Community Highlights - Dead Last Finish and Proud of It!

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Week of 10/11/2012 - Featured Blog Post

Dead Last Finish and Proud of It!

MGJARVI

A couple months ago, a dear SparkFriend (love you Jeni!) says "Why don't you sign up for a triathlon? Just do it, pick it and do it!" Ok. Sure. Why not? I have PLENTY of time to do stuff like brush up on riding a bike, and trying to swim. PLENTY of time quickly turned into "I’M NOT READY!!!" Procrastination at its best... I couldn't swim the entire 400 meters without sucking air and water and backstroking to gag. I never did get around to trying out the full 13 miles by bike. And hills??? What hills??? Oh, but I have that RUN thing in the bag... Oh dear.

In the days leading up to the race, I'm freaking out. I reach out. "What did I do this for?" And a VERY wise SparkFriend Lynn says "Just relax, HAVE FUN, and count those lucky stars that you are able to run/walk, swim & bike!" She's RIGHT! Of course she's right! I kept that in mind a LOT during the event. I had wasted so much time agonizing over details such as "What if I'm the only one needing to backstroke?" or "What if mine is the only mountain bike in a sea of sporty road bikes?"

There is a quote that is pretty well known in the racing community. "Dead Last Finish is greater than Did Not Finish, which trumps Did Not Start." I have always believed that. In fact, on my RoadID I had those initials engraved to remind me of that. (DLF~DNF~DNS) But it's kind of one of those things that you believe, but don't really think it will actually be YOU that needs that comfort. Sunday, September 9th, 2012, that saying really MEANT something to me.

Click here to read more and see pictures from her special day! ›

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