When asked how she would characterize life, Sarah Kolpin says everything has a silver lining.

You just have to look for it.

If it wasn't for heavy rainfall at the 2005 national championships in Kansas City, Mo., the 26-year-old Kolpin might never have reached world championship form in the triathlon.

If she had been admitted into an orthopedic residency program, maybe she would've become unhappy or would've had to give up racing altogether.

"In the end," said Kolpin, a former walk-on in track and field and cross country at the University of Wisconsin, "it all works out for the best."

The end of medical school came for Kolpin on Friday. She graduated from UW and now officially is a doctor.

"It's very rewarding to think that four years have gone by so fast," Kolpin said.

"I've learned a great deal. Do you ever feel completely ready? Probably not, but it feels very, very good."

Careful balance

Professionally, Kolpin's next step is a one-year general surgery residency at the Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, a stint that starts June 16.

Athletically, her next step comes eight days earlier, with a trip to Vancouver, British Columbia, for the Triathlon World Championships.

It's the fourth consecutive year Kolpin has competed in the race, and it could be her last.

For the first time since athletics and medicine merged in Kolpin's mind during high school, one may usurp the other. The long hours that come with general surgery might prevent her from continuing to put in the time to compete at the world level in the future.

But it's something she has learned to accept.

"As medical school progresses, it gets more intensive," Kolpin said. "I'm not as fast as I used to be. I just run when I can and compete when I can."

At the same time, maybe it is possible.

After all, Joan Van Camp, the program director of general surgery at Hennepin County Medical Center, also is a competitive triathlete who has raced against Kolpin, and she hopes that Kolpin can continue balancing medicine and athletics.

Rainbow after rain

While this year's world triathlon event might represent Kolpin's last hurrah, it won't be her most memorable competition.

That happened at the 2006 Duathlon World Championships in Newfoundland.

"That race was as close to the perfect race as I've ever done," said Kolpin, who finished first in the event — it consists of a 10K run, a 40K cycling route and a 5K run — despite slick conditions. "You always try to find the perfect race, and that one I just felt so good, so strong for the entire race."

But the opportunity to achieve perfection might not have ever presented itself if it weren't for another rainy day a year earlier.

In 2005, Kolpin was scheduled to compete in the national triathlon championships in Kansas City.

Torrential downpours made conditions unsafe, and the event was canceled.

Unable to name a Team USA for the world championships, organizers allowed everyone who had entered the race to advance to the worlds in Hawaii.

"If that race hadn't been rained out, I don't know if I'd be here today competing at this level," Kolpin said.

"There was always the possibility that I wouldn't have just gone back to run of the mill running locally."

Plan B

The silver lining presented itself to Kolpin in a slightly different way in medical school.

For fourth-year medical students, "Match Day" brings more fear and dread than happiness and satisfaction.

Kolpin found the time particularly stressful. She thought expressing interest in 26 orthopedic residencies across the country and interviewing at 10 would lead to a match.

Instead, three days before the event, Kolpin found out she was without a residency.

"That was rather decimating," Kolpin said. "You planned on going into orthopedics, you planned on maybe going to this program or that program and all of a sudden you find out you don't have any programs to go to. It was like a sucker punch.

"I went through the five stages of grief — denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance — in about 36 hours."

Thoughts of the past four years being a waste crossed her mind. She felt so sick that even running was out of the question.

All was not lost.

For those who don't find a match, there is what is called the "scramble." A list of programs that are open is distributed and the students start calling around for a job.

There was only one orthopedic spot open and with so many others in the same position as Kolpin, she decided it wasn't worth the fight.

It was time for Plan B: General surgery.

"You don't get to choose what path you're given, you have to take it," Barb Kolpin said of her daughter's decision.

Within 10 minutes, Kolpin struck a one-year deal with Van Camp.

"It's almost like a second chance in a way," Kolpin said. "I may try for orthopedics again next year or I may find that I like general surgery. The bottom line is that I want my work to be appreciated. Maybe orthopedics wasn't right for me. We'll find out."