Yup – I’ m at it again!
So. I’ve been complaining (b*tching and moaning basically) since 2006 about being out of shape – and doing nothing about it. Oh sure, I would rally for a while around swimsuit season (or if $ was on the line . . . we did a “Biggest Loser contest about a year ago), and then WHUMP, I would be back on the couch. Not that unhappy about it, either. So Sue Me.
So a while back, I did Tony Robbins Unleash The Power Within (UPW). During this experience, you look at things that are holding you back, things you would like to do before you die – before another year has passed, even.
I’ve never, ever been an athlete. When I was a kid, my dad (a doctor) could sometimes be cajoled into writing doctor’s notes to keep me out of whatever athletic endeavor they were trying to put me in. I would do extra music classes, extra cleaning of classrooms – nearly anything – to get out of gym. Not quite sure why. I was never, ever, the “fresh air and working out” type (which my parents, though both brainiacs, actually always have been).
Come college, I actually found out I was fairly coordinated (who knew?) and made varsity Fencing my Freshman year (we even made it to the NCAA Finals). I also took Shotokan Karate. I was never that good with “quick” stuff (tried Jazzercise – oy, I was a disaster), but very good at things like ballroom dancing, karate, fencing, etc. Sadly, of course, I had never had a “ball put in my hands” until college – so though 6’2″ and left-handed, any basketball/volleyball/etc. type game was really kinda “out.” (I still have very short gals who are VERY good at volleyball try to chat me up to join pickup volleyball games. ‘I must be good, I’m so tall,’ they always say. In eviler times, I would say ‘how’s your horsemanship?’ to the very short ones…I try to be better now…)
So. Anyway. After college I fell in with a fairly “fit-ish” crowd, and started doing triathlons when they were JUST getting started. Scott Tinley, then later Mike Pigg, folks like that (“dinosaurs” if you do tris now). I actually did quite a few of them – never did that well (came in 6th woman overall in the Bahamas Triathlon, but I think that’s because most of the participants had been drinking rum all night) – but did ok.
My husband and I did the Big Sur Marathon now back in…oh, something like 2002 or so – then we walked the length of the French Alps about 2 years later. I always need a ‘goal’ to work towards – and those were good ones.
So, at UPW, I walked in with a desire to “get fit.” I knew I really had to get something going – huffing and puffing and creaking was getting me down. I walked OUT of UPW with a completely insane goal – Ironman before I was 50. Yeah. From she who can’t run 30 minutes.
Then, I got a Team In Training email. So, I went. And talked to the very nice young hardbody who coaches part of the TNT training team (a little unclear how it works – I was late, no parking). Thought about it, called H, got a categorical “you cannot afford to do this, you’re going to have to make this work with your 10 year old bike, and how exactly did you say you were going to pay for this?” Yup – signed up.
So, November 7th is “kickoff.” I know one gal who is on the Ironman team – and she’s just finished a couple of marathons. I think starting with ONE discipline you know you can do might be smarter…but so it goes.
I actually bought my ticket today. Something like $550. That’s about 1/3 of my current monthly income. That really IS insane. Then I went to Kaiser (doctor’s appointment for an issue) and the nurse a propos of nothing started talking about her new $2000+ bike she had built for her by “this great guy in San Rafael” – when “bikes usually run about $7000 and up for a good one.” I think my clunker is going to have to make it.
So, am I insane? Yeah, likely. But as T Harv Eker once said, How you do one thing, is you how you do Everything. And this is pretty much me – jump in, feet first.
Hi-YAH!