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Erin Storie

Be Gracious, Stay Humble

By InnerVoice

January 25^th, 2019

I grew up fast

I was 20 when my mom died of an incurable degenerative brain condition called Huntington’s Disease. Huntington’s causes a progressive breakdown of nerve cells in the brain. Mom was diagnosed when I was 10, meaning she was slowly dying for my entire adolescence and into early adulthood. Huntington’s Disease is in the same family as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, however it progresses way younger, and is hereditary. Since my mom didn’t know she had the disease before having children, I have a 50/50 chance of having the mutated gene. I have chosen not to get tested yet. In my mother’s case, the mutated gene caused a severe loss of cognitive functions. She lost her ability to cook, clean, drive, and sign her own signature. As a 15-year-old it was difficult to explain to my teachers that it wasn’t a forged signature, it was just how my mom wrote. She slowly lost her judgment and eventually withered into nothing. The one remarkable thing was, although she couldn’t articulate it, she could always remember who her family was.

In high school, Mom and I moved to Oregon so I could go to a bigger high school, while my dad and brother stayed ten minutes away across the river in Washington. I ended up having to take care of my mom while going to high school and competing in sports.

I grew up fast.

Twenty years ago, mental disorders were not looked at as we see them now. People didn’t want to help. People were ashamed and embarrassed, and that’s how I felt too. I was angry. It wasn’t until after high school where I really matured and accepted my mother’s situation. By then, she was in a nursing home and I only had a couple of years with her before she passed. Once she died I really regretted not spending all the time I could with her. Once she was gone, she was gone.

Everyone starts life with a mom. Unfortunately, I lost mine sooner in life than most. I cherish all the memories I had with her; when she would come on field trips with school, when she was in charge of the girl scout pack or church group. She taught me to be a leader, to always give back to my community, and show compassion towards others. You know, this tragedy is terrible. It sucks I didn’t get to live more of my life with my mom, but I choose to be happy. I choose to look at life positively and have the best attitude. I choose to live my best life. You don’t know what the future holds. I could get tested for Huntington’s tomorrow and have the gene, but I want to know I’ve lived my best life. That being said, growing up with my dad and brother was very rugged. Which made me emotionless and tough. I got the best of both worlds. My dad’s toughness, my mom’s compassion, and the competitive drive from my brother.

My dad gave me the idea for triathlon

When I was younger, I wanted to grow up to be Police Barbie. I don’t think I ever really had a passion that was set in stone, I just wanted to experience life. I was undecided in choosing my major in college and held off until I was forced to declare something. I liked doing a variety of things and really wanted to explore everything. I liked the medical field and thought about joining the Peace Corps to travel and help people around the world.

I grew up in a super small town and tried to play every sport imaginable. I started focusing on swimming when I was 8 and swam year-round until high school. Then I started running cross-country in the fall, swim team in the winter, and track in the spring. I enjoyed running much more, so I walked on at Oregon State University to run cross-country and track. I ran the 5k and 10k where I ended up earning a scholarship and ran at OSU for three years. My dad was the one who gave me the idea for triathlon. I had dabbled with it in the summers towards the end of high school, but I never really pushed it. Triathlon wasn’t huge in Oregon and I really didn’t know what my resources were.

My very first triathlon was in Seattle. My dad and I drove up the day before to pick up my pre-race packet. We laid everything out on the bed: number, safety pins, swim cap, ankle strap without chip. Then, there was a piece of bulky plastic that we didn’t know what it was. So, we thought it was a mistake, like the plastic bit must have gotten in there by accident. The next day was the race. I ended up winning but didn’t have any splits. Everyone kept asking me where my timing chip was. I had the ankle strap, but no chip. The race organizer assumed I lost it in the middle of the lake during the swim. So Dad and I have a running joke about how my timing chip is at the bottom of Lake Washington.

“Be gracious. Stay humble. I can’t always physically be the best athlete, but I can always try to be the best person.”

Photo courtesy of Super League Triathlon

My Squad

My dad is my best friend, biggest role model, and the most inspirational man I’ve ever known. He worked hard to provide us with a comfortable life and he taught me how to be strong. He stuck by my mom when he could’ve easily given up. He is funny, witty, and drives me nuts at times, but he has the biggest heart and I only want to make him proud.

My husband, Logan, is the other part of my inner squad. He is my soulmate and the best training partner anyone could ask for. He swam at the University of Florida and is in the US Army. When times get tough, I like to think about how my husband goes into the Army and has to sleep outside and eat meals from plastic. He sacrifices all of his wants and needs for our country, which makes it easy to stop complaining. The hardest times are when we are apart, and our two cats don't care about my triathlon stories at all, but they are nice to come home to after a tough day.

The final part of my squad is my fans, social media followers and the supporters who come to our races and follow along so avidly. Without them, triathlon wouldn’t really be the sport that it is, and it wouldn’t be nearly as fun. So if you’re reading this, I want to say thank you for being part of my tribe.

Photo by Cody Mann | Major League Triathlon

I want to grow together

Logan is an Infantry Officer in the US Army and he is part of the World Class Athlete Program at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs. This means that he competes for the US Army in Modern Pentathlon. Modern Pentathlon is the sport of fencing, swimming, running, shooting, and equestrian. He was an alternate for 2016 Olympics.

