A Fat Girl's Ironman Journey: Proud to be in the 1%

Yup, I said it! I am PROUD TO BE IN THE 1%! And if you want to get technical it's LESS than 1%

Less than 1% of the population will complete an olympic distance (or longer) triathlon! I am determined to fight my body, fight the EDS, and work toward my Ironman Journey! I've come to terms that I cannot run, it is actually pretty bad on my body. I didn't give up without trying though. This year I went from not being able to 'run' for 10 min to completing 3 stand alone half marathons including one with a 2200 ft ascent in the first 3 miles! I completed numerous 5K& 10Ks, and triathlons including another half marathon at the end of a half ironman. Running kills me, but I'm not going to let that stop my dream.

I have migrated to Aquabikes. It is a controversial topic in the triathlon community. Purists think that Aquabike is just a ploy to get more 'annoying people in the way' for races, and 'make more money'. I say too bad, aquabike can get many other people OUT THERE. People who have medical issues and can't run, well here's the chance to enter into that 1%!

When I signed up for the Providence 70.3 I knew it would be tough, but I really had an awesome time and when I finished I felt pretty good. (Minus the running issues: missing toenails, blisters, joint pain, etc). I knew I needed to get closer to my IRONMAN JOURNEY!

Almost immediately I looked for the next race. I wanted to do a Full Distance, but knew that I could not run. I found Chesapeakeman Aquabike. It is an Ironman distance without the run. WOOHOO! I knew I would try! I'm kinda getting annoyed at providing this huge caveat though. People ask when my next race is and I say "Sept 29, I'm doing an Ironman distance aquabike. That means just the swim and the bike." JUST?? JUST?? did I say JUST? Plus that's a really long sentence. Well, I feel the need to downplay the fact that I'm doing 2/3 of an Ironman. A small fraction of that 1% even attempt an Ironman so pishah! I'm not fast, never will be. But you bet your ass I'm going to try!

I really hate having to give the race a "well it's JUST an aquabike." 2.4 mile swim followed by a 112 mile bike is nothing to sneeze at. I even had a friend correct me when I abbreviated one day, I had mentioned something about "my IM in XX days." She retorted "I thought you were only doing the Aquabike?" Well it still is an Ironman Distance! The 99% aren't even trying!