ok, it's the last day of July so I better do my "Monthly YAY Jocelyn" update. Do you ever look at my website and just feel like cheering for me? I do. yaaaay Jocelyn. yaaay! That is the whole point of the website, really. It's for self-promotion in the sport, for the sponsors primarily, and the 1 or 2 of you in my fan club. ;) Quite honestly, jocelynwong.com was already taken, jocelyn.com may or may not be a porn site, and yayjocelyn.com sounded so much cooler! I got the idea from Jessi Stensland's website actually, hers is gojessi.com. So I thought about gojocelyn.com, and it was my friend Bill in Dallas who suggested yayjocelyn.com. that's the story!
speaking of self-promotion, I got nominated for, and subsequently won, Athlete of the Month in my local tri club, Team Sheeper!! It was an honor to be nominated, and I then took it upon myself to see it as running for student body president or prom queen...in the spirit of the 2008 campaign season, I emailed a tongue-in-cheek campaign letter to my club explaining why they should vote for me, and not the other two candidates. oh, the smears! It was all for laughs, and I was pretty excited to end up winning. One guy was so impressed with me that I ended up winning a date with him, too. niiiice. Here is my Athlete of the Month profile...it's kind of like an interview and the most important quote is "I'm currently happily single, but I hear that once a girl becomes Athlete of the Month, her social calendar and datebook literally EXPLODE." hehe. I also say "Remember, winning comes to those who want it most!" I don't remember where I've heard this before, or if I just pulled it out of my butt, but it sure is a good quote, isn't it? actually, maybe I did just make it up myself , I just googled it and it points to my livejournal as the only result. damn, I better trademark that one!!
Speaking of winning, I am a little tired of people (non-triathletes, usually family members or co-workers) asking "so DID YOU WIN?" after each race I do. I've never won a race outright, and sometimes I win my age group. But it's not always about what place you get. At Vineman 70.3, I finally broke 5 hours at the half distance (on my 15th try, woohoo) and to me, I won that day. Sure I got spanked by the pros and 14 other amateur women (who completely handed it to me on the swim, I just never caught up) but I was so happy finishing under 5 hours, I could have cried. My race report is here; it is full of swear words so if you are sensitive to f-bombs, you shouldn't read it. I am really proud of myself because I faced the pain, and am learning to mentally push through the pain barriers, how to keep suffering when your body wants to back down. Vineman followed 3 weeks after the Buffalo Springs 70.3, where I had a spectacular mental blow up and raced nowhere near where I should be. I was extremely disappointed in myself, and it proved to be a very expensive (but effective!) lesson in exposing my weaknesses. It lit a fire under my butt and I felt completely redeemed after Vineman.
Now I've got just one more day of residency (WOW a year has gone by already, and so quickly!) and August will be spent working on my final research paper, training to train, and having a little fun before my life changes forever. It sounds dramatic, I know, but I've booked my plane tickets (thank you to my friend and flight sponsor Mark!!) and will be boarding that plane to my new life on September 3rd. I have a feeling that life will never be the same again, and so I will enjoy "life as I know it" for another month.
will let you know how that goes...in another month!! ;)