Because I can.
And when I can't...
God can.
Triathlon is very meditative for me. I find comfort, peace, and pleasure in the monotony of endurance sport. There is an inner calm that comes as the water continually rushes over you, as the road rises to meet you, and the repetition of arms swinging and legs lifting propels you forward.
I have always been a runner. An endorphin junkie. As a teenager I did not know the necessity of that endorphin rush. As an adult I know that those endorphins are my lifeline. They push me through the day and motivate me to do better in all aspects of my life. They keep me from putting chemicals in the form of Prozac into my body.
After carrying and giving birth to three children over the course of 4 1/2 years, my body and mind began to rebel. The diagnosis of Down Syndrome for my third child began a process of wheel spinning in my brain that led to overeating, stress, and depression. I would not have told you that then but that's what it was.
Tremendous weight gain, hormone fluctuations, vein insufficiency, high blood
pressure, and gall bladder attacks. I had the saphenous veins in both legs closed and my gall bladder removed with in three months of each other, all the while caring for three children 5 and under.
Around this same time, Anne Arundel County Parks and Rec announced a Sprint
Triathlon at Ft. Smallwood park to benefit people in the county with special
needs. In fact, all proceeds go to help pay the registration fees for the
special sports programs.
As a senior in high school one of my "ambitions", printed in
the 1992 Arundel year book, was to "successfully complete a triathlon by the
time I turn 40". So the "Rec Deeds for Special Needs Tri" was a no brainer. As
if the good Lord was bonking me on the head saying "hello, you are 36, 40 is 4
years away". So, I did my first tri. Mission Accomplished!! Uh, no.
You see the ambition arose while I watched the television
coverage of the 1992 Hawaii Ironman World Championships. I cried my eyes out in
my little brothers room, (why he had a tv in his room I do not know), watching
all the back stories of the competitors. The Ambition is an Ironman.
I have since completed a myriad of Triathlon events including one Half Ironman. With each training session and race my ambition and motivation is heightened. Not to be a better triathlete but to be and do better as a person.
There will be many cant's in our life raising three children in this crazy world, I want to be the example of I can and God can for my children.
Down Syndrome has taught me this:
We are all ABLE just in different ways, we all CAN some just choose not to.
