Di wants to tri a TRIATHLON!

Where do I start....My goals this year were to run a marathon and hike Half Dome in Yosemite. I accomplished both of those goals and now I'm searching for more. Is it that I will be 40 next year and want to check a few things off of my bucket list? or is it that I love the way I feel when I'm accomplishing my athletic goals. If you know me, then you know that I usually have several goals related to different avenues of my life whether it be professional goals, family goals, or personal goals.


One of my goals for 2008 was to hike Half Dome in Yosemite National Park. It was awesome...17 miles round trip from the base of Yosemite Valley with an elevation change of 4,800 feet. It was a blast and I recommend it to anyone who loves the great outdoors. The backside of Half Dome was a steep climb up switchbacks prior to the infamous metal cables that are drilled into the rock. The climb was steep and easier going up than going down. The cables were a little scary but worth it when I was at the top with jaw-dropping views. The bottom line is that is was an incredible hike!

Second goal for 2008 was to run in a Marathon. 26.2 miles was something that I had never done until October 19th, 2008. I had fun and smiled a ton in the last 10 or so miles. Yeah I know marathon and fun shouldn't be in the same sentence...but I had a blast. Perhaps it was just watching all of the crazy San Francisco Spectators??? My goals for the marathon were to finish, run the course except for the water stations, and have fun. I accomplished all of my goals! More importantly, my husband and I raised $11,440 for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. We ran for a fellow CRNA who was recently diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma. The entire experience of running a marathon and doing Team in Training to help accomplish those goals were an experience of a lifetime!

Goals for 2009, drum roll please.....to do a Triathlon. I have been thinking of doing one since September when I hiked Half Dome. I figured if I can train to run 26.2 miles, I can train to do 70.3 in 3 different sports. Since that time, I have bought a few Triathlon books, magazines, surfed the internet for info and basically been doing my homework before I register for the Boise 70.3 and charge $500.00 to my check card.

The biggest thing that happened to me to capture my attention occured in November in Florida. Well if you keep up with IM news, it was the FORD World championships in Clearwater, Florida. I was in St. Petersburg, Florida for a Nurse Anesthetist leadership conference and was intrigued by the triathletes. Of course, I was in a conference room with death by power point, while all of the triathletes were enjoying the beautiful course and weather...although I bet it could have been a little bit cooler in temperature. Well, I had the pleasure to fly back to Salt Lake City with some really fit triathletes. Needless to say...it got me motivated!

I came home and surfed the internet even more. I looked at the race results not only from the Clearwater IM but also for the IM Boise 70.3 that occured in June 2008. I also looked at many of the pictures of the triatheletes from both of the events. I'm so motivated! Since I am a newbie, I figured I would do a triathlon that is close to home so I wouldn't have to include the stress of a different location that I would have to ship my bike to and pack a zillion things with hopes that they would arrive safely. Yeah, I could do a sprint or olympic as my first...screw it...I'm gonna go the distance.

So....I am going to do the Boise 70.3 on June 13th, 2009. I hope to keep my blogs up to date. I guess it is time to buy a bike....ugh more homework to do and too many options. I loved the News post from the IM site about the bikes that were in Clearwater....but it made it that much more difficult to chose. Everyone tells me that now is the time to buy a bike, for many shops have 08 models marked down to make room for the 09s...wish me luck.

Oh yeah...my motto for 2008 will carry into 2009...
Failure is not an option!