The Start Line

This weekend I race my first triathlon and I am terrified. I have wanted to do one for years, but wanting it and being able to train for it were never the same thing, and my body would not let me anywhere near a start line. Anyone who has read along for a while knows about the health issues that knocked me about a few years ago. What you may not know, unless you used to listen to BYOD podcast, is that I have also had two complex shoulder surgeries, and ever since I have not been able to swim front crawl without my shoulder telling me what it thinks of the idea.So swimming was the thing in my way, and I had made my peace with it. A triathlon was for other people, the surgeries had closed that door, and I should be grateful for the running and cycling I could still do. It is a strange thing, giving up on something you never actually tried, but that is what I had done.Then I got injured again at the start of this year and couldn't run. Rather than sit and feel sorry for myself, I threw…