Thirty-two-year-old Morgan Whinery has always been goal oriented. She credits that to her Sayre upbringing, particularly the influence of her parents, Kent and Sandy Whinery.
During the Covid-19 Pandemic, Whinery worked for Peleton in their Dallas office.
Like many, she was restless. “I was just trying to figure out what I wanted to do next,” Whinery recounted. “I really liked working for Peleton but considered attending law school. I wasn’t sure what to do. Then, I saw a job opening for Peleton in our London office. I went home and asked my husband what he would think about moving to London, and he was all for it. I asked him again the next day, and he said he wasn’t sure. I told him it was too late because I had already applied.”
Whinery quickly learned that she had been offered the job.
“My dad was so encouraging,” Whinery smiled. “He just said, ‘Morgan, this is an opportunity to have some once-in-a-lifetime experiences. You can always come back to the States and go to law school, but you may never get the opportunity like this again. You are young, so go see the world.’” Relocating to a foreign country is always bound with challenges. However, as the world faced global shutdowns and supply chain issues, moving during the Pandemic posed unprecedented hurdles.
“We couldn’t even fly over to see if we liked it or where we would live. We were truly going into it blind. But, there’s this particular moment that will probably always be what stands out most to my husband and me. We were in the black taxi cab on our way to temporary housing through an Airbnb we had never seen, and my husband just blankly said, ‘Well, I hope we like it here.’ We were committed to it for a while, no matter what, so that moment sticks out,” Whinery laughed.
Whinery and her husband adjusted quickly, but they were both homesick at times.
“I was over here and just kind of feeling stuck,” Whinery said. “I talked about it with one of my friends, and she said that I just needed to find a goal because I have always been goal-driven. She knew I would be happy if I had something I was working to accomplish. And then she suggested a triathlon.”
The idea of a triathlon did seem interesting, but Whinery pointed out one obvious problem.
“I told her that I don’t know how to swim and I don’t own a bike,” Whinery joked.
But Whinery pursued this new goal anyway.
She signed up for her first triathlon in January and spent the last five months training.
This weekend, she saw her goal to completion.
“I did the spring marathon, so it was essentially a swim of 400 meters, biking for twelve miles, and running for three and a half miles,” Whinery explained.
The triathlon was at Dorney Lake in Eton, a small city outside of London near Windsor Palace.
“This is where William and Harry went to school, so Americans may be familiar with that,” Whinery advised.
Though Whinery was modest in her accomplishment, she fared quite well. She finished eighth out of 46 women and 46th out of 100 total competitors.
She plans to run a half marathon this upcoming weekend. “I decided to measure success in this triathlon venture by two metrics — finishing and if it brought me joy. I have to say, and I really did enjoy this process.”
