My Background

At 18, I was an all-area and all-conference defensive back in the northwest suburbs of IL. I was on my way to play football at an Ivy league school.

Physically, I weighed about 175 lbs with about 5-7% body fat.

In college, I lost interest in sports. Football became a business instead of a game. Disenchanted, I turned to other interests. Partying, socializing, working (probably in that order).

I ballooned up to 210 lbs.

Once out of school, I worked a couple dead-end jobs for about 4 years before I settled into my career at a large international corporation.

In the summer of 2007, I got married. Settling into my new lifestyle was easy. In fact, it was too easy. I became sedentary, aside from the occasional softball or flag football game.

My weight hovered around 205 lbs.

Right after I got married, my boss mentioned that she had just finished her first triathlon. This intrigued me for several reasons.

First, I was a fairly good swimmer up until I was about 14. I lived in Texas, and I did fairly well in the 50 free, 100 IM, and 50 breast stroke.

Secondly, one of my favorite movies as a kid was American Flyers. While most kids were jumping ramps on BMX bikes, I had a Schwinn Caliente road bike that I road daily.

Finally, I was a fast sprinter. I ran the 100 meters in 10.8 and the 40 in 4.4 seconds.

It was several months before I finally decided to do something to break the cycle of becoming a fat lazy cubicle jockey.

In March of this year, I started training. I used Lance Watkins Beginner's Luck articles for my training program.

About 10 weeks later, I had lost 20 lbs and I entered my first Sprint Triathlon in Loves Park, IL.

It has been two days since I finished the triathlon, and I've decided to blog my experiences. If anyone ever reads this, feel free to chime in with any tips, criticism, or thoughts in general.