Type A Plus : 'Be-er' versus 'Doer'

My fellow type a kindred spirit....

Type A from Wikipedia

“The theory describes a Type A individual as ambitious, aggressive, business-like, controlling, highly competitive, impatient, preoccupied with his or her status, time-conscious, and tightly-wound. People with Type A personalities are often high-achieving "workaholics" who multi-task, push themselves with deadlines, and hate both delays and ambivalence.”

I decided to do some ‘research’ and take a test to determine personality type. The following was one of the questions with which you were to indicate how strongly you agree: “Unless you are walking with a destination in mind, you are losing time.”

Yes! Someone finally understands me! In fact, that sounds like a good signature quote.

I actually didn’t score 100 percent on the Type A test, but I think that’s only because answering “absolutely true” to a few of the questions made me feel a bit guilty.

This is my personal definition of Type A: wanting to always ‘do’ instead of ‘be.’ Not just do as in straight hyperactivity, but to improve, to succeed, to win. Whatever #winning means to you.

I got the idea when I was young that it was somehow wrong or bad to be competitive. Consequently, I squelched the overt competitiveness, the kind that would have gotten me somewhere, like trying to be good at sports, or get great grades, and instead it came out in subversive ways:

-When I was in middle school competition centered on who had the cutest boy vying for their attention and/or who owned the most sets of Bongo shorts and Explorer shirts.

-When I was in high school it was being a cheerleader or on the dance team, as well as having the cutest boy vying for their attention (this last one, by the way, is a paradox because everyone knows the very definition of the cutest boy is the one that Doesn’t pay attention to you)

Now looking back these things were ridiculous and in fact, quite superficial. But that’s not really the point. The point is that you can make any activity or daily task a game, and the point of a game is to win.


Here are some things that I readily admit to:

-Putting a time limit on everything, including tasks, social events, and.. Every. Thing. Else. I plan how long walking the dogs will take, what time I must be on my bike trainer, and what time I need to be in bed. Even if there is no really good reason for these arbitrary deadlines.

-Finishing other peoples sentences - Hey I am helping them by assisting their completion of a task more quickly and efficiently!

-Turning everything possible into a game or competition. How quick can I fold this laundry? How many lights can I get through without having to make a complete stop? How many cups of tea I can drink during a boring day of meetings? How many days can I have the same grilled chicken salad from Chick-fil-a in a row?

I have to stop giving examples now before they sound too much like DSM-IV criteria for Type A Personality Disorder. Which is something Completely different, I assure you.

And contrary to popular belief, Its not that I CAN'T relax, its that true relaxation to me occurs within the constructs of goal -oriented activity. Like say, running. There is nothing that clears my head more than a hard run, preferably one where I have faster people to chase. (And that my friends, answers the question about why there is nothing more satisfying than running/cycling/swimming till you puke or collapse. I know you wondered.)

As a type a plus, I find myself gravitating towards other people who are the same. It doesn’t really matter if they aren’t into the same things as me, I feel like I understand them somehow.

My older dog Sadie and I are kindred spirits. Sadie is happiest when she is working towards something. Typically her work involves one of the following:

-Asserting herself as dominant dog over poor Bailey, her little sister or other dogs at the park.

-Wrestling and running harder and faster than the other dogs.

-Chewing on a huge rawhide till it’s completely gone.

-Stealing food, generally eating as much as possible,

- protecting her pack, aka barking at people

When she's not doing one of these things, she’s waiting to do one of these things. And unfortunately for Sadie, that is a pretty much an exhaustive list of available competitive outlets for dogs. Which means poor Sweetums is bored a lot.

There was a time when I felt like I needed to pretend to be more ‘B’, but fortunately in recent years I have become comfortable with the good or at least neutral aspects of being Type A, and trying to improve the negative ones (Think extreme impatience and intolerance for delay s of any kind.) This process has been good for my self-esteem but perhaps unfortunate for those who I successfully convinced that I was an easygoing free spirit and now have to continue to put up with me!

