Hello there,



I should preface this blog with the acknowledgement that I have never successfully maintained a journal. If I am not very dedicated to posting on a regular basis, I'm sorry. But I promise I will try. In a matter of weeks, my world, as I know it, will be turned upside down. But before I explain, I think a little background would prove helpful.



I was born and raised in Virginia and spent most of my childhood playing with an assortment of barnyard creatures on my family's Meadowdean Farm. My infatuation with horses led me to Lynchburg College where I rode on the varsity team and served as co-captain my senior year. I wanted a career that would support my expensive hobby, so I majored in English with the intent to pursue law school. (so far, my parents are pretty excited about little Caitlin's big career ambitions) All of that changed, however, when I realized that I didn't want a fancy career or simply the ability to ride my own horses. I wanted a challenge. I wanted to do something out of the ordinary. I wanted to prove that "anything is possible."



At this point in the typical "early-life crisis," the student would change his or her major and maybe take a year off to backpack across Europe. Not me. I had to take the most difficult route. One bright August morning in 2008, (probably somewhere smack-dab in the middle of the Beijing Games) I decided I wanted to go to the Olympics. How I reached this conclusion, I'm not entirely sure, but the next step was to pick a sport. Yes, I realize that most elite athletes don't "pick" their sports, they simply do what they've been doing their whole lives. Since I am not an elite athlete, the rules don't apply to me. I got to choose. The challenges were finding a good "breakout" sport that didn't require too much physical talent and was obscure enough that I might actually have a chance. After ruling out swimming, track and field, gymnastics, weightlifting, and sand volleyball, I narrowed my search down to the top three: table tennis, water polo, and modern pentathlon.



Further research revealed that table tennis is an exclusively Asian event and water polo actually requires an extremely high level of fitness. I couldn't find anything out about pentathlons, so I assumed that no news and good news. I had a sport! Pentathlons involve running, swimming, fencing, shooting, and riding (horses, not bikes.) In my naivete, I assumed that because pentathletes did so many events, they didn't have to do any one thing that much. I was wrong. In my effort to pick an easy sport, I actually picked one of the hardest as every aspect of the athlete is challenged: strength, speed, endurance, focus, wit, flexibility, and adaptability.

So now, having graduated from college, I'm off to Colorado to try and prove that one can get to the Olympics by hard work and determination alone. Maybe I'll get there, maybe I won't, but either way, I know this will be a rewarding experience I'll cherish for a lifetime. As it turns out, I'm going on my own European adventure - only minus the backpacks and free-loading lifestyle. London here I come!


Training Stats:
Current mile time: 7:20
Current 200m swim time: 3:20
Current aches and pains: left knee