How I got into Triathlons

      My story of athletics begins at the same time the story of my education starts. Only once I began my secondary education did I begin endurance sports. I ran cross country and track at Petoskey High School (in Petoskey, Michigan) and then at Alma College (Also in MI, more on that latter.) It was the summer of 2006, as I was finishing up my Freshmen year at Alma, that my mother asked if I'd like to do a triathlon with her that summer. My personality as such that I’m usually up to try anything new, I said, “sure.” Exactly like that, not super excited, more just curious. I was training mostly for Cross Country that fall, however this added some variety to my training. We did the East Jordan Freedom Festival Triathlon, which was a sprint distance. My result was unremarkable and while it was a fun experience I wasn't hooked right away, although we did one more tri that summer.
       In the following summers, I used triathlons to get in shape for cross country and to add some variety to that training. In 2007 Mom and I did 3 triathlons and I moved up the ranks a bit, beginning to find a new focus for my training. In 2008, we signed up for four races, culminating with the Steelhead 70.3, which got turned into a duathlon that year. This was also the year our friend, Dave was doing Ironman Wisconsin (IMWI). We went to cheer him on, I was hooked, and signed up for the following year (again more on that in the next post). 2009 was what I would consider the year I became dedicated to triathlons. I won the East Jordan Triathlon (just a small local race), where three years ago I was 26th. Mom and I both finished Steelhead, where I was 5th in my AG in 4:32. I also finished 2nd in two local tris in my prep for Wisconsin. More on that next.