Here goes nothing.....

So how this all started....

Over a year ago I felt like crap. I was 35, overweight (270lbs) and hypertensive. I went to see my new Doctor and wow what a wake up. When you are told that you have a 100% chance of becoming diabetic if you don't lose weight...not cool. Being an ICU nurse made that a hard pill to swallow. I had already decided that I needed to change my lifestyle but this reinforced it. My doctor considered putting me on meds for my blood pressure but decided to give me time to make some changes...here is how it went.

First this I did was sign up for a gym membership. One of the hardest things I initially did. I found it very intimidating at first. I didnt realize how my self esteem had plunged until I started training. Props to my friend Bryan for being there for me 100% . It really helped having a friend push me to not give up!

The next thing I did was join SFL (Simply for Life) and get eating healthy! And somewhat like gym experience...I didnt realize how bad my eating was! This is where I met Leslie, my nutritional consultant and now teammate. Leslie was instrumental teaching me how to eat healthy and always offered encouragement. Althought I was there for nutrition, we always ended up talking about training. I don't know if she knows how much I appreciated this.

After a very short period of time, I noticed that the weight was actually coming off. I was dropping 2-5 lbs a week......wahoooooooo. My training was progressing as well!! When I first started running I would have to run a lap and then walk a lap (A 237 m track) and could only do this twice, lol. I found this very discouraging . So I decided that every day before weight training I would do 20 mins on a stationary bike. Well, one day I decided to try and see how the running would be.....I did 5 freaking laps!! For me, at the time, that was HUGE! Next day I did 10....then 15! I think then my desire to run started.

I started running outside.......weird feeling. I drove myself down to Edworthy park and started to run. Did my first 5km run there....I was beaming. Each day I progressed a little more...wow now I am up to 7km! I knew I wanted more though and thought of ways to keep motivated.

A couple of people at work had mentioned putting together a running group.....seemed interesting to me. One day I approached one of the people...Detlef...an ex German special forces, now nurse and current endurance athlete. A rather intimidating guy until you get to know him! He has done his fair share of IM races (24 at the moment) , Powerman, Marathon des Sables..etc..... You would think running with him he would leave you in the dust and wait for you at the end. Truth is, he was either right beside you or one step behind you making sure you were ok. I ran a number of races with Detlef and can't thank him enough for all the support. He is one of the huge reasons behind my Ironman goal. In case you ever read this D., you always let me finish first, thanks my friend.

So at this point I am at my goal weight and I decided yes! ...I want to train for an Ironman! Leslie gave me the name of her coach.....IronGreg. After more thinking about it I emailed Greg and told him of my goal. Greg offered nothing but encouragement from the start! And then I became a member of the Legend Coaching team!

So fast forwarding a few months and lots of training...here I am. The only thing that has changed is I train more than before, lol. Thats my story so far, I am sure there is more to come.