Ambassador Spotlight: Anne Reed

Anne Reed is our Spotlight Ambassador this week, having just finished a very brutal Ironman Florida.  Kudos to you, Anne, for showing up and tearing it up.  Only Anne would have a profile that mentions Sean Connery, side-boob and Big Fluffy (nope, not what you think!)… all in one place.  

Anne Reed

City/State: Fort Myers, FL

Age Group: 40-44

Biggest Inspiration: My Friend Kathleen Casado; and my girls

Scary 2015 Goal: My Second Ironman–Ironman Louisville

How Triathlon Changed Me: Triathlon has made me much more confident. It’s made me be my own biggest cheerleader. Triathlon has given me a strength I never knew I had- and it’s a balanced strength, one that is physical, emotional, and spiritual. It’s also completely humbled me and anytime I feel too comfortable or too awesome, I wreck my bike clipped in at a full stoplight or eat too many gels and have farts I can’t trust for 8 miles of a 70.3.

Favorite Piece of Gear:  My Specialized Shiv Expert.

His name is Sean Connery and I feel like a Bond Girl when I’m on it (or when I’m wearing my wetsuit, which is like Full Body Spanx).

I even used my birthday money to pay a professional car pinstriper to go over the red stripe with pink because PINK makes you faster! Sean Connery is the second bike I have ever had that was mine (and not borrowed).

My first bike I rode for tri’s was my husband’s old road bike and the frame was too big, so for my first two sprints tris I would just yell FALLING at the dismount and dump over on the ground. For my second season he surprised me with a used Specialized Transition he got on Ebay and I named that bike Captain America and it got me through my first 70.3.

I Race For: Myself- because I can. A day will come when I can’t.

I have two types of crazy migraines- hemiplegic migraine and basilar migraine. I take preventative meds, but when the migraines happen, they leave nerve damage in my left side. Sometimes it happens when racing, and it’s scary running or swimming with an arm that won’t work, or a wonky leg.

But I keep going because right now, I still can.

I also race for my daughters, so they see that it’s not just boys who do Ironman. I love that they want to grow up and race with Mommy AND Daddy. And that they see that while Daddy might be faster (a lot faster), we get the same medal and put in the same training and finish what we start.

How I Pay It Forward: I’m a board member for Endurance Sisterhood, which is a local tri club for women. It’s become a sacred space and our online group allows us to ask questions and discuss topics that we just don’t feel comfortable talking about with the guys around…

…mainly because the guys can’t handle it when chicks talk about farts and periods and sideboob chafing and Big Fluffy (that’s the name of my tummy, a lifetime lingering result of three giant babies)….

I am always posting my long runs and trying to organize it so people of all paces and distances can join in, and I’ll run back and forth between groups to make sure no one is left behind. I also like to race for Charity- in 2012 while my brother was deployed we were the third place fundraising team for Semper Fi Fund at Marine Corps Marathon, and this year I raised money all year racing for The Eleonore Rocks Foundation, in memory of the four babies we lost to early miscarriage.

What Else You Should Know About Me: I make the absolute best chocolate chip cookies and I’ll give you the recipe. I’m from the Midwest so I love to cook and bake but always make too much food (so it’s good to be my neighbor). I’m not a fast triathlete or fast runner but I always finish and am full of determination- and spite. If someone tells me I can’t do something, it will fuel me to do it. I am a food addict and love donuts- to the point where on trainer rides I’ll zone out and think of all of the great donuts I have loved (2008 after an early winter Saturday morning pool swim I had a cheesecake filled donut from Tom’s Donuts in Maumee, OH which has sadly closed). In any group I’m the story teller, and long runs with me are filled with laughter (and poop stories).

I have three girls, ages 12, 7, and 4. They keep me very busy, and the littlest is a total ham and loves to make people laugh (like her mom). 🙂

My husband is also an Ironman distance athlete so our house is crazy busy with everyone’s schedules and me trying to keep the kids’ lives as normal as possible. Our family is addicted to American Ninja Warrior and my middle child climbs everything and makes obstacle courses out of my furniture. We also have a dog, Brady, and he is the least fit person in our house and is very happy about it.

I’m six foot tall and clutzy and goofy. I’ve been kicked out of step aerobics classes and had zumba instructors give me frownie faces because I have very little control of my long noodly arms and crazy long legs.

Triathlon is a great equalizer for me and I love that I can be a giant giraffe and still finish, and that everyone at the start – all different ages and body shapes and sizes- has done the same training to get there, making us all equal! Just don’t run next to me and my flailing arms.

I think my triathlon spirit animal is a Turtle. During my first Olympic, I would repeat to myself “a turtle steps with dignity and purpose. Dignity and purpose.” Made for good bike cadence and run cadence and helped replace what was stuck in my mind- The Backyardigans “Racing Day” (my kids were really little at the time- but we still listen to that song before every race). Plus I did mention I’m not fast- repeating my mantra is my way of making being a Turtle positive.

How to Follow Me:

My Blog: http://hellofancypants.blogspot.com/

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/AnneKathrynReed

Instagram: http://instagram.com/akreed18