Kathleen's Adventures

I left Houston around noon on Thursday and picked up my mom (aka my driver) in Beaumont. We stayed just past Mobile that night and then drove into Panama City around noon on Friday. I had planned to do a test swim since I was using a borrowed wetsuit (thanks Jill Gellatly!), but then did not see anyone else swimming and was not about to do it by myself. I decided to go lie on the beach for a while and as soon as I got down there I saw all sorts of people swimming and decided I should probably do the same. I went back to the room and changed and brought the wetsuit down. It was very windy and rough by the afternoon and I was left slightly traumatized after floundering around in the breakers for a while. I called my practice done after about ten real strokes, lots of floating and riding the waves around. The pasta dinner was not that great, but when is it ever? It was nice to sit with the other athletes and meet people. We sat with four guys from Carrolton, GA and it was the first triath...

Warning: This is going to be long, but I have to tell my pre-marathon story to make my marathon story more meaningful. January 18, 2003 was the first time I ever ran a mile in my life…no lie. A boy dumped me that day and started something huge. Over the next 2 months I ran every other day on the treadmill following a "couch to 5k" plan I found on the internet. I was interning in Houston at this time and pretty much hated life. I did look forward though to getting to run, and running a tiny bit farther each time. By spring break when my internship was over, I could run 3 miles in 30 minutes on the treadmill. When I went to run outside, things were much different. At first, I could only run about 15 minutes without dying and going home, so I basically had to start over to be able to run outside. By April, I could easily run 3-4 miles at a time around campus. I had signed up for the Danskin Triathlon in June and was swimming and biking to get ready for that as well. I was offici...