Race Coverage

Passion Regained...

Thursday, 23 April 2015 00:10

Triumph: “To gain a victory; be victorious; win.”

By Ruth Brennan Morrey (ruthbrennanmorrey.com)

Brasilia 70.3 Race Report - The title of this blog series is “Two Trials and a Triumph.” I’ve written about the two trials—with the first more ‘trialing’ than the second. Now its time for the triumph which occurred in Brasilia, Brazil on April 5th, 2015 at the Ironman 70.3 Latin American Pro Championships.

Wait, wait, wait…hold it! I didn’t win in Brazil. Let’s get the facts straight. I truly believe in my heart of hearts that a “win” is FIRST place and therefore, my eventual final placing, 3rd place, is not a true win. In fact, Helle Frederickson, quite frankly, freakishly slaughtered the rest of us by 12 minutes or more. This Danish Dart was the clear victor and deserves all the fame along with the small fortune of 20k! She won so handily in fact, that after we finished, when I asked her finish time she replied, “Oh, I don’t know, I finished quite a while ago.” Great. My dream of running down the blue carpet neck and neck with Helle for a photo finish victory wasn’t even close to reality. Congrats to Helle....

But I did. I did walk away with a win. It was a good showing, and it was good enough for strong KPR progress, a solid paycheck, redeeming confidence, and most importantly, it was reflective of regained competitive fun and passion—elements questionable 8 weeks prior, but now clearly present from the gun to the tape. Life’s curveballs had reset my desire, perspective, and “pash-o-meter.” As a result, I rode and ran with nothing but heart driven by solid preparation and execution. My body and mind were both in the right place, and for that, I was truly thankful. READ MORE