I started Another Drop In The Bucket to journal the important things in my life. The drops that are filling my bucket. It soon became clear that it was going to be a fitness/running/triathlon blog because, aside from my son, those were the current "big" things going on in my life. (I am training and racing less these days, but more about that later.)
I have been a runner since the age of 5. My dad is a runner, all his brothers are runners. Running has been part of our family since before I was born. We even have jackets and shirts for our family: "Fat Cat Racing Team". (And I don't mean just my immediate family. I mean uncles, cousins, cousin's kids... yeah, we're a little nutty!)
I haven't always been serious about running. I ran all through high school but didn't continue into college. I ran my first half-marathon after my freshman year of college. Youth really helps when you're only half-trained! I continued my tradition of kinda-sorta training for half-marathons and marathons for the next 15 years.
In 2009, I found out I was pregnant only a few months after my husband and I purchased a small retail business. Surprise! We decided that it was important to us that I be able to stay at home with our son and we were able to sell the business before Liam's first birthday.
I also realized after having my son, that I wasn't getting any younger (huh, imagine that!) I had always wanted to do triathlons, specifically an Ironman. I fell in love with the idea of triathlon after watching an Ironman on television while I was in high school. I thought, I could do that. Of course, it probably would have been a lot easier if I had started triathlon when I was 19 instead of 35!
I finished my rookie multisport season (2011). I completed one sprint triathlon, one half-iron distance triathlon, the swim leg on a triathlon relay, and one duathlon. For the first time since high school, I'm taking training seriously again and have had an excellent year! I PR'd in the marathon and 10K, and got PRs during training runs for the 5K and half-marathon.
Following an amazing year in 2011, I began to have health problems. Dizziness, weight gain, hair loss, chronic nausea, pain, and other symptoms. I began an almost 3 year journey to get my diagnoses.
Eosinophilic Esophagitis and Fibromyalgia.
These affect me daily. I am currently working to figure out what triggers symptoms and flares and trying to live the best I can every day. Some days that's running a half-marathon, some days that's staying on the couch. I'm finding balance, one day at a time.
I'm a published author!
I was privileged to write an article for GOTRIbal that was in turn published on ESPNW.com. You can read "What I Wish I Knew Before My First Race" here.
