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The Journey Begins – Full Ironman

My journey begins with a dream…. this dream started with a sprint triathlon, 500 meter swim, 14.8 bike and a 3 mile run. I signed up for the Katy Triathlon Firethorne, it was their 25th Anniversary race. However, due to hurricane Harvey the race was postponed and held on October 29th.

The morning of the race, Houston experienced a very unexpected freeze, so the water was wet suite legal. I was so excited I did not care how cold I was and just excited to be there. Once it was my turn to enter the water, I was already pretty frozen. I ended up being the 2nd to last out of the water in my age group. In fact my family told me I looked terrible.

After the water I got on my bike and rode 14.8 miles, it felt like forever since I was so cold. After the bike, I put my tennis shoes on and then started to run. As I was leaving the run course I shouted out to my family and friends, “I cant feel my feet”. I literally ran 3 miles with numb feet because I was so cold.

Once I finished the race, I was over joyed, still frozen but could not believe I actually finished the race. I ended up being 4th in my age group. This was the moment I knew I was going to race another triathlon, I was hooked!

Chevron Houston Half Marathon Journey

Summer of 2018 I signed up for my first half marathon, this was part of the preparation for me to race the Galveston 70.3 Ironman in April 2019. When I first joined a run club, Runners High I had only run 3 miles, and I struggled with that.

I had one of my good friends Carlos give me some running pointers and sometimes run with me. Carlos is the guy that ALWAYS wins races in his age group, so taking pointers from him seemed like a great idea.

I also had my friend Sheri take me to an athletic shoe store to get properly fitted. I had no idea I was running in the wrong shoes. Getting properly fit made all the difference.

The journey was so exciting, I had no idea I could run, grated not fast but I was able to keep a steady pace. This was an exciting victory and one step towards my goal of the Galveston 70.3 Ironman!

After my first triathlon

I went on to race in more triathlons, mainly sprints. Started getting pretty good at the sprint distance and podium several times. So I decided why not sign up for a half Ironman 70.3?

At that time I realized I wanted to learn to swim more than 500 meters and run more than 3 miles…. the bike for me wasn’t an issue I already had several century rides under my belt and knew I would crush the bike.

As part of my training plan to race the Galveston 70.3 Ironman I joined a run club, signed up for the Houston half marathon and a few Olympic races.