Introduction! I'm finally here!

[armadadesigns]

Hi everyone! Just joined up the forums, because all this time I thought you had to be an Academy member for it, and I'm still trying to budget to join! So excited there's a free option until I can join up. This ended up being a long post so feel free to skip to the end for a TL;DR.

 

My name is Kristy, I live in Utah with my two awesome dogs, and I think I belong in the scout class? I am an endurance race addict! A little over 5 years ago, I was overweight and very unhappy and sick all the time. In 2009, my mom told me about a sprint triathlon that was happening in two months, and showed me a "8 weeks to your first sprint triathlon" training plan she found online. A 400m swim, 10-mile bike, and a 5k. I thought it sounded ALMOST doable, haha. So we trained, and having that deadline coming up was what actually got me to stick with workouts and eating better. We kept signing up for 5k's and sprint tris, because we could never stick with it without a scary event coming up!

 

Flash forward to 2011. I made a list of 101 goals, to accomplish in...4 years I think? And I went nuts with them. On it was a 5k, a 10k, a half marathon, a marathon, and the Goofy Challenge (in Disney World - a half marathon Saturday, full marathon Sunday! MADNESS). We started training in May. In June, we both signed up for the Goofy the following January - and my dad signed up too, having not even done a 5k yet! We did a 5k in May, a 10k in July, our first half marathon at the end of August, another half marathon in October, and then the GOOFY in January! First marathon with a half marathon the day before - NOT recommended.

 

My parents are running addicts too now! I've done five marathons, including the Dopey Challenge this last January (5k, 10k, half, full - over 4 days). My mom, sister & I also did a half Iron Man last August which was definitely the hardest thing I've ever done! We all agreed it was horrible and would never do it again. Part of me is wanting to train to do it again in August, and try to finish within the 8-hour time limit this time (you have to finish in 8 hrs for it to be an official "half Iron Man" time; it took me about 9). I haven't told them yet because they'll think I'm crazy.

 

Anyway, this probably sounds ridiculous but I don't actually feel like a "major athlete" even with all that. I don't take my training or diet THAT seriously, but part of that I think is because it's become natural to eat mostly healthy, that any time I have a chimichanga or something I'm like "OH HO HO I'M SO NOT SERIOUS ABOUT THIS." I feel like even after all these years, I have to work on giving myself credit for what I've done and realize how HUGE it is, instead of dismissing things simply because I've been doing them for a while and they strike me as being normal. If that makes sense? I am also suuuuuper slow because I tend to focus on distance, on finishing longer races, rather than doing them faster. Someday I'd like to actually do a half marathon under 2:30; the closest I got was May 2013 when I got 2:36, haven't managed to beat that. Last year I joined the Salt Lake Tri Club, and while it was fun, everyone there was SO MUCH faster than me - there wasn't a big range like I thought. So I would go to group track workouts, and even though everyone was super nice, they would literally finish a full lap ahead of me and I ended up way behind. So I didn't go to any regular runs or biking workouts because I knew I'd get left behind in 30 seconds and would end up just working out by myself anyway....so I would like to build up some more speed so I can keep up, and stop viewing people like that as the "real" athletes and myself as just some schlub pretending to be one.

 

Well anyway this is a long intro post! But I'm just really happy to be here! Fitness aside, I work as an office manager/accountant, though I'm building a side business right now (hence the username ArmadaDesigns; it's just reflex to make that my username anywhere even though it's a bit silly to use it here in retrospect) that I'm hoping to turn into a full-time job by mid-2016 (or sooner!) so I have more freedom to work from home, travel, and otherwise live a more portable life. (Where I work now is still almost completely on paper so there's not even any way for me to try working remotely, which is a major bummer.)

 

TL;DR: I am a runner/swimmer/biker endurance athlete who is still learning to view herself as an actual athlete! I am happy to be here but right now I'm just trying to sort my way through the forums and figure out what's what before I go posting away....

[dsavage]

Hey Kristy!

 

Welcome from a fellow Utahn!