I spent the first part of the weekend visiting my parents and boy was it good to be home! My mom’s company was having a family picnic on Saturday and since my brother is moving back to college on Tuesday, I decided a few weeks ago to go home for the day so we could have one last family time this summer. Needless to say our “vacation” was at the city park this year, and I couldn’t have asked for a better day. I never realize how much I miss my family until I’m home. I feel so independent over here across the state line but I’m the type of girl who needs her family. Which is why secretly I’m happy I never jetted off to California for my undergrad like I wanted too in the first place. Everything in time I guess.
Knowing that I was going to be spending last weekend consumed with waitressing, I called ahead to my parents and asked them to tape (yes, as in VCR) the Iron Girl Atlanta triathlon for me. The race took place June 28th, but NBC showed a special broadcast of the race last Sunday, while I was slaving away in the restaurant. My roommates and I don’t have DVR yet and I had to see this race.
I don’t even know what to say about the hour I spent in front of the television (with the rest of my family watching too!) except that I feel so much more motivated now for my own triathlon. The last few weeks of my training have been hard… I was supposed to be upping my workouts, hitting the peak of my training and really pushing myself, but coming down with the flu just killed me for about three weeks. I feel like I lost all my motivation and discouragement really set in. Burnout is an athlete’s worst enemy—it’s an injury of the mind and sometimes those take longer to heal than the physical kind.
So after my great bike ride two weeks ago I’ve been pushing myself a little more and working on my mindset—tri-ing to keep that mental motivation just as strong and watching Iron Girl Atlanta is definitely what I needed for these last few weeks of training. The race profiled the 5 pro-women who competed that day, but the most inspiring part was not watching them push themselves for a great finishing time or monetary win, but the everyday women who competed and ran under the finishers arch. Like the woman who dealt with a brain tumor and after years of cancer finishes. Or the woman whose son at 2 years old was diagnosed with Leukemia, and she runs for him and finishes. Or the woman who got hit by a car during a daily run and after years of rehab and physical therapy crosses the finish line. Or the 60 some year old mother who, after going through breast cancer and a double mastectomy, crosses the finish line holding hands with her two daughters. And yes, I cried.
Watching this race made me realize again why I am competing. I may have only gone through a heartbreak a year ago and nothing as hard as these women, yet I am still swimming and biking and running to find and free myself. To give myself wings. To find Grace.
And as long as I can keep tri-ing, I will with the hopes that my passion can someday be used to inspire others too.
Here’s a preview of the Atlanta tri—I’m saving up to get there next year and compete. I figure it’s within driving distance and I can make a nice vacation weekend of it.
“Iron Girls mission is to empower women toward a healthy lifestyle. Grace, also the name of the symbol used within the Iron Girl logo, is within us all. It’s what makes women heroic, charming, and limitless. Grace is with us in difficult times and happy times, silly times and sad times. Grace is with us physically, mentally, and emotionally. Grace is what makes women special, unique, and strong. Grace acts with truth, beauty, and spirit. Grace is within you, and you are Grace.”
-Iron Girl website.
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