I was never an athlete. Far from it. I always loved sports, but I never played on an organized team growing up. While my brother forced me to play baseball, football and other sports with him, organized sports were not a part of my life.

Fast forward to 2012. After years of poor eating habits, three children and the everyday demands of a busy life, I had gained so much weight that I said enough! I had to get moving. I completed a bootcamp in the fall of 2012 and by the end of 8 weeks, I could run almost 3 miles. I didn’t want to lose my progress, so I decided to sign up for my first 5k and continued to train. I thought of all the reasons I never committed myself to regular activity. Regular exercise bored me. I knew the only way I would maintain consistent activity was to go back to the basics and do what I love.

I’ve always loved swimming and riding my bicycle. I combined those activities with my new love/hate relationship with running and made a bold decision to sign up for a triathlon.  That decision changed my life forever.