Hallie's Ironman Journey

Hello, my name is Hallie, from as far back as I can remember I have always enjoyed working out, swimming, and walking.  I ran/walked in your usual 5Ks here and there and a couple of half marathons.  Then in 2007, my sister and I decided to give triathlons a shot.  We signed up about 2 weeks before the YMCA sprint triathlon.  We honestly had no idea what we were doing.  I remember pulling up at Bluegrass and watching people unload their bikes and all their gear.  Jenna and I looked at each other and thought, “what have we gotten ourselves into?”  Who would have known that on that day my life would totally change?

Over the past several years I have competed in several sprint triathlons in Evansville, Owensboro, Vincennes, and Nashville.  About two years, I decided to move on to something a little more challenging.  I was told that Chicago’s Olympic triathlon was awesome, so I signed up.  That summer I competed in my first Olympic triathlon.  The race was in August so I trained all summer.  I ended up finishing the race 48 minutes faster than my original goal time.  Not only did I do the whole race, I beat my goal and was in no pain.  Because I had so much fun competing in sprint triathlons I decided to double my distance and try a Olympic triathlon; and since that went so well I decided to double my distance again, and signed up for a half ironman.  That winter the tri team got all of the area ironman competitors together to host a clinic and talk about their experiences.  It was after talking to them that I knew I could do the half ironman that I signed up for.  I trained for 7 months leading up to my half ironman in Racine, WI in July.  The morning of the race I told myself that I didn’t care what my time was I just wanted to finish, but I did have a goal time in mind.  I ended up beating my goal time by an hour.  I was so proud of myself for improving my time and running the whole half marathon.  I was in no pain during the race or after.  I never thought in a million years that I would have completed a half ironman.  After all the training and time it took to prepare I had accomplished my goal.

At the end of the August, I traveled over to Louisville to watch the full Ironman competition.  I kayaked out on the river to watch the swim, drove to La Grange, and biked the run course.  It only took 20 minutes of watching the race that I knew I would sign up for the full.  On the way home, I called my sister and told her what I was planning to do.  She surprisingly told me that not only would she support me but, that she wanted to do it with me!! So now my sister and I get to spend the next year training together and accomplishing our goal together.  It is still crazy to me that in 2007 I could barely run a mile and now I am going to be participating in one of the most demanding races out there.