Happy New Year!

Hello! Welcome to the new year, 2010, what a turning point. In 2000 many things in my life changed, but it took till 2005 for me to start working toward a healthier life. I discovered biking (Thanks Dave) and now I'm an addict. I have pedaled 13,540 miles since 2006, and I feel a ton better than I did before I started that journey, but as with anything my body has adjusted, and over the past two years I have put back on about 30 of the 70 lbs I lost. I am now tracking all my intake again at www.livestrong.com and still biking to work every day, except now it's different. I shall explain in a moment, let me first state that I am happy now, which is much more than I can say for how I felt at the start of the last decade. from 99 to 00 I was in a marriage that I was wondering how to get out of, I was being pressured by my wife to have children (and I think somehow I KNEW this would be the final nail in the coffin) and my life was empty, almost painfully so. Fast forward to today, I have a brand new wife that I met late in 2000, she came with a daughter, but I wouldn't change that and my life is completely different than it was 10 years ago.

I have turned over a few new leaves with the turn of this decade, the largest being I sold my car. Yep, that thing that most Americans are convinced they would die without, I sold. Now we are not a car free house, but we are a one car house, and that one car is currently paid off, so our costs are insurance, upkeep, tags, etc. Now this does present some challenges, there is no way for me to bag out of riding to work now, ever. So every day I suit up and ride my bicycle in to work, so far I've had to deal with 3" of snow, rain, cold down to 16 F, and did I mention wind? :)

Still I'm looking for some challenge to get me back into shape, like really good shape, and I think I have it. Last year I did a Duathlon and I LOVED it, but I haven't ever been very good at running, and I'm way worse at swimming, I just LOVE biking though. So, what's the next logical step? I'm going to do a tri this year, actually two. I'm doing a spint tri, and an olympic distance tri. Next year I'm going to dig around for a 1/2 iron, and perhaps a marathon, and the following year, so long as none of the above actually kills me (which is entirely possible) I plan to attempt an Ironman.

Wow, just saying that makes me think I'm nuts. But, there it is. Can I do it? I don't know, I didn't think I could press 360lbs when I first started lifting weights and I was just hoping to get 225 up for one rep, so anything is possible. I never made my 400lb bench goal with weightlifting, and my focus has shifted since then of course to health and endurance training.

What I know is as much as I loved pushing iron plates around the gym (and I did love that) I love biking even more, and I'm starting to like running. Swimming? I doubt I'll ever love that, but maybe by this summer I'll at least like it. What I do know is it's time for this, because I think if I can become an actual triathlete I will finally have control over my weight and health, and that's the goal I have for this decade.

My family and I are going to a TOPS (Taking off pounds sensibly weigh in this wed as well, our friends have invited us, and we're excited to have a public group to share our goals and progress with!

Welcome to the new year all! Lets make this year a start to a decade we can look back on in our own personal lives with pride!