OK Folks, I'm going to make another attempt at blogging here. I spend a lot of time looking at blogs- now its time to write my own so that others can see what I'm up to.
So, like the title implies, I'm training for a triathlon. My first triathlon to be exact. I kind of just jumped into it to be honest, but here's a little background story for you...
It was mid- November 2008. Thanksgiving had just past. We had a get-together event with almost all of my mom's side of the family for Thanksgiving. There were about 24 of us in all, staying at my mom's house for the week. Thank goodness it's a huge house- I don't see how we could have managed it in a smaller one. A
Thanksgiving tradition that my mom started with us kids about eight years ago was to run the Virginia Run 5k Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day. I'm usually able to manage alright- my best years were when I was in college, as I trained vigorously with an ROTC unit. This year, I expected to be in pain- I had not been working out for a few months, and had not been training for a running event. Sure enough, I had to walk for 5 minutes during the race. But I still finished within 34 minutes, which was surprising to me. (Then I looked up my best time and found I was 13 minutes off from it.) It felt good to have been out again, and it felt really good having done the event with people that I knew, loved, and cared about.
I realized I wanted to get back on the training circuit, but when there was no reason or goal to keep me going, I didn't have a whole lot of staying power with the regime. Then I started thinking big. I started thinking, "You know Sean, I don't know how long you're going to have the opportunity in life to do athletic things. Life is shorter than you think." It was time to start knocking things off my life's "To-Do" list.
Then I got a phone call from a friend who was up to something big. She sought my advice on how I had gone about a project and knew that there was fundraising involved, which was part of her goal as well. She then told me the idea and I was immediately enrolled in the possibility of it. She said that she was thinking of putting a team together to compete in the Nation's Triathlon in September 2009, here in our nation's capital, as a venue for her project. I thought, "Wow- I don't know how to do a triathlon, but I'm up to participating for the cause." But seeing as that's a whole 8 months from now, and at the time it was 9 1/2 months away, I wanted to do some training before hand.
She reccomended the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Team-In-Training program. She had participated in it before and had a good time. So I went to an interest meeting. At this meeting there were other people like me, who had never participated or trained for marathons and triathlons. There were also some people who had.
As well, there was an Honored Teammate who not only had had lymphoma, gone through chemo and radiation, and survived, but had also participated in a LLS triathlon as well. I was moved, impressed, and inspired. I remember hearing a quote from Lance Armstrong about enduring the pains and trials of training for an endurance event didn't even compare to what it's like to go through chemo and fight cancer. But to me, its a way to fight for all the people who had it "sprung" up on them. I couldn't leave that night without registering. The fundraising goal was daunting, but I knew that I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't give it a fighting chance. I have all the availability in the world to live my life, when others don't. I wanted to give back and give that availability to others by helping the cause.
So, that's my story of how I chose to participate in a triathlon training program. I'll continue with updates during my journey.
Check out my fundraising page for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Team-In-Traing Program-- I'll be competing in the St. Anthony's Olympic Triathlon on April 26, 2009 in St. Petersburg, FL!!
http://pages.teamintraining.org/nca/anttry09/shoar
So, like the title implies, I'm training for a triathlon. My first triathlon to be exact. I kind of just jumped into it to be honest, but here's a little background story for you...
It was mid- November 2008. Thanksgiving had just past. We had a get-together event with almost all of my mom's side of the family for Thanksgiving. There were about 24 of us in all, staying at my mom's house for the week. Thank goodness it's a huge house- I don't see how we could have managed it in a smaller one. A
Thanksgiving tradition that my mom started with us kids about eight years ago was to run the Virginia Run 5k Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day. I'm usually able to manage alright- my best years were when I was in college, as I trained vigorously with an ROTC unit. This year, I expected to be in pain- I had not been working out for a few months, and had not been training for a running event. Sure enough, I had to walk for 5 minutes during the race. But I still finished within 34 minutes, which was surprising to me. (Then I looked up my best time and found I was 13 minutes off from it.) It felt good to have been out again, and it felt really good having done the event with people that I knew, loved, and cared about.I realized I wanted to get back on the training circuit, but when there was no reason or goal to keep me going, I didn't have a whole lot of staying power with the regime. Then I started thinking big. I started thinking, "You know Sean, I don't know how long you're going to have the opportunity in life to do athletic things. Life is shorter than you think." It was time to start knocking things off my life's "To-Do" list.
Then I got a phone call from a friend who was up to something big. She sought my advice on how I had gone about a project and knew that there was fundraising involved, which was part of her goal as well. She then told me the idea and I was immediately enrolled in the possibility of it. She said that she was thinking of putting a team together to compete in the Nation's Triathlon in September 2009, here in our nation's capital, as a venue for her project. I thought, "Wow- I don't know how to do a triathlon, but I'm up to participating for the cause." But seeing as that's a whole 8 months from now, and at the time it was 9 1/2 months away, I wanted to do some training before hand.
She reccomended the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Team-In-Training program. She had participated in it before and had a good time. So I went to an interest meeting. At this meeting there were other people like me, who had never participated or trained for marathons and triathlons. There were also some people who had.As well, there was an Honored Teammate who not only had had lymphoma, gone through chemo and radiation, and survived, but had also participated in a LLS triathlon as well. I was moved, impressed, and inspired. I remember hearing a quote from Lance Armstrong about enduring the pains and trials of training for an endurance event didn't even compare to what it's like to go through chemo and fight cancer. But to me, its a way to fight for all the people who had it "sprung" up on them. I couldn't leave that night without registering. The fundraising goal was daunting, but I knew that I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't give it a fighting chance. I have all the availability in the world to live my life, when others don't. I wanted to give back and give that availability to others by helping the cause.
So, that's my story of how I chose to participate in a triathlon training program. I'll continue with updates during my journey.
Check out my fundraising page for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Team-In-Traing Program-- I'll be competing in the St. Anthony's Olympic Triathlon on April 26, 2009 in St. Petersburg, FL!!
http://pages.teamintraining.org/nca/anttry09/shoar
No comments:
Post a Comment