CheckIn

CONFESSIONS OF AN AGE GROUPER

JUST SAY YES

By Holly Bennett
IGHT TO 10 INCHES of freshly fallen snow lurked outside my window when the invitation arrived. Warmly curled on the couch next to a roaring re, I popped open my Mac to check my e-mail. And just like that, I was in training for the Ironman 70.3 Asia-Pacic Championship in Laguna Phuket, Thailand, a scant four weeks away.

I would travel to an exotic land, far far away, to swim, bike and run in undertrained, overly ignorant bliss.

I had been invited to attend the race as a member of the media, to spend a week in a tropical resort witnessing one of the most talked-about destination races on the Ironman 70.3 circuit. Twist my arm. It took maybe ve minutes before I suggested that in addition to writing about the race, I might also participate. The next e-mail contained my bib number. Im certainly a plannera bit of an organizational freak, in fact. But Im also a huge fan of spontaneous action, at times to the point of questioning my own sanity. Mostly I love bold, brazen inspirationmoments of lightning-quick motivation that morph into full-blown, if reckless, reality. I love to say yes. I hadnt been in the pool in two months. My bike lay idle in the garage, tucked away from Boulders blasting wintry winds. My stationary trainer threatened from the basement, yet I
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ignored its devilish taunts. Running was the only thing Id paired with my gym workouts, a whopping 45 minutes at a time. A half-Ironman race in four weeks? Bring it on. I quickly MacGyver-ed a three-week training, one-week tapering mini program designed with only enough workout sessions to make the experience more fun than painful. I knew it would be one tough racebetween the hills on the bike and the heat and humidity on the run, it was bound to be a bit hellish. But I chose to forgo all fear of the impending hurt and focus on the haphazard adventure that lay ahead. I would travel to an exotic land, far far away, to swim, bike and run in undertrained, overly ignorant bliss. I started back to Masters swimming the next morning. Im often asked what I have on tap as my next race. Honestly, I rarely know. I make an extensive schedule at the start of each season with events I hope to attend. But my life tends to waver from the best-laid plans. Stu gets in the way. But stu also comes up, like the chance to race in Laguna Phuket. Im all for saying yes to opportunities that arise, or better yet, wrangling them from thin air. My greatest race experiences have all happened this way, before Ive had time to overthink the logistics or undervalue my ability. Swimming, biking and running can become boring without a healthy dose of underprepared adventure. Teetering on the edge of the fearful unknown is far more fun than replaying by rote. And fun is simply more fun. So I say, yes!

HUNTER KING