From Seamstress to Triathlete

Five years ago I was officially introduced to the triathlon as I watched a friend of mine complete one. As I watched, I questioned why someone would put themselves through such a feat. How do you even make your body do such a thing and where do you get the discipline to even try to make it do so?

Soon I realized that just like many other parts of life a trialthon is a challenge, it is something that we make available in order to push ourselves and conquer our challenges and our fears, both physically and mentally. I soon started to look into such an event more and more and found many different people that were able to complete the task, both men and women of various shapes, sizes, and ages. While lap swimming in a heated pool I would simply imagine what competing in such an event would be like and quickly I would brush off the idea and think, ‘I don’t know, swimming in a heated pool is a lot different than swimming in a lake’. After swimming for a half hour I would imagine what it would be like to ride a bike afterward, and then run after that. What a challenge it would be! The more I thought about it though the more I realized and appreciated that I have been so fortunate to have the good physical health that I do, and that I shouldn’t take it for granted. Instead I should appreciate and maybe even take advantage of the fact that I am physically capable of pushing my body to complete something like a triathlon as long as I can get my mind to do the same. It was about a year ago that I really began to consider and envision taking on the challenge of a triathlon. I was in a trialthon before as part of a team with two other women and completed the running portion, but I had never done all three portions myself.

I eventually concluded that I would get myself to actually take on the full challenge in celebration of my sixtieth birthday at the end of 2014. In January of this year I finally decided ‘now or never, let’s cross this off my bucket list!’.

As it turns out, partaking in the “Tri in the Buff” a couple of weeks ago was an exhilarating experience that, whether my past self would have believed it or not, was completely possible! I even finished the task first in my age group! And the thought that kept me going: ‘one stroke at a time, one peddle at a time, one step at a time’.

After a while I even recognized some business aspects that paralleled with completing a triathlon:

1. The hectic pace of training and working out for an event such as a triathalon is much like the hectic pace of a small business. As a small business owner you are the one that has to wear every hat. It is neccessary to put in a large amount of time in order to get everything accomplished.

 

2. Because of the fast pace for both training and business you sometimes think about giving up. ‘It would be easier if I was not training.’ ‘It would be easier if I worked for someone else.’ Then you muster up the energy, courage, stamina, & discipline to keep going. Opposing the temptation to quit is sure to get you closer to what you really want.

 

3. Financial- Everyone is aware of the fact that starting a business costs money. A triathlon’s cost factor is right up there. The cost of registering for the event, training, products that need to be purchased, and services needed such as massage, yoga, and chiropractic care (all of which I found to be absolute necessities throughout this process) and the travel expenses to accommodate all of this. Unfortunately it often times is expensive to succeed, much like the saying “it costs money to make money” implies.

 

4. When I was swimming in the triathlon I was unable to swim my regular crawl because the water was so choppy. Because of this I had to go with plan B which was a combination of side stroke, back stroke, and breast stroke. Very often in business one has to go with plan B and sometimes even a plan C is required.

 

In the end the lesson learned is that conquering what seems to be a major challenge despite its physical, mental, and maybe even financial difficulty can lead to great personal and professional success. What seems to be so unachievable often times only seems so because we are afraid or doubtful,but truly anything is possible, even a triathlon to mark your sixtieth! Maybe for my seventieth I’ll go skydiving, what will you do to challenge yourself in celebration of your next big day?

 

 

Written by Jill Bates and Chanelle Surphlis