D.O.B.:  October 5^th, 1977

Nationality:  Canadian

Home Town: Vernon, BC

Education:  BA – Psychology, B.Ed – Elementary Education, M.Ed – currently on hold!

Some Seed Planting:
 

My athletic background began late in high school when I joined the local bike club in my home town in Fort St. John, British Columbia. I was never much of a team sports person during that time as I didn’t have an ounce of hand-eye co-ordination for common high school team sports such as basketball or volleyball.  Being 5 foot ‘nothing’ didn’t make things any easier either!!! Although I did attempt Track and Field, I found the act of going around a track over and over again just too monotonous to tolerate.  But I always knew I wanted to be a triathlete.  I barely knew what triathlon was, but I remember the grocery store where I grew up carried Triathlete Magazine and I would read them until they were tattered.  I read them alone without sharing any of the amazing things I was learning about in these magazines about men and women who were doing the seemingly impossible.  None of my friends probably knew what triathlon was and I didn’t want to ‘bore’ them with the details.  It was a wonder that I knew about triathlon was at all, but I couldn’t seem to help myself.  It was upon discovering the bicycle with the Blizzard Bike Club late in high school where things started to head in a new direction.

University and Travel - The Soul-Searching Years:

My first year of college then found me racing on the cross-country team, but once again I truly never enjoyed it as I have never liked the ‘up and down’ inconsistency of cross-country running – I could never find my rhythm.  I then moved on to University and that’s where I picked up the bike again.  The open road, the speed....THIS was my element.  When I entered University (U of A in Edmonton, Alberta), I raced competitively and was named to the Alberta Provincial Road Cycling Team representing Alberta at the National Championships.

Once I graduated from the University of Alberta, I decided to go travel South East Asia and so left my racing behind me (at least for the time being.)  I spent several years tromping the globe with Eric rock climbing, running recreationally, teaching English overseas and just giving myself some time to experience life and to discover what I really wanted from it. Although I left racing behind me, it was something that never really left me as I always felt that I had left something ‘unfinished.’

The Marathon:

While teaching English in Taiwan in 2005, I decided to enter the Taipei Marathon. Dehydrated and exhausted I limped in at a 3:26 (with Eric having to nearly carry me off the tarmac) swearing up and down that I would never do another marathon.  Interestingly enough, after the pain and soreness had well subsided a few weeks later I was already training for my second which I would do upon return to Canada.  I returned home in July, 2006 where I then raced the Edmonton ING Marathon the following month which was to my second attempt at this elusive distance and event!  At 5 km. into the race, I found myself running away from the lead women and ran the remainder of the race with the top men, surprising everyone, including myself.  I finished 1st in this race and at this time I realized that I may have been given a second chance to pursue my athletic goals.

After training a little more diligently the following year, I posted a 2:54 at the National Marathon Championships 8 months later and was then named to Team Canada for the Toronto Waterfront Marathon where I posted a 2:49.  This result was good for 2nd Canadian Female Overall (less than one minute behind Olympian Lisa Harvey) and top 10 among the international field.

Several weeks after the Toronto Marathon I incurred a compressed nerve injury in my hip which kept me on the sidelines for several months while I was rehabilitating.  I spent some time in the pool and even got back on my bike which had been collecting dust for nearly a decade!  I started to re-evaluate, and after a good friend pointed out to me that I may want to give long distance triathlon a shot due to my cycling/running background I decided that it was “now or never.” I made the decision to switch to the sport of triathlon in January, 2008 and haven’t looked back.

Introduction to Ironman:

Ironman Canada 2008 was my first ‘go’ at this distance that I had always found (and still find) so incredibly intriguing!  It was a successful day for me, and although I rode the bike leg portion of the race into T2 on a flat tire, I managed to come in as the first amateur female overall with a 9:59, and the second fastest run split (overall) of the day.  This result would have put me in at 8th place among the pro women.  Running past the pro women back towards the finish line on that day was dream-like.  I remember seeing the names of girls I had read about in magazines as I went by them in sheer awe.  To this day I will never know who was more shocked, the girls I was passing, or myself.  Truly.  Six weeks later I raced in Kona (although still tired from IMC) finishing a disappointing 10:19.  My body was still recovering from the shock of having raced my first Ironman only weeks before, but I did manage the fastest amateur run split of the day (3:12), and was 33rd overall that day (including pro women.)

Turning Professional:

After racing my first season in the sport as an amateur in 2008, it was very clear to me that this was a “now or never” situation.  My opportunity to finally test my athletic goals and dreams to the limit had finally presented itself in full form. I just had to make a choice.  This was a super exciting time for me, as not only had I been given the opportunity to chase down a dream that has existed for me since childhood, but also that I finally had developed the courage and commitment to really chase it down.  But it was, of course, also scary.

Making the transition from being a full-time teacher, who is content in their job, and receiving a ‘coveted’ regular paycheque to a professional athlete is an interesting one, and like anything in life it is certainly not without its challenges.  I’ll never forget while I was making this decision (to truly go all or nothing) coming across an article about another pro athlete who, during (his) transition from a business person to professional athlete, his dad gave him the following advice….  “If you are going to be a professional athlete, then BE a professional athlete, don’t spend the next 10 years doing it the wrong way.”   We are all only given ‘one’ and it is our daily choices which will form the essence of what that life will be and where the limits truly are.  I do not want to be the old lady in her rocking chair who wonders, “What if…?”

My very first professional race was Boise 70.3 just weeks before finishing up with my teaching job in June.  Although I had an extremely difficult swim (truly having become lost out there) and then taking two wrong turns on the bike as the rain was coming down so hard I couldn’t see the arrows, I somehow managed to muster the strength and will to gain on half the pro women’s pack on the rest of the bike, and then continue this on the run for a 6th place overall in my debut 70.3.  That race was my biggest learning experience yet – bar none.

From there, 2009 also saw some records broken at the Canadian Long Course Championships, where I broke the run course record by over 2 minutes with a 1:23 run off the bike, and although I played ‘catch up’ throughout the race I came up short of catching Heather Wurtele for the win by just over a minute.

IM Canada 2009 was then my debut Ironman as a professional.  My favourite race of all time.  Everything was going smoothly until 120 km. into the bike course when a cable snapped.  BAM.  I no longer had any access to my big chain ring.  Na Da.  Beyond this, my chain then kept falling off when I would try to access my big chain ring and I would have to stop and put it on again, over and over.  Finally, I realized I had to deal with the cards I had been dealt so I proceeded to spin my legs as fast as they would go for the remaining 60 km.  I hit the run absolutely exhausted.  I was finished.  But I knew I had to run that marathon before I would allow myself to be finished.  It was above and beyond the most painful race experience I have had to date, but I somehow managed to continue passing women on the run to finish 3rd place overall in my debut professional Ironman behind Tereza Macel and Belinda Granger.  How I managed in this state is still a mystery.  They say that Ironman comes down to who wants it more.  I guess I really wanted it. 

Although I had to miss the end of my 2009 season to recover from a strained tendon, things are now rolling again and I am very much looking forward to 2010, my first year as a full-time professional triathlete.  So….along with the incredible support of my family, friends, fiancé, and coach (for without them I would not be here)…..HERE GOES NOTHIN’!!!