No CFP’s Left Behind – The Journey of 5

12 CommentsFriday • September 23, 2011 • by cfprovidence

Left-to-right:  Jessica Ruhlman, Jeanne Tong, Brock Leiendecker, Maura Kelly and Ingrid Gliottone

Written by CFP Coach Kelly Carse

Comfort zone…”free of pain and anxiety, state of ease”. It’s where we want to find ourselves…a place so many pursue or simply never leave. But, from that place, are we able to find our true potential?  Does it test our courage, endurance, perseverance?  Can we live within that space and grow?  This is a story of 5 people who pushed themselves beyond their comfort zone and as a result, found a whole new dimension in their lives.

Over the summer, Brock Leiendecker, Maura Kelly, Jeanne Tong, Ingrid Gliottone and Jessica Ruhlman Shoaff joined the CFP boot camp at Brown Street Park. None of them had met each other before and came on board with their own set of goals and aspirations.  One day Maura, who had just competed in her first triathlon, threw out the idea of doing another one. She was very persistent in her quest to get other boot campers to join her. By the end of August, Maura had won over Brock, Jeanne, Ingrid and Jessica. They all decided to sign up for their first ever triathlon,the Buzzards Bay Sprint Triathlon, a 1/3 Mile Swim, 14.7 Mile Bike, 3.1 Mile Run to be held on September 18th.  For the next several weeks, in addition to the boot camp, they would meet to run, swim or bike together.  They became each others’ cheerleaders, coaches, nutritional advisers and friends. They met each other for dinners, for WaterFire and for happy hours.  They developed a bond that extended far beyond the athletic field.

As their boot camp coach, I had the privilege of watching all of this unfold.  It not only inspired me as a coach, it inspired me as an athlete.  I was able to see them compete at Buzzard’s Bay this past Sunday and I wish I could describe in detail all that I witnessed.  These five athletes with huge smiles on their faces dug their heels in and put their hearts and souls into this event.  It was a heart-warming moment when I looked down the road and saw Jeanne, Ingrid, Jessica and Brock running together after they had transitioned from their bikes.  Since Maura was a “veteran” triathlete, she was in an earlier heat.  The moment she completed her run though, she grabbed her dog, ran back up the road and cheered each one of her teammates on.  They all embraced, smiled, laughed, recounted the moments and then looked at each other and said “We have to do this again!”   Who knows where it will all go from here?  One thing is for sure though, each of them left their comfort zone and the possibilities are endless….Ironman, perhaps?!!!

With their permission, I’m going to share some of their post-race email correspondence.  It’s such a perfect summary of everything they’ve experienced together and their appreciation for each other.

Jeanne Tong:
Team Newbies — we did it! All our hard work paid off! What’s more, it’s been an absolute pleasure and blast training with and getting to know you guys. I for sure could not have done as well as I did without y’all and your moral support, training tips, nutrition tips and comedy relief. Thanks for always steering me in the right direction… figuratively and literally

And thanks to Maura, not only for making us sign up, but also for reassuring us every step of the way that we could actually do it, and for being the most enthusiastic race day participant – and cheerleader – I’ve ever met.

Brock Leiendecker:
To Ingrid, Jeanne, Jess, and Maura: This has turned out to be one of the best summers I’ve ever had. I’m so thankful that I took the leap into CFP boot camp and met all of you wonderful and inspiring people. Never would I have imagined that in just a few months I could lose 35lbs, win a challenge about getting into shape, and competed in a triathlon! I owe much gratitude to you ladies for pushing me on and making me push myself.

Ingrid, I can’t agree more that we have caught the tri-bug! Thank you so much Maura for getting us started!

Jessica Ruhlman Shoaff:
Yay–we did it!

Maura-thanks so much for encouraging us to ding up.

Maura Kelly:
what a fun morning! now that you’ve got the tri bug…there is a sprint tri next weekend in newport that I think I’m going to sign up for! who’s in? I’M SO PROUD OF YOU GUYS!

Ingrid Gliottone:
Maura, as I said in the car, thank you once again for helping us to catch the tri-bug….I think we can all say we’ve been infected! Who would’ve thought swimming, biking and running back to back would be fun….a little crazy perhaps…..but after participating yesterday I would defn say fun. Even my family walked away saying how much fun they had as spectators!!!

I’m not sure if you all would agree but I think our shirt’s embodied the outcome of the day perfectly! We all stuck together, pushed each other, and saw one another to the end! Thank you all for that!  :)

CONGRATULATIONS JEANNE, BROCK, JESSICA, MAURA and INGRID!

And a big thank you to CFP’er Merry Peloquin from Cool Air Creations for the T-Shirts!

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