Finally, My First Wildflower Experience

by: Sarah Hawkins; Wildflower Ambassador

“After 16 years of dreaming, I finally got to participate in Wildflower for the first time in 2018. It was exactly the experience I was hoping for, and I wish all triathlons had the same festival vibe.”

As an avid fan of professional cycling, I was reading an article in Pro Cycling Magazine in 2002 that recapped that year’s Wildflower Experience.  I had heard of “triathlons” before, but this was the first time I heard about a race festival or learned that there were multiple race distances. The sprint distances seemed reasonable – I knew I could do the swim and bike distances (at least on their own), I just needed to figure out how to run.

Running had always been a struggle for me. Even as an active Kinesiology student, I struggled to complete even a lap around the track without passing out or throwing up.   I decided to work my way into running a 5k by walking first, but every time I walked more than 10 minutes, my body would be overcome with severe joint and muscle pain and I suffered multiple fractures in my feet and legs.  My doctor diagnosed osteoporosis.  My physical therapists told me I must have fibromyalgia. I was only 20 years old and not only was my body failing me, but it was also preventing me from living the healthy lifestyle that I had always dreamt for myself. Things came to a head in 2004 when I had a heart attack at the age of 21.  My exercise became even more limited and I fell into a deep depression while I worried that the “athlete” in my head and heart would never make herself known.

It’s hard to say what prompted me to start turning my life around in 2008, but I suspect it was the realization that my weight had crept up until the scale read the same number for me as my taller, healthier, husband.  I hired a personal trainer and worked out religiously while transforming my diet.  Still, I felt shackled by crippling pain and issues with my heart, but I stubbornly ignored the problems. My husband started racing in triathlons in 2009 and I resented every race he completed because I still felt like triathlon was “my idea.”  I even stubbornly signed up for an XTERRA sprint triathlon in 2011.  I was proud of myself for finishing (in dead last place) but it beat up my body so much I had to take a whole week off work to recover.

At the same time, my husband and I wanted to start a family and it just wasn’t working.  Our doctors tried all kinds of medical tests and interventions without success.  Finally, my stubbornness paid off when I became my own health advocate and asked my doctor to test me for Celiac disease.  I had learned that a common symptom of this auto-immune disease is muscle and joint pain, as well as infertility.  My positive diagnosis was such a relief – all I had to do was cut gluten from my diet and my life would transform!

My body started to heal itself quickly. Seven days after my diagnosis, I was pregnant with our daughter. My osteoporosis resolved itself.  I no longer had muscle or joint pain.  And the increased blood volume of pregnancy helped a cardiologist at Johns Hopkins finally diagnose my heart condition which was easily fixed through surgery.  By the time I had my daughter, I had transformed into an entirely new person.  After that single triathlon in 2011, I resumed my triathlon career in 2014 and I’ve been at it non-stop ever since. Now instead of resenting my husband’s races, I’m there racing right alongside him.