Commit

It's all fine and good to make goals and to plan to do things, but it's equally important to commit to them and follow through. With running races and triathlons, actually signing up for the race is a step that makes it real for me and sets things in stone. We aren't poor, but we're also not in a financial state where I can throw money away. If I sign up and pay for the race, I'm doing it.

"Deborah Johnson is now Registered
for Subaru Banff Triathlon."

Those were the words that came up on the screen following my online registration. I also registered for an Alberta Triathlon membership, which commits me to doing at least one more race. (The membership is $20 for one race, or $35 for the year.)

For someone that asked, an Olympic triathlon is not the one that has a marathon at the end. That's an Iron distance, which is a 2.4 mi swim, 112 mi bike, and 26.2 mi run. I will do an ironman one day, but that day is years away.

An Olympic distance is a 1.5 km swim (0.93 mi), 40 km (24.8 mi) bike, and 10 km (6.2 mi) run.

What I had been planning on doing this year is sprint triathlons, which would be one third the swim distance and half the bike and run distance of an Olympic. I am confident that I could do a sprint triathlon a week from now if the opportunity existed.

I am not confident I could do an Olympic a week from now. Quite frankly, the Olympic distance frightens me. The swim terrifies me. What if I drown? The most non-stop swimming I have done is just over a km. And that was not in open water. Can I ride my bike 40 km? Don't know. I've never done it. I can run 10 km, but can I do it after swimming and riding?

Well, now I'm committed.

The good part is, I don't have to do the Olympic triathlon in a week. In fact, I have almost 43 weeks to prepare. 43 weeks ago, I couldn't run for a minute, or swim a metre. Let's see how far I can go.