Welcome to 2009!

Welcome to my new blog. Live Free, TriHard. Fitting I think, and a great new motto for 2009.

It was 2006/2007 the last time I blogged, on a page called http://www.citygirlmarathon.blogspot.com/ . I had a great laugh as I took a trip down memory lane reading a years worth of great memories. What a great experience the Honolulu marathon was - the fundraising, while it was a huge undertaking, was an incredible adventure and something I'm still very proud of. That was a such year of learning for me. It was when I learned to turn "someday" into "today". I figure out how to take those things that you would "...love to do someday" and do it. Maybe not exactly today but now I understand (without sounding terribly cliche) "a journey of a thousand miles, starts with one step". Today, I can take that step. Tomorrow, I will take another.

So where am I now? What's been going on since Honolulu 2006? Where do I start???? Way too much tell everything, but here are the highlights:

• I moved to Vancouver


• Raced in Kelowna, Sooke, Vancouver


• Moved up to the Olympic distance


• Ran a personal best half marathon


• I took up surfing (however unsuccessfully)


• I started a new job
  

Ok - so ALOT more has happened in a year and a half, but that's all I can think of for the time being. So what's the deal with the new blog you may be asking? Well, I found that blogging my journey with Honolulu was such a great way for me to reflect on how I've progressed down a road I had never travelled. At times it was really tough and reading back at my previous posts was a great indication of how far I had come and in turn, motivation to keep going. It was also a great way for family and friends to follow along with me providing support and sharing my ups and downs. Plus, now with me on the West Coast, many of those supporters are miles and miles away. I miss them and would love them to continue being a part of what's going on in my life.

In 2006, Triathlon made a significant introduction into my life. It was love at first fight. Yes, fight. As any marathoner or endurance sport athlete will tell you, as taxing as the sport is on your body, the real challenge is in your mind. I was well into my marathon training when I figured out that this getting less and less about what my body can do, and more about what mind will let it do. The body is an amazing thing and it will do incredible things for you, what you have to overcome is the mind. Boredom, pain, loneliness, stress - all these things are obstacles you face alone while enduring the long distance of a marathon. When you shut these things out, or better yet, learn to overcome them, and you continue, and you finish what you set out to do..... well, there is a pride and self-respect earned there that can not be described and better left available for anyone who wants to find out for themselves..

So here it is - my new blog and my new journey. Ready?

IRONMAN CANADA 2010. For those who don't know, check out the video below. It still gives me goosebumps.

3.8 km swim, 180 km bike, 42.2 km run

Crazy? Maybe. That video is from the World Championships in Kona, Hawaii. I'm planning on doing IRONMAN Canada in Penticton BC. I was there this past summer to watch and it was absolutely incredible.

Anyone who's known me a few years may know about my list. The "list" is something like a "bucket list" (a list people make of things they want to do before they die), mine's not quite the same, but nonetheless, is a list of things that I want to accomplish. It's a short list, but the journey en route to achieving these things, if anything like my marathon, will be memorable and full of adventure.

The List:

1. Run a marathon (check)

2. Ironman

3. Write a book

4. Own a business

5. See the world

Here it is written on my hand in Hawaii. I glanced at this a few times to remind me of all the great things to come after I completed this one.

So with 2009 comes the beginning of a new adventure. I've joined a new Triathlon club, one that provides me with two coaches that work with me, dedicated to helping me achieve my goals , and peers that have similar, if not much more ambitious goals. A few of the members I'm training with are going to Worlds in Australia in October, another is racing her first season with an Elite (Pro) status and others are already Ironmen.

I am really excited (and a little scared) to start this new chapter and welcome you to come with me through the challenges and triumphs I will face as an amateur athlete on the road to Ironman 2010.

Happy training!

S.