Julie Shimko's Page

The “Why?”
As I sat on the bus this morning, I got to thinking about the “why?” Everyday we swim, bike, run, attend yoga, pilates, physical therapy, spinning classes, or whatever physical activity we each decide to do that day. Some of us get up at 5:00am, sometimes earlier, or some of us wait until after work to release our fury on our activity of choice. It’s become part of our being. It’s like breathing—this desire to run during the sunrise, or bike indoors to the thoughts and songs of oursel… Continue

a tight calf and achilles tendon, and a completely effed up left hip. So this explains why my right foot went numb in the middle of the Chicago tri, and why I ended up crying more tears of pain than happiness from cramping...

So here I am, 3 weeks and some change away from the biggest race of my life yet and one of my steps towards being an iron(wo)man: the Chicago marathon, and I am now in physical therapy 2-3 days a week for Plantar Fasciitis, overtight muscles in my right lower leg, and a ja… Continue

I put my tri shorts on backwards at 3am. And didn't realize it until 40 minutes before my start at 9:32am. I bet that caught someone's attention! Luckily the rest of my day didn't follow that mindless track it was obviously on at 3 in the morning! I typically wouldn't post on what most (including myself) would consider a pretty amateur race, however, I feel I owe it some reflection because I tested myself mentally and physically the most I EVER have in a race. Let's go back to the taper weeks be… Continue

Hills. That's all I have to say. That and swagger. :) Best swagger of any race I have done yet! We received a cycling jersey, an actual backpack with the HyVee triathlon logo, water bottle, hat, visor, sunglasses, and tons of good snacks. Oh and one free beer at the Michelob tent at the end. The map of the couse on the website, however, lacks an elevation map...so we discovered on Sunday. We all arrived under the impression that Iowa is flat...at least I did! The bike and the run both had 3-4 st… Continue