What Do You Do For Fun?
Thursday, September 1st, 2011I get asked this question all the time by non-triathletes….”What do you do for fun?”
I have sometimes stopped to think about this, trying to come up with something other than swimming, biking and running that I do for fun, and nothing ever comes to my mind. I mean, I work, maybe see a movie once a year (not including inflight movies while traveling to a race), and go out to dinner with friends (which is usually following a training session).
So the answer I consistently come up with is “I swim, bike and run.” To me this IS fun! I love swimming, biking and running. This is also fun because I can usually do these things with a friend or friends! I mean, this is my fun! This is what I love to do!
I sometimes will feel a bit unbalanced or think that I should be doing other things for fun. The fact of the matter though, is as an Ironman triathlete….most of my free time is spent swimming, biking and running. Fortunately, since I enjoy all three sports, I think of this as FUN.
There are other benefits to having fun with triathlon…..some of which I experienced this weekend. I took Friday morning off work to get my long run in so I would have some free time over the weekend. Read more and tell me if this doesn’t sound like fun!
Friday night I was invited through the organization GOTRIbal (check em out and join!) to a sit down dinner with Chrissie Wellington and 7 other GOTRIbal members!
To say the evening was amazing is an understatement. When Chrissie walked into the room, my knees got weak and I was so nervous. Here I was in the presence of one of the most gracious and humble human beings I have ever met, and a three-time World Champion!
The evening discussion focused on empowering ourselves and other women through the sport of triathlon. Chrissie shared with us her humble beginnings (you wouldn’t believe her experience at her first Ironman, which was Kona) and she shared her passion for serving. There was no talk about training or nutrition strategies…it was just an evening for the girls to hang out and chat.
We all shared with Chrissie and each other, what motivates and empowers us. Not only was meeting Chrissie an absolute blessing, but the women who attended where phenomenal. I am so grateful I was able to meet such wonderful “age-groupers” as well. As the evening wrapped up I found myself wishing for more time. Three hours seemed to go by like nothing… And then we were going our separate ways.
Saturday 4:30 am came quickly (I was out way past my bedtime) and I was off to Boulder to volunteer with my TriBella mates.
We were all there ready to cheer on the women as they came to the turn around point on the 5k run. I must say, following the previous night, being out on that course and seeing 500 women, racing their hearts out, just made me fall in love with triathlon even more! Every woman who passed and slapped our hands as we cheered them on, has a story. A story of the triathlon start and journey. The energy these women had was absolutely through the roof!!!!
As the cyclist rode by the crowds roar was deafening! I’ve never heard so many cowbells in my life. The place was just on fire! Seriously, everyone was so amped and excited! The energy was amazing!
As the cyclist rode up Lookout Mt we headed into the park to watch the live coverage on a humongous screen. Watching them race up the mountain and knowing exactly where they were just made me want to get up and ride! As they crested Lookout we headed over to where they cyclist would be returning to Golden for the last time before heading to Denver. Once they rode on by, we headed back to the park for the remainder of the race.
This was by far one of the best weekends I’ve ever had! I have had to pinch myself that I actually experienced such an amazing three days! Now I know I didn’t do a ton of training (except for the 18 mile run on Friday morning)….but you get the idea. These experiences where all possible because I do swim, bike and run. I was able to enjoy these because I LOVE to triathlon! Because I do swim, bike, and run for FUN!!!! I get to be a part of this wonderful thing called triathlon and it gives me great joy to do so.
And…my quesiton to you is: What do you do for FUN?
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