Hello world. Crazy how time flies. I did not realize it has been close to 2 years since my last post. I never even wrote an Ironman Lake Placid race report.
In a nutshell, if you did not already know. I did not make it out of the swim that July of 2015. I was beat up pretty badly while trying to sight using the yellow rope underneath the water. Here I was thinking that I would save so much time on the swim not having to sight by staying on the yellow rope. Well dumb me did not even consider that this would also be the brilliant race plan of every fast swimmer out there. I was punched so hard the wind was knocked out of me but I was able to keep going. The second time I was hit, my back went into spasms. I climbed out of that water and went straight to medical.
My heart was a broken hot mess. I felt like I let everyone who supported my campaign down. It was rough. All the money I spent on this event. All the time invested and I did not even make it out of the swim.
I was pretty deep into my self pity party until the volunteer that assisted me inside the medical tent suddenly stopped with helping me peel off my wet suit. She saw my MMRF team jersey and with tears in her eyes, she told me that her husband was fighting multiple myeloma. She then gave me a hug to thank me as I struggled to hold myself together.
So even though I was a DNF in Ironman Lake Placid 2015, this volunteer inadvertently reminded me that this was not about me. This journey was really for the patients and their loved ones. My effort still went to help with those that are still fighting the battle. It was not at all a waste.
And hey, I was still alive, right? I was not knocked out cold at the bottom of a lake.
I have been doing some soul searching since that day. Took some time off from triathlon to re-prioritize. The sport will still be there when I am ready to come back. The triathlon world had consumed me. I had a longing to take my world back. I had a spiritual hole that needed healing.
Now that I had all this extra time not dedicated to Ironman training, I could finally go on the Zen cruise with one of my oldest and dearest friends. In only four days out at sea, I discovered the spiritual healing I was seeking. Since I have been back it has opened so many doors for me like Kundalini yoga and gong meditations. When I returned to the mainland, all I wanted to do was find a community that would surround me with this beautiful energy daily.
So I took the plunge and signed up for Lifetime's 200-hour Life Power Yoga Teacher (RYT) program. I decided to keep up my running on the side, and my Wednesday night indoor cycle class while attending school three times a week. I had an amazing 3 months with a wonderful group of ladies that I will never forget. I did not only learn about the health and mind body benefits of yoga but I also found the love and support of my new yogi sisters. Johnny Kest has put together an incredible yoga program that I am so honored to have studied.
I graduated in May 2016 but have not started teaching yoga yet.
Mainly because all my spare time has been devoted to attending as much Pilates sessions as my time allows. I attended my first Pilates class while I was in yoga teacher school and immediately felt a connection. I love feeling so alive and connected again. So I keep going back for more.
And because I cannot seem to get enough of it. I made the decision in 2017 to go after my Pilates Certification. I started my training with Balanced Body and now I am working with a private training program at a local studio. I have even put running on the back burner to focus on my training (but still teach my indoor cycle class at Embody, in case you were wondering). It connects the mind and body like yoga but it also has the physical challenge I seek to push my body to the next level. I am so grateful for my yoga training because it has given me a deeper understanding to the mind-body foundation while I focus on learning the Pilates mechanics. My goal is to be fully certified by the summer.
By the way, I have several hours of Pilates student teaching to complete (for Mat and Reformer). If you are interested (and you are local), please message me and I will add you to my list of guinea pigs...(ahem)...I mean volunteers.
So finally addressing the elephant in the room will blow the cobwebs off this blog (yeah, I am referring to my Ironman DNF). Obviously this blog will be shifting to different interests. Maybe triathlon will be back but for now I am content with this new lifestyle. Time to usher in stories about my new adventures. Buckle your seatbelts...and enjoy the ride.
