What You have missed...

Now that I have got the dramatic life story bull out the way, I can get into why I am really putting time into writting a blog.

As I mentioned with my previous post, I have began a journey in Triathlon. Where I want to go with this blog is take you through a step by step walk through in the life of a triathlete. What I go through emotionally, my progress, the goals I set and achieve, ill take you through each rae report so you can understand how bitterly sweet triathlon really is. Triathlon to me is more than just a sport, but its a test of mental and physical strength. It will break you if you not ready or unprepared, but it will make you a hero if you plan, prepare and race smart. I want you to feel the emotions it brings into my life, because up until now... nothing has compared to triathlon in my life.

So, what you have missed up until present day is a hell of a lot. But in brief to catch up quickly ill fill you in on the important stuff.

I started Triathlon early this year, purely because I was going through a stage in life where I needed something. I begged my Dad to buy me a bike that I would pay off. I had seen a Eastern Provincial race right on my door step and from that day I knew that it was what I wanted to do. And I was right, the first Triathlon I ever did, i managed to almost drown myself in the sea swim but gethered myself on the bike, and kept a nice pace on the bike. I ended up with a 27th overall and at the second I crossed the finish line I knew in my head that I had what it took to be a triathlete.

Unfortunately I had joined the sport a little late and I missed triathlon season. So I filled into Duathlon season, which is a run-bike-run race. I landed up getting into the Provincial side and went to the South African champs earlier this year. I placed 11th, and I was chuffed with myself... Another step in the right direction. Up until here I had always had the swim in the back of my mind. I knew I had been a good swimmer at school but the sea swim I had done for the corporate ironman (1st tri ever) had left a bad memory that haunted me... So i started putting long sessions into the pool. For those of you who have swam lanes in a pool will know how boring it can get and how lost you can get in your own head, you end up loosing count of laps and just burning frustration inside urself. All in preporation for the end goals, well thats what I keep telling myself... "Let it try break you now, then if any negative emotions try your headstrong levels during a race, you`re ready."

Its been months of hard training, early hours of waking up in cold winter mornings, injuries and breakdowns. Thanks to my family though they are there to support me and get me back up and into a positive mind set. They make you realise why you love the sport.

Recently i have stepped it up a gear, ive bought myself a top of the range wetsuit, and been hitting the open water and must say I have certainly got a hell of a lot better than when i first ventured out into the open water.

Two weeks ago I entered into my first olympic distance triathlon. I came out 4th in the swim, went into 2nd on the bike, but blew my legs mid race and got myself back into 4th. I lost another position in the run, but thats where I would finish, 5th for my first official olympic distance triathlon. That weekend I proved to myself that I could compete against the best. I proved that I was setting my goals accurately and I proved that all I believed in over the months was worth it. A week and a half later (on Wednesday) I called up a local coach Roger Oakley, who will now be my coach. So far we have done two time trials so he can see where I am at and the base with which he has to work... As far as I can tell he is impressed. And so am I... Today we sat down after my swim time trial and we spoke about goals and where we could possibly go with this.

So here it is in writting, goal number 1, place in the top 5 for ironman 70.3 South Africa and goal number 2, Podium in Olympic distance South African champs Triathlon.

I invite you to follow me on this journey, I would love the support and encouragement.
  

The Start Line

I thought before I get into my blog, I should give the reader an idea of who I am, where I come from and the type of life I have lived up until now. So here it goes...
My name is Ryan Johnston and im from a small town in South Africa called Port Elizabeth. Better known to some as the windy city, to others, the friendly city... Over the years my life has changed dramatically going from one extreme to the next, dealing with the usual and not so usual parts of growing up. As a kid I grew up as an only child and I have been lucky enough to have had two of the greatest parents a kid could ask for. I have always been put first in their lives and given the best they could possibly give. At a young age my dad and I got into Motocross, a sport for those of you who dont know consists of racing dirt bikes around a track with jumps, fast turns and not to mention 15+ other riders. Through out school I raced and made my parents take me around the country chasing my dream to be a proffessional motocross rider, but as you will find out, didnt go according to plan. I began to find it more of a compulsory way of life and being a 15 year old who clearly knew everything, compulsory left a bad taste in my mouth and was no longer fun. So I gave up the sport for more school orientated sports... I tried them all but eventually during high school found out that I was pretty good at rugby, so I did that through out high school, made 1st team end of grade 11 and the whole of grade 12 year. After school things changed, I was offered a modeling deal In Cape Town...
Not even Two weeks after I had written finals and I was off to tackle the big bad worl of modeling by myself. It went well until I came back home for off season and fell in what I called love back then.

It was the era of girlfriends for me. I found myself in this extremely serious relationship and being 19 at the time was incredibly unhealthy. I know that now, but tell me that then and I would of given you the universal number one sign... My modeling fell completely out of my mind and I convined myself that I wanted to move back, forget about the dream of being a model and study back home to be with the love of my life and sure to be wife. She cheated. Broke up. Got back together. left me. I was so deverstated and heart broken I was convinced id never be able to smile again... Until my dad came into my room, called me out and had a long discussion with me about girls and not being foolish enough to think this was the one... He then smirked, and gave me the best offer ive ever heard in my life... "Ill buy you a new bike if you forget about this girl." And there it was, like a fart in a perfume factory... gone.

I rode again and I was damn happy, I made new friends that raced, but grew apart from some that I do miss dearly to this day. Life goes on. The motocross lasted for about another 2 years when I found myself in another relationship. She cheated ( a lot). Broke my heart. Got back together. She cheated. Broke up. See where this is going?? Anyway long story short I have not had the best experiences with girlfriends, and Its the exact reason why I find myself approaching the 2 year anniversay of being single. Single, but happy. See in the time of the last relationship I have moved back and forth from Cape Town, Europe and back to PE then back to Cape Town, all to find myself at present back in little old Port Elizabeth(PE). I would not change it for the world. In all this moving, being depressed, having the time of my life, partying till I had nothing left in the bank, meeting fantastic people, going through more bad patches it made me who I am right now.

I have grown up over the years so much so that when you look back the only thing you can do is smile and laugh about the silly and stupid things you took so seriously and thought were so important in life. I am in a good place now, im happy, I have taken responsibility for my own life and I am confident that I have started pointing my future in a very good path. How and Why? Because I stopped, looked at myself in the mirror, decided I had enough of pretending and I decided I was going to live my life the way I wanted and id be happy and nothing else.

So this is where you find me now. This is where my journey begins and I would like to share it with those who are interested. I found a new passion and it comes in the form of a sport that describes me better than I could have ever imagined. TRIATHLON. The new me.