Zero to Tri - Day 2

First Meet Up
I attended the meet up/sign up information session for Team in Training (TNT) at the Central Market in Dallas on Lovers Ln. What a nice group of people. I think there were maybe around nine attendees - I'm not sure since I was on the front row (over-achiever that I am). However when the marathon coach asked who was there for the triathlons I believe there were three of us raising our hands.

Next Steps
I believe one of the presenters said that TNT is the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's largest fund-raising effort. If I am mistaken about this, I will retract this statement. But what this means is that I will be given tools to help in my fund-raising efforts with one of them being a personal website where people can contribute for my goal. I'll be sure and post that link when I get it. The St. Anthony tri will require me to raise $3500.  Only 25% of what I raise will be overhead for the organization. The rest goes to

• Patient financial aids
• Research
• Patient and community services
• Advocacy
• Educational outreach

November
November will be the month when all the participants for the North Texas Chapter get together for a big kickoff - I think it's the 10th and then the following Saturday Nov 17 we start training. I'll post the workouts when I learn more.

Zero to Tri - Day 1

Brain Good? Check!  Body Good? Nope!
It's been about a year since I last posted something here. Can't say I've been too busy, can't say I've had nothing to say. No excuses. School is still going well. I'm actually getting close to the dissertation phase of my doctorate but that's another subject for another post. This past year I have taken stock of my life, accomplishments, etc and can say that it's been a good year except for one thing, my fitness factor is a big "0", nada, nunca, zilch. My brain is good (some might question this statement), but the rest of my body,...well... not so much.

A Decision Has Been Reached
So I have a made a big decision, huge decision really. I want to (should I say "am going to") complete a triathlon before I reach my 60th birthday. That gives me about ...gulp...a year from this December. Now, to be honest, I have done a few of these before but about 20 years ago so am not new to the concept or pain. However the unknown for me is training for a triathlon with an older body and much less fit body than before. I'm treating this experience as something totally new.

This isn't a spur of the moment decision, I've been requesting literature from The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training program for the last couple of years but didn't act. This year is different. I will be going to the information session this Saturday to learn more about what they do, what I will need to do, etc. My end goal of this adventure is the St. Anthony's tri in April 2013.

Taking Control
As I have been writing this, I've been trying to find some clever pictures of couch potatoes, book worms, fattening food and wine glasses to add to this post. None of them have really resonated with me. I think this is because this journey is about taking control of my life, not what I have allowed to take control of me in the past, therefore, I will not ponder the past - only the future - and it looks interesting.

Consider this installment 1 of the chronicles of my journey. There will be no before/after pics (unless the after pic looks awesome!). But hopefully lots of training tips, milestones, successes, and very few setbacks. Hopefully my journey will inspire others. Just putting this all in writing makes it real now.