So My Brother Started a Blog...

One of my brothers recently moved to Australia to work for a year and began blogging his adventures.  It's a fun read and got me excited to write my own "just for the hell of it" blog, but unfortunately, I don't live in a foreign country and, honestly, I'm not that interesting.

I am happy.  I am blessed.  All of my basic needs are met on a daily basis.  My friends are fun, my family functional.  I have not one, but two healthy, gorgeous sons, and a tall, dark, handsome husband who couldn't love me more (and who I hope is reading this).  Awesome.  But not necessarily great story fodder.  Most artists will tell you pain drives creation more easily than contentment.  I'm way too happy to be Tolstoy (or a stand up comedian), but I am undertaking one thing I think is pretty darn interesting (and I hope all the people I've been telling about it agree).

I'm training for a triathlon.

A triathlon.

Like in the Olympics.

The interesting part is I'm a normal person.  Yeah, I ran track and cross country for a season each in high school (and lettered thank you very much), but I am not at all athletically inclined.  I'm not opposed to physical activity as long as it doesn't involve a ball hurtling towards any of my body parts, but I'm also content to sit on the couch and make love to TiVo all night long.

So why a triathlon?  I think lots of little things lead up to this and here's 3 of them:

1.  I'm a stay-at-home-mom.  This is a super challenging job, but I'm a goal setter.  I love crossing things off a to-do list (actually I draw a little box next to the task and put an x through it, trust me, it's just as thrilling) and I'm tired of seeing "grocery shopping," "call doctor," and "park" on my list.  I wanted a tangible longer term goal with clear action steps.

2.  Running a marathon is on my "bucket list," but I do not have time right now to train for an event that will, under the best of circumstances, take me at least 4 hours to complete.  Yes, a triathlon sounds as extreme, but I'll be competing in what is referred to as a "sprint" which means the distances are half that of an Olympic triathlon.  My goal is to complete the entire event in two hours or less.

3.  A couple of years ago I saw an episode of Throwdown with Bobby Flay in which he challenged two women who allegedly bake the country's best chocolate chip cookies.  They look like biscuits and are upwards of 600 calories each, truly the most mouth watering treats I've ever seen.  Watching them bite into those enormous, melty, nutty cookies titillated like hardcore porn.  What blew me away though is hearing the bakers invented the recipe because they are triathletes and they needed a high calorie and tasty "snack" for after training sessions.  A-may-zing.  That's right, I'm not ashamed to admit I'm becoming a triathlete because I want an excuse to eat giant cookies.  It's just that simple.

So now I've gone around blabbing to everyone I'm going to do this and started this blog so I am in deep.  The first triathlon I'm aiming to compete in takes place on Mother's Day in 2011 which should be a relief to my husband because now he doesn't have to get me a gift.  Not even diamonds could possibly make me happier than the 600 calorie cookie I'm going to stuff in my face after I drag myself across that finish line.