It's Not About Me

I have been suffering a severe case of blogger block lately. I guess it shouldn’t be surprising. If you suddenly try to write gooder than you were writing before, and then you try to write something profound (especially about yourself), it becomes pretty insufferable. Sure, I’ve been training, but how much can I enlighten and entertain writing about my training. (“I swam. I biked. I ran. I lifted weights. It was hard but I did it anyway.” (Repeat as necessary))

So I had the idea this morning to break the vicious blogger block by writing about a couple of folks I know, telling you how remarkable they are, and giving you the links to their blogs so you can give them some comment love. These are all folks that are members of my triathlon club who blog and who have taken life by the scruff of the neck and shaken it until it cried “uncle.”

First, meet Jane of Born Again Athlete.



Jane is a physician and a gourmet cook. The best desert I have ever had, bar none, was her baked Alaska, made from scratch, including the home made vanilla bean and espresso flavored ice creams. While I took several years to go from sedentary guy to back of the pack nearly died half-marathoner to marathoner to triathlete to Ironman, Jane abbreviated that learning curve. She went from completely sedentary and overweight to MS150 and half-iron triathlete last year, ran her first marathon two weeks ago, and is signed up for her first Ironman this year. She is making today the self she wants for tomorrow.

Next, meet Kathleen of Kathleen’s Craziness.



Kathleen’s story, like many others, involves getting dumped and then refusing to stay down. She ran her first mile on January 18, 2003, the same day she got dumped by a boy who doubtless needed to have his head examined. Since that time she has done 5 marathons, assorted ultras, shattered her PR this year in Houston, did her first Ironman last year at Arizona, and will return to raise money for the Janus Charity Challenge this year. Just look at the change between last year and this year. Amazing. Read her story here. Like Jane, the self that she will wake up to in the future is being made right now with determination and elbow grease.

Finally, meet Mishele of Dude I Am Freaking Out.


Mishele has done 4 (F-ING FOUR!) iron distance races--all before the age of 25. Mishele can finish an Ironman swim before I'm even barely wet--like 1:04. I started riding with her over a year ago and she later was my swimming sensei as I learned to overcome my open water terrors. When we first started riding, Mishele was a talented engineer thinking of going to law school. She used me as a sounding board for how and where to apply. She has since passed the patent bar exam and we’ve since talked about how to “do” law school. (See, when I was in law school, I was kind of a big deal.) Mishele will probably be embarrassed that I told you this, but she is kind of a big deal too. Her first semester’s grades are back, and she totally kicked ARSE at school. There is an Ironman athlete who is number one in her law school class and her name is Mishele. Mishele is the best because that is what she aimed at.

Visit their blogs, give them some comment love, and follow them. Each of these people has decided what they want to shoot for, have taken aim, and are firing away. They will hit their targets, and so will you if you decide to take aim. “In the end, men (and obviously these women) hit only what they aim at.” (Thoreau)