An athlete wakes up at dawn every other morning for 12, 15, or 20 weeks to ready their bodies and their minds for attacking that final goal. From newbie first timers to high level elites, we all sweat, hurt, struggle, fall, and get back up.
We race on the same courses, in the same conditions, on the same days. We all bore our friends and family with excruciatingly detailed race reports and vivid descriptions of "that wicked nasty blister I got on my toe that popped right in the middle of my run."
We have all reached down deep when we thought there was nothing left and were surprised to find a little bit more. We have all walked when we should have run, stopped when we could have kept going, and slept in when we should have been up.
More: 3 Inspiring Stories from Last Place Finishers
When you finish that first race, take pride in it. Take ownership of your accomplishment. You set a goal and you saw it through. You are a runner, a triathlete, a swimmer, a cyclist. You earned that.
After finishing my first sprint event, I didn't feel like a triathlete. I just felt like a guy who'd done a triathlon. It wasn't until completing my second race that I started to call myself a triathlete.
When a guy would pass me on his bicycle and I would check it out, trying to see what nifty toys he had on it, I knew. When a girl would run by and I'd notice her shoes before anything else, I knew. That was when I realized I was hopelessly hooked.
I was, I am, a triathlete.
What are you?
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