Lauren Liang, mama of a ten month old, is our guest blogger.
The truth: I planned to write a glowing blog entry with all the reasons why I love triathlons. How I was a swimmer growing up and then morphed into a marathon runner in my early twenties so the tri combines two of my favorite sports. How I love the way endurance and multi-tasking are such keys to the event. (No wonder so many mamas are triathletes!) How much fun it is to try and be efficient in the transitions. How you can actually see your family several times during the race as you keep circling back to the transition/start/finish area. How triathletes seem to always cheer each other on during the race unlike other sports. How you feel like a bit of a “Superwoman” when you notice the faint outline of your race numbers still on your arms and legs the day after a race.
But the truth is that while I do love tri-ing for all these reasons, at the moment it’s a bit of a fantasy. I haven’t touched my bike since last August and haven’t swum a lap since my last tri last summer. Between work, caring for my little guy, and a nasty bout of bronchitis, I haven’t even walked beyond a block or two this past month let alone run.
As a relatively new mom with a typical working-outside-the-home mama schedule, I’m not anticipating a great increase in the amount of training time I’ll have in the next month. (Of course, at this point even one workout would be a 100% improvement.) So I secretly wondered as I started to write this entry, would triathlon still be so fun if it was an incredibly painful experience? Would I still find it a joy if I had to drag myself to the finish?
And the more I thought about it, the more I felt that the answer would be yes. Yes, this triathlon will still be very enjoyable no matter if I am well-trained or just worried about finishing still upright. Because out on the course on May 19th, I’ll be surrounded by athletes that have been there. Athletes that may have been up nursing a baby a few times in the past night. Who understand what it is like to try to accomplish during nap-time a work task that would have taken a full day at the office. Who run pushing a jogging stroller with a sippy cup in the water bottle holder, wear a bike shirt that has Cheerios in the pocket, and know that the exhilaration of a great swim workout can never match the joy of splashing with your infant in the bathtub.
No matter how rotten my body may feel as I try to make it through the event, I know I will have a great time. I look forward to the camaraderie of my fellow athletes as we swim, bike, and run. I plan to cheer on other women as they race past me on the course, and to revel in the fact that I live in a time when women, including mothers, are supported in taking on the role of athlete.
And, best of all, whether I finish in a breath-taking sprint or a very slow walk, my little son will be at the finish line grinning and clapping his hands for me. I can’t possibly imagine a better finisher-award.
Lauren Aimonette Liang