Hello 2014!

Welcome to 2014 the year of Ironman 70.3 training, learning to swim, learning to bike, improving my running times and eating better!

This post is a little late due to my fabulous trip to the Dominican Republic to kick off the New Year with my friend Shawna.  We had a rough 2013 and decided months ago that we wanted to start off 2014 in a big, happy, WARM way so we booked a few days at an all inclusive in Punta Cana.  It was amazing aside from the bugs and the whole having to leave part!

2014 is going to be a pretty big year for me, I can feel it and no that isn't just the spinning and weight lifting I did today.  My schedule is daunting, in fact so daunting that I am FREAKING out man!  I'm excited to accomplish not one but two Ironman 70.3 distance races this year but the level of training is going to be much more than I had for the marathon, mostly because biking and swimming are not strong sports for me even in the slightest.   J had always wanted to do a 70.3 and it took her a LONG time to convince me to do one, in fact she had given up and said I just had to come watch and cheer for her.

While pondering traveling and sitting on the sidelines for a race I started to recap 2013 in my head.  2013 was a pretty big year for me physically but more so personally.  I got divorced, I don't really talk about that much on social media and in fact I'm pretty sure while I have alluded to it I have never written out the word on Facebook or any other website.  Divorce is not a very easy topic to talk about and I feel it is super personal but I thought it important to mention in reference to why I've made some of the decisions I've made.   Running and working out at the gym gave me strength and became my own personal therapy to discover what I could accomplish and how much I could push myself beyond my limits.   Working out centered me while I sold my house, got an apartment in the city, moved and took my name back.  Getting divorced is never easy and everyone has to cope in their own way and just because working out was therapy for me does not mean that would work for everyone.

Phew, ok now we can move on, which is coincidentally is the theme of this year I guess!  I sat there and thought to myself, you NEVER thought you would get divorced or be able to handle it but look at you, you did.  To be clear, I have never been a swimmer, I clearly have never drown but I have never swam laps or really any distance.  The last time I rode a bike I crashed and had a HUGE bruise on my chin.  Knowing all those facts I decided to believe in myself and my dedication to learning and growing as a person and athlete and sign up for not one but TWO 70.3 Distances.

Now that you know how we got to this point can't wait to bring you along for the journey.

Total Distance: 0
Swim: 0
Bike: 0
Run: 0

*spin class is not counting toward bike totals
**Running will likely stay 0 until after my post surgical follow up Friday and it stresses me out but that is another post for another time