Life Is Not Always What It Seems... and It's Not Because You're Blind - It's Your Mind!

You see that hat...? That was the hat my parents bought me to wear the day I was discharged from the Hospital in June of 2003, three weeks after my airway was crushed in a traumatic car accident... never did I imagine that I'd be wearing it, smiling in a picture just taken after crossing the finish line of an Olympic Distance Triathlon...

In completing my second Triathlon, first Olympic Distance Triathlon, my perspective on life has completely changed. Usually, due to my life circumstance, I would say that it takes something traumatic to change your perspective on life, but participating in The Triathlon at Treasure Island has shown me that something doesn't need to be traumatic to change you - you change you through your thoughts and actions, that it's not what happens to you, but how you REACT to what happens to you.

Two years ago as I watched my Husband Brett train and participate in his Triathlons, I always thought to myself that I could NEVER do a Triathlon because I could never manage to breath during the swim or bike, that I could only breath while I run, as that was hard enough with given the capacity of my airway(35% of normal). I told myself a million and one excuses not only as to why I couldn't participate in a Triathlon but also as to why I can't run. Besides my excuses, I was just deathly afraid, literally DEATHLY, of pushing my body that hard... maybe my airway would collapse, or I would just get too tired... the excuses my little brain made were endless. I was reacting to my fears and letting them drive the decisions I was making.

Come to find out that through my experiences that it's not the swimming and biking that makes my breathing difficult, it's just running!!! Ironically enough, the one sport I thought I could manage (running) caused me the most difficulty!

Participating in an Olympic Distance Triathlon is undeniably liberating and I am now challenging myself not to hold back and to not be afraid of running out of energy or getting too tired, or not being able to breathe. I am going to take my training to the next level - and I'm excited! I am going to make training a priority(not just a workout, I am actually going to put myself on a training schedule, possibly get a coach) and see how far I can push myself. I finished the .93 Mile Swim, 24.8 Mile Bike and 6.2 mile run in 3:27:18. I came in 17th in my age group (out of 26). I'd like to challenge myself to come in around 2:45:00 in my next Triathlon (Pacific Grove, September 11) and come in in the top 35%, 1% for each amoung of airway I have.

I challenge you to get outside of your mind (and outside your comfort zone)... to challenge yourself in something you thought was physically impossible, something you told yourself you couldn't achieve... because if I can do it with 35% of my airway, you can do it with 100% of yours!

THANK YOU!!!

I would like to thank Kate Garsson from TriCal in taking interest in my story of why I am doing the Treasure Island Triathlon and for graciously providing me with a Polor Womens Fitness watch (my first "sponsorship"). Kate has also informed me that my story is going to be told at SFGATE.COM and on their website www.tricalifornia.com. I would also like to thank Dorette Franks for also taking interest in my story and telling it so graciously. Dorette is a 4 time Ironman (Ironwoman) and is training for an Ultraman coming up in the next 4 weeks, she is an inspiration as well. If you don't know what an Ultraman is, it's worth googling... You can read her article regarding my car accident/training at http://www.moremarin.com/more_sweat/2010/07/splash-and-dash-biggest-loser-contestants-others-get-a-second-chance.html

My story being told at the public level is very exciting to me! Essentially, once my accident happened, I had to make two choices, to either sulk in my self pity and self-doubt or to turn my life around and maximize my full potential along this new path. Life is FULL of decisions, and this was just one of them, regardless of how tragic or traumatic my accident may have been. The journey has been long, and still continues, but each day gets better and challenging myself through Triathlons has helped maximize the capacity of my "comprimized" airway.

This Saturday I will be celebrating life at the Treasure Island Triathlon. The thought of the swim alone causes me enough anxiety but so did facing the adversity of my car accident, and if I can over come that, I can swim .9 miles in the freezing cold bay. Sometimes I get sad knowing that I could be faster, but my goal is to focus on the present (no "what if's"), realize I might not be doing Tri's if it weren't for my accident and just to have fun and concentrate on my breathing. I am going to be the best I can be, not the BEST triathlete out there (because we all know I am a far cry from that ;) )

I think when we focus on being THE BEST indstead of focusing on being OUR BEST we lose sight of the purpose of being. The purpose of being is not to out swim the swimmer next to you or out run or bike someone else and it's certainly not to out perform you classmate on the most recent exam. The purpose of life is to be your very best and try your best at whatever the task at hand may be. When we focus on being our personal best, we are putting our energy in the right place and the rest graciously works itself out. Who cares about how fast someone else swims, bikes or runs... there will always be someone who is faster, smarter and wiser, no matter how hard your train or study. We are taught all of our lives to outperform our peers, co-workers and sometimes even friends or family. Instead of focusing on outperformance, I would be willing to wager if we focus on our own performance and our own personal best, we'd find a lot more peace and happiness within ourselves, which can only lead to better performance and life satisfaction. If you focus on being your best and capitalize on your strengths, you'll come to find there was a little more inside of you than you previously knew exsisted, and then some.

It's happening...

So silly as it may seem, I've sorta always envisioned being able to tell my story at the public forum level and yesterday was the first day it has happened, and I am so excited. TriCal was interested in my car accident story and airways issues and all that I have overcome to get to where I am today and to be able to do a triathlon.

I was interviewed by Dorette Franks of Trifiniti and my story will be in Moremarin.com. Here is her comment of facebook:

Dorette Franks: "Way cool, interviewed Biggest Loser contestant, O'Neal Hampton and a come-back gal, Gina Cummings of San Francisco. Stay tuned to MoreMarin.com on their break through participation at Tri Cal's San Francisco Triathlon at Treasure Island. Truely compelling."