I also spend an inordinate amount of time contemplating the “be-ers.” Why are they so content to ‘be’ and why are they not incited to action by my suggestions on improving their be-ing? Ex “you spend every Saturday looking at antiques? Are you trying to find the most antiques? The Best antiques?? Why why why do you look at antiques if the purpose is just to look?? !!

Sometimes I think I’m a little jealous of people who can just be rather than do all the time. But I also don’t want to BE them if that makes any sense. And they sure as heck don’t want to be me either! Trust me, I’ve been told so. More than once.

Anyways, the world needs both A’s and B’s. Without B’s civilized society would devolve into a complete chaotic lawless meltdown. Without A’s there would be less competition and competition makes society better. Also there would be no wars. And less heart disease. Hmmm…

In any case, I have to end this blog post now because I allotted myself exactly 15 minutes to work on it and I have to be on the trainer by seven sharp!

Fear of the Off Season: How it all began

I have always had an all or nothing personality. Which is probably why I hate the word ‘off - season.’ Because I’m scared of the shift from the ‘all’ to the ‘nothing’

In fact, I really haven’t taken a significant break since I began. I started really ‘training’ to run (defined as stringing together at least three runs a week together for several weeks at time) in the fall of2008 when I had a random goal of doing a marathon. I was about to turn 27 and although I had been involved in sports my whole life, and was a trainer and avid exerciser, I had fallen into a period of being relatively sedentary for at least a year.

I decided I didn’t want to turn 27 and be so out of shape, so I joined one of those early-morning boot camps. The boot camp was run as most probably are, combining running and bodyweight exercises into races and competitive games. I was embarrassingly out of shape at the beginning, but on the timed ‘almost mile,’ which was an element of the benchmark test, I almost caught the instructor who was leading the group and running all out. I almost puked, but something long hidden awakened in me.

After several weeks of boot camp, I started to get freakishly good at random things like doing the most pushups, tricep dips, bear walking and crab walking.It was like a ‘race’ every morning at 5:45 am and I loved it. Most of all, though I looked forward to the running because I had never considered myself a good runner and suddenly I was ‘winning’ in my little corner of the universe.

After a few months of boot camp, I was promoted to instructor and then it wasn’t as fun anymore. There was no competitive element and it turned into getting up way too early to attend a session where I may or may not actually get a good workout. I needed a new challenge so I set my sights on a marathon.

First step was to go to Barnes and Noble and pick up a copy of “Four hours to a Four Hour Marathon.” I picked Gasparilla Marathon in March 2009 as my goal.

I had jogged some in college but my motivation was solely to keep the pounds at bay. And for reasons I won’t go into on this blog I was never really great at it, even though I did manage to slog my way through a few races here and there. My only other previous motivation was running was something that I shared with my dad. He loved it and so it was really nice to pick out races to run together.

So back to the marathon. In the three months or so leading up the race I got a lot faster with some actual consistency. My goal gradually shifted downward to the 3:20s. At the same time I was training, I was getting fascinated with the next logical step in athletics, doing a triathlon. Okay, not really “doing a triathlon.” I probably decided I wanted to do a marathon in October 2008, and looking at my records, I had already signed up for two half-ironmans for 2009 by December. This is, of course, without owning a bike, nor really knowing how to swim.

This is also the time I discovered Atlanta Triathlon Club. I called around the various triathlon clubs and ended up talking to Ron Teed, who reflected the attitude I needed in a potential club; interested, engaged, helpful. My first 20 miler for the marathon was a thirty –degree day where I showed up randomly to an ATC group run in Piedmont Park. I think there were only a few people there that week considering it was basically Christmas! Ron was nice enough to run with me for 18 of the miles and I told them I’d see them next week.

