About

Quick facts:
- 36 year old female.
- Live in Ohio.
- 5'4" when I round up.
- No PRs to brag about...yet.
- Graphic designer.


In 2013 I did my first triathlon and had an unbelievably good time. Then I did another one that I trained 3.5 months for. In that time I learned how to swim. Turns out you have to know how to swim for a triathlon. Oh, and sometimes you have to swim in a lake, which ends up being completely different than swimming in a pool.

I loved every minute of training. Here's a little background that got me to where I am now.

I've always enjoyed biking. Growing up I biked away the days on my pink Huffy. In high school I took long rides on the country roads on my Murray, which weighed about 600 pounds (estimated). One time my friend and I crashed a wedding reception so we could get something to drink midway during a long bike ride.

I took up running/jogging/wogging in high school for exercise. Ever since then I've been a casual, slow runner. I've completed two marathons which were very fun and very challenging.

Swimming. Ah, swimming. I learned to swim one summer while camping, but just the kind of swimming that keeps you from drowning. My lake experience was jumping off a boat and swimming in a life jacket out to water skis or a tube. In early 2013, I started attempting laps in the community center pool. When I decided to do a triathlon, I looked up swimming videos online and it's been an ongoing learning process. I could use some lessons, I'm sure.

.........

Fast forward to the early spring of 2013, when I decided to do a triathlon on a whim, thanks to my friend Erika. She posted a message on Facebook about wanting to do the Iron Girl Rocky Gap triathlon, and asked if anyone would do it with her. I had done a couple duathlons, and had always wanted to try a triathlon, if I could just get past the not knowing how to freestyle swim thing. And now I had access to a pool...and my own work schedule...and, well, why the hell not?

My first triathlon was a practice of sorts for the Rocky Gap event. It was in July, a sprint, with a short swim in a pool, whose distance I had practiced twice. It was not pretty; I hyperventilated and side-stroked the entire way. Many lessons learned. The second, Iron Girl Rocky Gap, was what I really trained for: 3.5 months, two open water swims, many miles biked, many yards swam, some running. It was another sprint, but a half mile swim in a lake, 16 mile (hilly) bike, and 2.5 mile run. I had an awesome time at the race, but what really stood out to me was the training. Training for it was a lot of fun. I got stronger and felt my body change. I watched tons of YouTube videos about swimming and kinda learned how to swim (I have a lot of room for improvement). I accomplished a lot and was pretty happy with myself.


Now.
Now...I believe I am hooked on triathlon. Yep, I love it, even after only doing 2 races. I want to see what my potential is and be the very best I can be.