The title says it all. After 5 seasons of triathlons, over 50 races, hundreds of workouts, and three nominations, I’ve finally won the Minnesota Multisport Award for Junior of the Year.
There are three things I can say about winning this award and getting this recognition…
Motivation. Ever since I found out about the whole MMA thing, I’ve been driven to get Junior of the Year. It’s been in my mind during every single workout and every single race. I’ve pushed myself harder because of it, it’s focused me, and it’s motivated me to do things that would otherwise have been easy to choose not to.
Thanks. I could not have done this alone. No way. A lot of people deserve thanks, but my parents do more than anyone. My dad drives me to every race on his weekend mornings, he helps me pay for some of the expenses, and my mom also supports me at races and helps make me all the food I need to fuel up. My girlfriend Claire deserves a ton of thanks too. She supports me at a ton of races and deals with me selfishly putting workouts before us sometimes. Thanks also goes out to Jerry MacNeil for putting together the MMAs as well as for all of the kind words on minnesotatrinews.com. Thanks to Kevin O’Connor too for opening up his bike shop to host the awards and for the huge impact Gear West has had on the triathlon community.
Relief. I’ve been so focused on getting this award that races have caused me a lot of stress from the pressure I put on myself. I’ve been nervous every race morning, and basically the whole week leading up to a race (and I do one race/week, so basically the whole season). I always wonder about my competition and how each race will play out. But now that I’ve achieved the goal I’ve had for 3+ seasons, I think I’ll be able to relax a lot more and enjoy the whole process of training and racing. I think not having the stress/anxiety will benefit me a ton, and hopefully this will help me make physical and mental gains. Now I can focus on winning more races and not just the Junior category.
It was a fun night at Gear West. I met some new people and caught up with some old friends. Oh by the way, remember my predictions for EMMA bingo that I made in my last post? I WON by guessing 11 out of the 14 categories!!! I got a nice wad of cold hard cash. FIFTY-EIGHT one-dollar bills to be exact!!!
I haven’t worked out ONCE since the St. Croix Valley Tri, but that’s going to change soon. I’m starting to run after Thanksgiving and then I’ll start biking as soon as this semester is over. Junior of the Year, check. Team Minnesota is next.
Mitchell Clayton Triathlon 