"What would Kathy Morrisson do"?

By: Kathy Gendreau

I’m sitting here at the computer, my hair still wet from swimming. It’s not even 8 AM and I’ve already been up for almost 3 hours. It’s summer break, and the kids are still in bed. I’m looking forward to a run tonight, and Lake Meridian training tomorrow. Seafair is on Sunday. It will be my second triathlon, and my fourth race, counting the two 5Ks I did early in the season. Sammamish is on my calendar for August.

It’s hard to imagine my life being any different than it is now. I swim, I bike, and I run. Sometimes, my crazy hectic life gets in the way. Sometimes, it’s hard to get up for swim. Sometimes, I don’t want to finish the last mile. Sometimes, riding on the road scares me. But somehow training has woven its way into the fabric of my life. It feels like it has always been there, and I don’t want it to ever leave.

It’s hard to even comprehend how I got from where I was to where I am. It seems like such a long time ago, and when I was there, I certainly couldn’t see to here.

It has been a long journey, and I’ve learned a great many lessons along the way. I have a lot of people to thank for helping to get me here, especially my RTH teammates and coaches. That’s the first, and probably the most important thing I learned when I joined RTH: Don’t go it alone. In the past, exercise was always a solitary activity for me. It was something to endure and get over with. When I joined RTB/RTH, I had no idea how much of a difference it would make to be part of a team. The support, encouragement, and camaraderie I have found with this incredible group has had a tremendous impact on my life. I look forward to every team workout, and fitness has become a social event instead of just another obligation. I am surrounded by people who have similar goals – and similar struggles, and I am inspired by every one of them.

When I accepted Kathy Morrisson’s invitation to come to the RTH kick-off meeting in January, it was the third year in a row she had asked me about it. The first year, I was so out of shape that the idea seemed absurd. The second year, I had just signed up for a boot camp at a local gym. Triathlon training was for athletes, and boot camp was for people like me. I turned her down. I did boot camp for most of a year, and though I did get results, I really, truly hated every single minute of it.

The third time was the charm, and when she asked me in January I told her I would at least come to the first meeting. I immediately had second thoughts. Who was I kidding? After a year of boot camp I could still barely run a mile, my weight was heading back up toward the 200 lb mark, and I had no idea how I would fit training into my schedule when I had barely made it to 3 one-hour boot camp sessions a week. Train for a triathlon? From where I stood, it just plain sounded nuts. But I went to the meeting, and I decided after hearing all the wonderful stories from everyone there, that it would be even more nuts not to give it a go.

What I know now is that I didn’t need to be “ready” to start, I just needed to start. It was never my weight or my level of fitness that was the problem. It was fear. Fear of the unknown. Fear of failure. I’ve conquered so many fears since joining RTH that it sometimes makes me laugh. Now, when I am faced with a challenge, I don’t hesitate, because hesitation holds me back, and I want to keep moving forward. If I can’t do it now, I will be able to do it eventually, but if I don’t start, I’ll just sit where I am, and these days, I don’t spend too much time sitting still!

Another crucial lesson I learned early on was this: Behave like the athlete you want to become. When I first started training, I really struggled with motivation, especially when it came to running. I felt terrible doing it, and most days I just didn’t feel like going. With a kindergartener in half-day school, I had very little free time, and there were lots of things competing for that time, so it was easy to find reasons not to go. I was still getting used to the early morning swim schedule, and I was feeling very tired from the early mornings. Some days, after putting the kids on the bus, I just wanted to go back to bed.

One particular day, I found myself sitting on the sofa watching TV at 9:30 in the morning. It was raining, or maybe it was snowing, and I was unsuccessfully trying to convince myself to get my butt off the couch and do the run that was on my training plan when it occurred to me, Kathy Morrisson would not be sitting on the couch watching TV at 9:30 in the morning! She would go for a run! So, I got up and put my shoes on and went.

For the next several days, when I needed a little motivation, I would think to myself, “What would Kathy Morrisson do?” Would she let a little rain stop her? No! Would she run in the snow? Yes, she would! Would she stay up late to watch TV? No! It worked so well that I joked that I was going to print up little bracelets and T-shirts with WWKMD? on them for the rest of the RTH team. It made me laugh, but it also made me get up and go, which is what I really needed.

The point is, Kathy is a successful athlete, and if I wanted to be a successful athlete myself, I needed to act like one. Find an athlete that you admire (and there is no shortage of them on RTB or RTH!) and when facing an obstacle, ask yourself, what would that person do in this situation? T-shirts and bracelets optional.

Though I still look to Kathy for advice and encouragement, I’ve come a long way since then. I remember meeting with our RTH groups for the first time. I sat there listening to everyone talk about the races they wanted to sign up for: Escape from the Rock. Seafair Issaquah. Start with a 5K. Set some goals. Sure. Except that I can’t run around the block. Oh, and did I mention that I don’t own a decent bike? OK, maybe I can swim 25 yards, but ¼ mile? In a lake? Wearing a wetsuit?

It was someone else sitting at the table. It was someone else doing the workouts. I was just along for the ride. But here I am, just 6 months after my first swim class, 4 months after starting my run to walk training plan, 3 months after buying my new bike, and 2 months after getting my wetsuit. I am a triathlete, and I am no longer just along for the ride.