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"The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start."
Kitsap TriBabes
And the Sun Shone on Their Pinkness
Dear Tri Babes -- I don't think we could have had a more auspicious beginning for a Triathlon Training season
than the one we were given today. 162 of you came, conquered, and comPLETEd!!! That could very well
be the highest attendance we have ever had at a Brick! We will most likely not see that number of
participants again until the Mini-Tri! As of today, we have 236 Registered Tri Babes!!!
Your mascot, Trixie the Tri Goddess, was very proud of each and every one of you. I dressed her in attire that I hoped would inspire the Proper Pink Attitude for our first Brick and it sure seems as if that mission was accomplished. She was wearing the "Tritini" necklace that Windy Tuttle made for her and her Martini running cap - just to remind you to have fun!!! And, she was wearing a "retro" Tri Babe shirt from our third year to help your feel the history that is supporting each of you from years of Tri Babe success and momentum. Vet Cindy Phillips returned this shirt to me this past week because it no longer fit - she had made so much progress over the years that the shirt was far too large for her and she needed a new one!!!
I am thrilled to get to say my mother's favorite words, "I told you so!!!" every single person that started the Brick, finished the Brick!!! (There were a few people who planned to do the bike only due to time constraints or illness but they all comPLETEd what they set out to do!!!) I did NOT say it would be easy. I said you could do it! And you DID!!! So, please spend the rest of your week-end basking in both the sun (with proper sun protection, of course - Windy Tuttle, she of the pink zinc oxide, would not appreciate me wantonly promoting unsafe sun soaking)and basking in your glory! I am begging both Newbies and Vets alike to please know that said glory is NOT dependent upon whether your efforts felt easy or difficult; said glory is only dependent upon comPLETion - which you accomplished!!!
I was thrilled when two Newbies asked me how long the Bike ride would be next week. I told them "6 miles." Their response was "now that we did 5 miles, 6 seems doable." This is exactly the point of the training . . . each week builds upon the previous week and your success one week pre-determines your success the next week. So, please remember that your job is simply to continue to take each small step so that these steps can ultimately add up to monumental success! Before your amazing comPLETion today, I am sure that many of you were questioning your ability to actually comPLETE a 5 mile Bike and a 1 mile Run/Walk. Please notice how irrelevant your doubts were . . . please notice that they were comPLETEly unrelated to whether you did or did not comPLETE. Therefore, the next time you have any doubts about your abilities, feel free to ignore them since you have just proven that doubts are NOT an accurate predictor of failure. The only thing that matters is that you are willing to "tri." It is this "tri-ing" which correlates to your success.
My other thrill was, of course, when David texted me just as I said his name. As predicted, he loved the synchronicity of his name being uttered with my "vibrating!" Dane has yet to look me in the eye after my "spontaneous oh-ration" and appreciates the $70.26 which you contributed to Pink Purse Power to support his psychotherapy fund - I mean to support Robert O'Hern, (aka "Mr. Happy Buns") and his efforts to raise money for Mary Bridge's Child Abuse Intervention program.
I am, of course in the deepest, pinkest gratitude to all the volunteers who made this morning possible. Your amazing Check-In Staff managed to juggle 33 New Registrants whilst getting 129 other people checked in AND handling shirt distribution and orders AND reading my mind by intuitively knowing that the one "different" shirt was supposed to go to Emmy Caprizzi!!! These nowhere nearly mortal women are: Cyndy Ayers, Gwen Barrios, Terry Harter, Carla Lawson, and Rhonda Stephens.
Your amazing Bike Wave Leaders, who cared pinkly enough about you in order to be anal retentive about how your helmet fit as well as guide you along the course were: Dane Ballou, June Blaser (who must have been radiating pinkness since several people returned to transition and raved about how amazing she was), Sue Crossland, Mary Jo Jacobs, Beth Leone-Mullins, Karen Romero, and Suzie Simms, and Johanna Willoughby (how many 16-year-old young women do YOU know who are willing to ride the bike course 3 times to keep helping everyone who needed helping and then go run the course for themselves only to return and walk the course a second time so that she can support our final finisher?!?!?!?!?)
And, last but not least, the Men man enough to wear pink, willing to park you and to direct you on the bike course were: Steven Banks, Bill Beatty (who lowered David's blood pressure the instant he saw that I had assigned him to the dicey turn onto Coho), Lan Brooks, Ken Cox (who set a new world record for most amount of bike tires pumped up in a single 40 minute period), Dave Harter (who managed to simultaneously serve YOUR needs and help his wife who had locked herself out of her car - now there is a man who knows how to multi-task), Dave Kiesel, and George Simms.
Thanks also to Brayden Banks who kept me sane by setting up the entrance/exit chutes and educating all of you on which one to use when! And, last but not least, to Celeste Cornish who kept me sane by putting out the biggest fire of my day - the huge double dump truck which decided to park smack dab in the middle of where YOU needed to ride and run/walk! I was so flustered I was reduced to muttering "text speak" . . . WTF . . .
