YAHOOOOO - Sucessful Tri

The miracle is not that you finished, the miracle is that you had the courage to begin - author unknown.

Here I am, back home,just out of a nice hot shower, and freaking happier than a pig in shit! What an emotional rollercoaster the last two weeks have been. I think I have changed my mind at least 3 times..... I'm doing it, nope can't do it......I'm doing it.....nope I can't do it ..... you get the picture. The drive out to Kelso was wet. the walk into the start area even worse, we were soaked to the bone. The worst part for me was the swim. When I got into the water before the race started, this sense of calm came over me, but when we started the race with people kicking etc I panicked about a 3rd of the way out. I grabbed onto a race official on a kayak and told him I can't do it, I am done!( I should really clarify, that this wasn't a random guy in a kayak.... he was there to help swimmers who were tired or in distress lol) He told me to just relax and catch my breath. I was thinking about all the hard work that has gone into this, and my family and friends who came out to cheer me on.....and then something just clicked inside my head and I was off..... I didn't stop until I emerged from the lake to the cheer of the crowd.....Off to the bike(which had 3 hills, which I am proud to say I didn't have to push up any of them- lol) and then I walked most of the 2.5k.....

I didn't win any awards, but I finished and that was the greatest achievement ever. My unofficial time was 1 hr 22 mins, but I am hoping the offical time will be around 1 hr 15 mins. Doesn't matter though.... I am so proud of myself today.

The best part for me was having a woman come up to me at the end to congratulate me. She was a bit heavier and came out to see what it was all about. She said she wants to compete in the event but is too scared..... I talked to her about my fears etc and said I hoped to see her out there next year.... and she said she thinks she just might try it. I think I inspired her, and that makes me feel great.

Also, I took the advice of a very smart Duathlete/Triathlete, who's blog I came across but accident and who has inspired me over the last few months. He said to have fun and talk with the crowd. I totally did that, exchanging laughs with the police out on the bike and with the crowd in the transition. It totally made for an amazing day. We enjoyed it so much we are planning to do another in July and a final one in August :)

Hmmmmmmm, stay tuned for my next adventure...

UPDATE: OFFICIAL TIME IS 1:16:22

Week 2 Summary and I AM climbing the CN Tower

Unofficial weight - 242.5 - Down 7.5 since Jan 1
Burger King Challenge - 24 days down - 48 days to go
No alcohol Challenge - Not a drop since Dec 31, 2009
Restaurant Dinner once a month Challenge - I've been out 2x this month(one choice was a healthy Pho soup and the other choice was a not so healthy chicken fingers and fries and bread from jack astors. Went over my daily points but still had a good calorie deficit because of a really hard work out that day)

Signed up this morning for the CN Tower stair climb, I think I broke out in a bit of a sweat as I hit the send key to make it official. I have been thinking about all the things I have missed out on in the past, opportunities that I opted out of because I simply couldn't do them -


Climbing Gros Morne Mountain in Newfoundland(see picture above) sticks out in my memory the most, I walked about 10 minutes into the trail and realized I just couldn't do it, so while my friend carried on, I had to do the walk of shame back to the starting point, while passing all the eager climbers who came in behind me and then spent the entire day, sitting around on my ass, smoking like a chimney and feeling sorry for myself- lol

I have decided that the CN Tower is going to be my mountain, well at least until I can plan the mountain climbing trip of my dreams - which is to climb the Chilkoot Pass in the Yukon,

" In 1897 when the word got on, the Klondike Gold Rush was on. People from all walks of life, stampeded to the gold fields. The most popular route to the gold fields, was over the Chilkoot Pass from Alaska through British Columbia and into the Yukon."

Here is the link to a picture of the beauty that awaits on the Chilkoot Trail
http://www.pc.gc.ca/lhn-nhs/yt/chilkoot/activ/activ1a_e.asp

So, life is chugging along nicely at the moment, I am positive, feeling good and ready to see that scale drop into the 230's really soon.

Bucket List objective- - LEARN TO RIDE A MOTORCYCLE

Most of the people I know would think this is a strange entry on my bucket list, since I have never even sat on a bike before let alone ride on the back of one, and have never really talked about wanting to ride one. There has always been something that draws me to this lifestyle. I think it is the freedom on a bike. I really don't have any desire to ride around the city on a daily basis, but I would love to take a bike trip either across the state of California, or up the Dempster highway up in the Yukon.

A couple of my friends who have husbands that ride are extremely interested in learning to ride as well, so we are planning on going to a riding school in the spring of 09 to learn.

Get your motor running, get out on the highway, looking for adventure, and whatever comes our way - Steppenwolf. Born to be wild baby- hahahaha

Bucket List objective- Climb a mountain

Have you ever heard of a Bucket List? I saw the movie of the same name a few months ago, wherein the two gentleman embark to fulfill the things that are on the one guys bucket list. Basically it is the things that you would like to accomplish before you kick the bucket. Now this movie got me thinking, and I comprised a bucket list of my own and that really has gotten me to start changing my habits and moving myself closer to accomplishing the things on my list. I have chosen many things, and my list keeps changing. Some are specific goals, some are more general. For me, they are all dreams that I CAN make a reality. I will profile these bucket list items bit by bit on my blog to sort of make things a bit more not so out of reach.

So the item I posted today reads on my bucket list as "climb a mountain". Pretty vague right? I have been on several adventures where going on amazing hikes were well within my reach but because of my weight, my smoking, and poor fitness level they were not attainable. This fact, however, has left me wondering about the beauty that lies at the end of that hiking trail. I was watching a program on TVO tonight where 4 people were climbing/hiking to Robson Glacier in B.C. The one woman, who had given up smoking at the same time as starting the 3 day trip, found herself gasping for breath as she was climbing a steep incline. She said" I hear that the harder to climb- the better the view" This really stuck in my head and I wanted to write it down.

I have a very strong image in my head of the way I will feel when I reach the end of that trail. With the sun and a fresh mountain breeze on my face, my body spent from the effort put forth to get there, and the sense of overwhelming accomplishment that I will feel as I look out into the stillness and wonder of Canada's wild! So now i am looking into places to climb/hike even though this goal is in my distant future. I am thinking maybe the Robson Glacier, perhaps Gros Morne National Park in Nfld, as I made it to the start of the trail and had to turn back when I quickly realized I could not do it. The place I really have in the back of my head is the Chilkoot Pass, made famous during the Gold Rush from B.C. into the Yukon. I drove through the vicinity on my trip to the Yukon many years ago and read alot about it sooooooooo perhaps that will be the mountain I will climb!

Time will tell, time will tell.