Leslie Manjarrez

Growing up I was a runner, a swimmer and a dancer. My mom put me in swim classes early and I started doing summer swim league when I was six. I fell in love with running in elementary school. The teachers organized a month-long “Run a marathon” challenge where you did laps around the dirt track at recess, counted them up and then totaled them at the end of the month. I ran the lengths of two marathons. After that, my parents signed me up for a local races and I eventually joined the high school cross country team. As an adult, I kept that up, casually running on my own and swimming, becoming a Lifeguard for my Camp job and running trails across San Francisco.

When I turned 35 I made it my goal to run a marathon. Since I had the base of running already I decided to take a year, did some research and took it slow. I’ve never been the fastest out there, but I’m always determined. I completed the Honolulu Marathon in December 2025, feeling really great about my goal. Family and friends then began joking with me: “Obviously you’ve got the swimming and running down, really all you need now is the bike right?”

Since it was January, and it was time to make a new goal, I set out to start training for a triathlon.

I was chatting with a colleague about his Triathlon history, he lives in Napa and has done a few. He mentioned Wildflower to me as a race that had good vibes, a nice course, and a sprint option, my goalpost had now moved up to May instead of the end of the year. In preparing for open water swimming, I had added a secondary milestone for myself: To Swim Alcatraz. I did a little bit of online research and contacted Pacific Open Water. Given I didn’t have “formal” open water swimming yet, they suggested I take their Open Water Clinic first and signed myself up.

At the open water clinic with Pacific in March I was chatting with Sylvia, and discussed my goals. She said, “Oh! You must be with SF Tri!” I admitted I didn’t know who SF Tri was, but was interested in learning more. Following an email and a casual picnic I suddenly found myself invited to a track practice. People were so kind and welcoming so I decided to stay!

Training with the club has helped me feel confident to jump into things quicker. With a group I feel more confident knowing I can rely on people to seek answers I need. For years I’ve been on my own, looking things up online, being in online groups but not really asking questions or getting a good answer, or feeling judged for having questions. Having people around who know what they’re doing, have done it before, AND are so nice has been game changing in feeling comfortable enough to take big leaps of faith.

It was fun, interesting and definitely scary at times! Lots of crying: frustration, injury, and joy! I started with asking a colleague who commutes on his bike to work and is into bikes for a bike shop recommendation. Since I committed to my goal and bought a bike, I then decided I had made the full commitment to the Sprint at Wildflower meaning I had about 8 weeks to learn to bike for my first race.

I had lots of support from my partner, talking up practice times and helping me make a plan for if and when things might go south. Having the Heylo app and seeing people talking about longer rides helped me figure out a cadence for my own practice. I do want to thank Patrick for all his tips and support, truly some things are not like riding a bike that you don’t forget, especially when it comes to gear shifting! Sidd suggested time doing laps in the polo fields and that gave me some confidence in just being able to start rolling also.

I also had a lot of support and encouragement from friends near and far, folks asking me how it was going, asking me how many miles I was going now and what an upcoming ride was. I have many friends who bike for fun or commuting so I had conversations with them about my trials and tribulations, but also my progress. I had friends who decided to come to Santa Cruz to watch me race and that was a big motivator too, to be that person that they told me they saw making their dreams happen.

I think what helped me too was the 70.3 program and that schedule. Following Wildflower I went to the orientation and had a few frank conversations with Coach Meg and others about whether or not it was realistic for me to make it that far. I was feeling confident from Wildflower but also knew that 56 miles was so much more than I had ever gone. With the program, and some buffer time leading up to it, I was able to feel ready. With the schedule of 70.3 I knew I had to do this many rides, and go this many miles at least or spend this amount of time on the bike. It helped me stay on track and build up over the 12 week program. There was also a deadline, whether I liked it or not, the race was going to happen, and there was a whole cohort of people doing it. Committed people who also had the same schedule as I did.

I cannot live without my google calendar. If it’s not there, it doesn’t exist. I balance a number of commitments, a lot of which are not in San Francisco. Heylo has been immensely helpful with this aspect of training. If there’s an event, you register and you can add it to the calendar. Track practice, rides, swim practice. Sometimes I would put it in through Heylo then realize I had to shift things around, or that I couldn’t actually make a practice, or that I could!

My husband does Rugby and all of a sudden we realized that our specialty clothes and equipment were getting lost in our speciality work clothes and equipment. We had to make a separate laundry basket for our workout clothes. I also had to make separate backpacks for running, swimming and biking-Things I could grab and go with nutrition, first aid, and equipment. So then I could say “yes” to that last minute practice I could fit in, or run home and confidently grab my shoes and run out because everything else was already packed.

Lastly, my work/committments takes me out of town a lot. I would always plan with Coach to move workouts around when I was traveling, and I had to think through what to pack. I also would have to sometimes do a spin bike session instead of actual bike to complete my workout when I had to take planes, or I packed my bike up for when I was on the road. Lots of logistics, early mornings or late nights after or before work: 5:30am swims and 8-9pm runs.

Getting on the bike the first time right after I bought it, at night, on Sunset Dunes, doing a single mile, and being afraid the whole time was a big moment. I’m so proud that I did that, and that I was able to push through it.

The next big milestone was finishing at Wildflower, going up Lynch Hill and then being like “oh ok, great, we’re good” but then realizing there were still a bunch of little hills along the way felt like a “big” moment once I was done, although in the moment, it was big challenge.

Another moment I look back on was the first time I went on Hawk Hill, some walking, some crying, it was foggy and hard, but I got up there with encouragement from team members, some strangers and it felt like a huge win.

I did swim Alcatraz as well, as a fun treat for myself about half way through training.

I always hold on to the joy that I feel while doing any of this. I absolutely love movement. Running, dancing, swimming and now biking are the things that make me feel grounded. I always try to have a smile on my face because it’s about having fun. I always feel such joy looking around and seeing a sunset at track, feeling the sun on my skin on a bike ride, tasting some of the salt from the ocean in the open water. It’s about the journey, more than the destination for me, to look at everything I’ve built and be excited about what’s coming next. We didn’t get this far, to only come this far and we gotta keep moving forward.

I think this journey has highlighted something I value in myself: to try new things and be willing to have the chance to fail. That I actually am willing to try again and that I continue to have the privilege of enjoying the journey itself. I’ve had to learn to trust myself more, and to trust people around me throughout the journey. That it’s not just about getting to the finish line, but the start line. I’ve learned so much from seeing people on their own journey as athletes, both racing and cheering that has also pushed me forward.

You are capable. You don’t have to be the best, you just have to try. Know that if you want it, there are resources for you, and there are people who will support your journey. Own YOUR journey, it doesn’t have to look like the road to Kona, it can look like whatever you want it to. You belong in Triathlons if you want to belong here. As the running world says, if you run, you’re a runner, so I think if you try, you’re a triathlete :)