Back to blogging

Holy cow. It has been years since I have updated this blog. Well, a lot has certainly changed since I last posted. I bought a house, became a father, and became a triathlete. I think it is high time I start to blog again. Right now I am 8 weeks out from my first half iron man, so I think that triathlon is most apropos.

I started running just about one year ago to try to live a healthier lifestyle. I am no stranger to running, I was on the track & field team in high school, and then I had several failed attempts to start running throughout my twenties. For whatever reason, perhaps being a father, or perhaps having technology (Runkeeper and Strava!) to motivate me, I stuck to it. I signed up and trained for the Santa Monica Christmas Run last December and I finished in just under 28 minutes. I was hooked.

At work I planted the idea that a bunch of us should train for a race and we actually followed through on it! We decided to go for the 5k at the Pasadena Triathlon. This had me thinking, I have already done a 5k, what if I did the triathlon? I decided to go for it and bought a bike. My first venture on the bike was miserable, I went 7 miles and came back so sore I could barely walk. I was very discouraged and I didn't touch the bike again for a few weeks. Thankfully my coworker was up to the challenge of showing me the ropes and after a few lunctime rides I was off to a much better start. Through that coworker I also discovered PTC, the Pasadena Triathlon Cub, which coincidentally was just starting a series of beginner rides. With their help I got up to speed pretty quickly on the bike.

Swimming is a whole different story. I procrastinated much longer than I should have to start swimming. I finally broke down and went to the pool and I couldn't even make it to the other end without stopping. This was even more discouraging than my first bike ride. I ended up taking a bunch of lessons to get me going and then I followed a 0 to 1650 swim plan I found online. Swimming is still a personal struggle for me but at least I got to the point where I could swim laps without drowning.

Well, finally the big day came and I did pretty well. I really wanted to finish under an hour, but I am happy with my time of 1:02:44. Since then I have done several more running races and an olympic distance triathlon. Oh, I forgot to mention that another coworker of mine is on this crazy journey with me. We are both doing the half iron man and we signed up for a full next year!