Race Coverage

"I Was a New Person"....

Friday, 28 February 2020 23:10

By Erin Ladendorf

Two finish lines. Two completely different days. Two moments in my life where I learned how to dig deep and find a new layer of who I am and what I can accomplish.

The picture on the left is at Lake Placid. I had the worst month of my life leading up to it. I had my heart broken and had to scramble to even find a way to get to this race. I was alone and sad and so broken. This course was no joke. And mile 80 of the bike I crumbled. My body and my brain had given up. I went into T2 thinking I was going to turn my chip in and quit. But I pulled myself out of that funk and forced myself to start the marathon. I figured even if I walked a marathon it was better than quitting. And I took it one mile at time. Sometimes I walked. Sometimes I ran. But once I got to mile 25 I cried the whole way into that finish line. Because I did what I came to do. I pushed my sadness and bullshit aside to see what I had deep down inside of me. And it was so fucking cleansing. I got rid of a lot of baggage that day...



The picture on the right is Ironman Arizona. One of my favorite days and weekends of my life. While the swim was WAY long for me, I had my fastest bike split ever for an Ironman race. I managed to pull a sub 4 hour marathon out of my legs. And I smiled all day and enjoyed every moment of that race. I ran harder and happier than I’ve ever felt before. And I crossed that line with so much gratitude and joy for what I had accomplished. I was a new person that race and it felt incredible.



Moral of the story: Things are going to be hard. Every race is not going to be amazing.



It’s how you move forward that means the most. Can you quiet the negative thoughts and get to that finish line? Can you get into the uncomfortable and stay there? If you’ve ever wondered what an Ironman is like, it’s a long day of pushing through the uncomfortable to get to that red carpet. And man, is it worth every tear and drop of sweat along the way.