5 Years

Five years ago we had been living on our farm for 6 months. I had Joey and Justin, a half Arab half Morgan gelding

Joey & Justin

and Sunshower & Wifi had never been heard of.

Hagen was almost 3, Tank and John Henry were almost 1.

Hagen, 3 years

Tank & John Henry, almost a year old

 I had 3 cats & a completely different flock of chickens.

Lan and I weren't married. I wasn't working and he was still working up at Crystal Mountain driving a plow truck.  I had a mountain bike but never rode it. lan had a lot of bikes but rarely rode, he was working on the farm replacing fencing.

Lan dug 38 post holes by hand

Then in early 2009 Lan read a story in the local paper about the Kitsap TriBabes, a group of women who do triathlons. I didn't even know what a triathlon was but I needed to do something because I was getting fat and lazy. I wasn't riding the horses all over hell like I was planning when we bought this farm.

I contacted Lisa Ballou and joined the group, started training for my first triathlon. I had signed up for the Seattle Danskin but I was scared of the swim start so Lan and I decided to do the Chelanman Try a Tri in july, 4 weeks before Danskin. That way I could know what to expect when 300 people entered the water at the same time as me.

We had fun doing Chelanman. 

body markings at Chelanman, 2009

Danskin was still scarey as hell, total freak out in the water and it still took me a half hour to swim the half mile. But I rode 12 miles at 16.1 MPH and I was pretty damn proud of my speed. I finished in 1:57:04.

Me, scared shitless, before my first Danskin, 2009

That same year I finished TREK also, on the same course as Danskin and my time was 1:56:59, a whole 5 seconds faster.

TREK 2009

I've now finished about a dozen triathlons, 2 half marathons and 1 full marathon. I'm in training now for Ironman Coeur d'Alene on June 24th, 2012.

Thats me, in the pink, running my 1st half marathon. Tacoma city half May 2011

My 2nd half, Race For A Soldier, 2011. I've got the blue jacket on the left.

Finishing my 1st marathon, Yukon Do It,  December 31, 2011

5 years ago I was a tri virgin and look at me now. Hell, 4 years ago I was a tri virgin.

I wonder what the hell I'll be doing in another 5 years?