In January of 2017, I had a pain in the butt. Literally. Every time I ran, I felt a sharp pain right where my butt met my hamstring. I was just a recreational runner at that point, juggling the demands of two young kids, a full time job, and life in general. I had never raced, not even a 5K. The longest I had ever run was 8 miles.
I found a great PT (himself a five-time Ironman) who diagnosed me with high hamstring tendonitis and told me I couldn’t run for 6-8 weeks while I rehabbed. So I started working on my glute strength and riding my bike more.
One day, my friend Jen asked me, “Hey, why don’t you do some of the Tri team’s winter swim clinics with me?”
For some reason, I said yes, but with a caveat. I told Jen, “I will swim with you guys but I am NEVER doing a triathlon because that is crazy.”
Friends, I need to tell you something. At that point, I had not swam a lap in a pool since my time at summer camp in the late 1980s. And even back then, my swimming skills were nothing to write home about.
I”ll spare you the details of those first few weeks, but I will share one memory. On the first day, our swim coach said to me, “Okay, swim four laps and let’s see what we are working with.” I swam four laps, feeling confident, thinking, Maybe those lessons from Forest Acres Camp for Girls are still kicking around in there. Muscle memory, am I right? When I finished the last lap, he looked at me incredulously and said, “I can’t believe you made all four laps.” And thus began my quest to not muscle my way through the swim.
I kept swimming, even after I could start running again. I started to find that I liked doing something I sucked at. The improvements were small and incremental. One day I actually thought I felt the catch. Another day I was able to breathe on my left side without swallowing the pool.
That May, I swam in open water for the first time, after hyperventilating when I first got in (Breathe, Amy, breathe, my friend kept telling me).
Then, I signed up for the Falmouth Sprint Tri in July, the age-old “one and done” phrase coming out of my mouth.
I loved every moment of that race. From shaking like a leaf before the swim to feeling confident in the run to crossing the finish line to the camaraderie of my tri friends around me.
Since that sprint tri, I have completed numerous other triathlons, including a 70.3 in Turkey. I have run two marathons. I have my first full Ironman rescheduled for next year.
I am not lying when I say that my hamstring injury changed my life. If I had not been forced to take a break from running, I would not have gotten into the pool, which led me to triathlon.
Triathlon has helped me to see exercise as more than a tool for weight loss. In fact, even the word “exercise” has disappeared from my vernacular. I now “train,” which for me, means looking at my body as what it can do for me, not as something that needs to look good in a pair of jeans. Triathlon has also helped me see food as fuel, not the enemy.
Through triathlon, I have realized that I am stronger and tougher than I think. Once you do that first rough open water swim in a race, you realize that you can face anything.
I have met some of my best friends through this sport.
Most importantly, I just feel like a bad ass when I say I am a triathlete.
So that pain in the butt turned out to not be a pain in the butt. It turned out to be a game changer, in the best way possible.