Aerial Adventures

Prior to leaving Hawaii in 2012, I took an aerial silks class with several girlfriends and we loved it. Our classroom was a park in Hawaii Kai, and the silks we used to learn to climb were rigged in an old, rugged tree. I tried to find classes in Tampa Bay that offered aerial silks but didn’t have any luck until two months ago, when I saw the Aerial Dragons perform live on silks and a lyra, a suspended hoop, at Gasparilla Music Festival. I realized a studio offering classes, The Keep, had opened up at a crossfit gym in Ybor about a year ago. I quickly registered for a beginning silks class and convinced one of my girlfriends to come with me on a Saturday morning.

Hawaii 2012

We had so much fun! Our instructor was wonderful – very encouraging and supportive, and she taught us quite a few tricks in our 90 minute session. We learned the basic climb, how to wrap the silk around your leg, and use your arms and legs to pull yourself up into a standing position and repeat to slowly make your way up the silk. We were also able to go upside down which we incorporated into a short but fun routine. I knew I was hooked. I was very excited to learn the studio offered classes on many different circus apparatus, including the trapeze, lyra and cube, and Spanish rope. Flying on a trapeze had immediate appeal to me so I signed up for my first trapeze class the following week. 

The Sunday after my aerial silks class, my boyfriend and I went to Empower Adventures, a zipline and aerial obstacle facility that recently opened up in Oldsmar. We spent a fun afternoon traversing 5 ziplines and completing several obstacles including rope and cable bridges, and a log swing. The only drawback was waiting for everyone to take a turn completing each zip or obstacle so there was a little more standing around and waiting then we would have liked. The highlight, and what I considered to be a terrifying obstacle involved climbing up a 20 foot telephone pole, standing on your feet on the top with nothing to hold onto or use to pull yourself up onto, and then jumping off of the top (while in a harness and attached to a belay line of course so it wasn’t a free fall). I don’t mind climbing up things but I have a fear of  heights and jumping off of things so I knew it was going to push me way outside of my comfort zone. 

One of the other guys in our group of 10, volunteered to try it first. He didn’t have much problem climbing up but once at the top, he wasn’t able to pull himself into a standing position. He ended up “jumping” off the side of the pole and being belayed down. Two teenage boys in our group completed the task easily and I wasn’t sure if seeing them do it was reassuring me or making me more nervous as more time passed to opt out of the activity. Another guy successfully completed it but his friend butt scooted into a jump from the top which I thought, worst case scenario, I could go for the butt scoot too. Eric went next and made it seem effortless. He had no problem getting on his feet at the top of the pole and jumping off. I was next. I climbed up but as I expected, struggled to make the final push onto both feet on the top. I had one foot up, with my leg bent, but couldn’t bring myself to push up all the way. Eric and the rest of our group below were cheering me on and offering advice on how to best stand up. I think I was probably in a half squatting position for almost 10 minutes before I somehow managed to accomplish a fully upright position! It was liberating and I felt very proud of myself. Next was the jump, which took a few more minutes of contemplation before I was able to do it. My heart was racing as our group leader lowered me to the ground, but I felt accomplished for facing two of my fears. 

In continuing my adventures in aerial sports, I attended the trapeze class on Tuesday evening. The class was fairly large and had varying levels in it; one other woman and myself were the only brand new students. We both jumped right in though and completed the warm up of pulling yourself up and over the bar 10 times.  Our instructor, the founder of the Keep, was wonderfully supportive, and she showed us moves to work on under the direction of more advanced students while other aerial enthusiasts used the main bar in the class to elaborate on a routine they were learning. Once we successfully mastered a few moves on the bar, we then went to the main bar to serve as flyers to the students who were the base. As a base, you have to hang upside down on the trapeze with your knees hooked over the bar, and as the flyer, you grasp the forearms of the base and pull yourself upside down and into various positions. It was quite challenging but also an amazing experience and I knew I would be back the following Tuesday for more. 

Puerto Rico 70.3, My First Half-Ironman

Completing Puerto Rico 70.3 was one of the hardest things I have done and I found it significantly more challenging than running a marathon. Though I was straight up terrified of the swim (and never swam more than 1200 yards training), I knew the bike would be the toughest part mentally. I assumed that I would be able to get through the run reasonably well since that is my strongest event of the three, but I underestimated the heat in Puerto Rico and the hills in the course.

To my surprise, the swim was my favorite part, and the easiest by far. I felt a bit panicked initially after starting but when I realized I was able to remain with other yellow caps and started passing people in the wave before me, I relaxed and was able to segment the course buoy by buoy and finish 2 minutes quicker than my anticipated time of 50+.

Coming out of the swim, I felt great and jogged the half a mile to the transition. I continued to feel great through about half of the bike course, maintaining the speed of 16+ mph that was my goal, but about halfway through I felt myself losing steam. The wind picked up and was working against us and my neck was throbbing. I took a quick stretch break halfway through, refilled my water bottles, and told myself I could do it. I got to mile 40 and tried to convince myself that I was almost done but those last 16 miles were pure hell. I knew there was no way I would hit my goal of a 3.5 hour bike and simply wanted to finish, hopefully before noon so I would make the swim/T1/bike cutoff time of 5 hours. Again, at mile 50, I told myself I was on the home stretch and it would be downhill from there but of course it was literally all uphill, still in the wind. It took everything I had to remain on my bike and not start walking it. I’m honestly still at a loss as to why people love biking and can go for hours, because I really don’t love it the way I love running. And I’m not sure if that will ever change. I will say for anyone considering a half, bike as much as you can before the race because you spend most of your time in the saddle. After seeing Eric and my parents at the end of my bike ride and realizing I made the 5 hour cutoff, albeit barely, I headed out for the run.

Starting the run was almost as difficult as finishing the bike. I simply did not want to do it and it became a mind game of pushing through the first two miles at which point I finally found a rhythm. The run course in Puerto Rico was definitely the hardest run I’ve ever completed. I started at noon in the hot sun, and the hills were so steep there was no point in wasting energy running up them. Luckily, the race was very well organized and there were a lot of aid stations with ice, as well as hoses set up along the route. I took it mile by mile, mentally checking off each one as I finished.  Eric was a great support, cheering, and telling me I could do it. He ran close by me for a couple of miles in the middle and at the end, which kept me going.

Overall, I am proud that I finished the race (total time of 7:36); completing a half ironman has been on my bucket list for several years now. I don’t think I trained enough but I’m not sure if many of us ever think we do. Puerto Rico is probably not the best first half to do but it’s a beautiful place to vacation and you might as well go big, so I’m glad I chose it. (Would I do that race again? Probably not; once was more than enough.) Thank you, Sally, for recommending it; I’m giving you credit for the push to finally go for it! I am also very thankful that I had support from my boyfriend and parents because they definitely kept me going when I questioned my ability to do so. Love you all!