Always A First - Featured Writer Dawn Larson-Rainforth

I met Dawn through the Bella Rosa blog.  I haven't known her for long, but I get the feeling that she has a heart of GOLD, and the mental capacity to do amazing things.  I always love it when people make comments on the blog - and Dawn has kept me writing.  I look forward to many years of a new friendship with my new buddy.  She proves to all of us that there is always a time for FIRSTS.  First 5K, first bike race, and first triathlon.  Thanks for all you do, and making women know that anything is possible if we just have desire.
Always A First - Featured Writer Dawn Larson-Rainforth

2 summers ago, a friend of mine mentioned she was entering a 5km race in her home city.  I was in awe.  When she said she was entering a 10km...I could hardly imagine doing such a distance.  I could hardly run 3km without having to stop every other minute!

Then came the day when she called up and asked me to join her.  I was shocked!  Me?  A person who only had distant memories of the Cross-Country Running Club in high school....coming in last in the only race I signed up for?  With her reassurance that it was a "Walk or Run 10km" distance....I could walk whenever I wanted to- I decided I would join her. I was good at walking!

It ended up being the hottest day that summer. From what I can remember....I did try to run a lot of it, and I think I had heatstroke at the end of the 1 hour and 10 minute ordeal.  Little did I know it was the beginning of my love for running...and a whole lot of other things......

Fast forward to this summer.

10 race bibs later....and I felt ready for more.  When someone mentioned a Triathlon....I was in.  Why not?  I loved to bike and swim just as much as run.  Put them together and you have a pretty well-rounded race on your hands...'er....feet.  I trained a bit over the summer.  With the "thought" of a September Triathlon in my mind...I biked Saturday mornings, ran 3 to 4 times a week, and swam a few mornings.  I told everyone I knew I was "going to do my first Triathlon" in the fall.  But I never signed up.  I kept training, kept on "bragging"....but something held me back.  I felt so unsure of myself.  What WAS I thinking...doing all 3 sports in a couple hours back-to-back (to back)?  Besides...I was a mother of 4 kids. There wasn't time!  I felt older than I really was and "out of the game" compared to all the "elites" out there.  What was I thinking......me?  I was NOT an athlete!

One night I was laying there....trying to get up enough nerve to sign up online...a thought hit me.  If I hadn't of tried that 10km race with my friend a couple years back...I wouldn't have 10 race bibs and a few medals pinned to my wall.  I wouldn't be able to say I knocked 11 minutes off my 10km run.  I wouldn't be able to say I had ran 2 races on incredible mountain trails with magestic mountains as the backdrop.  I got up and signed on.  It was done.  I had a few weeks to really "get ready".

To make a long story (kind of) short.....

I TRI-ed it!
I Did it and FINISHED!

I made it through the scariest (Open Water) swim ever..... I hopped on my (borrowed) race bike and pedaled my 20km to the run Transition.....And I ran the 5km Trail Run to the finish line....where I crossed the Finish Line and the only thought I could think (after I caught my breath and felt my legs slowly return)...was that I DID it...and I wanted to do it again.

Now....

I have another race bib on the wall.  Along with a picture of me crossing the Finish, and all I can think is that I want to do it again next summer-
an Olympic Distance next July.
And who knows- after that ....there's always a Half Ironman Distance......then there's the Ironman......

Dawn Larson-Rainforth