Were you ever the kid in gym class that quietly stood among the group with your head down knowing you would probably be picked last for the dodge ball game? I never was, never knew how it felt, never thought I would have to know. Quite frankly, I was usually one of the 1st picks. Keep reading, I’m not trying to be elitest here…I mean it is dodgeball of all things.

WELL I now know how it feels! I went through the cascade of reactions…I was sad, I laughed and then well Ijust got mad (mad-a nice choice of words as I will keep it clean here). To all of you out there who have been picked last, I share in your grief? See Thorsten's Pre Race IM Arizona Triathlon Rating below:

Wrapping up my 2nd season as a professional athlete at Ironman AZ proved to be like many others, some life chaos and an emotional roller coaster leading into race day. My “sports shrink” aka mental coach Craig (Craig Willard Coaching) reminded me there really is no such thing as a perfect race prep? I somehow believed him. On the other hand my coach, Bob Duncan, told me to race mad, yeah that wasn’t going to be a problem. A fast friend who goes by Andrew told me to gamble throughout the day to find success. I believed all three, they were in my head…ALL DAY LONG…

The cannon shot off at 6:45 into the dark desert sky. My tented goggles proved to be a great mistake as I tried to navigate the buoys in the morning dawn, who knew it took awhile for the sun to rise above the eastwardly mountains?! The kayaks re-directed and around the midpoint I started to get swallowed up by some of the fast age groupers. I jumped between feet and found myself out of the water in a RECORD SWIM time (for me that is), meaning I WASN’T LAST! Whew so far so good, I’m proving the rankings wrong…

Time to pedal out into the desert wind for the three out and backs. It was a fast bike day for some, apparently the wind and I didn’t have the greatest agreement to work together all day though. I put my head down and just kept telling myself to gamble and make moves and push the pedals. I lost a few spots but knew the day ahead was a long one, I was getting close to the last kid picked for dodge ball but not quite yet. I gambled the last lap hard and biked out of my comfort zone gambling that I would still find my run legs. Fast forward to bike dismount. Lets be honest, you really don’t care about my watts or cadence or self talk on the bike for 112 miles. All you probably are curious about is if I pee'd on my bike, nope sure didn't.

Off the bike and my legs laughed at me…I gathered my composure and the moment I stepped out of transition I knew I had to prove to my gym class (or rather myself) they underestimated me. My friends yelled, 6 minutes to the next pro. Oh man….well by mile 4 I had made up those 6 minutes, caught the first one and then it just became a game…one at a time I made my way through the field to drum roll…..18th! Haha you thought I was going to say to the podium or 10th place! Why am I so excited, well I ended the 2016 season with my best performance in my two seasons as a professional triathlete. Yes I’m happy, I gambled during the day and I finished with nothing left in the tank. Yes I’m happy, am I satisfied? Nope, not satisfied. I’m hopeful and I’m hungry for 2017. I am happy to show below that Thorsten's TriRating pre-race time prediction and my actual performance had the biggest disparity of any other female pro in the race.

So we can talk places, we can talk about how I so wanted to crack the top 10, how I didn't want to place last. Odds are next year you won't remember my place, my time or even what race this blog post is about. What I will remember and what I hope you remember of me….I raced hungry, I raced with gratitude on behalf of my family and myself and I crossed the finish line with nothing left in the tank. I distinctly remember the volunteer asking what I needed, just a chair I replied…I need to sit…that dodge ball game was hard but yet fun…

SO GO AHEAD AND

”Please underestimate me.

Please think I won’t train hard enough,

Don’t want it Bad enough,

Won’t Sweat and Sacrifice to make it happen.

Please underestimate me,

Because in the End,

You’ll never see me coming.” Nike commercial

Thank you TriRating for fueling my fire, please keep picking me last in your pre-race predictions.