A Chance for redemption,
Well its been a while and I cannot wait to tell you the news....Yup that’s right your girl is Team SFQ2017 why you ask... Well to answer that question may take a year so stay tuned well the sharing begins. In the mean time I’m dedicating my training to REDEMPTION at IMMT2017 and copying my Team SFQ application letter for the world to see:
In order to understand what makes me a Smashfest Queen its important it understand how I got started in Triathlon. About 5 years ago I lost my breast due to a severe necrotic post surgical infection following Breast Augmentation surgery. I was very sick from the infection for a loooong time. I was actually lots of things, I was mad, depressed, I felt super unattractive and embarrassed. Its tough to wrap your mind around getting that sick from an elective surgery, I was really embarrassed to even talk about it. In my mind there were and are amazing women out there loosing their breasts from battling cancer and here I was depressed and sick with a mastectomy from a boob job. It took me some time to come to grips with the idea that I had caused it and also to decide what to do next. it took me 5 surgeries to get all the infection out of my body and to close up what was left over. In an effort to get me moving again my husband bought me a bike, he thought I needed time to get out…I had 2 babies and one boob at 29 he was right I absolutely needed to get out! I did my first sprint tri in 2013 and I was hooked it was the first time in a long time that I didn’t think about the infection or the operations or how much time I had lost with my kids! the next summer the races started getting longer and longer after that until I decided to do the IM. In my mind the Ironman Finish at Mont Tremblant this year was so symbolic it was the end of the quest to be Awesome and Beautiful again and I Literally had never felt so awesome. My kids ask me if I’ll ever get sick again and I say “No, mommy’s made of Iron remember!" This summer was also the first time I rocked a bikini and guess who’s it was….I opted once and for all NOT to have reconstruction and instead covered the scars up with a super awesome tattoo and i’ll never look back. The bottom line is I’m a Smashfest Queen because I know that we all do this for different reasons and we all need to support each other through it, because its awesome to be a girl’s girl and to be willing to share it with the world. Sometimes life is a bit of a shit show but doing impossible things along the way is what its all about.
Ill be Smashing in your gear in 2017 because I believe in what you do and I am eternally grateful for being able to wear a bikini again thanks to you ladies, but I hope to be smashing as part of Team SFQ 2017. I hope you have fun checking out the photo’s and thank you for what you do! All the Best, Josie