the day and I’m starting to feel the heat baking off the asphalt as I head out for evening runs. The seasons are in transition. Everything is in bloom and I want to feel that too. When people hear the word “transition” in sport, a lot of minds go to triathlon. After all, triathlon has a dedicated “zone” for transitioning between the three sports. While the transition zone is hectic, a swarm of bodies ripping off wetsuits or unclipping from pedals, there is a routine to the transition that avid triathletes nail down.  Often, when telling someone about modern pentathlon for the first time, they go to how a triathlon is run. One sport to another sport, transitioning in between, until you reach the finish line. It gives the illusion of an orderly sport, progressing from one item to the next.  For those that compete in pentathlon know, competitions are not orderly affairs. Granted, some events are more organized than others, but there are still issues with transportation getting lost/running late, event timelines changing, warm-up times altered, and no one can find the athlete lunches. Pentathlons can be very fluid, reiterating the fact that the secret sixth sport of pentathlon is logistics. 

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      Since starting pentathlon in 2021, my life has been full of transitions. I’ve moved three times (two in-state, one cross-country). I’m learning the new discipline of obstacle, as pentathlon moved away from show jumping. And, starting last fall, I transitioned from the practice of law to consulting. It was evident last spring that it had come time to leave my job as an attorney. There were many reasons why it was time to go, including a fundamental shift in how I worked that would mean that I would no longer be able to balance training for pentathlon and work. Since I started pentathlon towards the end of 2021, my husband and I have poured a lot into a sport that we knew I had a perishable timeline for. I saw some big steps in progress in 2024 and a few podiums, so for 2025 to bring the possibility of an abrupt end was not something I was ready to swallow.

     

      I was lucky enough to transition to a new job last fall that would allow me to continue training and continue to work in an industry that I find fascinating. However, it has not been completely smooth. I’m working in a completely new role and it feels very much like how obstacle training is going: uncomfortable, unsure, and a lot of failing (luckily, not too much falling on my face). Practicing law for eight years felt comfortable in a way that riding continues to feel for me. I had a good bit of autonomy in my last job and was starting to emerge as a leader in certain areas. Now, there is a lot that is new and a lot that I need to re-learn. I’m in the process of shifting my writing style and learning how to really use powerpoint, which feels a lot when I don’t keep my hips up in the lache and results in a disappointing slap of the bar as my hands slip off instead of catch. This is not a new feeling for me. Much of my journey in pentathlon has been an exercise in embracing being a beginner and diving into the learning process. I continue to feel like a beginner in swimming and in fencing; two sports that I had to learn from the ground up or completely re-learn. It doesn’t mean that the feeling of being a beginner gets easier. In fact, being a beginner is very hard especially when you are used to being an expert. So, this is a time in transition for me. New job, new sport, some new dietary issues (more to come on that later), and a new website. It isn’t the orderly transition of the sport of triathlon, but reflects the often-messy transitions between events at pentathlon. It’s uncomfortable. It’s hard. But I know that I can tackle it with my best effort. Soon, it might be time for me to bloom too.