DFL. Dead Freakin’ Last.

by Lori W.

But I’ll get to that. I had many attempts, wins, setbacks, challenges, defeats, and self-doubt to get me to DFL.

I grew up bowling competitively, I never hit that 300 or picked up the cursed 7-10, but I bowled competitively for over 10 years and can still very much hold my own. I started running in college because of a 2 mile trail right outside my dorm room, which helped alleviate homesickness and allowed me to explore the area. On Wednesday, October 17, 2001, I ran my normal 2.2-mile loop and then went to the dining hall to consume pure health: a bowl of Lucky Charms. Fueled by magical deliciousness I set out for a packed day, beginning with my 9am class.

I never made it.

That was the last day I ever ran normally.

That was also the last day I ever ate Lucky Charms.

I was in the crosswalk, the sun was in the speeding driver’s eyes and I remember none of it. Nearly 25 years later I still only know what I’ve been told or read. I was hit by a car on the left side, thrown onto the hood, hit the windshield shoulder-first, landed back on the hood, went through the windshield (leaving a basketball-sized hole), flew 30′ through the air, and then hit the ground and rolled. I remember none of that, but I do recall getting a ride in the wee-woo wagon (AKA Ambulance) and throwing up my Lucky Charms. I could go into all the details, but I had a TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury), a blood clot on the second layer of my brain, and a long list of injuries. I survived a brain injury that only 26% of people recover from, and in the following decade I underwent 9 knee surgeries. My knees are literally held together by screws and cadaver donors. I have nerve damage that prevents me from feeling part of each of my knees. So it’s easy to understand why Doctors told me I’d never run again.

For over a dozen years after my accident I was angry, avoided running, did everything safely to prevent re-injury, and lost myself. On a whim in 2014 I joined a gym and my confidence boosted, I tried running and I could do it! HA! Take that, Doctors! Then gym friends told me I should try an indoor triathlon. I did and I learned that the swim lessons I took as a kid didn’t translate at all to swimming as an adult, but I could touch the bottom and walk in the pool! As they like to say, things escalated quickly. I started doing Master’s Swim to learn to swim as an adult, I had to borrow a bike, and keep working to run. Next I did a Women’s Sprint Triathlon and what a RUSH. Next I completed the Chicago Triathlon and zooming on Lake Shore Drive next to traffic, which I still feared at that point, was another RUSH. So the next logical step was signing up for Ironman Florida 70.3 in April of 2016.

IYKYK, the escalation can become that fast.

Now training for a Florida spring race during an Illinois winter isn’t the most idyllic of circumstances, but this race was said to be one of the easiest first 70.3 distances. I completed the swim. A bragging right of mine is that I have swum in a lake known to have alligators, though I didn’t meet one. The bike was rolling hills, and it was far more rolling than my flat Illinois winter training was, but I did it! The three loop run course on the back half of the lake I swam in hours earlier, complete with a sign that read, “Do not approach or feed gators,” really made me believe I could have swum with gators hours before. It turns out I hadn’t completed the swim in time to make the cutoff, resulting in a DNF for my final time.

That escalation I talked about? Six months after the DNF I ran my first marathon. Then a second the following year, and a third two years later. And then I gave up. I wasn’t fast, maybe the doctors were right that I wouldn’t run again, or if I did, I’d be incredibly slow and unimpressive.

Next, I haphazardly started going to the gym to lift weights and do strength training only. It was fine, it is fine, it’s important, but it never gave me that “I did it!” feeling I got each time with triathlon. Then as luck would have it, Rockford, IL became the location of a new Ironman 70.3 course in 2025. I signed up almost instantly and marked June of 2025 on my calendar! I had a grand idea: train using an internet plan, complete the workouts, do the race and then tell everyone. That way if something went awry, no one would know. A few months before the race I got incredibly sick with double pneumonia. I coughed so hard that I separated ribs, so I had to defer and transfer my race to the Louisville 70.3 in August of 2025.

The Ohio River was 86 degrees on the day of my race in August 2025; it was miserable and questionable, and I made the cutoff with 6 minutes to spare! I was off on my bike, and it turns out that Kentucky is hilly, which I hadn’t trained for—distance, sure, but not hills. And that’s where my day quite literally went downhill and I missed the bike cutoff by 30 seconds. Bright side … I got home 5 hours earlier than expected! Which also means I began wallowing sooner. I had failed, again. I couldn’t even tell people I failed because I had the grand idea to do the race and then tell people.

My husband told me I could wallow for two days and then get back to it. He encouraged me to find a team to train with or a coach—people who understood—and sign up for the next one.

I already knew where to find these resources, I didn’t have to look them up. I knew of Experience Triathlon, I had lurked their website for a while, but never reached out. Why hadn’t I reached out? I feel more potato-shaped than shoestring-french-fry-shaped; I’m held together by screws; I’m post-hysterectomy and perimenopausal; and I suffer from a huge bout of Imposter Syndrome when I say I do triathlons.

But… I was not allowed to wallow. So I registered for the Rockford Ironman 70.3 in June of 2026 and sent an inquiry to ET. I’m positive my first email to Coach Christa really showed the hot mess and overthinker I can be. But it turns out Coach Christa and ET were exactly what I needed.

I began meeting with Christa every couple of months to work on my swim stroke. I started attending the 5:30am indoor CompuTrainer class for bike interval training and hill work and the Sunday indoor long ride CT classes for distance. I took part in all three ET indoor triathlon races in the winter, improving with each one. And one by one I crossed off each workout Christa gave me to complete and my confidence grew with each one. And what about the workouts? They aren’t complicated; even my overthinking-by-nature brain can digest and complete them pushing that imposter syndrome further away with each one.

And then before I knew it, it was race day!

Unlike my usual race day self, I was smiling at the swim start on June 14, 2026 ready to literally jump into the Rock River and swim 1.2 miles. The Rock River was flowing fast, but I took TWENTY minutes off my time from the Ohio River swim in Louisville. It wasn’t just the Rock River flow that did that; practicing, using the right stroke and having guidance from Christa booked me down the river. I was all smiles heading out on the bike and even the head and cross winds smacking me in the face and slowing me down for the first half of the ride kept me smiling. I had practiced hills and was ready for it! I never felt the benefit of a tailwind, but I finished the bike just above the time I had in mind. Christa told me not to worry about time, but she also knows I’m an overthinker. I was still smiling heading out on the run, I checked the time and still had time to do it! And then I stepped off the curb. Literally. I stepped off the curb entering the run incorrectly, and my run quickly became a run/walk interval plan. On lap two of the run I was basically down to a walk and a teammate came by and we joined forces to finish it together. And then I ran through a puddle that was actually a pothole, and the same ankle questioned my life choices. My run became a walk. The time got away from me. But I didn’t stop. I didn’t quit. I convinced my teammate to finish her race promising I would too.

DFL.

I was the last one on the course. I was the last one to go through the finish chute, but what a welcome party that was. From my loved ones to Experience Triathlon teammates and their loved ones, to volunteers. They were all cheering for me. I freakin’ did it!

Days later I am still all smiles from the race. I took significant time off my swim. I climbed every hill on my bike and passed people during the bike course. And my run was incredibly long; walking the majority of a half marathon isn’t easy. I could have turned in my timing chip. I could have just pushed and run, dealing with the consequences later. But like all the training Christa planned for me… I did it. And best of all I had fun, I smiled the entire time, and DFL or not I’m just getting started with Christa and ET.