Starting out

Four years ago, when I turned 40, my primary exercise was walking ¾ mile to my 4 year old’s preschool. I had made various exercise attempts over the years, some more successful than others, but I never stuck with any of them very long. Shortly after my birthday I hemorrhaged and nearly died. While recovering, I started to run. A year later, I bought a bike and started biking to work. I’m now training for my first triathlon: September 26, 2010.

I love biking, have a love-hate relationship with running (sometimes I get into a rhythm and love it, most of the time I consider running a necessary evil), and don’t know how to swim, despite growing up on a lake. I’m 44, and in the best shape of my life, but not nearly in the shape I’d like. I’m on my way there now. I’m thinking of this as a training blog, not just my miles, but what I’m thinking about and how my training and the rest of my life are intersecting.

My daughter and stepdaughter think of me as a strong, fit woman. They have no memory of a time when I didn't regularly exercise. I like their image of me, and want to keep matching it, growing as they do.