Kona or Bust - Week 20

Do you believe things happen for a reason?

Several weeks ago, 3 weeks to be exact, I traveled to St. Croix with a group of friends and Cyclonaut teammates to race the 70.3 Half Ironman and enjoy some time away. Three weeks ago I unknowingly toed the line for the luckiest race of my life and the start of an athletic journey that many strive for but only a few are actually able to live. Three weeks ago I finally learned that things really do happen for a reason.

As some of you may know I qualified for the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii AND the 70.3 Half Ironman World Championships in Mont-Tremblant Quebec, Canada with my 2nd place age group finish in St. Croix. To those of you that know little about the sport of triathlon both of these races are reserved for the best of the best.  You just raced your tail off to earn an age group placing so you deserve the right to go and see what you’re made of against the best in the world.

What makes all of this so incredibly unbelievable is that there are only a handful of Ironman 70.3 races that offer age group qualifying slots to Kona. Typically there is only 1 slot per age group, maybe 2 if you’re lucky. St. Croix happens to be one of those races.

Before I go on I feel as if it is important to provide you with a bit of my back-story. I’ll spare you from most but as you've probably noticed I keep repeating a few keys works like incredible, unbelievable, and lucky.  I started training for and racing triathlons 12 years ago this summer. Along the way I have learned the ins and outs of the sport and have been successful (very successful/lucky) in most of the races I've entered. I have qualified for and turned down more 70.3 World Championship slots than I should admit.  My professional life as a collegiate coach was always more important than my racing success. An unbelievable act to some, but to me, my life was on field hockey field coaching, recruiting, and mentoring collegiate athletes.

This past January my professional life changed forever. Coaching collegiately is a tough job, far tougher than you can imagine, and when the pieces just don’t go together as some think they should… well…you get the point. I was devastated and without a plan other than to put one foot forward and keep going.

At the time I should have realized I was thrown this curve because it gave me an opportunity to join the staff at CPC and surround myself with co-workers and friends that believed in me as a professional and as an athlete. But, the most unbelievable piece to all of this (to me at least) is what happened on May 4th in Christenstead, St. Croix. I raced the race of my life. With the worst few months of my life behind me I entered the water with the hope of racing well and enjoying the hell I was going to put myself through for the next 5-5:30 hours. Yes, you read that right …enjoy.

Incredibly, I crossed the finish line in 5:17. Good enough for 2nd place in my age group and a spot to the Mont-Tremblant 70.3 World Championships. As my Fall calendar was now much more open than in years past I was finally able to accept my slot. Here’s where the luck comes in. At the Awards Banquet that night as I was preparing to go up and accept my award and slot to the 70.3 Worlds the MC made an announcement that they were re-allocating a Kona slot to the 35-39 Women’s age group because the 65-69 Women did not finish. That meant there were now 2 Kona slots for my age group and I WAS GOING TO KONA!

In that moment, I was hit by a flood of emotions that, to be perfectly honest, I haven’t felt or allowed myself to feel in a long time. I cried. I laughed. I was elated. I was overwhelmed. I was relieved. I was grateful.

My life as I now knew it was finally starting to make sense. THIS was the reason why my life took the unexpected turn it did.

So you may be asking yourself (if you’ve managed to read this far) why am I blogging? For several reasons.

1. The next 20 weeks are going to be some of the most challenging weeks I will endure. I’m training for KONA! The Ironman World Championship. The Superbowl of Ironman races. And to be honest this will be MY FIRST IRONMAN. Yeah, I bet you didn’t see that coming. I want to remember it all.
2. I’d like to think that maybe I can provide a small piece of inspiration or motivation to those of you that will follow me over the next 20 weeks. You should try your hand at your own “KONA”. I’m lucky enough to know and train side by side with some incredibly people. THEY motivate me. YOU motivate me! Hopefully I can do the same for you.
3. For some crazy reason, despite my success and ability to lay down a killer race in St. Croix, I just don’t feel worthy. I feel as if I’ve cheated my way to Kona. I’ve watched so many of my Cyclonaut teammates train their asses off for an Ironman. I never entertained the though of doing an Ironman, nevermind qualifying for one at a HALF! This might be a small way of repaying the triathlon gods for the good fortune they bestowed on me.

And finally…

4. To say THANK YOU! There will never be a way for me to repay all of you that have and will continue to support me. I write for you. I write to say thank you for your generous donations of time and money. I write to say thank you for the out pouring of congratulatory text messages, high fives, hugs, smiles, and head nods. I write to say thank you for the days down the road that you will pick me up when I will feel like I can’t take another step or spend one more second in the saddle.

Stick around; it’s Kona or Bust in 20 weeks.

- SK