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Some people would call me a dark horse. Not because I am dark, or even horsey, but because to look at me (even to talk to me), you’d have no idea that I was a triathlete. You might not even think I work out.
It used to bother me that people mistook me for a couch potato. Now, I smile.
I smile because I know how far I’ve come.
Most people call me MAJ. (My mom is The Original MAJ.) I’ve been an athlete since I was a kid – just for fun, never really competitively. Both my parents were athletes in high school. The Original MAJ was a hurdler.
I started racing in 2006, and have completed events from 5k to marathon, sprint to 70.3 (well. I made it to the last loop of the run and the course closed, so it was a 66.0). I’d like to do a marathon or triathlon in every state.
I’ve faced a lot of obstacles in the last 5 years – some self-created, some involuntary. When I started racing, I was struggling with mystery ailments we later knew were thyroid cancer. My weight spiked, my energy was sporadic at best, and my immune system was in shambles. But I kept training, and in 5 years, I managed to pull myself from the back of the pack to an occasional podium finish at the sprint and Olympic distances (I even qualified for USAT Nationals once . . . kind of by accident.)
Before I go any further, let me add this disclaimer: I am not bragging. I still have a very long way to go. (Just this week, in fact, I got my ass handed to me on a group ride.)
I am telling you all this because it underscores how strongly I feel that training and racing saved my life. They kept me active at a time when my weight would have skyrocketed because I had no thyroid. They kept me hopeful when the doctors didn’t know anything and the rest of my life was bleak and hopeless. They kept me energetic when I was battling cancer. They helped me develop a healthy relationship with food, and see my body as strong and healthy instead of feeling unattractive for not fitting the stereotypical “hot girl” mold.
My goals this year (2011-2012) are to 1) come back from my 1st whole body scan a cancer survivor, 2) run a sub-30 – or even sub-25 – minute 5k, 3)complete one more Olympic-distance race, 4)do a century ride, 5)do a crit race and 6)return to Florida Half Ironman to finish what I started in 2008.
Above all, I want to train consistently and see what I am capable of learning about myself.
And that is my biggest goal of all.
My race schedule is tentative because I’m waiting to schedule my one-year whole body scan to find out if I need more treatment, so it looks kind of like:
• August – Hammherhead Olympic Triathlon (where I first qualified for Nationals); goal is a sub-3-hour time
• September – Ronald McDonald House Century Ride; goal is to complete it
• October – TBD maybe that sub-30 5k
• November – Savannah Marathon; goal is a sub-6-hour finish
• December through January; TBD
• May 2012 - Florida Half Ironman; goal is first to finish and 2nd to finish in 7 hours or less
So here I am.
I am sure I will sporadically drop in to ramble on about my various daily shenanigans. And I’m sure I will have shenangians. But I am also sure they won't slow me down a whole lot. As Ayn Rand said: “The question is not ‘who’s going to let me?’; it’s ‘who’s going to stop me?’”
It used to bother me that people mistook me for a couch potato. Now, I smile.
I smile because I know how far I’ve come.
Most people call me MAJ. (My mom is The Original MAJ.) I’ve been an athlete since I was a kid – just for fun, never really competitively. Both my parents were athletes in high school. The Original MAJ was a hurdler.
I started racing in 2006, and have completed events from 5k to marathon, sprint to 70.3 (well. I made it to the last loop of the run and the course closed, so it was a 66.0). I’d like to do a marathon or triathlon in every state.
I’ve faced a lot of obstacles in the last 5 years – some self-created, some involuntary. When I started racing, I was struggling with mystery ailments we later knew were thyroid cancer. My weight spiked, my energy was sporadic at best, and my immune system was in shambles. But I kept training, and in 5 years, I managed to pull myself from the back of the pack to an occasional podium finish at the sprint and Olympic distances (I even qualified for USAT Nationals once . . . kind of by accident.)
Before I go any further, let me add this disclaimer: I am not bragging. I still have a very long way to go. (Just this week, in fact, I got my ass handed to me on a group ride.)
I am telling you all this because it underscores how strongly I feel that training and racing saved my life. They kept me active at a time when my weight would have skyrocketed because I had no thyroid. They kept me hopeful when the doctors didn’t know anything and the rest of my life was bleak and hopeless. They kept me energetic when I was battling cancer. They helped me develop a healthy relationship with food, and see my body as strong and healthy instead of feeling unattractive for not fitting the stereotypical “hot girl” mold.
My goals this year (2011-2012) are to 1) come back from my 1st whole body scan a cancer survivor, 2) run a sub-30 – or even sub-25 – minute 5k, 3)complete one more Olympic-distance race, 4)do a century ride, 5)do a crit race and 6)return to Florida Half Ironman to finish what I started in 2008.
Above all, I want to train consistently and see what I am capable of learning about myself.
And that is my biggest goal of all.
My race schedule is tentative because I’m waiting to schedule my one-year whole body scan to find out if I need more treatment, so it looks kind of like:
• August – Hammherhead Olympic Triathlon (where I first qualified for Nationals); goal is a sub-3-hour time
• September – Ronald McDonald House Century Ride; goal is to complete it
• October – TBD maybe that sub-30 5k
• November – Savannah Marathon; goal is a sub-6-hour finish
• December through January; TBD
• May 2012 - Florida Half Ironman; goal is first to finish and 2nd to finish in 7 hours or less
So here I am.
I am sure I will sporadically drop in to ramble on about my various daily shenanigans. And I’m sure I will have shenangians. But I am also sure they won't slow me down a whole lot. As Ayn Rand said: “The question is not ‘who’s going to let me?’; it’s ‘who’s going to stop me?’”