous races with her. What a crazy thing we can do to ourselves, measure who we are and what we are capable of off of two events but there she was questioning with her lawyer mind, what she had gotten herself into. Just when we think we can't with some friends encouraging us along, somehow we do. We rise to the moment and laugh and maybe feel a little sick to our stomachs and we feed off of their energy; off of their potential and we give it a try. What's the worst that can happen?? There is no worst.....not finishing?? Who cares, go have a drink and wait at the finish line. You stop half way?? Who cares, you tried, you can try again later. It's not solving world hunger, it's not stopping the war, its getting to know you, it's understanding what you are capable of and sometimes not capable of, that's all. It's meant to be a party, it should be something that fills you up not breaks you down. Sara finished of course with sun burnt hands because that's the only spot her husband didn’t get and hopefully they are reminding her today what she did, what she IS capable of and hopefully bringing a smile to her face.
Gina told me when I first met her that she would never run again, resigned to some sort of half life of exercise...I said, ok We'll see. She of course ran, she ran all last year on the team and amazed all of us. Not just that she was doing it but she amazed us all with the spirit in which she did it. I've never met anyone so exuberant towards life, towards giving and making the most of it. She set out to do Barb's in 09 and was going to hammer it hard! At 51 years of age, acting half her age, she hurt her hamstring. Sidelined from running she was discouraged and not sure of what the year would look like. We put our heads together and with the doctors blessings knew we had to put a big goal on the table for her to keep her going. The Full AquaBike is a 2.4 mile swim and 112 mile bike ride. That seemed like a HUGE goal that would take her mind off of the fact that she couldn't run. She trained so hard, was so dedicated and then in one of the most important weeks of training her husband had a heart attack. In her calm demeanor she sent an email..."couldn't get my ride in today, was at the hospital with Mike, he had a heart attack"....WHAT??? Seriously, that is how calm she was. She took care of him and herself and showed up at the Aquabike ready to go. Not only did she finish the entire thing but she finished 1 and half hours earlier than we thought and took 3rd in her age group. It was such an achievement but full of her own struggles and heartache. This sport brings new dimensions and asks of you to find out why you are doing it. It's difficult to do this half way or without purpose. The purpose can be simple, just to say you did it, to lose weight, to check it off of your list. The reasons are many and always there. Again, when in life do we get to choose to do something like this and push ourselves in this way with the reward simply being a finish line?? It's hard to come by amidst all of our responsibilities in this life.
Wilma, wilma, wilma........her voice is one you hear in your head when you see her picture or think of her. Last year as the team was preparing for the Fremont Triathlon at Quarry Lakes, I convinced Wilma to put her feet in the water. We sat together in the water at the beach break and waited. When I realized we weren't going to get anywhere, I strapped on a boogie board to my foot and told her to hold on the to the board and drug her through the water. When she told me this year that she wanted to try Barb's I told her, "START SWIMMING!!!!". I was so nervous for her, knowing her anxiety about swimming, knowing just how far she was pushing herself in order to do this. If ever there were a determined woman, it's Wilma. As I have said before, we all have our own story and I love to watch hers unfold. To see her in the water race morning knowing what obstacles she was about to face was almost too much for me. Over and over again on the bike, I kept thinking did she make it?? Did she get out of the water??? I kept asking everyone I saw "Did Wilma make it out of the water???" no one knew. When I was on my way back from the first loop of the run, there she was climbing the hill and the tears popped in my eyes. I couldn't help myself, I had to run and grab her knowing she had made it. I can't imagine her feelings inside her own head, knowing she had climbed such a huge mountain. To go from barely swimming two strokes to swimming 1.2 miles, just amazing. Who is to say what you can do?? You are in charge of that, Wilma was in charge that day and she did it. She pushed through every fear that she had and she did it. She finished and at the finish line there were plenty of tears for both of us.
