My good friend Kim Ray and I celebrating our first triathlon!
“The Tuesday night clinics at the UNC Wellness Center at Meadowmont in September really helped remove some of my stage fright.”
Valerie Komives, 52
Chapel Hill, NC
When I was 7 years old, I fell flat on my face at the start of a winter carnival skating race. After that I switched to team sports. The idea of attempting a triathlon made me break out in a cold sweat, however. Over the past couple of years I’ve worked hard to re-claim my athletic self—nothing like turning 50, right? So when a nicely persistent work-out friend asked me to do a Ramblin’ Rose triathlon with her—after I had turned her down year after year—I said, “I’m in!” When I told my running buddies about the race, two of them promptly signed up, including my friend Kim, so there was no backing down. We all spent the summer getting ready and having so much fun going to the pool, doing our runs and rides. The Tuesday night clinics at the UNC Wellness Center at Meadowmont in September really helped remove some of my stage fright. Sure enough, at the “dress rehearsal” the week before the race, my swim cap ripped and the chain fell off my bike. Then we got lost on a trail run. We were ready! To combat the old vision of falling down at the beginning of the skating race, a friend helped me come up with my new starting chant: 3-2-1, HOORAY!!
