Wow, it's been 10 years!

Tonight I finalized plans to attend my 10 year College reunion! I know...most colleges don't have reunions but I went to a small, liberal arts school called Augustana and we have reunions in 5 and 10 year increments.  I have changed so much since college and would never have imagined that someday I would have completed triathlons and as many races as I have!

Cheer Days (4th from the left in the back row)

In college, I was a moderate exerciser.  I had been a dancer growing up and that was my main form of exercise.  I was on the cheer squad for my first 2-3 years of school and kept in decent dance/cheer shape for that.  As a small school, we weren't a competitive style cheer squad.  We did dance routines and partner stunt work but nothing like what you see on the ESPN cheer competitions.  For the liberal arts requirements to graduate I had to take two HPER classes.  I took Yoga for a semester and I took swimming for another (I never thought that I would swim much ever after that though!) I think I also took a weight lifting class somewhere in there too.  Occasionally I would join friends for aerobics classes or even some short runs...remember carrying your Walkman while running? It was a yellow sport version if you had the same one as me!

Graduation Day with Ole the Viking

I graduated in 2000 and moved to Washington, DC.  My sister began training for a marathon and asked for company on some of her runs.  She still loves to tell people how much I hated to sweat when I started running.  In 2001, I decided to train for the Rock n Roll Half Marathon in Virginia Beach.  I didn't expect to get hooked on running.  I ran lots of different races throughout the next 4 years and returned to Augie in 2005 for my 5 year reunion.  Now 5 more years later, I have begun road biking and picked back up on swimming.  I have had fun learning about triathlon and have discovered that it is a sport that pushes me in new ways compared to running. 

10 years ago as I left Augie, I really would never had guessed that I would be training for and completing triathlons and races.  I hated lakes and would never have contemplated going for a swim in the open water.  I've always loved going fast on the road but never would have pictured doing so outside the comforts of a car.  No, I can't actually pedal my bike quite to the 75mph speed limit that I always loved about South Dakota highways but I do love a good hard pedal and seeing how fast I can go! It's just so much fun to look back and realize what I've accomplished and how I've pushed myself to try new sports and grow.  I'm really looking forward to the reunion weekend and catching up with my college friends.