I became a single mother on 18 December 2015. Fast forward less than 12 months, and on 5 December 2016 I crossed the finish line of my first Ironman.
It was not an easy road, but in the words of Theodore Roosevelt, ‘nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty…’
In March this year, I wrote in Women’s Agenda about my daily 30 minute practice of the ‘ideal unwind’. A routine I had created through the need to balance my extroverted personality and extreme career driven lifestyle.
I am known among my friends and peers having endless energy. I find it hard to quieten my mind through the silent meditation, despite knowing the psychological benefits of a regular practice. In December last year when I read a NY Mag article about how ‘running and meditation change the brains of the depressed’, I hit the Tan running track for my daily for a dose of energy release and silent meditation.
The benefits were instant. It took just weeks for me to feel fitter and stronger, both mentally and physically. It helped me to overcome an absence of a relationship that was no longer there.
After writing about my ‘ideal unwind’, countless women and men reached out to me and shared their commitment to implementing this concept into their daily life. I embedded it into my teaching philosophy at the university where I was lecturing. Everyone had their own version; from running 5 kilometres to reading the bible.
I often shared my ideal unwind time with friends, and I soon had a running group that would meet at 7am on Thursday mornings at Federation Square. One auspicious day, my friend said to me, ‘let’s do an Ironman’.
Six weeks of gentle convincing and the occasional inspirational video landing in my inbox from said friend, I signed up to my first Ironman.
Let me remind you; in December last year, I could not run 5 kilometres.
I knew committing to a 3.8 kilometre swim, a 180 kilometre cycle, and a 42.2 kilometre run with a 17 hour cut off time was a bold move. So bold, that I was embarrassed and only told those people who I knew would back me.
It turns out that hiding 18 hour training weeks from friends and family is quite difficult, especially when you are juggling a three year old at home. As the weeks passed by my secret was slowly revealed on a need to know basis. One thing I never did, was write on my social media that I had committed to this race. It was my secret goal.
Now that I have finished the race, I have given myself time to reflect on what again seems like an impossible task. Here are the lessons I learned through this journey of training for an Ironman as a single mum.
Have a plan.