Shea Furey-King

Kicked off October by finishing my first Olympic triathlon!

I love a daunting challenge and this was perfect considering I couldn’t run a city block at the start of 2021. My longest run in the summer was a 5k, and then week by week was able to work up to a 10k after hours of swim/bike!

During the race I was SLOW, but kept going: through a newbie gaff with my wetsuit in the swim (“oh no! I think my wetsuit is choking me?!”), and kept going through the bike when a beachside pebbly road completely DEFLATED my back tire, and kept going when the run turned into an endless vertical climb. Through it I remembered that I had #1 prepared #2 that I had waited 2 whole years for a second go at triathlon and #3 had the incredible support of my partner and family cheering me both locally and afar!

Did you know less than 1% of triathlon participants in the US are Black? I did my first one in 2019 in honor of my dad, who learned to swim in his FORTIES so he could participate in a triathlon after years of running the NYC marathon. In participating in this race, I represented a tiny minority in the already small percentage of women participants.

Here’s to continuing the legacy of beating the odds. Onward 💙