Look How Far I've Come!

For kicks, the other day I went back to my very first blog post, which was about a year and a half ago (on January 16, 2010). I remember not knowing what to write, feeling nervous about "putting myself out there", and hoping I was doing it "right".

Below is an excerpt from my first entry:

I have no idea where this blog might lead me, but some things I might be writing about include parenting issues, dealing with medical diagnoses (my husband has Young-Onset Parkinson's Disease and my daughter has myriad medical issues including some developmental delays, tracheostomy and hearing loss), pop culture, cooking, politics, and just day-to-day life stuff.

My original hope for blogging was to write about a passion; however, since my passions seem to revolve around my children, cooking and reality tv this should be interesting!

I cannot believe how much things have changed in only 16 months! First of all, in all of the blogging I've done, I've yet to write about politics, and only written once or twice about cooking. These days my tv viewing is so much less; I simply don't have time. And while I do watch some tv, my reality tv viewing is much, much less than it used to be.

But read the above entry closely. Nowhere in my first post did I talk about working out! Granted, back then I wasn't into triathlon yet, and was six months away from logging my first swim or bike ride. But I was running! I was training for my first half marathon in 12 years! But clearly, it wasn't a big part of my life. It wasn't part of my identity. It wasn't ME.

To be fair, a few weeks later (January 30) I posted a piece titled "Back on the Running Bandwagon". This was, apparently, when I recommitted to running. And from January 2010 until that June, I did run. But I wasn't fully committed. Oh, I was faithful to my long runs, and did my long runs in preparation for the half marathon every Sunday. But during the week? I was supposed to do two short runs, but I was lucky if I did one. I did little to no strength training. And cross training? Non-existent.

It wasn't until the end of June 2010 that I really got addicted. This is when I signed up for my first triathlon, and fitness became a daily part of my life. It's hard to imagine my life before. What did I do with all that extra time? How did I have energy to get through the day? And I can't imagine how much less laundry I had to do, given that I didn't have a pile of sweaty clothes to add to the hamper every day!

I'm glad I'm keeping this blog. Apparently, it's not just for posterity, or to connect with other people, or to get my voice out there. It's also a yardstick for me to measure how far I've grown. These past 16 months I've grown as a woman, as a mother....and, apparently, as an athlete.