This is the fabulous Karen Rand, completing her first triathlon last summer for Tri for a Cure.
I got to hear Karen speak at the Tri for a Cure bike clinic, where I learned about bike maintenance and got advice from both experienced and first time triathletes from the previous year.
Listening to the two women who’d completed Tri for a Cure as their first triathlon last year, I was amazed at the courage, resiliency and effort they possessed.
They had to have the confidence that they could do this, and then they actually had to learn and train to do it. They went from swimming in pools to practicing in lakes and then the ocean. They biked up and down a hill in Portland, ME with a training group over and over again, cheering on the way down for people who were climbing on the other side. They made friends, learned from experienced triathletes, raised money to fight cancer, and made it across the finish line.
Karen decided to become a triathlete… and then she did it.
What I love about Karen’s story
As a runner, Karen was most nervous about the biking portion of the tri. (Well, also about the swim, but everyone’s nervous about the swim…)
She tried clipping in and out, but she never got comfortable. Some people would have given up right there, but Karen just decided to ride the bike portion not clipped in.
It’s sheer brilliance.
How many times do we let our expectations of what we think something “should” look like stop us from attempting it?
I’ve heard people say they would never run x distance because they’d be embarrassed to come in slower than a certain time, so they won’t do the event. If you don’t want to train for an event, that’s fine! But it’s sad when we let other people’s accomplishments or expectations keep us from embarking on a journey we would love and benefit from.
Don’t be sad. Be Karen. Unclip and ride your race your way.
Like any sport, if you look at the first finishers of a triathlon, it makes the sport look pretty unapproachable.
But it’s not, really.
You don’t need to be clipped into a $3,000 bike. You don’t need to do freestyle the entire way without stopping. You can backstroke for a bit. In many races, you can stop and rest on a kayak and then keep going. You don’t need to have compression socks and finish a half marathon in under 2 hours. Trust me.
Check your race regulations to see what time the course closes and what the requirements are for equipment, and I think you’ll find that many races are open to and welcoming of beginners.
If you want to use a race to motivate yourself but there’s just one thing stopping you, ask yourself if you can work around it.
What can the experience do for you?
There are times when I want to succumb to my embarrassment that Greg has to wait over 45 minutes for me to finish a half marathon and just not race. But I don’t. Because being a half marathoner has done so much for me that I’m willing to do it my way.
If you want to do something, do it. Let it improve your life. Don’t worry about other people’s relationship with the sport.
Make it your own.
Thanks, Karen, for the inspiration and for letting me share your story and photos on my blog!
You can donate to Karen’s Tri for a Cure fundraising page here because guess what?
She’s doing it again 🙂
I did my first Sprint Tri last year and I was most nervous about the swim – well because I had not really swam laps or really swam since Sr. year of HS and I was 54 last year. I did not ride the bike clipped in either. I never really thought about it. Was I the fastest – nope, was I the slowest, nope. Would I get clips – maybe, but I’m kind of afraid of falling at this point, so I’m not sure.