Hello there! Virginia here!

MentalMy first 70.3 triathlon is less than one month away, and I am beyond frustrated at this point….and not at all ready. For the past six weeks we have battled one sickness after the other in my family, and it seems to be working against me. Last week I had the flu. It was a terrible, no good, very bad, flu. I spent Monday – Sunday in bed. Terrible, no good, very bad. It spun into secondary infections and I ended up on an antibiotic, which helped a lot. I did NO working out from Monday – Monday. Tuesday was my first run back. ….and it was only 4 miles. I planned to get up and swim Wednesday morning, but my 3 year old woke up wheezing and feverish at 4:30 (as I was waking up), so my morning was shot. This seems to be the way of the universe. I am just not ready…nowhere close to ready….but maybe I’ll just be really slow. Today was my first swim back in forever. The plan was an easy 1.25 miles, and I did it, but it wasn’t easy. When I got in the pool I immediately had to begin the pep talks with myself.

“You can do this. Don’t be a wimp.”  “Ok…if you make it to 1000 meters you can stop.”  “Try to get to a mile, fatty.” 

Etc., etc., etc.

My internal dialogue fluctuates between pep talk and bullying my inner fat girl.

So….I am attempting to look at the good news…

  1. I applied and was named to the AAA of the Carolinas triathlon team. HOORAY! I’m super excited about that. I’m waiting for my tri kit to come in….can’t wait.
  2. My kids will soon be IRON KIDS! Their training isn’t quite as “intense,” so they are ready!

SwimBikeKid

(I can’t wait to post their IRON KID pictures!)

Now, here is my bit of wisdom. I realized yesterday how glad I am that I am not a teenager or young 20-something with all of their silly thoughts and trivial worries. I am glad that I now worry about things like my family and my fitness. I feel like my life has so much more meaning in my “old age.”

Here’s the background….

Two weeks ago I took part in the dunking booth at my school. I allowed students to attempt to dunk me when they answered a question correctly (test prep game for the High School Exit Exam). It was fun. It was silly. So, I wore this purple dress thing in the booth. In this picture you can see a bit of the dress. This is a picture I took when I got back in my car to run home and change after being dunked. PRETTY, huh! (Don’t you love the runny eye makeup?)

VA_Wetdunkingbooth

Fast forward to Tuesday….I wore the SAME DRESS to school.  YES, I DID! HORROR!  Upon seeing me, one of my students said, “Ms. Tate, you are repeating outfits.” (SHOCK and AWE to ensue!)

“What?” I said.

“You wore that on the dunking booth day. I have a picture of it.”

“I sure did. Two weeks ago. I repeat clothes…..I’m a TEACHER married to a teacher. We are poor” I laughed.

“It’s too soon. You shouldn’t repeat it so soon.” she quipped back.

This started a long discussion between the girls about what is expected, acceptable, etc. One student told me it “grossed her out” to see unpainted toenails (mine were “naked” at the time).

That night, as I told my husband the story, I realized that I wasted so much time in life, just as they are now, on really stupid stuff. I am so glad that I found triathlon. While it frustrates me when I am not “being all I can be,” like now, I feel like I am so much smarter, wiser, and happier than I was as a kid. Growth! Thank goodness!

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