About five years ago, Anna Cronin realized she wanted more out of life. Eventually she figured out what she wanted was to be uncomfortable.
“I was reevaluating everything in my life and what was really important, so I turned to sports, which is something I’ve always done, and I found triathlons,” said Cronin, a 34-year-old Concord resident. “That forced me to really learn how to ride a bicycle and get back into running not just for fitness, but for speed and time.
“And you know, everyone is totally different, but I’ve found that we struggle for two reasons. It’s because you’re either leaving your comfort zone or refusing to leave your comfort zone. I realized I wasn’t leaving my comfort zone, so I found something that really pushed me far out of what was comfortable and really pushed me to challenge myself. And it’s been wonderful.”
On top of the satisfaction, Cronin has also found lots of success outside her old comfort zone. She finished first in her division in her first-ever triathlon three years ago. She was 21st at the 2018 International Triathlon Union World Championships in Australia. She was the first female finisher and top 10 overall at the White Mountains Triathlon on June 22, which was serving as the New Hampshire state championship. One week later, she posted the best result of her career when she was the first female finisher (and top 10 overall) at the Groupe Copley World Triathlon Montreal, an event that is part of the ITU series. She’ll try to top that career-best result in September at the ITU World Championships in Lausanne, Switzerland.
“It’s been a fast trajectory,” Cronin said. “It’s pretty rare that someone can say, ‘I’m 30-years-old and I think I’ll try to be a professional racer.’ I’m very lucky to have the resources and the physical capacity to do something like that.
“Community has been such an incredible support system, and I am grateful for my family and all they do. We have an incredible athletic community in Concord and without them, I wouldn’t have had the rapid trajectory in triathlon.”
The entire triathlon community has also been part of the draw for Cronin. They may be competing against each other, but they’re also supporting, advising and encouraging each other to push deeper and deeper into those uncomfortable places.
“There is something incredibly beautiful about competing in a sport that brings us all together, regardless of discipline, ability level, age, beliefs,” Cronin said. “Essentially, we are all trying to age gracefully, and I’d like to see just how far we can go, and have a bit of fun while figuring it out.”
Cronin was born and raised in Bennington. She played lacrosse as a kid and did some distance running as a younger adult. When her friend Dina Carnivale invited Cronin to join her in a triathlon in 2016, Cronin went along, although she was skeptical of Carnivale in the end.
“After the finish she said, ‘Anna, you were first in your division,’ and I thought she was playing a cruel joke,” Cronin said. “But it turned out to be true and after that I was like, ‘let’s see how far we can push this.’ ”
Her first order of business was improving on the bike. Cronin had never even ridden her bike in the woods before, but she was living the ‘get comfortable being uncomfortable’ mantra, so she trained by mountain biking. After navigating single lane tracks next to vertical drops that were thousands of feet high, Cronin gained so much confidence on the bike that it has gone from being her weak link to her strength.
Her educational and professional background also helped with the rapid triathlon trajectory. She worked as an exercise physiologist before re-assessing her life and is now a personal trainer in Concord.
Add it all up, and Cronin was able to push fast and far into the triathlon world. She began racing in national events in 2017 and did enough to qualify for the 2018 ITU World Championships.
Cronin went to the ITU event in Montreal this June with every intention of winning, but before the race even began she was presented with an unexpected challenge.
“I found out the bike portion was a crit style race, so 10 laps around a very short track, and I have never done anything like that before, so that ‘being outside the comfort zone’ thing came up again,” Cronin said. “So I had to rearrange my head space, figure out which bike to use, and figure out how to count the laps. Because you’re responsible for knowing your laps, and I actually kept count with a rubber band on my fingers. I was like, ‘Ten laps, I’ve got 10 fingers, that’s how I’m doing this.’”
It was a clever solution, but when Cronin finished the bike portion and heard the announcement that she was the leading female, she had her doubts.
“The first though that came to my mind was, ‘What if I only did nine laps?’ ” Cronin said with a laugh. “I just figured they would tally it up at the end and if I only did nine, oh well.”
As it turned out, she did all 10 laps and then held off the rest of the field during the 10K run.
“That’s a challenging position to be in, especially for pacing yourself, because you’ve got girls chasing you and this course was a four-lap run, so you could see everyone staying on you, it was like running scared,” Cronin said. “But it was helpful in a sense because it drives you to not let up, again being deliciously uncomfortable.”
Cronin’s next immediate goal is to finish in the top 10 at the World Championships in Lausanne, something she said was, “a lofty but reasonable goal.” In the long term, she’d like to find more sponsors so she can become a professional racer. Until then, she’s happy working as a personal trainer and would be happy to take on some clients (if you’re interested, email her at corkandcronin@gmail.com). Ultimately, she’d like to give back even more to the Concord community that has helped support her dreams.
“None of this means anything unless you give back,” Cronin said. “Eventually I would love to bring back a local triathlon, help build up our youth programs, and continue to work and play with the fantastic athletes in our community. I would love to see the way paved for future young females looking to find their fierce through an introduction to triathlon. I’m still looking for the best way for me to focus my efforts in this way, but I have no doubt inspiration and the right avenue will find me.”
(Tim O’Sullivan can be reached at 369-3341 or tosullivan@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @timosullivan20)