Wendy Mastripolito

.2 mile swim – 10 mile bike – 2 mile Run Crazy Nut... It's very exciting to be able to do shorter triathlons, as I don’t put any hard core expectations on myself... but to get it done and win, right?      My races are like mini epic adventures and this short one was not lacking in the fun department... first off the fact it was an afternoon/evening triathlon with a 4pm start.. just gotta love that sleep in, do what you want all day, then mosey on down to the race venue later.  So not really getting the fact that I am not swimming in the actual open bay area... I arrived and looked out at the ominous bay and thought well its only a .2 mile swim... I shouldn’t have issues, swam in worse....and so as I bond with nature and gaze upon the wondrous grey skies, someone mentions the fact that we were swimming in the canal behind us.. SNAP.. NO shit and really... dude this is going to be cake...  A point-to-point swi...

So excited for this new chapter in my life..!! ..... Supervisor Talent Social Marketing for QVC QVC has been my passion for 24 years .....to think when I started in 1989 as a wee pup that I would grow into such a professional young lady.  TO think how did this happen and I can only say that it's truly the direct result of a fantastic man who was my mentor, my coach, and truly another father to me for the last 14 years of my life.  My Boss, the Executive Vice President of QVC's Customer Fulfillment Services, John Hunter.  See I was his Executive Assistant for 14 of those 24 years...working side by side with him, learning the nuances that were QVC, learning what it meant to exceed the expectations of every customer, to keep our word and do the right thing, to be responsible for our actions, and continually strive to improve, and above all to make a difference!  To say he molded me into an intelligent, professional young lady would...

Pooh… Perhaps the grandeur that I build up in my head weighed down my legs?... Or perhaps sometimes, just sometimes... a race is well just... POOH??! B ut what I thought would happen at Saturday's Shamrock 8K in Virginia Beach did not... and that simple undisputed fact pisses me off.. I was ready to run a PR.... I was hoping for a top 5 age group placing or at least no worse than a top 10 age group placing....I was hoping to crack into the 37's.  I am a strong 5 miler.... I was hoping for confetti and flashbulbs..I was hoping for a magnificent moment... and well... What I delivered to myself.... was my second worst 8K time ever, an over 40 min time and a 20th age group placing...... POOH! No... I was not willing to accept the fact that this will be the 6th time i have run this race and have (sans the first year) never placed over a 40 min time or less than a 10th age group placing.  No...I will not accept...

SNAP, CRACKLE, POP... Well it really wasn’t a snap, nor a crackle, nor really a pop… but more like being electrocuted.... ..... that sensation of accidentally touching an electrical wire, when wet, and then as your teeth shake and you recoil, a dagger is thrust into your quad.. yeah.. kinda like that… All forward motion attempted to cease and resist...  Let's go back a few minutes. I am at Delaware University's indoor track and was getting ready to run my first event of the day... I was debating about how to warm up since half the track was closed off for the 60 meter sprints and if I should wear spikes or not… hmmm.. Running in spikes is such a wondrous feeling ….like running barefoot with claws..but no support...hmmm... First call for the mile and I was getting eyed up and down by the gals in my heat…  One of the ladies walks over to me seeing my #6, she is #5 and said, "There is no way i am faster than you"... Indic...

So there comes a day when, as a distance runner, you say... I need speed. I can't recall remembering much about my high school outdoor track, although I am most certain I do remember my high school “coach” screaming at me at the end of the 2 miler that if I had enough energy to sprint the last 200 yards that I didn’t utilize my energy correctly.. thus is born what I still continue to do today.. my ending sprint . It's fairly epic.. and it's probably terribly inefficient, but heck i n 95% of the races I do, of any length, I end up sprinting the last 100 or 200 yards.. and very rarely do I get out paced from that point on. Inefficient?  Probably... In high school, I was an immature, unwilling runner. I only joined cross country because they canned my ass off the field hockey team. Never mind that I scored a goal in try outs and that I was an exceptional runner as the left wing but my motor coordination needed work.. X gets the spot.. off to join the cross country team...

Trust only what you know.. You know in those horror movies where you scream at the stupid person (usually a woman), “ DO NOT LOOK DOWN THE OLD ABANDONED WELL!!!!”... Well, it was something like that… I had scheduled a swim analysis on Saturday and was anxiously waiting in the lobby of the corporate office of Endless Pools in Aston, Pa for my turn when a (I am sure had too much coffee) middle aged man with a jovial ski hat comes barreling in... “Sorry I am late”…. he is wildly exclaiming in his NOT INSIDE VOICE… pointing his arm left and right as he explains to the receptionist and everyone now watching him in the lobby his tale of woe that his car broke down, that it was actually not his normal car he had loaned out his car to one of his workers and had taken the work truck, and that thank goodness a friend lived nearby… that he made it..whew… because he lived an hour or so away.. above Marsh Creek he says.. UH OH.. my ears perked up.. So let’s go back to the point where you s...

So what can you say when your confidence bucket overflows… but the body.. well just does not comply with the request of the mind? There is no doubt in my mind that I could and should be running under 4 hours for a marathon.. my best time was just a few months ago, and it was a 4:01:50 (9:13 pace).. my fall training.. adequate.. my racing.. faster than I have been in years…my long runs and weekly miles on target... I am truly in an exceptional place in my life right now… I can feel it… I AM STRONG! But .. the legs got tired quickly… the happy dance became a skipped record, as the pace slipped into a trudge… into a deep, dark hole of nothingness… The legs would not lift....carefully the mind goes through the process of accessing the situation….  Did I start too fast? ....Was I injured?... Was there a fuel problem?... Was the weather bad?.... Did I do too many races?... Or not enough?... Did I taper enough?… What lessons am I to learn!? I struggled to finis...