Swim, Ride and Run
This is my very first time spending an entire summer in Kingston. I’m a musician and for the last 9 summers I had a pretty great job working near Hamilton. I decided to change things up this year now that I’m married and a home owner. It just seemed right to stay here with my partner and to move on from a job I’ve had for so long. As a musician, it was a scary move because teaching jobs slow down in the summer, and gigs are being grabbed by other people just like me (well, I suppose it’s like that all the time but summer seems a little more competitive). Since I knew I’d be working less, I needed to create a goal for myself, give myself something to work towards during the summer months. Back in January, at my birthday party with Strongbow in hand, I agreed to take on the K-Town Triathlon. My friend and I agreed to work towards completing the short course. Let me tell you, there is nothing short about it.
Over the winter months, I thought about the tri but didn’t do a whole lot about training until May when I signed up for Boot Camp. I did it four days a week at 6:15am with Taylored Training. It was incredible. We met at three locations downtown: Victoria Park, The Memorial Centre and Fort Henry. The first week almost killed me. My body ached and I was so tired but once I got into it, it was great. By the end of the month, I could do 40 push ups without stopping (real ones, not on my knees) and I could run 5km. Since then, my friends and I have been working hard to train about 4 days a week and I’m happy to say that we are confident and ready for this Sunday’s race.
The best part of this whole experience has been discovering all these wonderful places in Kingston to ride a bike or go for a run. Training for the tri has helped me discover LeMoine Point in the west end, all the lovely country roads crossing Highway 2, the terrific biking on Wolfe Island, not to mention the beautiful spots to swim over there. In addition to these great discoveries, it is something else to see the many other athletes out and training first thing in the morning. This city is just full of vibrant, healthy people who love to soak up the sun and the scenery. I especially love that the country is so close to the city, giving us a place of refuge just a few kilometres from downtown.
In Kingston, there are lots of great races and fun runs to choose from such as The Resolution Run, The Twosome Run, Run With The Wild, Beat Beethoven, The Limestone Mile, Big Gun Run and Ks4Kids. This is just the tip of the iceberg. In fact, today while we were riding we met up with the Friends for Life Bike Rally so, although we had nothing to do with it, we were cheered on the entire way (I wonder if I can hire them to follow me around at the tri…there’s nothing more motivating them people clapping for you on the sidelines!). So, come out this Sunday to cheer on the hundreds of athletes who come, not only from Kingston, but all around Ontario to participate. Get inspired and join us next year. You’ll be so glad you did.
Special thanks to cygnus921 for the amazing photo of triathletes in the water.