On Saturday I didn’t get to do my usual bike ride or run or swim at the butt-crack of dawn because Kid2 was in a speech festival at McKinley High School held by the Hawaii state Department of Education. I was braced for hours of boredom. For the record, I had to go to a meeting, then return, but it was far from boring. Hawaii children who make an effort to stand out really are to be commended! I try really hard to be a good mom, but I’m not built for hours of coddling children, even if it’s my own. So a big thanks to the supportive teachers, parents, and administrators at Koko Head Elementary for helping my daughter and seven other youngsters for weeks of meeting and practicing and training for their big day. I got Kid2 reciting her poem, Shel Silverstein’s “Needles and Pins,”but she’d be mortified if I were to publish it. Way to go, MiniMe! Her talents are amazing! We are so blessed to have such great kids.
They’ve been very supportive of me, as has my husband, especially now. For the last two years I’ve taken myself from broken to better, and I’ve taken advantage of every opportunity I could to figure out how to improve. Although it’s a physical journey, the progress I’ve made has built in me a better heart, a better mind, and a better soul.
At the Lanikai Triathlon, I had an o-sh^t moment during the ocean swim, and I felt like I wanted to let go, to slip down, to give up. When you’re in an ocean swim, there isn’t anyone pulling or pushing you along to succeed. There are swimmers clawing at you and swimming over you, and trying to get by, but it’s every woman for herself. I learned there that I had to have the mental fortitude to survive, to pull myself together, to calm down my racing heart, and to finish the swim. I did. Here I am, writing about it again.
As I jumped on my bicycle for the ride, I couldn’t get my Speedplay and my right shoe to connect because of the gunk, dirt, and tiny pine cones that clogged the connection. I did the ride with one foot engaged. I didn’t want to tell anyone because I didn’t want to get thrown out. If I had known it was messed up before I started, I would have stayed in bed. But, instead, I did it.
Then I did the run, or to the untrained observer, a jog around Lanikai. My heart raced again, my legs hurt and weren’t going to move any faster than they wanted. Fortunately, I had run the route twice before, so I was prepared for every hill and puddle. I completed it about 10 minutes slower than I usually do.
All together, the triathlon taught me about those areas within my mind that need strengthening, and those areas within my training that lacked. Today I start training with Try Fitness Hawaii, for a 12-week Honolulu Tinman program for women that is my Mother’s Day present from my husband. Pretty cool, huh? He is very creative when it comes to birthday or Mother’s Day gifts. Any husband out there who wants to be supportive of his wife, who wants to show he wants to keep her around for a long time, who wants her to be happy with herself, should consider a similar gift for Mother’s Day. I like fancy brunch and restaurant meals as much as anyone else. But that feeling after a workout is a million times better than that feeling after a monstrous meal. And that other part about slipping into jeans or work pants and not having to struggle with the zipper? My favorite part.
I wonder what I’ll look like or what I’ll feel like after 12 weeks? I’ve been a before all my life. It’s time to be an after!
Lavagal 
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