And so the ramblings begin . . .

I guess the best place to begin is at the beginning. Here's some background on me, how I ended up signing up for my first triathlon, and why I am taking the time to share my stories.

I recently graduated from law school. For the first time in my life, I am not a student. And for the first time in the last three years, I feel like my life is pretty normal. Prior to entering law school, I went to a wonderful university in the Midwest, had the most amazing experience, and rowed my heart out for four years as part of the women's varsity crew team. Before heading to college, I had never considered myself an athlete. In fact, I didn't even start rowing until college. Even while training and competing at the collegiate level, I really only considered myself an athlete in the rowing world. I still say that the only reason I was good at rowing was because there was no ball involved and I got to sit on my tush.

Then I got married, relocated to a big city, and started law school. The being married part was wonderful. I grew to love the big city, but I can't say the same for law school. It was the toughest three years of my life. I was academically challenged (to say the least), constantly worried I had made the wrong choice, and totally stressed. So I stopped working out except for random month long spurts at the gym, sat in the library or at a computer for hours, drank too many fancy espresso drinks, ate too many sweets, and gain around 20+ pounds. I ate for comfort to ease my stress and worries, only to find myself more discouraged.

Then after graduation and passing the bar in July 2008, I eased into my new life as a semi-working attorney (I'll get into that some other time). Finally, my life was more relaxed and happier. But physical activity was the one thing missing, and the extra pounds that were sticking around were proof. Then about a month ago, while I was having a pity party for myself about my weight, my wonderful husband (who I will simply call Hubs), convinced me to sign up for the triathlon that I have been talking about doing for the last few years.

So, now I find myself signed up for a sprint distance triathlon that is part of the Danskin triathlon series in August. This blog is mostly a self-serving effort to track my progress and for me to be able to look back on after I have finished the six months of training that lie ahead. Hopefully, I will be able to share my stories, workouts, nutrition, struggles, and golden nuggets of information that I learn along the way.