Marisol trained harder than I have ever seen her train. Triathlon is not her "thing" surfing is her thing and it's a good thing that there haven't been any waves lately so she could get her training in. She knew going into this that her knees were not good, that she wasn't even sure if she would be able to run. Every time she went out for a run, she could get a few miles in and then the knees were just done. With a completely sick belly she went to the start of the race not knowing what her body would allow her to do. When she came out of the water she was told her time and realized she swam the same speed from the year before. So much for beating her time from last year when it was so hot it felt like we running through Hades and I was so worried about her on the run, I sent her husband peddling after her on his daughters bike. When I talked to her later she told me how discouraged she was about the time and that it took her a long time to get past what that meant...was she going to blow the whole race? Her goal was to beat her time by a long shot this year and that seemed impossible. When I saw my husband out on the bike course and he told me Marisol had passed me I was on fire to find her. We ended up doing the rest of the race together and watching her persevere through that run, was awesome. I knew she was in pain but in pure Marisol form, she did it. She finished in style with a smile and creating smiles all around her. She not only beat her time from last year, she anhiliated it......her story, her race, her way.
I was so excited to do this race with my Mermaids. I had done a half ironman this year already, was slower than molasses and thought anything would be better than that. Most of you know my story and know that my body is unpredictable. When I started the race I was really tired and I had been for most of the week and half leading up to it. Tired in a way that says...hmmm...I AM TIRED!! When my body is tired, it means it's working too hard. My blood counts showed that and I knew it was because of the training. After talking it through with my coach, husband and friends, I decided to take it really easy the week before the race. I had hoped that slowing my body down would keep the fatigue at a minimum. I really wanted to have a great race, to destroy my time from last year and so when I woke up feeling so tired, I knew it was going to look different. I am learning ~ however slowly that my body will in the end dictate what I can and can't do. I knew I could do it and so I would open myself up to whatever the day would bring. When the swim started I felt awful, like someone put a weight on my lower back and was holding me under water, I couldn't find my rhythm and I got hit all over the place. I knew I would be ok when I made the turn around and found clean water and swam as fast as I could to the finish. Heading off on the bike, I swear I felt like someone was holding onto my back tire, I kept looking back to make sure..and no, it was just my slow legs. Around mile 30, I saw my husband and he told me about Marisol passing me...I couldn't believe she would pass me and not say anything! I high tailed it as fast as I could, sure I would take a spill in my excitement! When I caught her the race made sense, the day made sense and I was as happy as I could be. While we rode along solving all of the worlds problems, we came on a woman that had a tried everything to get her flat fixed. I knew the day was going to get better when she was trying to refuse our help feeling bad about us stopping and Marisol said "We've got time, we have no where else to be". The ride was perfect and when we headed out on the run, we soon found our happy pace. That pace included A LOT of singing and shout outs to the ironmen on the same course. I knew we had hit our stride when we let the Ironmen know that it was great that they were completing the tough task but we could give birth "so there". Anyway, it was one the best race moments of my life and it was that way because of the friends by my side. Physically I always doubt myself, not knowing how I will feel, if I will have the energy I need or want. I am reminded every time I participate in a race that I am the luckiest person on the planet, here I am running, biking and swimming.....because I can and with friends to make it better.
There are plenty of ways to get friends to go along with you, you can either recruit your own or make new friends in a triathlon training group. You know I am a fan of Team Mermaid and if you ask any of the girls above, they might tell you how important it has been for them to be on a team. I encourage you to put it out there, say out loud what you are doing. Post it on your facebook, let people know what you are doing and they might just surprise you and come along. You may be just the person they need to hear from to push them into a new adventure...
When we jump into this sport, there is something that scares the "you know what" out of us, maybe it's the swim for you, or the bike, or you think there is no way on the planet you will be able to run.....but somehow on race day, you do it. You dig deep and bring out everything you have. You run past the spectators and you feel their energy all over your body and it moves you forward, you run past your friend and she screams, or sings or hugs you and you don't have time to think, you just keep running, knowing that the finish line is there somewhere and it is the sweetest feeling in the world to stomp on that finish line. When do we get to do that? When do we get to hear our names on the microphone just because we finished something. It doesn't matter in that moment where you finished or if your transition was 10 minutes long...you finished and your friends and family are waiting for you at the end, some of them crying, some laughing some screaming. You finished, with friends by your side, you finished knowing you had put a goal out in the air something seemingly unattainable, you finished and will be able to go back into your everyday life and show all of those people who thought you were crazy that you did indeed finish.
The reality is, no matter where you come from, no matter how little or how much experience you have, you are better with a friend by your side. I don't care who you are, doing things alone is hard, there is something to learn from doing things alone here and there but there is another side of things and that is the party, the celebration, the encouragement and razzing that you can only get from good friends walking along your side.
Heidi Boynton
Head Coach Team Mermaid