And finally, The Awards of the First Brick: (FYI for the Newbies -- each week we give out several "awards" to Tri Babes whose pinkness has caught the Eye of the Turtle! Some of these awards have a lengthy story behind them but mostly, they are just a pink take on the awards that Tour De France gives out after each stage.)
~ Lapin Award ("Lapin" is French for "rabbit." This award goes to the Tri Babe/s who finish first.): Beth Worthington (she was your fastest Single Bricker and was going so fast and enjoying her run so much that she blew by the turn-around and did who knows how many more miles than she needed to yet still managed to come in first!!!), Linda Banks & Denise Brooks (your fastest and happiest Double Brickers!)
~ Maillot Rose (At the Tour de France, they give out the Maillot Jaune, "yellow jersey," to the cyclist who wins each stage. We here at Tri Babe Central give out a special "pink jersey" to the woman/women who comPLETEd last and therefore most essentially illustrated the Tri Babe turtle spirit and philosophy.): Newbies Laura Harper and Serena Thomas.
~ "You *%$#ing ROCK" Award (This award originated at your Tri Turtle's first Ironman at Canada in 2004 when she broke a spoke at mile 90 and had to ride up the hardest hill of the 112 mile bike course with her brakes wedged into her wheel . A fellow triathlete rode by me, saw my struggle and yelled at me over and over "you *&$#ing ROCK!" I've never been so grateful to have "the F-Word" screamed at me!!!): Newbie Kim Rubenstein who finished despite being recently recovered from a severely broken ankle; Vet Deborah Vaughn who exited her comfort zone and elevated her performance zone by getting clip-in bike pedals. While inaugurating these pedals today, she was undaunted by two falls - one in the CWC parking lot and the other as she tried to dismount after her bike ride. As is usual with new clip-in pedals, both falls occurred in super slow motion and only sprained her dignity - luckily she has plenty of that to spare!!!
~ "Above and Beyond" Award: This MUST go to Robert and Claudia Grimes. These are the caretakers at the Christian Worship Center who live in the motor home behind Whitney Hall. Not only did they, once again, generously agree to allow us to park in that lot. BUT . . . they opened up the bathrooms for you AND they even came out and served you water!!! WOWOWOWOWOWOW!!!You can also thank the kind folks at Camp Union grocery who confirmed that they will smile at you if you come in and ask to use their bathroom.
Okay . . . let the basking officially begin . . . I can't wait to see you Tuesday. Remember doubts are indicative of NOTHING except your desire to succeed.
~ Lisa Be off to bask herself silly
Your mascot, Trixie the Tri Goddess, was very proud of each and every one of you. I dressed her in attire that I hoped would inspire the Proper Pink Attitude for our first Brick and it sure seems as if that mission was accomplished. She was wearing the "Tritini" necklace that Windy Tuttle made for her and her Martini running cap - just to remind you to have fun!!! And, she was wearing a "retro" Tri Babe shirt from our third year to help your feel the history that is supporting each of you from years of Tri Babe success and momentum. Vet Cindy Phillips returned this shirt to me this past week because it no longer fit - she had made so much progress over the years that the shirt was far too large for her and she needed a new one!!!
I am thrilled to get to say my mother's favorite words, "I told you so!!!" every single person that started the Brick, finished the Brick!!! (There were a few people who planned to do the bike only due to time constraints or illness but they all comPLETEd what they set out to do!!!) I did NOT say it would be easy. I said you could do it! And you DID!!! So, please spend the rest of your week-end basking in both the sun (with proper sun protection, of course - Windy Tuttle, she of the pink zinc oxide, would not appreciate me wantonly promoting unsafe sun soaking)and basking in your glory! I am begging both Newbies and Vets alike to please know that said glory is NOT dependent upon whether your efforts felt easy or difficult; said glory is only dependent upon comPLETion - which you accomplished!!!
I was thrilled when two Newbies asked me how long the Bike ride would be next week. I told them "6 miles." Their response was "now that we did 5 miles, 6 seems doable." This is exactly the point of the training . . . each week builds upon the previous week and your success one week pre-determines your success the next week. So, please remember that your job is simply to continue to take each small step so that these steps can ultimately add up to monumental success! Before your amazing comPLETion today, I am sure that many of you were questioning your ability to actually comPLETE a 5 mile Bike and a 1 mile Run/Walk. Please notice how irrelevant your doubts were . . . please notice that they were comPLETEly unrelated to whether you did or did not comPLETE. Therefore, the next time you have any doubts about your abilities, feel free to ignore them since you have just proven that doubts are NOT an accurate predictor of failure. The only thing that matters is that you are willing to "tri." It is this "tri-ing" which correlates to your success.