The rest was history, and I was able to find my niche and discover a group who didn’t think it was odd that I had planned a whole ‘season’ of triathlons and marathons with little background to speak of. And three Ironmans, and a gazillion other races later, I’ve been going every since.
All that brings me to this off-season issue. The aches and pains I acquired on my First group ride, the calf pain that nearly killed me the last few miles my one open marathon, they pretty much have been with me ever since. I mean, I’m Sure it’s just a coincidence…

And while I know rest is very valuable and often recommend it to others, I have a Very hard time following my own advice. So that’s why for the last several weeks, my training totals are pathetic. And I took today off. And this is what my coach wants me to do! Hoping that it will pay off and that I don’t rest myself into forever slothdom!

2012- Looking Ahead

Ahh there is nothing more exciting than looking ahead to the next year and the next season. The sky is the limit, anything could happen, and until I actually plunk down the money and register, I can Say I’m doing any race I want!

Challenge Roth? Sure that would be fun. Ironman Cozumel and or New Zealand? Definitely want to hit those. Kona, of course, now that I’m in there is the draw of immediately re-qualifying. Surely there must be a back-door way into Arizona, Florida… and I’m sure I’ll be up for doing it and will have endless amount of funds / vacation time to make it happen. Put it on the list!

So with that in mind, here is my DREAM schedule

January- Disney, Hogpen, Polar Bear
February- Panama 70.3
March- San Juan 70.3 (hey people, there is a DISCOUNT for the San Juan/Panama double)
April- John Tanner
May- St. George
July- Chattanooga/Vineman (they are on the same weekend, that’s okay I’ll just fly to the other one on a private jet)
August-?? Something tropical.. when’s Escape to Bermuda
September- Vegas 70.3 (because in my dream I qualify... with ease/ Augusta 70.3
October- KONA
November- Cozumel!!!

This schedule is good for those who love me to keep in mind when purchasing birthday, Christmas, etc. presents. If you don’t love me, I’ll take it, too!

All that said, here is my realistic schedule

January- Disney Half Marathon, Hogpen Hill Climb, Polar Bear 5k

February- Chattahoochee Challenge 10k?

March- Silver comet 10k?
Publix Half Marathon?

April- New Orleans 70.3

May-Ironman St. George
June- Ridges 5k swim? , PT Solutions Allatoona Triathlon?

July -Chattanooga Olympic, PT Solutions Olympic?

August- Ptree City Sprint
September-Augusta 70.3
October-KONA
Nov/December- Spectate John in his first BQ attempt!

I can't wait! I have been informed that next week is a return to real training, too.

On Turkey Trotting and Thankfulness

My Google reader cache is filled with thankfulness posts this weekend. I had the opportunity yesterday to truly experience thankfulness.

My sister-in-law hosted a massive thanksgiving crowd. Included were an exchange student from Saudi Arabia who is living with them, and a family of refugees from Iraq. Hearing the story of this family over dinner was a huge wake-up call. Without going into too many details, the hardships they experienced during their oppression under Saddam, trying to flee the country, being separated for years, and then finally legally immigrating was amazing and sobering. This family is very close-knit and thankful for things we all take for granted on a daily basis: the ability to legally drive, get a job, basically, to be free.

People here like to complain the consequences of their choices, their freedom. In contrast, the eldest son of this family is working up to two full-time jobs in a bakery and making shoes to support this family on his own, all while feeling like the luckiest guy on the planet!

I am thankful for all the opportunities and gifts I’ve been given, and I appreciate them more after our experience yesterday.

On to the Turkey Trot!

The one I did was actually the MUST Gobble Jog, which benefits MUST Ministries. This is an organization which helps immigrants like the ones I mentioned above get temporary housing, jobs. etc. and basically helping them get their start in our country. Great organization.

Anyways, the funny thing is when I read the name of the race, and knew it benefitted this ministry, I still didn’t make the connection with the name of the race. I was thinking along the lines of MUST Gobble Jog= You SIMPLY HAVE TO Gobble Jog!

