My Biggest Goal Ever! (for now…)
I’m getting ready to put myself through some serious punishment. I mean, come on!
I was a Division I athlete in a highly-competitive volleyball program (Top 100 in the country at the time, whoop whoop). I used to run from my dorm, to the Brooklyn Bridge, across the bridge, and back, SEVERAL TIMES A WEEK during spring season AT 6 A.M (See map below. That is a 4-mile round-trip run). When I graduated from college, I continued running several miles a few times a week, in the summer, even (GASP!) wearing a sports bra in the hot summer days to accomplish this. I used to take the bus to the closest stop to my house (which was still a mile away) when I moved back home, and would RUN HOME. WITH A BACKPACK ON. AFTER WORKING FOR 9 HOURS! I say this all not to not-so-humble brag, but to give you a sense of what I was doing, running-wise, during and after college. Oh, and did I mention that I never actually enjoyed it? I enjoyed putting together running music playlists way more than doing the actual running.
So, let’s fast forward just a smidgen to today. Today, the thought of running gives me gas. It makes me wince, growl, and stink eye at the same time. But, you know what? I need to get over it. While I never enjoyed running, I always enjoyed how I felt after running. When I ran in the morning, I felt energized for the rest of the day. If I ran in the evening, I felt like I could get a good night’s rest. Sure, running bores me, but I’ve always conceded that the advantages far outweigh the boredom.
Okay, so you want to run a marathon, duh, you might be thinking. Well, you’d be wrong!
My goal for 2015 is to compete in a mini triathlon!
Why 2015, you might ask? Well, the reality is that I sure as heck am not going to be in any sort of shape to compete in any sort of triathlon by the end of this year, unless the three events are cheese binge eating, starting and finishing an entire series on Netflix, and hitting the snooze button on my alarm. I’m realistic, people!
I decided I wanted to participate in a mini triathlon after thinking about tangible fitness goals for myself, and not just tangible goals, but something I could enjoy. A triathlon sounded perfect! I can run a 5K pretty quickly (by my own tortoise standards) in 2015 if I do some training and participate in some 5Ks this year; I rediscovered my love of biking while I was in Belgium last summer, so biking 10-20 miles is something I could build up to over the course of the year. But the real beast? The real challenge? Swimming!
Contrary to prevailing stereotypes, yes, I can swim. Am I good at it? It depends. I am AMAZING at not drowning in a pool. I haven’t done so yet (knock on wood). If there was an Olympic event called “Get In The Pool and Don’t Drown,” I could definitely own that event. If the 100m Doggy Paddle ever becomes a thing, I will be the Missy Franklin of that shiz. But let’s get back to reality. I suck at swimming. I have no discernible skills. I never really learned the proper technique of any swim style. I can’t hold my breath any longer for swimming than I could while watching last season’s finale of Scandal. I am awful at it. But I want to get better. I want to be able to not splash everyone around me and do more than doggy paddle and tread water.
It’s going to be an upstream battle (see what I did there), but I’m up for the challenge. I told a lifeguard friend of mine that I’m going tonight, and his question was, “do you have goggles?” Dammit. I see I have a lot of work to do…