In the beginning ...b4 IronBird there was BionicBird

Today's post is dedicated to my sister Diana aka Casey aka (the original) Bird. She too discovered triathlon later in life. In fact, at the same time as I did.

Casey, my step-daughter Kristin Kent and I had our first triathlon experience together as a relay team called Bluenose Birds. I believe the first year we entered the women's only Milton Triathlon coincides with the first summer I had a lake in my backyard. That kinda made me the obvious choice to do the swim leg. That first year, I was still so afraid of what lurked beneath that I swam freestyle with my head never entering the lake! I had panic attacks whenever I gave it a thought.

I had no problem with doing "normal" freestyle stroke in a pool - though my technique wasn't much good. I also loved snorkelling on vacations in warm climates - the Great Barrier Reef especially - where I could clearly see marine life and coral reefs in all their splendour. Most lakes, however, have murky waters and are laden with leaf litter, fallen trees and other "stuff". In recent years, I've addressed this phobia, for the most part. But that first year, I was amongst the last to exit the water to hand off the timing chip to Casey who did the bike leg. She and Kristin (run leg) worked hard to make up the deficit and were ever so supportive about my less than stellar performance - bless them!

We made the Milton Tri - held annually on Labour Day wknd - our special gals reunion and it usually included our eldest sister, Kay who came up from Ottawa. Casey hosted the lot of us in fine fashion. We had a tradition of taking in the horse races on the Friday evening, Saturday was race registration and shopping for goodies at Milton's farmer's market and a post race pig out & booze feast BBQ on Sunday!

We laughed a lot, learned a lot about the sport of triathlon in a family oriented relatively chill environment. We even adapted our relay order due to injuries and personal goals. One year, ours was the only timing chip that malfunctioned - so, from then on - K was promoted to team statistician. Poor K was also dog sitter and photographer - a true triathlete's support crew all rolled into one.

In the early years, Casey had a great bike split. Her local bike store owner Matt commended her performance and then pointed out she did it with her brake engaged! (We all do a pre race bike check now). 

One year we changed the venue to Ottawa where Casey & I grew up. It was our Auntie Betty and John's milestone anniversary so we raced at The Canadian. It was the largest tri/Du event any of us had ever seen at the time. By then, I was racing solo so I wore 2 timers - one for the Bluenose Birds and one for myself. 

Kristin did one solo tri I believe - she being the youngster - was into other adventurous pursuits and still is. Casey embraced the sport and often wins an AG podium spot. She's the Sprint distance specialist in the family. The Bluenose Birds haven't competed as a team for a few years now. I have requested that Casey & Tin consider a reunion this year as it seems fitting that the year I tackle the Ironman distance we revisit our fun filled beginnings. It will depend on some logistics and may necessitate a venue change - Shubie Tri would be fine with me!

Casey decided to switch to triathlons from extreme mountain bike racing after surviving several impressive spills. She competed as the only gal on a team who did the annual 24 hr adrenaline relay. I still can't imagine cycling over roots and rocks, uphill and down on a tough technical course let alone in the dark!! And I don't think she ever crashed at night. I dream of having those bike handling skills especially given my pathetically slow turnarounds. (She gifted me that lifesaving steed as she got herself a new one with disc brakes - one amongst more bikes than I can count, many classic vintage road bikes!)

Growing up, Casey was the athletic one in the family. Sure, I made all the varsity teams in middle and secondary school but only because I was her little sister. The coaches figured I just needed more time to develop the skills my sister, the legend, possessed naturally. Don't get me wrong, she worked hard but no as hard as I had to plus Casey didn't carry nearly as much excess body weight (ok, fat!) as I did particularly as a kid and teenager - I was the perennial bench-warmer (with the exception of being a decent soccer goal minder even at University and Ontario provincial champion ringette player, defence! defence! defence! - mind you, both activities did reward bigger gals but I still had to try-out and avoided being cut). 

Yeah, I'm proud of Casey's athletic accomplishments - she excelled at solo sports too like javelin and she ran a marathon well before it was thought of as a thing tens of thousands of  Age Groupers dreamt if doing one. 

She ran the Ottawa marathon in the days when people believed hydration wasn't that important. She was so dehydrated that she lost her vision as she neared the finish. She had to promised our mother it was her first and LAST marathon. My mother wouldn't have believed it possible for me to ever run 5km let alone a stand alone marathon and certainly not a marathon after a 3.8k swim and 180k bike race... honestly, I still can't believe it some days.

It's possible my sister, Casey, still holds the record for the person who has run the furthest far north of 60. She spent her off time running around a track when she asked to be posted to CFB Alert during her army days. 

OK - so how does the above tie into the title and dedication of today's post? I'm getting to it I promise - lol!

Casey has been swimming, riding in an aero position, running and playing hockey for well over a year with an injured shoulder. After a umpteen visits to doctors and various band-aid solutions, this morning - she finally had shoulder arthroscopic surgery to repair a tear, shave off a spur and clean up some bursitis - it wasn't going to mend on its own. 

Last night I told her to request that her surgeon not only fix the tear but make her shoulder bionic! We grew up watching the '6 million dollar man' and 'the bionic woman'. We'd even do things on slow motion to mimic them, sound effects and all! 

BionicBird needs 6 weeks off post-op and has promised she won't be a typical 'Case' and rush rehab. I admit I can't wait to get an excitable text from her this Spring letting me know she had a pain free swim! I can't wait to watch her compete again at her full potential and see those pearly whites beaming in satisfaction.

Oh yeah - my training today I had a decent run this more working on  speed-skills and particularly strides.

Off to the pool with my merely mortal shoulders ...