There are many transitions in life, for me accepting transitions can be more difficult than the actual transition. This year has been full of transitions some that started out bad but ended up good; many months of unemployment for my hubby that led to a great new job, A nightmare selling process of our home that led to getting our dream house that we love, etc.
The last transition is still in the slightly painful place for me. The short story is that racing an Ironman is not in the cards for me this year. With four moves and a fairly debilitating medical issue that knocked me down for over a month I had to accept that training for IM Canada just wasn’t happening. I can only hope that it leads to something better in the end.
The good news is that I am now fully recovered from my medical issue but missing about six weeks of training so close to the race just wasn’t going to cut it. As a was trying to recover I got a terrible stomach flu, and I was a ball of stress worrying about the training I was missing, knowing that Canada was slipping through my fingers. Now I could have transferred to a later Ironman, Tahoe is still open and Maine was newly announced but I wasn’t excited about either. At that point I didn’t have the heart to keep trying and just wanted to focus on getting well. So I let my third straight year of Ironman racing go.
At first I will admit it was a relief to not stress about training that I was missing but with some distance I am starting to miss it. But with letting Ironman for this year go, I have started to dream about different (maybe bigger) challenges.
When getting back into “training” I was craving simplicity, especially with a lot of traveling coming up. So I have been focusing on running and trying to increase my milage. Following my heart, most of my miles have been on trails.
While I miss triathlon training and racing, I am loving the focus on running and especially trail running. I am also ready to start racing again so I will start with a trail half marathon at Copper Mountain, leading up to a couple marathons and a 50k in October.
We’ll see how this summer/fall goes assuming everything goes well I will be chasing some bigger goals on the trails. While I do miss Ironman, I WILL be back just not this year. I will admit it’s pretty fun to chase some new dreams.
Has life ever gotten in the way of your plans?
I’m sorry the IM isn’t working out this year, but it will always be there in case your path leads you to it again. It does suck to let it all go (oh how I know) but your attitude is great and trying new things – on the trails, YAY – is a great way to recharge the head, and heart. Glad to hear the health issue is put to rest and you can now move forward.
Are you doing the trail half this weekend in Copper (Colorado Running Festival)? I will be up there the day before doing the 10k the day before (am helping pace/crew for a friend doing the Leadville 50 same day as the half in Copper). We’ll be staying in Copper Mt Saturday night so if you happen to be up there that night, give me a shout! My son, Ryan, is doing the half this year – we both did it last year and it was fun!
Hey Jill-
How awesome you are pacing at the Leadville 50, I read your race report last year it was really inspiring. We are driving up the morning of the race so I am not sure that we will see you but I will cheer on Ryan as he laps me 😉
This must have been a tough decision for you, but probably a very smart one. It seems like you had a lot on your plate, more than the average person, and I couldn’t imagine finding the time to train hours upon hours each week. Plus, training takes a lot of time, energy, commitment, and when you have other things pulling that away from you it can create a lot of unnecessary stress. Good for you for doing what is best with where you are at in life right now. It sounds like you still have some amazing goals and races ahead of you this year – a 50K – wow! I hope you are now feeling more settled and able to breathe and enjoy your beautiful new home.
Sounds like it was the right decision, even though it was hard to make. The trails look great, by the way, so enjoy running on them!