I only did this race because I couldn’t stand the thought of not running a race on a holiday. Since 2009 it has been a tradition to do so, and I didn’t want to end it even though I was 2.5 weeks post IM, and 10 lbs too heavy. John didn’t join me for this one, but was VERY sweet to get up early and show up as support for a fun run.

So I registered the night before, and showed up feeling nervous. The route was also hilly, and I haven’t run a hill in weeks. Thus, my strategy was to jog up the hills and use the leg turnover I hoped I still had on the downhills. I also only made my playlist on my IPOD 41.7 minutes, so hoped that I wouldn’t be slower than that.

Went out and felt pretty good, the route was two loops and I hit the 5k at about 20:05. At that point I knew I didn’t have a negative split in me, though. As I had suspected, I had good leg speed still on the downhills and flats, but was basically “waddling” on the uphills.

So I’d pass ten people on every downhill and the same ten would pass me back on the hills, this happened with the same ten people on EVERY hill.
At the beginning several girls got out in front. I passed all but two (so I thought) but it turns out one was too far ahead to see. Finished as fourth female in 40:53.

Was happy that I did the race, and this gives me hope for the lofty goal I have set for my 10k benchmark in February. It also makes me realize that I need to get my act together if I want to represent at the Hogpen Hill Climb in January!

Ironman Florida Race Report- Part 3

The Run- Now for the run, my coach and I had a very different strategy than the others. We both felt that I had been too conservative on the run and that I needed to go out hard to see what I could really do. The specific instructions were to take the first three miles easy then go out hard basically knowing I could blow up as at mile 18. This strategy was very exciting to me. I guess that’s a little weird.

Anyways, I got going and felt Good. I glanced at my Garmin and couldn’t seem to slow under 7:30s. Oh well, I just decided to go with it. I felt great for the first ten miles, then it started to get harder. I had my average pace up and was determined to keep it sub 8 as long as I could. There was definitely no singing and laughing and joking, this sucker started to HURT A LOT as soon as mile 13ish. Due to my finicky calves, my longest run since KY was only 1.5 hours, which I realize is Insane. I was trying to keep this out of my mind. Also, I had read this quote that helped me a lot. Something someone said about once you put your body through the wringer a few times, you’d be surprised at what it can do.

Photo courtesy of www.DaveMPhotography.com
Obviously, I'm not hurting Too bad at this point yet!



Water, coke, water, coke at every aid station. Just get to mile 13 under 1:45 and you will be on track. Just get to mile 18 and you can slow and save some for the end . Of course none of the slowing is really voluntary but you can tell yourself things to keep it moving whether it’s true or not. I had heard from a few people that John had been about 10 minutes ahead at the start of the run and I figured I was running about a minute per mile faster, so I thought I would catch him about mile ten. Sure enough , saw him right at mile ten… snuck up and smacked him in the rear. His reaction was so sweet and something I won’t forget. He said something along the lines of “Oh, I’m so glad you caught up.. I was worried you weren’t having a good race!” I said I felt good and congratulated him because he was doing a lot better than his personal prediction for himself. Then I kept running my pace and he his, and I slowly pulled away. After the turnaround I was thinking “just make it to the park. Just make it to the park” For some reason, I looked forward to the empty desolate state park bc I knew if I could make it through that I would be in the home stretch. The park is hell in the heat of may, but oddly comforting in cool October.

Got through the park the second time and my splits were starting to look not-so-good. Lots of high eights and even a niner. I was really really hurting and felt like my legs were on the verge of cramping up. I decided to walk through a few aid stations which I have never done before. If nothing else it was something short term to look forward to, if I convinced myself it would make me run faster afterwards. About this time, I also started to notice that the women that I came up on were in contention if you know what I mean. I could somehow tell by looking at them and by spectators yelling their position in their divisions. I started to thinking “Hey, maybe I actually have a chance!”

