January 28, 2015

The thing I love about blogs is that no one is forced to read them.  Straight up, I will tell you that this is going to be a blog about my journey to Mallorca, Austria, and to Kona.  There will be other stops along the way I am sure.  So if you aren't interested in triathlons, or 70.3's, or 140.6's, or IRONMAN, or a shit ton of swimming, biking and running, then this blog is probably not for you.  To be honest, I think I am doing this blog for me.  If no one reads it other than my mother, I will be fine with that. 

This blog is about my future, but for you to know how I got here, I will speak briefly about my past. (Just in case someone other than my mother is reading this.  She knows the story)   In 2005 I retired from the sport of boxing.  I was a Canadian National Team member for a number of years.  I had 76 fights in total.  I travelled the world and made friends that I will have for a lifetime.  In 2002, I won a World Championship in Antalya, Turkey.  At that tourney I fought China, Finland, Brazil, Russia and Greece to claim the Lightweight title.  Boxing was pretty much a second full-time job for me for 9 years of my life.  In boxing, I found myself.  Boxing taught me many life lessons.  At the age of 35, I had to retire.  The rule at that time was that I could no longer compete Internationally.  In all honesty, I was fine with that.  I had achieved my goals and my body was tired.  But I needed to be passionate about something.  I had always been a runner, but I was never one to run 6 days a week.  Thanks to my bouncy and inefficient stride, I have never been able to endure that kind of pounding.  So I picked triathlons.  To this day I have no idea why.  I knew nothing about cycling, and my swimming background consisted of hours of marco polo, and swimming back to my beloved diving board - over and over and over again.

So why am I blogging you say?  The answer is simple.  I am so blessed and thankful to be where I am today, I want to LIVE and CHERISH every second of the year that lies ahead of me.  One of my boxing coaches (Bob Flannagan) once told me:  "Jenn, enjoy this while it lasts.  Your career will be over before you know it and all you will have are the memories."  Bob, you were right.  I remember walking into the gym like it was yesterday.  17 years later, here I sit.  So I am doing this blog for me.  I am going to Kona, but I am not delusional.  I am not an elite triathlete by any stretch of the imagination.  I am not going to Kona to win.  (Although I am competitive to a fault)  To be honest, the fact that I qualified for Kona before the age of 70 still shocks me to this day.  I will never accomplish in the world of triathlon what I accomplished in the world of boxing, but I am good with that.  For me, triathlon is about beating myself.  It's about performing better and better as the years go by.  It's about the constant sufferfest - in training and in racing.  It's about pushing my body to the limit and not quitting.  Boxing and Ironman are kind of similar in that regard.  And that's what makes me tick.  That is my passion in life.

So this blog is really for me.  It's also for my mom.  And it's for the friends that will travel with me, train with me, and enjoy this year that I can't wait to live.  And when this year is over, I will have many memories and a blog to help me relive it all.

That was then ....                                                                  

     

This is now ...