Friday, June 01, 2007

The Athlete Within

I've got some downtime right now on my business trip to Austin. Although Austin is triathlon central for the Lone Star State, every trip I make to Austin seems to be star crossed. Above all else I need to practice my open water swimming, but this is the second trip in a row that Barton Springs has been closed due to flooding. And I havent' seen Desiree Ficker running at Town Lake. Rats!

So, I'll take this opportunity to do something even more important than swim training. I will introduce you to a new friend that you really ought to meet.

You will recall the miracle of the couch cushions last week that allowed me to exceed my MS150 fundraising goal. I mentioned that within 3 minutes of putting up my plea for help, a person I had never met hit the fundraising link and put me over the top. After I blogged about that, they mystery person contacted me--and you need to meet her too.

Her name is Crazy Jane, and she is one of those wonderful transformation stories that you will find if you hang around the MS150 or triathlon. In her words, Crazy Jane has changed from "someone who almost failed physical education in high school, always sedentary, could sit on my ass for 8 hours and just read, 100 lbs overweight to someone who goes to the gym often, obsessively cycles, has a heart rate monitor, did her first MS150 and now training for triathlons. I have a bike tan now." She has discovered the athlete within her, and she likes it.

She introduced me to her blog, and she is a wonderful writer; but, she was reluctant to put the blog out there because she is not (yet) some experienced tri-studette who gobbles up Iron Distance events.

But, you know, I'd much rather read the journey of someone who is becoming something new and wonderful than a self-absorved Iron Athlete who has (or thinks he has) already arrived. I know that you feel the same way. So, (with her permission) I am encouraging you to go visit Crazy Jane, put her in your favorites or your bloglines or your google reader subscription, and give her some comment love. You will enjoy her journey.

6 comments:

Larissa said...

Thanks for your support of the newb. We can sure use it.

And thanks for the reference - it looks like a great blog.

the Dread Pirate Rackham said...

another Jane? excellent! there can't be too many of us.

Andra Sue said...

We will visit her. Not to mention that we fabulous Texans have to stick together. :)

Jane said...

Thank you for your kind words, and I look forward to being in this unique community. Maybe you can be my tri-mentor; you can be my Yoda or Eddy Merckx - whomever you feel you most resemble...hehe

TriBoomer a.k.a. Brian said...

Greyhound thanks for the bird dog lead. (Hey look, I referenced two breeds in one sentence!) But I digress.

Her site looks superduper and will be a great addition to the Land-o-TriBlog.

Stay tuned...

The Stretch Doc said...

Hey Greyhound, you see there adding new distances to the Triathlon 101 race in The Woodlands on Nov 11th????????

If you dont know IM Myles or the Bigun, they are heading here to TX for a show down and looking for some TX competition, what you think, we can takem`..

rockon`