You can do anything if you Tri....

"I'm gonna live my life.
Shining like a diamond, rolling with the dice,
Standing on the ledge, I show the wind how to fly.
When the world gets in my face,
I say, Have A Nice Day." Bon Jovi

Six months and four days ago I walked into Lifetime fitness barely able to walk more than a minute without resting. I couldn't climb stairs, I couldn't pedal a bike and I couldn't complete a length of the pool. Today I walked out of that same club a triathlete.

My results weren't stellar, I tied for last out of the 70 or so people who participated, but I could care less. I did it. I went the full time in all three events, which was more than some participants did! And more importantly it is more than I ever could have or would have done before in my life!! I have accomplished a lot in my life, a lot that most people expected, but what I did today is probably greater, harder and more satisfying than anything I have done to now. This was my Mt Everest and I climbed it!

If you had asked me 6 months or a year ago if I would ever do this I would have laughed in your face. There was no way this was even conceivable. Truth it is hard to believe I have even done it, which was why I did something else very uncharacteristic and brought a camera to have it recorded. I need the proof for me on the days when I don't want to keep at it.

I have to give a LOT of the credit for me doing this to the great ladies who did it with me, TEAM FOCUS. Jen, Ronna, Sue, Stephanie and Shelia. Thank you. I never would have shown up today without you, I never would have kept pedaling without you guys. I am so proud of you for doing this. I know for most of us this was a major accomplishment and we have every right to be just as proud of our accomplishment as those thin, healthy people who finished ahead of us!!!!! No one thought we would ever do it, and we did!!!!

Special thanks to our coach, cheerleader, photographer and "mom" Kristin. After the tri we had a very interesting conversation in the cafe about how little support we got in this from some people in our lives. I have to admit it shocked me how little people's families, friends, trainers and even the club in general seemed to get what a major accomplishment this was for some participants. Some not mentioning it at all, some barely mentioning it when reminded. For as big a deal as this was to us, it seemed to matter very little to the people around us. And that surprised me, but maybe in a way it was good because it made us do it for ourselves and not for others!!!

But Kristin stuck with us the whole way, cheering us on and reminding us we could do what no one (including her, as she admitted to me yesterday, thought would we even attempt). From the night we originally discussed it (it started as a crazy idea one night sitting outside at EAT) to your support today, thanks for keeping us "focused"!

We also decided today wont be the end for Team FOCUS. Our next event is the ACS Relay for life July 16th and 17th (which one of our team members is coordinating) and we also decided that we want to do a Team Triathlon, and are going to start looking for one.

Go Team FOCUS "Pink and Proud"