Starting in 2012, our whole relationship has been ping-ponged schedules in order to see each other. For the first couple years we’d see each other for only a couple months. Then toward the Olympics it was only a couple of weeks a year. I’d be traveling for races and training overseas, I’d come home and then he would leave for competitions and come back. We were two ships in the night. After 2016, I moved back full time to train in Colorado Springs because we were starting to grow apart. I wanted to grow together. I may have sacrificed a portion of my triathlon career, but I love starting and ending each day with my husband by my side.

In 2018 we spent about 10 months apart. I was travelling for races and training in Colorado Springs, where we own our home. He spent most of 2018 in Fort Benning, Georgia and is now in Ranger School. I realized the longer we’re married, the more time I want to spend with him. It gets harder to be apart the older we get. When I was younger, I didn’t mind being away 9 months of the year to train, but now I miss him all the time.

I think the secret to distance is to keep in contact as much as you can, but don’t become dependent and don’t get upset when you can’t talk. Find hobbies. Find friends. Sign up for a USA Triathlon race. I’m lucky to have a career that allows me to train all over the place, so I fill my time working out. It’s hard when I can’t talk to him, but that’s what your friends and wine are for.

The army wife life has been way harder than being apart for triathlon and Logan hasn’t even been deployed overseas yet. The strength of these women and families is unbelievable. You have to have a support system to get through this. These wives are independent, strong, courageous. They have to parent on their own, they’re constantly moving and joining new communities, they have to have the backbone of their families and be prepared for what comes next. I’m glad I have found that support and I have made some of my best friends through the army.

You can choose

One of my favorite quotes is by motivational speaker Eric Thomas: “When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you will be successful.” If things aren’t going to plan for me, I think about how I’m still breathing. If it’s a bad training day, I tell myself that I’ve already started the work, that I’m already out here so I have to finish no matter what, even if it’s slow.

I’ve always felt like I’ve had all this pressure on me, but in reality, I was putting the pressure on myself. I had to learn to control that pressure by remembering that this day will end and a new one will begin tomorrow. A clean slate. The only person who will remember today is you. Luckily for me, I have a terrible memory, like a goldfish. So when I have bad practices I have forgotten by the time the next one rolls around.

There have been races where I have been 1st place, and there have been races where I have been (DFL) last place. The toughest races for me are where I am just off the back of the bike pack or transition and I am trying so hard to stay with the group. Going max effort, my legs burn and all I want to do is quit, but I know that the second I stop trying, regret and disappointment will flood my veins. So, my advice is to put in that extra effort and choose to hang in there 5 seconds longer in order to catch the pack.

By choosing, you will end up accomplishing your goals.

“There are so many things sports teach us. Perseverance, determination, dedication, teamwork, confidence, how to change a flat, how to rack up airline miles, and how to find the best coffee shops.”

You need to be patient

Triathlon is a lifestyle.

You need to be patient.

I looked at triathlon as a four-year goal. I didn’t make the Olympics, so I wanted to quit. Now there are so many races out there that you can still be a professional triathlete without making an Olympic team. I wish I would’ve stayed motivated for another four years and tried to make another Olympic team, but I was a little burnt out. When you’re young, you forget to look at the bigger picture. I was so focused on training day-in and day-out and I was physically and mentally tired. I needed to refocus on my long-term plans and how I was going to accomplish those. I should’ve taken time off, cleared my head, and gotten back into my habits and routines. But I made the mistake of thinking my career was over. I don’t think I had the support system in place at that time to push me to keep training.

Being a professional athlete is hard on a lot of your relationships. There has to be a lot of trust, a lot of understanding, a lot of sacrifice, a lot selflessness. You are giving everything to this dream and that means there isn’t much left over for anyone or anything else. The professionals who are most successful at this are the ones who can include their loved ones in their dream. Whether that be training with them, cooking for them, travelling with them. They have to be part of the journey. They have to continue to grow with you, not away from you. Logan and I have been on this journey from the start. It wasn’t always easy, but we have made it work.

Super Sprint Triathlon

Winning the 2015 Super Sprint National Championships in Milwaukee was very memorable for me. I had just flown in from the Olympic Test Event in Rio de Janeiro. I was tired from travel, but my body was rested for taper. Any time you can win a race at this level, it’s huge, especially in the USA. I gave everything and came out on top.

At that time, super sprint was just being introduced and I was fit and ready. I knew I needed to really nail my transitions. I ended up having a little break on the bike and a pedestrian walked out in front of me and I crashed into him and had to get back up and get back on the group. It was a crazy race because the other two girls in the pack had issues too. I love the super sprint distance and I really like that is showcased more now, including my next race, Super League in Singapore, next month.

Footnotes

Words by Erin Storie, Cover Photo Credit: Aaron Anderson Visuals, other photos as attributed, Edited by Cody Royle, Published by Travis McKenzie, Copyright NTSQ Sports Group Inc

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FootNotes

Words by Erin Storie, Cover Photo Credit: Aaron Anderson Visuals, other photos as attributed, Edited by Cody Royle, Published by Travis McKenzie, Copyright NTSQ Sports Group Inc

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Erin Storie

Be Gracious, Stay Humble

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Season 3