With Kate

Challenges and Triumph

Last weekend I had to make one of the hardest decisions in my athletic career; I had to make the choice to not finish a race. It wasn’t just any race, it was a race that I had been training six months for, it was a race that I had been telling anyone who would listen about, it was a race that I had invested a small fortune into, it was a race that I had been dreaming about finishing for years.

Last weekend I had to make the tough call to drop from Ironman Couer ‘d Alene half way through the swim due to massive cramping in both my legs from super cold water. Cramping so bad it took 3 days for the muscles to fully release. Cramping so bad the rescue boats were pleading with me to stop while I was determined to not quit and continue on.

I am more than proud and humbled by my decision.

I learned it takes more guts to know when to quit then to push on and potentially harm yourself.

I learned I have the more amazing support network of family and friends who love me no matter what.

I learned I have the best husband a girl could ever ask for.

I learned I am not invincible and I have limits.

I learned to love myself no matter what.

I learned I am a fighter.

I learned to accept and forgive myself for my decision.

I learned that I want to be an Ironman and have decided to give it another shot, Ironman Arizona 2013, watch out!

Cheers to a humbling experience.

I thought finishing an Ironman was going to be a huge accomplishment in my life and it may still be in the future, but NOT finishing has been an even greater accomplishment. Sometimes our greatest failures teach us the most about ourselves. I am grateful for my Ironman experience and wouldn’t trade it for a medal. I’ll get that medal, when the time is right, and the water isn’t so damn cold.