Damn girl, that's a lot of fattitude

Starting Thinspiration Camp Weight: 232

UNTIL TOMORROW…. Tomorrow I go back to Jiggle It since the tri is over. What is Jiggle It you may ask? Jiggle It is a dance cardio class where you literally learn to clap, shake, wag, isolate, pop and roll your booty wearing stripper heels. My heels can be seen on the left. And yes, that pink reacts to a black light. Boom. I absolutely love this class. I burn as many calories here as I do in spin. Bonus: I can now do unspeakable things with my booty.

Alright: REWIND….

July 2012: A 10k. I hate running, but I’ve decided to do the Peachtree Road Race. It’s an Atlanta event, and considering I’m an Atlanta Native, it must be done. Right? Check one off the ol’ list of things that I’ve done. At least that’s what I keep telling myself. My goal? 1:30’ish. Let me say it again, I hate running. Mile 1, I’m happy and feeling good. Mile 2, I’m here and feeling good. Mile 3, I’m not happy, but I’m still feeling good. Mile 4, I hate running, but my body is feeling good. Mile 5, my knee pops. I feel it go. The first thought I have is, “The Triathlon. Oh dear God, the Triathlon.” I walk another mile to the finish in 1:39:06. I’ll take it.

At this point I’ve run once before the Tri and it ended in horrific knee pain. It hurts to walk. Ice and elevate. Elevate and ice. Pray I can attempt to run in a month.

August 18th: Despite training hard I am panicking this time. I’m not sure why, maybe it’s the distance, but I am 100% panicking that I will be the last person to finish or they will give me a DNF (did not finish) because I didn’t finish in time, people will laugh and feel bad for the “fat girl.” I am my own worst enemy. At this point I am destroying everything I’ve worked for mentally. I’m falling to pieces. I’m contemplating not doing the tri. I’m using my knee as an excuse. I’m scared: scared of who I’ve become. Sometimes I do not even know this person that looks back at them in the mirror. My knee is throbbing, but it’s 5am and I’m hoping pure adrenaline carries me through. I’ve trained hard outside of the running aspect. I did spin 3 times a week and swam twice a week. I took a dance class on Saturdays, too. I’m prepared, maybe not mentally, but physically I can do this. And I will.

I’m 888 this time out of over 1000 again. The race “high” kicks in and I’m excited (finally.) My husband is doing the Tri with me this time, along with my best friend.
I prepare myself for the swim. A longer distance, a bit more fear and just as many people. If anything, I’m more nervous because I remember the Titantic like scene from last time. My husband and I exchange one last kiss and run into the water. The water is a perfect temperature and my stroke is solid. I’m counting my breaths and pacing myself. I remember the chaos from last time and scan the water for my husband just to make sure he’s ok. I find him and then do work. Head down, upper body strong, breath every three strokes. My goggles fog up and I calmly take them off, rinse them while swimming and keep on keepin on. I swim to  the inside of the pack to avoid the chaos and find myself making the turn towards shore. I glance at my watch and see I’m ahead of time. I kick it into high gear and go, go, go. I’m out of the water and into transition. I anticipated 25 minutes for my swim (it’s a longer distance and on top of that there are no pool walls to kick off of) I finish is 14. 11 minutes ahead of time and a minute ahead of my training pool pace. I’m ecstatic.

Onto the bike and off I go. Now, I have a terrible bike: an absolutely horrible, weird, hybrid thing that refuses to change gears when I ask it too. The chain randomly falls off and gears will change when I don’t touch anything. It’s a nightmare. I anticipate my bike taking 1:30 since it’s 14 miles and my chain will probably fall off at least six times, putting me at 2:00 (let’s say 5:00 for my first transition.) I love biking, despite my bike. I just enjoy it. It’s my favorite part of the tri. I can’t explain it considering it’s the sport I’m the worst at. The rolling hills are incredible and let me tell you, Peachtree City is absolutely stunning. There are people outside on their driveways cheering us on, spraying us with water, other athletes cheer you on as you pass each other, there are tons of spectators, it’s incredible. I’m totally alone on a hill and there’s a kid that looks to be a high school Senior that is outside cheering us on with his friends. Well, he jumps down into a deep squat, points both index fingers at me and starting belting out, “There ain’t no stopping you now!” And there wasn’t. As I turned into the final .25 mile of the ride I hear someone scream, “GO DANIELLE!” I look back and it’s my parents. They came out to support me (and my husband and best-friend.) It was a totally unexpected, fantastic surprise. I finished the bike in 1:06…another 24 minutes off of my anticipated time. My chain stayed on and my gears only stuck a few times.

I race through this transition and get off to my run in the right direction this time! I realize that my current overall time is 1:27 and all I’ve got left is a 5k. I reevaluate my goal to 2:30, giving me an hour to do the 5k. Now, an hour is extremely generous, but I haven’t been running, I hate running, and my knee. Even on my best 5k my time was 41:18 and I hadn’t just biked 14 miles and swam a 1/3 mile. I buckle down and start my run. Every time I wanted to walk, I made myself run. If I caught myself walking I’d play a game where I had to run til I saw the next person and then I could walk. I looked at my watch with a mile left and realized if I stepped on it I could finish the whole thing in 2:15. And step on it I did.

I crossed the finish line at 2:14:02.30. 46 minutes ahead of what I thought I’d do. My family and friends were standing right there at the finish and tears just started streaming from my face. I was filled with so much pride and just amazement. When I started this journey I weighed 325lbs and would have never thought in a million years I could be a triathlete. And here I was, having lost over 100lbs and completed my second triathlon.

My husband bought me a new Cannondale Road Bike as a surprise for all of my hard work. I do my first 33 mile bike ride/race on September 15th and my next triathlon on September 30 at Lake Lanier. I hated every minute of the first tri, but was hooked on the feeling after. I loved every minute of this tri, knew what to expect, how to train better, how to pace myself, and how to better prepare over all.

I’m addicted now. I’m no where near 1st in my division and I may finish last, but that’s ok. (I did finish 10th in my division.) I’m lapping everyone on the couch and I’m doing something I never thought I could.