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Yes, indeed, I have decided to take on the challenge of a triathlon – (a competitive athletic event involving a swim, a bike ride, and a run). For those of you who know me well, you may have the same reaction as Chris: “You do realize you have to swim, right?” OK, so I don’t know how to swim, minor detail… I had swimming lessons, once – for two days when I was like seven, which I’m pretty sure involved not a whole lot more than hanging onto a kickboard and splashing my legs as wildly as I could. This vital, coming-of-age instruction was abruptly cut short and possibly scared me from learning how to swim for the rest of my childhood.

But a bit of background first: The nearest public pool to my home is in the small town of Chatsworth, IL, about seven miles west of my house. C.A.P.S. (which I honestly don’t know exactly what it stands for… Chatsworth Area Pool (for) Swimming? is as good as I can come up with…) was the only pool I’d ever known. Living that sheltered, I-only-know-of-what’s-inside-my-own-bubble kind of life, I didn’t realize how amazing this pool really is. It’s huge. It’s ginormous. It’s every other synonym (using real or made up words you can think of) for large. It’s actually the biggest pool in the United States containing 1,300,000 gallons of water (yes, that’s ONE MILLION) – well, it was the record holder until just a few years ago when another one was built to hold 5 gallons more so that they could boast instead. (By the way, this pertinent data was gathered via one quick phone call to the dear old establishment this evening, since there is, of course, no info about it online.) Per capita, though, I bet it still takes the cake – Chatsworth has a population of approximately 1200 residents. That’s more than 1,000 gallons of water per person! It took Chris’ reaction upon first drive by back when we were dating for me to realize that this was something impressive.

Anyway, back to the suspenseful end of my swimming lesson days. Since the pool was “so far away,” the school district apparently decided to offer transportation using the school buses in the summer. There was a morning session for the younger kids (which I was in), and a second session later on for the older kids. Two days into the intended week long event, the bus carrying the second group to the pool crashed. My cousin was on the bus, so I watched the noon news intently, relieved to find out that no one was injured. This did, however, cease the free, school-provided transportation, and thereby ended my swimming lesson days. So it’s not so much that the swimming lessons themselves were horrendously scary – I just have a traumatic memory associated with the idea of learning how to swim – and I guess, therefore, never learned in a formal setting.

Some of the people I would have called my best friends growing up had pools – Brandi, Shannon, Dawn Lee (have to use her last name because of the same name issue. She was Dawn Lee, and I was Dawn T. – That was cool when I was nine.) So any other form of swimming education took place from my peers in nothing more than a 4 foot deep, 16 foot round backyard pool. I learned I wasn’t supposed to open my eyes underwater or else they get really red; I learned how to do a pretty killer handstand in a pool; but beyond that, I didn’t really learn a whole lot about proper swimming technique.

Which (finally, I know) brings me to my recent venture into learning how to swim and my official triathlon training! Soon after arriving here, I saw a couple of advertisements for the Ramblin’ Rose Women’s Only Super Sprint Triathlon. My very first passing thoughts of it were fleeting, since I know I’m a terrible swimmer. But I kept seeing these advertisements in different places, and then I had that God-is-speaking-to-you-LISTEN! moment. The first Sunday we went to church, there was an announcement in the bulletin about a pre-race triathlon meeting. (I found out that that group in particular was participating in an entirely different triathlon, but it still prompted me to look into it more.) I got online and researched the Ramblin’ Rose. I found out it involves a 250 yard swim (in a pool, thank goodness, I couldn’t even tackle an open water course right now), a 9 mile bike ride, and a 2 mile run. Run – piece of cake. Bike – fine barring any technical difficulties. Swim – haven’t even been in a measured pool to have a clue as to how far that is…

Upon further research, I learned that one of the running/fitness apparel stores in town, Fleet Feet, was hosting a Beginner Triathlon Clinic for 6 weeks and the first meeting was that night! My heart started racing. Was I really going to make the decision to commit to doing a triathlon in the ten minutes I’d spent looking at the info online? That’s a little too spontaneous for me!

When Chris got home, I told him of my idea. He had the aforementioned reaction, and then tried to graciously backpedal and be supportive when he realized I was serious. And just like that, I was signed up for a six week training program with five structured workouts per week plus group clinics on Tuesday and Thursday nights. There’s nothing quite like 45 women from their mid-twenties to their early sixties riding their bikes through town, taking over the Hanes Park track, and swimming laps at the YWCA pool. It’s been fun getting to know these women, and interesting to see the different connections and opportunities that unfold from this gathering. (Perhaps more on this in a later post). Our training group has been in the newspaper, on the local NBC news station, and Genell (our oldest, but probably spunkiest member) was even featured in the magazine Forsyth Woman.

Our coach, Emily, has been fantastic! She and her husband, Keith, own the Fleet Feet store, and are both triathletes. Keith (in the white shirt) has done 7 full Ironmans (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run), including competing in the World Championship in Hawaii once. Emily has done one full herself, plus several of the other distances (halves, Olympic distances, and several sprints). They’ve been awesome at encouraging us during the workouts as well as getting us prepared for all of the logistics of the race.

Last night, they had an after-hours party at their store for us, so that we could see the latest triathlon apparel via a fashion show. Emily (in the blue shirt) also got her favorite massage therapist to come in and do brief assessment massages for us to work out any of the kinks.




There were appetizers, chocolates, and wine – and lots of women trying on lots of skin-tight, swimsuit-like material, which I might add, is a workout in itself! The “tri-gear” has some chamois material to help you dry faster after coming out of the pool. By wearing this kind of outfit, you don’t have to worry about changing clothes somehow or (as bad of) chaffing if you tried running in wet cotton. Since participating in a triathlon is not exactly the cheapest entertainment around, I actually purchased my race day outfit last Friday during TAX-FREE weekend! (What a great idea, North Carolina!)

The race is on Sunday, August 24th, so I only have a couple more weeks to figure this swimming thing out. I can now swim 50 meters in about 45 seconds, but then I have to stop and gasp for air! (But that is an improvement since I could barely make it one length of the pool (25 m) three weeks ago). It makes no sense – I can run forever (well, not literally of course…) but swimming sucks the life right out of me! It’s horrible! But, it’s also good – I’m looking at this experience as a huge challenge, a fear to face and overcome, a growing opportunity.

While swimming is a skill I never learned as a child, I’m coming to appreciate the activity in ways I never imagined I would. It will definitely remain my weakest sport of the three, (and I’m pretty sure it will always involve the dorkiest looking pictures as evidenced from the three selections above! Plus, that one could have looked infinitely more amusing, but I wouldn’t let Chris take the picture with my NOSE PLUGS on!) Anyway, I’m trying to convince my head that swimming is the most relaxing activity in the world. It’s like jogging at a super slow pace. It’s like floating on a moving cloud. It’s so easy my grandma could do it (no offense, grandma)… If only my brain would believe it and my body would follow suit! Wish me luck – Aug 24th – I’m sure I’ll let you know how it goes!