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Hi folks, and welcome to OUR new weekly column—mine and, more importantly, yours.
This column is here because so many of you emailed to say you liked my article
about my first triathlon and asked how to get started yourselves. I’m excited that you’re so interested because everyone should have
the thrill of finishing a first triathlon or doing some similar athletic event
that once seemed impossible. Now, thanks to the Internet, we can set goals, and
achieve them together.
I Wasn’t Always an Athlete
Just to make sure no one thinks, “Oh, I could never do this,” let me start by
telling you about my lack of athletic background.
As a kid I was a nerd—before it was fashionable, unfortunately. I hated gym class,
and everyone hated having me there because I was a menace to any team I was on.
I dropped any ball that came my way or else I ducked, so it wouldn’t hit my
glasses.
For some masochistic reason—some vague sense of guilt over being a slug, I
think—I joined the local swim team for two summers. That was a joke; even the
five-year-olds swam faster than I did.
Then when I was 16, I had my first boyfriend and my first weight problem, and that
was no coincidence. He called me “dumpy,” so I started dieting; then he (taking
on the “dump” role) dumped me, and I became an expert at comfort eating.
The Weight Loss Yo-Yo Begins
The cycle repeated a few times. I gained 30 pounds during my first four months in
college when my first romance went awry. Then I got scared, put myself on a strict
diet and went jogging every day. I hated jogging, and it was always a struggle to
get out the door, but somehow it never occurred to me to try any other form of
exercise. Go figure. Anyway, I lost the 30 pounds. A few months later I gained it
back, plus a little more. And lost it again. And gained it again. And lost it
again. In 1983, by the time I was 26, I was almost up to 200 pounds, and at 5’
4”, that was a lot. I was terrified, but the only thing that made me feel better
was eating.
At this point, my family doctor, after giving me my annual physical, said, “You
seem to have a lot of stress factors in your life. Have you considered
therapy?”
“What’s a stress factor?” I asked.
Let the Exercise Begin
I did go into therapy, and here’s where the story probably starts sounding corny
and Californian, but I realized I was eating as a way of dealing with (or
not dealing with) my feelings. Once I realized this, the weight started coming
off, very slowly. Soon after that I took my first aerobics class. This was back
in the days of shiny tights and leg warmers (now there’s a “before” picture
you’ll never see!), but it was the most fun I’d ever had “exercising.”
I went to classes because I enjoyed them, not because I told myself I had
to.
It still wasn’t all clear sailing from there. Every time I had a stressful job,
marital problems, family issues, and/or whatever else came along, I ate. In
1990 I got back up to around 200 pounds once more. Again, therapy helped me
deal more directly with the stresses that provoked me to eat, and again the
weight started coming off slowly.
In 1992, I started teaching the fitness classes I’d enjoyed so much. Then in
1997, at the age of 40, I joined the Leukemia Society of America’s
Team in Training Program and completed my first 100-mile bike ride (a “century”).
That made me feel daring enough to sign up for the Danskin Women’s Triathlon
three weeks later.
The following year I did Danskin again. This year I did it for the third time, and
this time I actually caught myself thinking, “Too bad I only do this once a
year.” I ended up doing four more short triathlons this summer because I wanted
to do them. It wasn’t a big struggle; it was easy. I think everyone can get
to that point, and maybe together we can all get there.
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