I credit Pam for introducing me to Triathlon. She was a rock star athlete growing up, always exemplifying what it means to be a dedicated elite athlete. She was an Olympic hopeful in Diving for so many years, spending more time at the pool that you could even imagine. I guess I can also thank her for my swimming ability, as I took up swimming just because I had to wait around the pool for her to finish mastering her dives. After battling injury just before her last Olympic trials, she retired from diving and took up Triathlon. It didn’t take her long to show that she can excel at whatever she decides to do. This just goes to show how much attitude plays into success. With her encouragement, we qualified together for the 2003 World AG Championships in New Zealand and enjoyed a great trip together; however it was shortly after this trip when she decided to focus her energies into her school/career and put racing on hold. This weekend may just be the weekend to spark that desire again…
To add to my extreme excitement, this coming Saturday is the Lifetime Fitness triathlon. I’ve done this race for the past 6 years, and really look forward to it each year. The race venue is just 10 minutes from my house, and you have the opportunity to race on some of the prettiest roads in the city. You wind up and down the Mississippi River, and around some of the classic City lakes. These roads are typically filled with crazy motorists, so having the roads closed for this event makes it all worth while. This year, the Elite Amateur division has attracted top talent from all over the country, which makes this event even more exciting. It’s such a great opportunity to race some of the best triathletes in the country while at home! It will be an extremely challenging race, but that’s what it’s all about. It’s not about the fastest person registered (I’ve counted at least 7 different people who could legitimately win), rather its about the fastest person THAT day, and who puts it all on the line down the stretch-A true RACE. The LTF race is part of the Toyota Cup series, which means that they take the top 5 Amateurs and fly them, including accommodations and entry to Dallas for the US OPEN. I did this last year and hope to be back in Dallas in October to defend my US OPEN title.
I’ll be surely racing my heart out on Saturday…I CAN’T WAIT ;-)
