Hi! My name is Kristen, and I am a fourth year pharmacy student and novice triathlete. I say novice because I recently started training for triathlons in the fall of 2018. I grew up extremely active and spent most of my days playing soccer and other various sports. Throughout my high school and early college career, I tore my ACL twice and my meniscus once. These set backs weren't easy, but I didn't let that hinder me from continuing on my athletic journey. I raced my first triathlon in April 2019, and was set to race an Olympic distance in September 2019. Two weeks before my race, I collided with a truck on my road bike during a training session. This left me with 4-6 weeks of training restriction, and the inability to race in my scheduled triathlon. My heart was broken from all of the training I had completed only to have another set back halt my journey.

I took the winter to continue to improve. I completed my first Spartan race and challenged myself to the STL Frostbite series. Every day I continued to better myself for the 2020 triathlon season. I challenged myself to sign up for a Half Triathlon in September 2020. I recently found out that this race, as many others, has been cancelled due to safety concerns with COVID-19. Even though the official race is cancelled, I still have every intention to complete the 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and 13.1 mile run.

The kicker: I want you to join me as well.

Welcome to the Comeback Kriz Half Triathlon 2020. I am partnering with the Challeneged Athletes Foundation (CAF) to help raise funds and awareness for individuals that have physical limitations and barriers to living an active, competitive lifestyle in sports that they love. CAF helps provide these individuals with the equipment, coaching, mentoring, and travel expenses necessary to find success in sports, and in life! A fun fact about CAF is that they helped the first female leg amputee, Sarah Reinertsen, to complete the Ironman Triathlon World Championships in Kona, Hawaii. CAF also helps hosts the annual Aspen Medical Products San Diego Triathlon Challenge.

Through this page, you can donate towards CAF and help show your support for my race on September 12, 2020. If you cannot donate, or wish to participate, I challenge you to get up and swim, bike, run, walk, etc on September 12th and post using #ComebackKriz2020 on Instagram or Facebook. For every individual who uses this hastag, I will donate $1 towards CAF on your behalf (max $150 from myself). Stay tuned on my instagram page @triathletekriz to follow along on my progress on Sept 12th and to see some friends join me for some miles of the race.

I look forward to completing this milestone with you! Thank you for your donations and support.

Kristen

My event is sponsored by Muenchau Metal Works. A full service welding, machining, fabrication, and custom metal working business based in Mascoutah, IL. Visit their Facebook page or call (618) 566-2296 with inquiries and questions!