I had asked my mom and Todd L when I saw them at the turnaround to look online and see where I was at. They told me fifth or sixth when I saw them so I knew I had a shot at top five. Prior to the race, I had athlinks’d the girls in my division and had a vague idea of who my main competition would be. I came up on a girl with a 31 on her calf and a last name on her butt that I vaguely recognized the name as being who I anticipated as strong competition. She was walking an aid station and I passed her. Next aid station I walked and she passed me back. Her pace wasn’t that good though, and I knew I needed to cut the 10 second breaks and pass her definitively .

Mile 24 and I clicked over on my Garmin so I could see the time of day. Holy crap, I was going to do it! I had visualized a 10:36 and a 3:30 marathon as being the perfect day for my current ability. Somehow even though my legs were in horrible pain I managed to pick it up. I didn’t want to give up a second of my hard-earned time. My face must have looked particularly grotesque because the camera guy on the motorcycle started filming me and stayed on for about a minute. Hopefully nothing too embarrassing shows up on the broadcast!

Passing the ATCers again was just the boost I needed. I was so happy I was crying and yelling the last mile, then I would have trouble breathing so I would have to stop. I saw the clock ahead and ran and felt SOOO ALIVE even though my body was about to shut down. It was one of the best moments ever. I crossed in under 10:33 and my mom was there and telling me that I got third in 30-34. I did it!! Even if it ended up that there were only two spots, I did it as far as I was concerned. I was so thankful and felt so blessed that I could have such a good day doing what I really love and have Such a passion for.
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I stuck around at the finish line for a few minutes.. Ted and Stacey were there too and he had finished in an awesome 9:49. My dad had called to say that John would be crossing soon. I really wanted to see him finish, especially since I missed it at WI. We all recognized his stride as the clock was still at 10:52. I was soo happy because though I thought he could do sub 11, he was outperforming his own prediction by a lot.
I got back around to congratulate him and we both teared up and I was so touched by how happy he was for me. I was really proud of him and happy this IM experience had been good for him, he had questioned whether he even wanted to do it so many times.

After the massage, getting food, showering, we came back to watch the rest of the ATCers. I was SO proud of how well everyone did. A lot of people exceeded their times goals and the ones who didn’t showed extreme determination despite things not going well.

The next day I woke up at 7 and felt anxious about getting to the Kona slot allocation. I had done the math and pretty much figured there would only be two spots, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to just GO at nine to make sure. I could barely talk to anyone that morning I was so keyed up about it. I walked down to the tent with my parents I and the staff member told me there were three slots. I DID IT!!! I couldn’t believe it! I made her show me on the computer to be sure, and I was still pinching myself until they actually took my money!

I’m going to KONA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ironman Florida Race Report -Part 2

Bike- I have been working very hard on my bike and the entire emphasis since KY has been cycling. My coach has been killing me, and it has been all indoor torture for the last few weeks. Getting on, I felt better already than I had at Louisville. My goal was to push 5-10 watts higher than my Lou bike and so I got out at a good clip. I only displayed my 3 second power, average power, and time on my Garmin. I don’t like to be distracted my seeing the mileage and trying to “make up time” on the bike, that is usually a losing scenario. Bad headwind on the first hour and then there were the draft packs.

Awesome photos courtesy of www.DaveMPhotography.com


Slight rant: I try to give the benefit of the doubt to people with drafting. The truth is, if you’re not at the very front or back of the field on the bike, or if you’re not a terrible swimmer/great biker combo who’s moving up in the field the entire bike, there are going to be times when the bike course is crowded, especially on a super flat course. BUT, this was the worst drafting I had seen. When you see people sitting four wide across the road and ten plus deep (and not in the midst of changing position) there is really no other explanation for what’s going on.

These packs were messing with my flow bc I’d come up on them and I knew I couldn’t pass the whole pack, yet I also wanted to go harder than they were going. So my only solution was to spin at a legal distance behind until a draft marshal or aid station came to break them up. I was getting frustrated because I was trying to keep my watts steady and instead it was surge, spin, surge, spin.


