What's Next: My Decision to Go Pro!

From the time I was little, I always liked to compete. My sister took the brunt of my competitive nature. It's fair to say if we could compete, we did. Amazingly enough, we've always been best friends.

The first time I went to swim practice I was seven years old. I couldn't quite swim a full lap, but my first coach, Kim Grove, saw a seven year old with way too much energy and offered to my parents to have me join the team. The next day, there was a swim meet. While my skills were lacking, my passion and drive, took over and somehow my swim was transformed and I got second in the 25 yard freestyle.

Age group swimming taught me many life lessons, most importantly setting goals. At seven, my goal was to win the next race I entered. That was soon replaced with dreams of zones, nationals and the Olympic trials. In the end, I wasted my swimming talent and stopped swimming after my freshman year of college with the intention of never doing a competitive athletic event again. Too many failures, too much frustration, and way too much time spent in chlorine.

I went to China in 2008 with my grad school program. Everyone there commutes by bike, and while I had longingly watched the college road bike club at William and Mary from afar, I had never bought a bike. So when I returned, one of the first things I went and did was a buy a road bike. I had hopes of maybe doing a triathlon someday, but it was a distant goal.

It quickly became reality thanks to some friends on the Winchester Wheelmen, and I did my first sprint tri soon after getting a bike. Like the seven year old that couldn't swim, I didn't have a clue what I was doing, but I somehow placed fourth overall and was hooked. Soon after, I did a century ride, and then was convinced to do Ironman Louisville in 2009.

Over the years, I started having some success and my goals changed. When I first qualified to get my pro card in 2011 at Ironman Louisville, I thought it seemed ridiculous. In 2012, I qualified at Lake Placid, and it seemed somewhat less ridiculous, but still a little out of my reach. Then, Beth Shutt came to visit, and from Beth and a lot of conversations with Chris, I realized it was OK to have a goal of wanting to turn pro, so over the past year, I became a lot more serious.

Tim and I discussed going pro briefly after Ironman Lake Placid, and he set extremely high placement goals for me at Kona if I wanted to turn pro. I felt for certain those were unattainable and regretted not signing up for Ironman Lake Placid 2014. Then, Kona happened, and the decision was back on the table.

After much wavering, I took my Elite Status and will be racing PRO in 2014. While my run may still need work, I still have that same passion and drive as that seven year old lining up on the blocks.

Thank you to all my family and friends that support me daily. This wouldn't be possible without the love and support I receive.

Finishing Ironman Hawaii 2013