Our Journey
Phil and I met in June of 2010. He was training for his first half marathon and I was a sedentary 30 pounds overweight smoker. I was 41 and he was 49.
I supported his training and cheered him on as he crossed the finish line of the San Antonio Rock and Roll Half Marathon. He asked me to run with him and I begrudgingly did. I couldn’t even run 3 miles. That was December 2010.
But running wasn’t as bad as I thought. I felt good. Those extra pounds started to melt away. I ran my first half marathon in April of 2011 and was hooked. But, only for that distance; I could not imagine running any further. We started signing up for half marathons in fun places. We ran Chicago, Long Beach, Austin and Luckenbach. He ran his first full in 2011, but I stuck with the half distance.
How did you get started in triathlons?
There is a really great triathlon in Kerrville, Texas near where we live. We were intrigued by this event; we could swim and bike –right??? We signed up for the Sprint distance and had a blast. We fretted over the transition bags, calmed the nerves and completed the event on bikes we bought at Sams Club. Then we watched the Olympic and 70.3 athletes in awe. Never could we do that.
We have done the Kerrville triathlon in various distances every year since, with the exception of when we were in Imperial Beach crossing the finish line at Superfrog. But I am getting ahead of myself.
We continued to run half marathons until I decided I would do 1 marathon – bucket list – one and done. We ran San Diego 26.2 in 2015. I knew I would do that again and we did in December in San Antonio. For Christmas, Phil gave me a wetsuit and I gave him biking shoes and a triathlete magazine. We were looking towards Ironman – the full. Yikes – what were we thinking. We decided on Texas in 2016. That gave us over a year to prepare.
We bought tri-bikes in June and we were moronic on them. I was scared to get in aero, we fell over a lot, and just kept trying. I would do loops through the middle school near our house to practice getting in aero and maintaining control. We rode our first 50 miles sometime in July and signed up for Hotter Than Hell in Wichita Falls. We also rode 55 on Phils 55th birthday in August.
We had joined a tri club – Brittons Tri Force – and they were supportive and friendly and soon became our tribe. They supported us at our first 70.3 in Kerrville in September. When my friend, Lisa, greeted me at the finish line, I said “that was hard,” with tears, wondering how I could ever double that distance.
We got a coach. Two months later we did Austin Half IM and it was sooooooo much better. Coach Melissa Whan laughed when we met, told us we were not training smart and taught us about nutrition. She saved us from ourselves and trained us successfully through IMTX 2016. Yea – the one with the lightening and hail and wind and heat. We did it together and even made the IM video of the race. Our tribe was there at the finish 15:42:08.
Since then, we have (5) 70.3, Superfrog I am most proud of because that race was so hard. I think I was second from last in my age group but to cross that finish line and honor fallen soldiers is an honor.
We did IMTX again in 2018 and bettered our time. We did not do it together and will likely never do a full separately again. Phil is faster and a better athlete, but I have the endurance mind to remember to dial it back on the long course. We are an amazing team and neither of us would have been able to take this journey alone. We train together, motivate each other, sometimes make fun of each other. It is not just what we do – it is who we are. We love the challenge, we love all three disciplines, we love the triathlete life.
What benefits have you noticed?
Health is the obvious benefit, but the mental benefit is just as important. Ironman builds confidence, analyzing and planning skills, perseverance, overcoming obstacles and facing fears. You truly find things in yourself you never knew were there. My boss told me that part of the reason she hired me is because I am an Ironman.
Phil is much more intense in our training – he plans and looks at courses and elevations etc. I am more a “take what comes” person. This makes us a great pair for training/racing. We are never going to place in an Ironman, but we are going to finish. We have finished every race we have ever signed up for.
What challenges have you faced?
There are challenges at our age; the biggest one is probably recovery. When you train for endurance, you feel like you are beat up A LOT. The trick is to get the nutrition, effort, heart rate etc right, but that is for all ages. We have to be careful. We did RAGNAR and would love to do Spartan or some other obstacle course, but do not want to risk injury. So we limit exposure to situations that aren’t smart for us and that is frustrating because we sure don’t feel or act like 51 and 59.
What are your goals?
For Phil and I, we have to have a goal. We do about 12 events a year if you include 13.1, bike rides etc. Coach Whan still coaches us and regulates our schedule so we don’t overdo it. Right now with the world as it is, our events through July have been cancelled. But we are doing them anyway. We ran our Luckenbach 13.1 on our own. We did our Bluebonnet Express and Easter Hill Country Long Rides on our own. This weekend we are supposed to be in Florida for Gulf Coast 70.3 – yes we are doing it on our own. IMAZ in November is our A race but who knows – we just keep training.
We have friends and family that ask when are we going to stop all this and get our lives back. This is our life – the life we choose. Someone said “If you don’t do it, you can’t understand it and if you do do it you can’t explain it.” It truly is a finish line you have to cross to understand.
Some day we won’t be able to do this BUT this ain’t that day! I suspect we will keep doing triathlon until we can’t. We love to travel to new places, race and then enjoy wherever we are. We are looking to race in Germany one day. We really are just regular people that work hard towards a goal. When we share on social media – the hope is to inspire – to let people know that anyone can do an Ironman. It takes a good training plan and the guts to stick to that plan no matter what – then you’ll finish the race.