Monique's caught the triathlon bug!

I think, as athletes we all have someone in our lives who inspired us to go for that first run, get in the water for the first time and swim, or whatever sport it may be.  For me, my dear friend Karen Cramer was the one who suggested I try a triathlon.  And after watching her at two races, I was determined to try one myself.  I am still grateful to her to helping me find this sport that I have truly fallen in love with.  She still kicks my butt in the swim too! (Congrats on her first place finish this weekend at the Swim For Your Life race here in Atlanta)!!

The more triathletes I meet, the more incredible the stories I hear about people coming into the sport or continuing on in it after, a horrible car accident (Coach Josh S), a terrible bike crash (Dannie), even cancer (Brittany).  Triathletes are resilient people!  Which is why I wanted to tell you all about my friend Monique.  She's someone I like to think I had a little bit to do with getting started in the sport  ;)  Check out how far she's come.
- Laura 

Monique and her new bike!

From Monique:"In 2002 I was in a car accident that shattered my collar bone and busted my right hip. I was attending Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine on St. Kitts Island at the time. I had to take months off school, and it took forever to even be able to get out of bed by myself. If it weren’t for the extensive support of the university and my classmates I may have had to stop attending vet school all together! The doc said I had permanent bursitis and nothing could be done; I wouldn’t be able to run again. My hip hurt intermittently for several years, but in the spring of 2011 the pain lasted for months. I got it checked again, and come to find out, there was no damage to the joint at all! The orthopedist recommended an evaluation by a PT, where I discovered I had scar tissue in my piriformis muscle, and with certain stretches and strengthening exercises I could easily control the pain.

Monique at a 5k with her son, Liam

 Right around then my son told me that he “knew I wasn’t old because I wasn’t fat!” It made me realize that though I loved growing up in New Orleans we’re not exactly known for our healthy lifestyle! Less than a week later I was on a plane to Saranac Lake, and I happened to sit next to a guy reading Born to Run which he highly recommended. I also got my hands on I’m Here to Win by Chris McCormack. While I’m not sold on bare-foot running, what I learned was these people were getting Better as they got older!  Macca even won Kona when he was older than me! I had no idea this was possible. In Saranac Lake we got to watch [Laura] win at Lake Placid, I walked over 40 miles on the Bench Tour, and all this along with Nic becoming such a healthy influence in my life really inspired me to make some life-changing decisions.

After believing that I couldn’t do it for over 7 freaking years, I started running on 14 August 2011. I had a lot to prove; I was 33-years-old and just starting to learn how to be beautiful and strong and independent, about what I could accomplish as a single professional mother working 2 jobs, and how to teach my son to live a healthy lifestyle. I ditched cable and fast food and learned(ish) how to cook. I would lap the 0.45 mile loop around my house to get my running in. The local running store Geaux Run was VITAL in my training, it was so important to get correctly-fitting shoes and the wealth of information and support I got (and still get!) from them was invaluable. A couple of months later, at 7 AM the morning after some extensive birthday partying, I decided that I was going to run my first race. There just so happened to be a 5K that morning at 8:30. I woke up a bewildered friend to meet me at the race and watch my kid, registered 10 minutes before the start, ran it exhausted and dehydrated, then rushed off to work after crossing the finish line. Come to find out, I placed 3^rd in my age group! That was an incredible stroke of luck because it was my slowest race ever and I haven’t reached the podium since then, but also that’s when I got hooked.

Monique at the New Orleans Rock n' Roll Half Marathon 

In March this year, I was training for the Crescent City Classic, and my long run was up to 10 miles when I learned about the New Orleans Rock-n-Roll marathon/half marathon in 10 days. Somehow I got it in my head that this half marathon was Mine, something I wanted all on my own with no help from anyone. So I ran it! I would’ve done better if I had actually trained for it, but it was incredibly fun and I was stoked. [Run time = 2:16:17]

Post race with Nick and Liam

Not 2 weeks later one of my dearest friends from college Jenny underwent multiple heart surgeries for a congenital anomaly. I was scared she was going to die - the last time I had seen her she was on oxygen because the drugs weren’t working anymore - but instead she got better! She improved so much she started spinning classes to keep her heart healthy. Jenny’s crazy amazing and a supermom, and she somehow conned me with her persistence into being interested in biking too. I wanted to go even Faster; and cross training helps my fitness even when I can’t run, so I finally got a bike and I Love it! Then I realized I could swim at the ULL pool for free. Having 
[Laura's] blog and watching several other of my friends find time to progress in triathlons really inspired me to be part of that too. It’s amazing to see how successful you are all the while excelling in school, getting multiple degrees, and teaching! The final straw was finding out about “The Big Cajun,” an Olympic distance triathlon taking place on my 35^th birthday; to me it would be a great symbol of how far I’ve come since my first 5K that would be exactly 1 year prior. I have a lot of work before I’m ready, but I think I can do it! I Could be watching TV, or playing video games, or out partying, or whatever, but that would get me nowhere fast. This is something I can improve on over the next few decades.

