Journey to the Ironman... Misery Loves Company

My journey does not start with the day I set out to complete an Ironman 70.3.  Rather, I think it starts with all of the reasons I would NEVER train for, nor complete an Ironman. Do you see this picture?  It was taken while I was in high school.  Besides it proving that my sense of style has always been spot on, it shows just how deep and long my dislike of water has run.  If given the choice between being wet or dry, I choose dry every time.

Shower or bath?  Shower, it's faster and with the water running off of me, I reason I won't be as wet.  Going to the beach?  I'll sit on a blanket and watch the waves, thanks...  The blanket is key.  I hate sand, but that's a whole other issue.  Pool party? Well... you can see how those turn out.

There's something perplexing to me about swimming. You sit in a big bowl of water with other people, then when you are done with that water you have to shower and, you guessed it, get wet again.  Which means my skin has now been wet for longer than I wanted, and I have to do my hair again.  Seriously, no one has time to do that twice in one day!

This brings us to present day and my continued love-hate relationship with water.  I didn't start out with the goal to complete an Ironman.  I had no aspirations to be that fit, and I was certainly no masochist.  But slowly, over time, here I am.  I bike (something I was terrified of when I first started), I run (because I have to), and I swim (because apparently, you can't do a triathlon with something more sensible like kayaking or paddle boarding).  Not just a little swimming or "let's hang out in the water because it's fun" swimming.  Instead, this is full on swim training with drills, intervals, timed laps, etc...  This is hard swimming, breath with my face in the water, trying not to drown while I pick up the pace on my next lap, swimming.  And I do all this a minimum of 3 days a week.  I appreciate your sympathy.

You want to know things I love to do but don't anymore?  I love playing tennis, I enjoy boxing, and hiking is one of my favorite activities ever.  Am I doing those?  Nope.  I'm here, training for a triathlon, because... I'm honestly not sure.  Maybe by the end of this journey, we will both find out the reason I decided to do them.  It's sure to be a nail-biter.  On the upside, I've already learned that I'm far more masochistic than I ever dreamed.  Bonus!

But, as the saying goes, misery loves company.  So come, bring your underutilized schadenfreude, and be my company as I attempt to do the thing that I swore I wouldn't do.  Hey, it's painless to read a blog post, and I'll be the one over here drowning, too sore to walk, and eating the equivalent of a baby elephant in food.  Come on, we both know you don't want to miss this.  See you soon, my new friends.