The journey has just begun...

I have taken the first step to my goal of becoming a triathlete on the ultimate level...ironman.

I've been called an athlete in the past, but the word endurance has never been in the equation. Baseball was my sport growing up an heavy kid in Denver. A large number of my summer memories from my childhood involve baseball.

High school arrived and baseball was pushed out of the lineup. I wanted to play football. When the spring semester of my freshman year rolled around, but I refused to get involved with the politics that came along with high school ball. Our football coach required us to take on a spring sport, and so I was left with the only option of joining the track team. I threw discus and enjoyed it.

When I got into college, football was no longer an interest for me. I stuck with track. I wasn't going to win any championships, but I stuck with it. My junior year I placed seventh in the hammer throw in the conference championship meet. At conference, my senior year, I went out with a bang. I didn't place, but I got a PR in the discus, hammer, and javelin.

And then track was over. Suddenly, for the first time since I was old enough to play T-Ball, I didn't have a sport. It was at this point that I picked up a road bike. Took some of saving and my graduation money and got a Raleigh supercourse. Great bike and I absolutely love it. However, I was only riding it during the summer. After two years, I was really starting to lose any fitness that all the years of sports had built up.

October 07 rolls around and I realize that if I don't make it back to the gym, I would be going down the path to eventually being obese. Also around this time, NBC's show Biggest Loser had some contestants on who were younger than me (only 23) and it scared me. I realized that I needed to start exercising again. I joined a gym and started lifting and running on the treadmill. I started just shy of 200 lbs and I am now down just under 170. The exercise made me feel great, but I was quickly becoming bored with it. If I were to keep healthy, I was going to have to find something different. About a month ago, I had an epiphany...

Triathlon

And not just any triathlon, I was going to complete an ironman.

I changed gyms to one that had a pool, I starting taking out my road bike (even on days that were below freezing), and I actually feel motivated to get out of bed on the weekends. I used to roll out of bed around noon, but not I'm waking up at 7 without my alarm.

I feel motivated and alive. I have started the long, grueling path to being able to complete an ironman. The goal is Coeur d'Alene in 2010. I just hope that two years is enough time to get ready for this event. I plan on doing my first tri this summer (event TBD) and just build from there.

The journey has just begun...