I’m in love with racing; it’s my way of dealing with the incredible amount of stress in my life. I’m not as fast as I’d like to be but I improve all the time, and the changes to my lifestyle that I’ve made to become faster have all been positive. My 5-year-old now already makes incredibly healthy decisions about his eating habits and stays very active. The hardest thing, of course, is finding time to balance it all. Maintaining strong relationships with the people important to me is my top priority, especially my son and Nic, so in order not to lose any quality time I start with the time I have with them and work around that. I make sure I don’t sit too much at work, I stand up at my computer, and I do a lot of drills and stretching in my office since I can’t get a lot of practice in some days. Maybe it looks silly to my coworkers but I honestly don’t care; it’s such a small sacrifice to maintain that important healthy balance in my life!"

Since then, Monique has now competed in 3 triathlons! 

Tour de Scott - 300m swim, 13 mile bike, 5k run - 2nd AG!!

300m swim 7:07.1 - started in the Rain, lightning all around but not actually ON us, and it was dark, and my goggles are mirrored so I couldn't see anything I just had to rely on everyone in front of me to go in the right direction. I got so scared I actually stopped a bit. I thought about quitting, but wtf you can't quit in the middle of the damn pond so I had to keep going. I honestly swore that I would never do this again, which my immediate next thought was that just having that "never do this again" thought means that I'd probably become addicted. Ugh. Finally reached the shore - in front of people none the less! I have no idea how that happened. Whew!  Holy Hell how am I going to bike after this???

Ready for her first open water swim!

13M bike 16.1mph 48:30.3 - this started on an overpass, not even a little bit of flat road in front of it. Please remember I'm from Louisiana; there's NO way to train for hills unless you're in a parking garage or something. And it was windy and rainy....AAAAHHHH!!! I've been averaging about 18 mph, I have SO much more training to go on the bike I suck, but I didn't do it this time. I knew I wasn't pushing as hard as I usually do, but I was already crazy tired (maybe I didn't eat enough beforehand?) Anyway, it wasn't a terrible time compared to the other girls, about the middle of the pack.
5K run 9:14/M 28:38.0 - I was tired. It hurt. And it started again immediately on that same overpass and I almost walked but couldn't quite bring myself to do it. That's all I really remember about it, just being freaking tired and remembering that no matter what running off the bike always feels sucky so might as well go fast. My second best 5K race time (next to the Turkey Trot) but I've been doing much better than that training lately.

Games of Acadiana Triathlon - 200y swim, 8 mile bike, 2 mile run - 1st AG!!

CajunMan - 800m swim, 21 mile bike, 5k run - 7th AG!

I was incredibly scared to race open water again and I wasn't looking forward to it; my only goal in the water was to not freak out like last time. However, a little over half way through it I realized I Wasn't freaking out, even though I was still getting pushed down and kicked in the chest etc etc. I have NO idea what changed. But I just decided that I could totally kick ass and passed a lot of people from then on. My time was 20:36.3 (41:12/M.) Even though my total swim time was slow, now I can't wait until the next one because I think it's going to go really well! My bike time was horrible compared to the other women, but I kept a pace of 16.7mph for 21.3 miles. This is Fantastic for me, because not even two months prior my first time trial was only 10 miles and I was at 16mph. And my run rocked too; I beat my 5K PR by almost 2 minutes - 27:18.5 (8:48/M.) I can't wait to run a straight up 5K to see how much better I am - I was really disappointed in them for a while!

Also, this race I finally had my transitions timed: T1 I was 1st AG, 2nd OA by less than a second, and T2 was 2nd AG 5th OA (I struggled with my race belt.) If my transitions weren't so good there's a chance the next girl would have beaten me, so I'm glad I worked on them so hard! And even though I didn't get anywhere near placing, for me this was my biggest personal racing accomplishment to date!

Gold medal winner !

Her next race is "The Big Cajun," an Olympic distance event on October 23rd.  Go get 'em Monique!!