An Introduction

This may be helpful for when you read a really long rambling article, and I reference people, places, and things. I was born in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1981 and grew up in Toledo, Ohio. I’ve been participating in triathlon since I was a competitive swimmer in grade school. I took a break while living in NYC from 2004-2013 then became competitive in early 2014 after joining the Ann Arbor Triathlon Club (https://www.aatriclub.org). I got my first real bike that season but still raced in a Speedo. I’m from the old school, to be sure. I’m a slow adopter of race, gear, and equipment tech, whether that’s a bike or a wetsuit or an aero [fill in the blank and add hefty price].

Wolverine Tri (Olympic) 2014: still not convinced I needed a triathlon kit when I had an overabundance of Speedos and singlets

I had some success at the Olympic distance from 2014 through 2017 then decided to kick it up to the half Ironman distance (1.2 mi swim, 56 mi bike 13.1 mi run). I’ve been a swimmer and a runner but never a cyclist. So to minimize frustration whether training for or racing the 70.3 distance, I starting working out with other triathletes more regularly. Today my closest friends are from the Tri Club, and it’s through this supportive social circle that I met my husband, Chris. We got married on Steelhead 70.3 weekend in 2021, so most of our closest fellow triathletes were present, but of course some were racing while we were dusting the glitter off on Sunday morning.

Rendezvous with my coach, Mark Allen, in Nice, France, for the 2019 Ironman 70.3 World Championship

I believe that triathlon is a nice hobby that allows me to exercise my highly competitive nature, for which my parents get all credit. I believe that triathlon does reward naturally gifted athletes of certain types, and it is not for everyone. There are many expensive, time-consuming sports to engage in as a busy adult, and triathlon was the natural choice for me. I probably could have gone places with the sport if I had made that my focus after graduating college, but instead I moved to the big city, chased shiny things for years, and had trouble devising an exit strategy. Today I just love seeing what I can do with my endurance capacity. I need to work hard and put the time in, and sometimes I get frustrated when the output doesn’t reflect the input, but usually I can trace a lackluster performance to choices made along the way that hurt my chances — working too much, watching HBO when I should be sleeping, not practicing my race nutrition, not swimming enough, not taking care of an injury the right way, not practicing stress-reduction techniques frequently enough, etc. But that’s the life of an age grouper, pretty much. Sometimes we have those magical race days, though, and that, I believe, is why we keep doing it. I don’t view myself as unique from most of the competitive endurance athletes I have met. I probably just contemplate all this stuff more than the average age grouper does.

A Tri Club wedding (June 26, 2021)

Recently I overcame a pretty agonizing injury which eventually required surgery. More on that down the road, but this blog was borne out of an appreciation for the sport and the great people that make it happen, which I rediscovered only after coming out on the other side of the aforementioned injury the period of time which also included a lot of life changes and transitions. So the intention for my race rantings and life ramblings is to provide some slices of life with which people can resonate. If you’re reading this and you also like to write about triathlon and life, please reach out. I’d love to have you here too.