It all began with a journey.
Becoming An Ironman. That was the goal when I started this blog back in 2010. I had just come fresh off my first season of racing and had the rather overly sized goal of doing an Ironman some day. I had never run a 5k before my first sprint triathlon, so somehow I thought it related to being able to do an Ironman. Haha How wrong I was!
But it's been a journey no matter how you phrase it.
I started off a Ph.D. student in biomedical sciences who had given up sports and fitness for lab chemicals and lab mice (I never liked rats) and look at me now. I quit my program, became a fitness coach, got certified as a running coach, and am training for Ironman and ultramarathons! Oh how life changes!
Here's the long story...
I grew up a swimmer in upstate NY. I was in the pool at six weeks old and started with a competitive team when I was 9 years old. I eat, slept, and breathed swimming. It was my life. Unfortunately, I hit a plateau in my sophomore year, but never stopped enjoying the pool.
In college, found out that swimming and science don't mix, so I gave up swimming and spent time with my other love, science. Somehow, it never bothered me to let the pool go. I graduated college and followed the rest of my classmates to Ph.D. programs. Why not, right? Research sounds fun. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with my life and I was pretty good at school.
Nearly two years into my Ph.D., I got roped into doing a sprint triathlon. I had always wanted to try triathlons as a kid, but there weren’t any where I grew up. On June 17th, 2010, I competed in my first sprint triathlon. I still remember crossing the finish line and thinking "Hold on! I just ran a 5k. I didn't think I could do that. Cool!"
I had never been a fan of running in high school. I laughed at the idea of running track and couldn't imagine running cross country. Then without even thinking about it, I ran a full 5k at my first triathlon. At that point, I had to stop and re-evaluate. Maybe running wasn't so bad. If I could do a 5k, could I run a 10k? After three more sprints, I signed up for my first Olympic triathlon. Seven days after my first Oly, I turned around and did a second. I started thinking "maybe I can do a lot more than I thought."
At that point I was hooked. I had a taste of what my body could do and I've never looked back. In order to get better at triathlon, I did my first half marathon and became addicted to running. Then came my first half ironman, marathon, and finally the Ironman. But now what?
I've got a lot of PRs to trim down, but at this point I'm still quite curious how far I can push my body. 2013 was my first ultramarathon. 2014 will be focused on triathlon. Who knows what 2015 will bring!
As I said before, it all began with a journey. Now the journey continues, but to where I can't say.
Thank you for joining me. Buckle your seat belts. This could get bumpy.
EDIT:
Find additional information in these blog entries:
Recap & Update of "Why I'm Here". (Feb 18th, 2011)
Non-Athletic Biography of Me. (Feb. 23rd, 2011)
