Swim, bike, blog?

I'm Jen. I'm 36 years old. I'm 75 pounds overweight. I'm a Triathlete. Wait, whaaaaa? Yep, I'm a Triathlete. Or a soon-to-be-Triathlete. A Triathlete-in-waiting. No, a Triathlete-in-training. Yes, that's it...a Triathlete-in-training. A Big Girl Triathlete-in-training. Whew, there's a dubious title if I ever heard one. To be honest though, this isn't my first Triathlon. It was almost 9 years ago that I did my first (and only) Triathlon. It was the Danskin Womens Triathlon Series in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin on July 14, 2002. I barely trained except for the run (I was actually a relatively good runner back then) and rode a bike I bought at Wal-Mart for $50 that had a large, clanking lock stuck to it because I lost the key to it. It was one of those bikes that had tires that sounded like a car's and weighed about 10,000 pounds. At least that's what it felt like trying to hoist that thing around in the transition area (the same transition area where my arm got stuck in my sports bra because guess what, it's impossible to put one on when you're soaking wet). When I say I barely trained, I mean I was totally clueless. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, or what I had gotten myself into back then when I was a mid-twenties, single girl in the city. This picture is me in the last leg of the Triathlon. Don't I look happy? I was dying. Hot, jelly-legged, out of breath, dying. But I was happy. It was the biggest athletic feat I have ever accomplished in my life, still to this day; 400 meter swim, 12.5 mile bike and a 5K run. All in a row! I know, nuts, right? I was still a big-ish girl back then, but I was in pretty great shape.

Fast forward to March 2011. I'm pushing 40, married, and a suburbanite who is happier than I've ever been. Oh, yeah, and fatter than I've ever been. The old saying, "fat and happy" didn't come from nowhere, you know. I have the best husband, best family, best friends. I love my job, love where I live. Everything is great, except for that whole fat part. Oh, and did I tell you I hate to exercise? Well, maybe hate is a strong word. I don't love to exercise. I am inherently a slacker. I am very successful...published author, have a dream job, make good money, happy marriage, family and social life, nice home...so I wouldn't call myself lazy, per se. But I do love a good long veg-out in jammie pants and a t-shirt, sitting on my big fluffy chair watching a marathon of Real Housewives of Insert City Name. So no, I don't jump out of bed every morning and spring into my running shoes and sing to the birds as I pound out mile after mile. I squeeze my tonnage into two, yes count them, two sports bras, ill-fitting workout pants and a XXL t-shirt to hide as much jiggling as I can and haul my carcass out to wheeze my way through a couple of miles. I hide in the bathroom stall at the pool to change and get in the pool as quickly as I can so the Michael Phelps look-a-like high-school swim team who is practicing two lanes over doesn't have much to gawk at. Like they're looking anyway, but in my mind the place is dark and there is a huge spotlight on me and the WWF announcer is booming over the loud speaker, LET'S GET READY TO GIIIIIIIIIIIIGLE! That's just all in my head. Right?

Anyway, this is my first blog (EVER) and I thought it would help me work out my issues as I trained and possibly give you a laugh or two as I work my way up to the June 12, 2011 Batavia Triathlon (www.bataviatriathlon.org) in Batavia, Illinois where I live. Yep, I'm doing it again and telling all of you about it. I've always been scared to blog because I don't like to put myself out there too much but thought I needed something else to help me along the way. So, this is it. My blog. Big Girls Don't Tri...or do they? I hope you enjoy it.