The Background

The great thing about triathlons is that no one grew up doing triathlons. Some were swimmers, runners, soccer players, basketball players, A students, girl scouts.... Today I found out one of the girls I train with at times, Tiffany, played college basketball for Ole Miss and University of Memphis. Wow! I love to hear what brought people to triathlons.

Here is my story:
I grew up playing soccer...8 years old on? Something like that. I played club, high school, college, and post college. I ran track in high school, but I was never good at it. I didn't quite know how to push myself, but I seemed to have good endurance. So, I did well in workouts, but when it came time for race time I just didn't have the speed (or ability to push through the pain). I am faster now than I was in high school, which is funny to me! If you want to know my high school times, I would be happy to share them with you to give you a laugh! I have always enjoyed running, though.

In 2004, I made a semi-pro soccer team in Houston in the WPSL. This was my dream. I was completely heart broken when the team folded due to financial backing problems. Soon after, I got an email from a new semi-pro team in Orlando asking if I would come try out. Dave and I talked at length about it, but never came to a conclusion. In the next few weeks, I suffered the worst injury of my soccer career.

I don't know how it happened. One minute I was jogging on the field, and the next minute I couldn't walk. I mean, I couldn't walk. I stayed off of my leg until the next game that weekend, but I still could hardly walk, much less run. Dave made me promise not to play and left for his game (I just promised so he would leave. No way was I going to sit out!). I strapped a knee brace on and hobbled onto the field. After a while, my knee was swollen and huge. Dave was furious when he saw me limping later. I made a doctor's appointment immediately.

Diagnosis: OCD lat fem condyle and meniscus damage- they said it looked like I had fallen from a 12 foot ladder and landed on my knee. They did not believe me when I said I didn't know how the injury happened. Basically, my femur had no cartilage left and was practically sitting bone on bone. I had AVN which meant the bone and cartilage was dying due to poor blood supply. I was put on crutches for 3 months-non weight bearing. I opted out of surgery and was told I would never run or play soccer again.

1 year later...I still could not run. Well, I could run 1 mile at about a 12 minute pace. Every time I would try to play soccer I would feel frustrated and down. Just a year ago I was going to play semi-pro...now I couldn't even make a single decent play. I was getting beat by players that I know should never beat me. It was demoralizing and I was constantly in pain.

Enter triathlons: I learned to swim. This really helped build up my strength and keep my exercise low impact. I would ride my bike and keep trying to run. I entered my first triathlon- Rebel Man. I was so excited just to finish. I didn't care how fast or slow. When I ran the whole 3 miles, I was so proud of myself. I still remember how hard it was to run 3 miles.

Now I am pain free. I still play one one or two adult soccer teams, but I keep it fun. I am a "has-been", but that is okay:) I love to surprise the youngsters when I do something great out there that they don't expect from an old lady. And, I still do triathlons. They have kept me injury free, healthy, competitive, and fit. Soccer was my past, but triathlons are my future. Dave always says that triathlons have saved me and given me a healthy future. When we were discussing our next move the other day, he said we had to move to a city where I could train. Now, that is support!

What is your background? I would love to hear from everyone!