I recently joined this community and posted my hello over in the, well, just say hello forum :) . I mentioned in that post that although I am new to triathlon, I come from a triatthlon family and wanted to share a story with all of you.

In 1972, I was 4 years old. My mother was raising me alone after an amicable divorce from my father. He as not around very much, but Mom worked two jobs and we were happy. That winter, she was skiing up at Stratton Mountain, VT with friends when she hit a patch of black ice and launched off the side of a 150 foot ravine. Half way down she hit a tree which broke her fall but also fractured her pelvis and skull, crushed 6 vertebrae, and collapsed her lung. When the ski patrol finally reached her, they thought she was dead. As they brought her down off the mountain, they were sure she would be paralyzed. She had to be transported to Boston and then to a special trauma center in New York City but was eventually stabilized. While there, she met a nice young doctor who would eventually become my Dad.

It took almost 2 years, 4 surgeries, and nine months in a full body cast, but she eventually was able to function normally again. They fused the damaged vertebrae so she lost a few inches in height, but otherwise she made it through. She never had been much of an athlete. She was a school teacher and helped coach the girl's Field Hockey team. Running up and down the field gave her a lot of pain. In 1976, Jim Fixx, a resident of my home town of Greenwich, CT., wrote his book about running. At around the same time, Nike introduced it's first waffle soled running shoe. Mom new Jim and thought the shoe's were funny so she bought a pair. Suddenly, running on the field didn't hurt. Sometime in the summer of 1977, she found a quiet outdoor track and took her first steps as a runner.

In 1979, she completed The New York City Marathon. In 1983, she saw news coverage of a crazy endurance race in Hawaii called Ironman. She made the decision that she would finish that race. We were now a very athletic family. I was a competitive swimmer as a kid and a cross country runner in High School, we rode bikes for fun and exercise, and Mom's running trophy case grew and grew. So in 1984, she flew to Kona and did competed in Ironman. She had such a wonderful experience, she returned every year for the next 4 years, setting a World Record for women's masters division, age 40-45! I was so proud of her accomplishment especially considering the adversity she overcame. She continued to compete into the '90's in both Triathlon and Marathon. Her last Ironman race was Pensacola in 1999, where at the age of 57 she finished in just under 13 hours. This past January she ran the Phoenix Rock 'n Roll Marathon with me and my wife and at age 63 finished a mere 43 min. behind her 37 year old son in 4:13, qualifying yet again for Boston. Amazing.

I had always been a very strong runner (good gene's, thanks Mom!) but never raced until last year. My competitive nature took hold and I was hooked. This year, I decided to follow in my mother's footsteps. I was a strong swimmer and thought biking looked like fun. After the Marathon in January, I bought a 5 year old carbon Kestrel EMS 200, got my butt back in the pool and started cross training. On May 21st, I competed in the Tempe International Triathlon. I finished in 2:12:00, good enough for 3rd in my age group out of 50 and 23rd overall out of 450 athletes. I'm hooked. I have 3 more International races this year, a half Iron in October, the Marathon again next January and then Ironman Arizona next April. I have hired a personal coach to help bring me into the IM AZ race and my goal is to try and qualify for Kona.....for me and for my Mom. Every day I stare into the cold water of the pool or lace up my Asics or hop on my TriathGel seat I think about a single Mom who wasn't afraid to take those first steps into a larger world of self fulfillment.....and I fly.