So for nutrition this go –round I tried something different. I really just like to have coke so I went with EFS vanilla, coke that I put in my behind the seat bottle, and one double shot caffeinated gel that I was saving for a low point. I hit the low point about mile 80 or whenever the really bumpy road started.

All the sudden, I couldn’t keep my watts up and they were going down in a hurry. My legs were hurting from the constant pedaling with no breaks that a flat terrain requires. I had to take more and more micro-breaks where I would have to shift around and stop pedaling. Also, my right hip was starting to hurt.

My hip is what had really messed with my IM KY bike. I ended up having to sit up to pedal for two hours, and my shot at a KQ time was over with my resulting bike split. I was a little fearful about this happening at FL and I REALLY laid off the bike and upped the PT the last week plus prior. There was no time if not then for the double shot, so I took that along with another coke I left at special needs and immediately started to feel better.

I have to admit that in the back of my mind, I was also thinking about Jared and Joseph catching me on the bike. By this time I was almost at mile 90, and I had avoided being caught by any ATCers thus far. I knew they couldn’t be far behind and I really really didn’t want to let that happen. Turns out that they were within a minute at one point!

I had been keeping rough track of my time versus mile markers, relative to the easily divisible 20mph standard. When we turned to go back into town I started catching back up my projections and feeling better to boot. When we got to the windy section, I realized that I may still be able to bike sub 5:45, which is what I wanted.. with 5:40 as my stretch goal. I knew if I got close to 5:40 on the bike, I could be on the run around 7:00 total time, which is what I needed to be on track.

I saw my parents and John’s dad several times on the bike which was soo awesome every time. I don’t know how my dad got around to so many places, with it being a one loop course, but he did great. Spectators don’t really realize what a HUGE boost it is to see a friendly face when you start to feel bad. Coming back into town I saw Todd Lappi and yelled out his name. I started smiling then because he told me before the race (being encouraging) that he thought I could get 10:55. Of course I couldn’t help but think to myself, “I think I can beat that!” I had a huge grin on my face because I knew h e would be doing the math when he saw me and be surprised.

When we turned back into the very windy part, I felt renewed and really pushed it the last few miles in. I had gotten this far, there was NO WAY I was letting Joseph and Jared catch me now! I saw Jerome and Dave M on a scooter too, which was pretty cool.

Overall, I still felt like I had a better bike than at IM KY. I have improved a lot over the last two years and it won’t get better overnight. The bike will be my other focus over the winter and I gradually hope to keep taking time off.

Getting back into transition, I jumped off the bike and saw that the race clock was under 7 hours. I remembered at WI I came off at over 8 hours and 7:25 at Lou. I was absolutely elated knowing that I was so far “ahead” and just burned through transition and out onto the run course.

Ironman Florida Race Report- Part 1

I feel like I would be remiss if I did not include my race report from Florida.

It's been two weeks as of today. I feel lazy, chubby and can't believe I did an Ironman two weeks ago! I had a great race for my current ability. I feel like I haven't had a race that came together like that since one of my very first triathlons in 2009.

Part 1: The Pre-Race and Swim

Awesome photo from www.DaveMPhotography.com

Looking at the results from last year, the last KQer in my ag got it with a 10:35, so I had my work cut out for me. Also, my mom is a life coach who lately has been compiling and teaching about the power of visualization and Believing that something is possible.

Yes, I have heard about visualization for years, but had always dismissed it has a bunch of new agey hocus pocus. But after thinking it through I realized that believing that something WILL happen is the hocus pocus, but believing that something is POSSIBLE can literally help make it happen. All in all, I believe that God gives us the ability to do things and ultimately we are responsibly for only trying our best. We can only control so much, but that knowledge can be freeing instead of a burden because there is no point in worrying about outside circumstances. Okay, enough philosophizing … let’s get to the race!

