How I transformed my identity

November 2018 - Near North Side, Chicago

It’s Sunday at 11:30 PM. I’m laying in bed staring at the ceiling.

My flight departs O'Hare in 7 hours. My head is racing. Part of me feels like this past week was insanely busy but at the same time, did I really accomplish anything?

The to-do list for this upcoming week is endless.

47 unread emails in my inbox.

3 client workshops.

A final presentation on a deck that is currently on version 11.

Earlier today, I was glued to my sofa for 8 hours cheering on my football teams. Not the Redskins or the Bears, but the random assortment of players on my 3 fantasy football teams.

Earlier that week, I logged 55 hours and traveled across the country. On Friday, I went downtown into the office so I could hang with coworkers at happy hour. Saturday, I was in the dungeon of a sports bar, Duffy’s, with my college buddies to watch our beloved Wolverines.

I’m paying my dues at work and enjoying my weekends with friends. So by the time Sunday rolled around, I deserved to do nothing but sit on the sofa.

With that, I doze off to get my 5 hours of sleep.

Selecting a fitness goal

That routine continued for several months.

I did find time to join a basketball league, make infrequent appearances at the gym, and go on the occasional lakeside run. The weeks that I didn’t travel, I meal prepped and stayed pretty healthy.

One day, my cousin Josh reached out about a virtual personal training program he was starting.

I signed up to show my support. Part of the program was to set a fitness goal, but I didn’t know what to choose. Then I remembered one of my friends had recently signed up for the Chicago Triathlon.

Swim, bike, and run? I could do all those things decently well. I had my goal.

12 week later, its August 28, 2019. Race day.

I signed up for the sprint version which is a reduced distance. Unfortunately, crazy winds caused massive swells so the swim was cancelled. I settled for a duathlon instead (run, bike, run).

I finished the race with relative ease. The bike I borrowed from my friend was good enough and I could already run a 5k without training. I was bummed we didn’t get to swim.

The 2020 race was cancelled due to Covid.

But 2021 was back on and I signed up for the sprint race again to finish what I started. The weather was perfect and I completed the race feeling pretty good, which led me to an inflection point.

When it comes to marathons and triathlons, people usually fall into 2 groups:

Group 1: “Great I checked it off my list of accomplishments and now I’m done”

Group 2: loves the adrenaline rush and challenge so they complete many more races

I had only completed one race of any kind prior to my first triathlon. It was a half marathon when I was in college that I was guilted into running with my friends. I hated it. The training. The actual race. The fact I couldn’t walk for 2 days after. All of it.

At that time, I told myself I was one and done. I’m not a runner.

But something about these triathlons were different.

I enjoyed alternating between the different activities. I enjoyed the competitive nature. I enjoyed the atmosphere of race day.

I turned to my mom after my 2021 race “I could’ve kept going. Next year I’m going to do the full Olympic distance”.

August 27, 2022 - Old Town, Chicago

It’s Saturday night and I’m back in Chicago, but it feels weird. I’m alone staying in my friends Tom and Marley’s apartment while they are out of town. I just devoured my favorite pasta dish in the city - spaghetti bolognese from Topo Gigio.

Physically - I am ready to go. I stuck to the training, waking up at 5 AM for early morning swims and pushing through 2 hour Saturday bike rides. It’s the night before the race, I’m hydrated and all carbbed up.

Mentally - I’m nervous as hell. I’m back in Chicago, the city I called home for the past 4 years. But I don’t live here anymore. I’m in the process of starting a new chapter in a new city.

I’m also here all alone.

Tomorrow, I’m going to attempt 3+ hours of physical and mental excursion.

1 mile swim, 25 mile bike, and 6 mile run.

I’ve never done anything like this before in my life. But I know my support system will be following along from afar. And when things get tough tomorrow, I know I’ll have the strength to keep going.

After listening to hours of David Goggins’ audiobook during training, his voice is engrained in my head with sayings like

“When you think that you are done, you're only 40% in to what your body's capable of doing. That's just the limits that we put on ourselves”

If Goggins can run 100 miles with no training, I can finish this triathlon.

I got this.

10 AM, August 28, 2022 - Buckingham Fountain, Chicago

Wow, I absolutely crushed it.

2 hours and 46 minutes - never thought I’d get under 3 hours.

I survived the swim, battled through the rain on my bike, and let it rip on the run. I’m so glad I came back and did this race amongst everything else going on in my life.

Today, I proved to myself that I’m capable of something I didn’t think was possible a few years ago.

Back when I was watching NFL redzone every Sunday, I believed my athletic career had peaked in high school. I was playing basketball for 2 hours a day and lifting weights 4x a week. When would I ever have time to be that active again?

I was wrong. Now, I can confidently say after finishing this race that I’m in the best shape of my life.

Final Thoughts

I learned its never too late to change my identity.

I went from thinking I had peaked athletically in high school to completing an Olympic triathlon in 3 years. This mindset shift around fitness has significantly impacted my life. And hopefully as I continue to stay in shape, it will lead to a longer and healthier life.

I am a runner. I am a triathlete. And now I’m training to become an Ironman.

If you would've told that 21 year old kid who ran that half marathon in college that he would be training for an Ironman, he would have laughed you out of the room.

I’m looking forward to May 19th in Morro Bay, when Josh and I share a few good laughs at the finish line of our 70.3 Ironman.

Thank you for reading! As always please reply and let me know what resonated with you, what you disagree with, or what this made you question. I love chatting about this stuff!

Cheers,

Andrew