I have a few “finisher medals” stashed away in a drawer, for having enough grit to finish a sporting event. Even then, I don’t have many of those, since I have spent most of my life “not into sports”. Translation: I am too slow and discouraged to participate in competitive events.

However, I have never had a REAL medal for placing top 3 in anything. Until last week.

A padded envelope showed up in our mailbox from Mountain Equipment Co-op. It was a third place finish medal from the duathlon I did back in August! I was third in my age group. I had no idea, but hey I’ll take it!

Back in 2001, when I was 25, I did the Crescent Beach duathlon. Even with my missed mileage, my time was:

5 km run: 47:48

20 km bike: 1:06:58

5 km run: 58:19

Total: 2:52:44

As you can see from above–this is not very good. At all. Most people can walk 5 km in 1 hour, and that was pretty much my running speed. Almost 3 hours of agony, with the officials closing the course right behind me.

16 years later, I quietly signed up for the MEC Langley Duathlon. I really didn’t tell very many people about it. Knowing my history of how slow I was in 2001, I was not going to advertise my slowness again.

The difference this time, is that I actually have been training pretty consistently, following a schedule. Also, I’m now a few pounds lighter. That always helps.

My time for the MEC duathlon was:

5 km run: 27:27

20 km bike: 44:48

5 km run: 28:34

Total: 1:40:49

I shaved almost 72 minutes off my 2001 time. 72 minutes!! Yeehaw!

I was very happy with the results. Just knowing that I did better than 16 years ago was a huge victory for me. I didn’t really care about how it compared to other people. These kind of victories are pretty private for me to savour. I am happy that I am stronger and faster as I age, and being an example to my kids for being active and loving it.

Then to get this 3rd place medal in the mail, it’s just icing on the cake.

My mom happened to be in town visiting, so I dragged her to the race with me. That was the best part for me. I will forever remember her cheering for me loudly every time I looped back to the transition area, holding her phone in front of her face to take pictures of me. She is so cute and she just warms my heart.

Look, Mom, we got a medal!