Strength and Support

I've always thought of running and swimming as solitary sports. Sure, you run on a team, and often times you swim on a team, but even when you swim a relay, it's just you in the water racing for the wall, or the finish line for your team. I never really thought about biking unless I had to go somewhere. In my elementary years I may have biked for fun at some point, but by the time I was in college, without a car, when I biked it was because I had somewhere to go. Once I got a car, I stopped thinking about biking altogether!

In 2009, when I started training for my first triathlon with Tri it For Life I discovered how much of a "team" sport triathlon could be. I was still in the water, but my lane was filled with other people struggling for the same goal. Many of us were not really runners, so we pushed each other for faster walks, and to shuffle just a little longer as we started to walk/run. And on the bike, we'd remind each other about changing gears, alert each other to debris in the road and "cars back!" I found there was strength in numbers and support in a group, and it helped me meet my goals.

Then I looked towards new goals, and though our training group got smaller, we still managed to impel each other up the hills, literally! The Race Whisperer, my Bestie Roomie (see also the Gear Gal), The Blur, EJ, Chocolate Lori, Crystal Sunshine, and DSTehia all helped me prepare and finish an international triathlon, a half marathon, and a 30 mile bike ride. (I'm still giving those bike rides the side eye people!) But through it all there was strength and support.

And then schedules changed, new commitments were made, and that group, unfortunately for me, became a team of one again. For myself, I would still go out and run or swim sometimes, but it became very easy to leave that bike in the garage. And then it was too cold for one, or I was too tired for the other. Before you know it, you wake up one day and realize you've stopped moving completely; alone or otherwise.

In walks my Amelia Island Angel! I once had aspirations to do the AmeliaMan, and I bonded with a woman who had done it before, and was planning to do it again. (Alas, the race is no more) Since then, she and I have kept in touch, through the triathlon group mostly, but she's provided support whenever I needed it, for whatever reason; training related or no. So when she stepped out in a new direction in her career, I saw an opportunity to support a friend, and get myself moving again. Which is what got me thinking about all of this again today. This morning, after STRUGGLING through a 6 am open water swim, and dragging my arms through the water trying to effectively utilize my hand paddles....

...I found myself on my bike again for the first time in a year, with my tailbone and crotch burning, a leg going numb, and a new support team encouraging me through it all!
I DO know what possessed me to join the group swim, AND add a 7:30 Computrainer bike class afterwards; realizing I'm not a team of one! While I found my motivation again, I needed both strength and support to really get going. I'm no where near the "triathlete" I was in 2010 and parts of 2012, but thanks to the open water crew, the Upgrade Lifestyle Wednesday Wriders!, my Sunday Sweat Sisters, and the ORIGINAL Northside Group- I'm at least back in the game.
Once you find your strength and support, keep it, chances are, you'll continue to need it!