My friend Lynn sent out an email to a handful of friends with the subject line “Try a tri?” and I thought… Oh, that sounds interesting. Didn’t consider anything about the preparation.

I had run a couple of marathons and was a recreational biker, so I felt pretty good about both of those. I didn’t really swim much, but it was summertime in Maryland so I didn’t need (or even think about!) a wetsuit and figured I’d just muddle through.

I moved back to SF (from DC) in late 2014 and I was looking for a club that felt community-based; SF Tri had a very DIY looking website and they talked a lot about volunteerism, so it really appealed to me. The people I met were instantly welcoming.

I joined in 2015 and lately I’ve been sticking around since the coached swim workouts are the best deal in town!

I’ve always been a do-er and I like to get my hands dirty. I joined the leadership team as membership officer, and a couple of years later, we were sitting in a board meeting talking about planning for the future. The outgoing president asked who’d be interested in following her, and everyone just looked at me!

The most important thing I learned about myself during the training for my first Ironman is that motivation can be optional. There were plenty of days where I didn’t want to get up at 5 a.m. to do a swim workout before work, but I adopted the mindset that “it doesn’t matter if I want to do it, I’m just doing it.” (It’s helpful when you’re half-awake and you just do the thing on autopilot — maybe you didn’t feel like it, but you’ve done it.)

Focusing on stats / metrics / % of workouts completed. This is a hobby (and can be an expensive one!) so the #1 concern should be:

Are you enjoying yourself and do you feel driven to do more?

Take a break anytime. It’ll be there when you’re ready to come back.

During a relay tri with a couple of friends in Estonia, I was doing the bike portion on a rental; a few miles from the end, one pedal and crank fell off entirely. The race mechanic tried to help, but it didn’t reattach completely so I couldn’t build up much speed. I could’ve just given up, but I wanted my friend who was doing the run to get a chance to race, so I wobbled my way to the finish and handed it off to her.

It doesn’t help you to ruminate on what went wrong. The one time (out of three!) that I didn’t finish an Ironman, it was a very hot day and I didn’t have enough electrolytes. It’s as simple as that.

But I still have happy memories of that day: I finished a very difficult bike leg just 20 minutes before the cutoff time and that felt AMAZING. I got to see Coach Meg cheering me on the run (after she had also DNF’d!) and it really lifted my spirits. I was participating in a World Championship (kind of by accident) and was surrounded by the best of the best. I still wear the IM St. George merch I got there because it was an important day for me.

I am an absolute map and geography fiend, and getting to explore new places — especially on foot or on wheels — brings me so much joy. It’s part of why I spent my 20s trying to run a marathon on every continent (I got to 6.5) and why I keep looking for new bike routes to continue filling out my Strava heatmap.

I’m choosing three!

Long Course Tri: Ironman Lake Tahoe (2013) — It snowed the day before (in September!), no one could see anything during the swim, and something like 25% of the field DNF’d, but I finished and it was a big part of what convinced me to move home to California.

Short Course Tri: Monte Rio Sprint/Oly (2015-2017) — We got to swim in the Russian River, ride out to the coast and run through the forest. Independent races are amazing!

Overall: It’s called the Dual (2012), a small trail marathon in an island national park in New Zealand. It was incredibly tough, but a beautiful course, and after crossing the finish line we all stripped down to our underwear and waded right into the Auckland Bay to soothe our legs.

I’m doing the open-water swim at the Gay Games in Valencia, Spain this summer.