My Triathlon Story

Joel and I set out on our journey to finish a triathlon almost 2 years ago. We had just completed the Chicago Marathon and were ready for our next challenge. So, we bought pool passes that winter. We had no idea how to swim, but were determined to try.  We swam regularly for weeks. We were the young couple at the pool that all of the old ladies were passing.

But then, life got a little crazy.  Well, insanely crazy & we quickly realized we did not have the time to train like we needed. So we waited. 

We waited until January 2011. We added the Pittsburgh Triathlon to our yearly list. 

Then, our baby joined our lives in February. Then, we had a lot of trouble finding a cheap pool pass. Then, Joel worked crazy hours in the month of July. Then, I worked a lot.  If you have ever trained for a long distance race, you know it takes a tremendous time commitment. The list goes on, but the result is the same: we did not train the way we knew we should have. Yet, we knew people run marathons without training, so we could complete a triathlon with little training, right?

July 31, 2011-Race Day

I woke up at 3 am feeling just awful on race morning. I knew a lot of it had to do with nerves, but I was literally almost panicking.  I'm not one to panic. EVER. Even after a summer of "swimming", I still did not know how to swim. Panicking in a huge body of water  + not really knowing how to swim can never be a good idea. Joel & I were in different start waves which meant we could not swim side by side. Swimming 1 mile is really far, especially out in the middle of a big river that I had never swam in before. All of our training had been in water that we could touch our little toesy's to the bottom. 


I did the unthinkable when Joel's alarm went off at 5:15. I told him I was out of the swim. I think telling Joel that I was failing was the hardest part. We had chosen to do this race together and I was backing out. He accepted my swim race withdraw graciously and promised me he was not disappointed in me. 


1 Mile Swim
Joel rocked the swim in 50 minutes. We knew this was our weakest area and hoped to finish the swim in an hour. I met him when he came out of the water to run to transition area to grab our bikes for round 2 of the triathlon.


25 Mile Bike
Pittsburgh's bike course consists of a 12.5 mile bike course in the HOV lanes of a major interstate that the International Triathlon participants loop twice. 6 of those miles are a steady uphill climb. This is a Pittsburgh hill which means it's steep for a girl like me.  It was not easy. This was the part of the race where we laughed. Laughed at everyone's $2,000 road bikes and our $30 Wal-mart mountain bikes. We laughed at the fact that everyone around us was 3X's our age. It was a little funny, but we held strong, stayed with each other, & kept reminding ourselves this race was not about our place, but rather the journey that brought us here.  Some people choose the Cheesecake factory for a date, Joel & I choose a triathlon.


6 Mile Run
We placed our bikes into the transition area and headed off onto our run. If you've never tried running after a 25 mile bike ride, you should try it. Your legs ache. It's not fun. Everything inside of you is telling you to just stop. I ran the first 1.5 miles, then let Joel run ahead. He ran the middle 1.5 without me and then we ran the final 1.5 miles together, crossing the finish line holding hands. 

We met up with Joel's parents & our son and enjoyed a few snacks in the hot sun before heading home. We enjoyed a lunch of Chinese food, then I headed to the pool to complete my 1 mile swim in the afternoon. 


Recovery was MUCH faster than recovery from the marathon!! Joel's parents stayed with us and did a fabulous job of caring for our little man all day. He loved all of the extra attention from the grandparents. 


I didn't reach my goal. Honestly, I feel ok about it. I have zero plans for trying again in the future. Joel and I made a lot of memories this summer and that was the plan all along. We love taking part in activities together and this is one goal we will probably laugh about for years to come. 


Next year I plan to cheer Joel on at whatever race he chooses. I'll be his biggest fan before, during, & after training, but for myself, I plan to take the summer off from any crazy races. Joel on the other hand continues talking about 1/2 an iron-man... 

29 More Days of...

Biking.

Swimming. 

Running. 

It's starting to become a pretty big piece of our life these days. We're 29 days away from a crazy race called The Pittsburgh Triathlon. 

But we're excited. 

Excited for the memories. 

Excited for the adventure. 

But most of all excited to be completing the race to help bring their baby home. 

Do you see this sweet couple?  

They're waiting. Waiting for their little baby to arrive. Waiting on the court systems to finalize paper work. Waiting for the necessary funds to cover the adoption fee's. And waiting for a sweet birth mom to choose them to help raise her baby. 

If you haven't figured it out yet, Joel & I are passionate about adoption. It does not matter to us if that adoption is done through foster care, over sea's or domestically. We believe adoption is a God thing and want to do everything we can to support those going through the adoption process. 

That's why we're raising money to help bring their baby home. 

Then choose to give up your Starbucks this week or pack your lunch for work or choose a free date night. Choose to give those extra pennies to be part of the McKivigan's journey. 

Go HERE to give toward the adoption fee's for their baby. Every penny you give will help Joel  & I finish and will help place a little baby in the arms of Josh & Meg. 

Triathlon 2011

It's coming...way too fast....Pittsburgh Triathlon 2011...and  we already invested way too much money in it to back out of it now!! We're still not sure how April came along so quickly and we honestly thought there were 4 months between May and August for training. We really thought 13 months existed in 2011 for some reason. We freaked out for just a minute this week when our triathlon training guide read 16 weeks when we were just 14 away from race day.


I'm not gonna lie...I'm scared silly about this one (probably way more scared than the marathon), but if running the Chicago marathon in 2009 taught me anything--it was that I'm capable of just about anything I set my mind to. 


I don't know how to swim. I really don't & Joel says he knows how to swim and he's better than me, but really, old ladies lap us in the pool without a problem. Our bikes are crappy and we don't plan on replacing them anytime soon.

We have a baby. I own a company and Joel is in ministry. We don't own a jogging stroller or a raft or a bike seat for our baby. We do not even have a sitter for our kid. We really have no idea how we're going to accomplish this race or even train for it, but we will. Somehow in some miraculous way, we'll cross that finish line and we'll be thrilled just for finishing.


On July 31st, we'll be running 6.2 miles, swimming 1 mile, & biking 30 miles. I'll probably be the girl doing the doggy paddle in the river on race day while everyone in the crowd laughs at me, but you can bet that I'll be finishing the race, even if it's last place because I'm all about the journey that will bring me to the finish line that the time that the clock will read. 


Pittsburgh triathlon 2011, we're totally not ready for you, but totally excited for the challenges you will bring to us and lessons you will teach us this summer!