My other thrill was, of course, when David texted me just as I said his name. As predicted, he loved the synchronicity of his name being uttered with my "vibrating!" Dane has yet to look me in the eye after my "spontaneous oh-ration" and appreciates the $70.26 which you contributed to Pink Purse Power to support his psychotherapy fund - I mean to support Robert O'Hern, (aka "Mr. Happy Buns") and his efforts to raise money for Mary Bridge's Child Abuse Intervention program.
I am, of course in the deepest, pinkest gratitude to all the volunteers who made this morning possible. Your amazing Check-In Staff managed to juggle 33 New Registrants whilst getting 129 other people checked in AND handling shirt distribution and orders AND reading my mind by intuitively knowing that the one "different" shirt was supposed to go to Emmy Caprizzi!!! These nowhere nearly mortal women are: Cyndy Ayers, Gwen Barrios, Terry Harter, Carla Lawson, and Rhonda Stephens.
Your amazing Bike Wave Leaders, who cared pinkly enough about you in order to be anal retentive about how your helmet fit as well as guide you along the course were: Dane Ballou, June Blaser (who must have been radiating pinkness since several people returned to transition and raved about how amazing she was), Sue Crossland, Mary Jo Jacobs, Beth Leone-Mullins, Karen Romero, and Suzie Simms, and Johanna Willoughby (how many 16-year-old young women do YOU know who are willing to ride the bike course 3 times to keep helping everyone who needed helping and then go run the course for themselves only to return and walk the course a second time so that she can support our final finisher?!?!?!?!?)
And, last but not least, the Men man enough to wear pink, willing to park you and to direct you on the bike course were: Steven Banks, Bill Beatty (who lowered David's blood pressure the instant he saw that I had assigned him to the dicey turn onto Coho), Lan Brooks, Ken Cox (who set a new world record for most amount of bike tires pumped up in a single 40 minute period), Dave Harter (who managed to simultaneously serve YOUR needs and help his wife who had locked herself out of her car - now there is a man who knows how to multi-task), Dave Kiesel, and George Simms.
Thanks also to Brayden Banks who kept me sane by setting up the entrance/exit chutes and educating all of you on which one to use when! And, last but not least, to Celeste Cornish who kept me sane by putting out the biggest fire of my day - the huge double dump truck which decided to park smack dab in the middle of where YOU needed to ride and run/walk! I was so flustered I was reduced to muttering "text speak" . . . WTF . . .
And finally, The Awards of the First Brick: (FYI for the Newbies -- each week we give out several "awards" to Tri Babes whose pinkness has caught the Eye of the Turtle! Some of these awards have a lengthy story behind them but mostly, they are just a pink take on the awards that Tour De France gives out after each stage.)
~ Lapin Award ("Lapin" is French for "rabbit." This award goes to the Tri Babe/s who finish first.): Beth Worthington (she was your fastest Single Bricker and was going so fast and enjoying her run so much that she blew by the turn-around and did who knows how many more miles than she needed to yet still managed to come in first!!!), Linda Banks & Denise Brooks (your fastest and happiest Double Brickers!)
~ Maillot Rose (At the Tour de France, they give out the Maillot Jaune, "yellow jersey," to the cyclist who wins each stage. We here at Tri Babe Central give out a special "pink jersey" to the woman/women who comPLETEd last and therefore most essentially illustrated the Tri Babe turtle spirit and philosophy.): Newbies Laura Harper and Serena Thomas.
~ "You *%$#ing ROCK" Award (This award originated at your Tri Turtle's first Ironman at Canada in 2004 when she broke a spoke at mile 90 and had to ride up the hardest hill of the 112 mile bike course with her brakes wedged into her wheel . A fellow triathlete rode by me, saw my struggle and yelled at me over and over "you *&$#ing ROCK!" I've never been so grateful to have "the F-Word" screamed at me!!!): Newbie Kim Rubenstein who finished despite being recently recovered from a severely broken ankle; Vet Deborah Vaughn who exited her comfort zone and elevated her performance zone by getting clip-in bike pedals. While inaugurating these pedals today, she was undaunted by two falls - one in the CWC parking lot and the other as she tried to dismount after her bike ride. As is usual with new clip-in pedals, both falls occurred in super slow motion and only sprained her dignity - luckily she has plenty of that to spare!!!
~ "Above and Beyond" Award: This MUST go to Robert and Claudia Grimes. These are the caretakers at the Christian Worship Center who live in the motor home behind Whitney Hall. Not only did they, once again, generously agree to allow us to park in that lot. BUT . . . they opened up the bathrooms for you AND they even came out and served you water!!! WOWOWOWOWOWOW!!!You can also thank the kind folks at Camp Union grocery who confirmed that they will smile at you if you come in and ask to use their bathroom.
Okay . . . let the basking officially begin . . . I can't wait to see you Tuesday. Remember doubts are indicative of NOTHING except your desire to succeed.
~ Lisa Be off to bask herself silly