I had a few conversations prior to the race that were in the back of my mind when I started. There was a lot of smack talk and some pre-race predicting and I knew I had a few people angling for me. After Lou, I knew no one would be predicting that I would be going in the 10:30s and I liked feeling free from expectations. Nevertheless, of course I put pressure on myself, and I had various nagging aches and pains and all the normal pre-race stuff. (So much for not worrying about stuff outside my control! Do as I SAY, not as I do )

Swim- looking at times beforehand, I thought that below 1:10 was a reasonable expectation for me, given my current swim ability . Yes, I swam faster at Lou, but I used the current to my advantage, got a great start, and found some good feet. That was the plan for this one, but it didn’t happen exactly right. I was a bit nervous about the mass start. Then, I got behind some slower swimmers and failed to be aggressive enough to get the start that would enable me to find faster feet. By the time I was able to actually swim, I was surrounded by slower swimmers, so it was an obstacle course I navigated alone. There were lots of little pieces of jellyfish in the water and I felt several small stings on my face, but I tried to ignore them. It was hard to ignore the MASSIVE dinner-plate-sized ones you could see all over, just a few arms lengths below the water, though. After the first loop, I checked my watch and it was right at 32 minutes. Okay, not too bad, I’m still on track.

Then I made the mistake of starting too far to the left and had to swim against the current. The second time around I was able to swim a bit more, though I was not among swimmers who were good drafting candidates. Live and learn! Next time I will start closer to the front and farther to the right for sure.

Overall , I am very fit in the pool.. I need a technique breakthrough to make progress. My max speed needs to increase to move forward. I think I am on the verge of one from a gem I got from Kelley. I need to practice it more and see how it affects my times. This will be a focus in the winter.

Got out of the water and saw the clock in the high 1:07s so by the time I crossed the might I was at 1:08. Ran up to the t1 bag area . It was SOOO crowded. Another reason I need to swim faster is so I can have some space. I saw a video later of a girl who swam in the 50s and her bag etc. was ready and waiting .. wouldn’t that be sweet! Afraid of the crowd in the changing area, I dumped my stuff outside in the little hall for which a volunteer berated me. “I’m sorry, “ I said. “I already dumped it out!” I had packed enough cold weather gear for a blizzard, and already pre- packed my jacket pockets but decided to just go w/ the arm warmers. It is hard to get stuff on when you’re wet! T1 was 8ish minutes.

This is my blog.

Why start a blog?

I have wanted to start a blog for a long time. I read blogs. Hundreds in fact. I write blog posts in my head. They are funny, interesting, boring, repetitive. In my real job, I drive about four hours a day and am constantly thinking about possible topics of discussion. So why it took me so long to actually publish one myself, is puzzling. Except for the following:

1. I really dislike sharing information that is too personal. This seems like it would preclude writing a blog at all, or a decent one. Contrast that with the fact that the blogs I enjoy the most are the ones where people share something real about themselves.

2. I have strong likes and dislikes related to blogs. I don’t want to become like the ones that I “unsubscribe” to. Basically, I am a selective perfectionist so I have to decide whether I am going to just barf it all out there, grammatical errors, typos, and all versus spend weeks agonizing over the perfect tone of each post. (You’ll discover quite quickly the results of my decision!)

3. No one will find what I have to say as entertaining as it sounds in my head!

So yeah, if not for these three things I would have been writing, like, years ago!

What is it about?

Triathlon training and racing! With little asides about my other interests and projects. Which I do have, I swear! 

The things most important to me are my Christian faith, family, friends, and DOGS. I LOVE dogs. Actually I happen to have the two most beautiful, amazing, and smart dogs in the whole world. AND, I have an awesome spouse, too (Even cuter than my dogs, some would say!) But I swear I’m not telling you all this to make you jealous, it’s just so they will continue to put up with me!

So with all the intros out of the way, let’s get on with it!