I was a competitive swimmer through high school and even though I was not the best on the team I was competitive with sub 5 min 500 free and sub 1 min 100 free times. When I was 17 a doctor found a tumor in my right lung after an extended bout with pneumonia. Following a surgery that removed 2 lobes of my right lung I made an attempt to start swimming again but it was just too hard. Through out the rest of my senior year in high school and into college I continued to let myself go.

2 years ago I was diagnosed with a Clival Chordoma which is a type of brain tumor. Once again the fantastic surgeons at UNC Hospitals were able to take care of me and through excellent care I have an excellent prognosis. At that point I had topped over 300 lbs and I felt like I had to get things back in order and get healthy.

To lose the weight and do something good I signed up to do a triathlon with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. I had always been fascinated with triathlon and even during my swimming days I had always wanted to do one. So in November of 2004 I met my coach Vicky Yeignst at the kickoff meeting and started my training program. The training program had us working out 5 – 6 days a week with the goal of doing a sprint triathlon at the beginning of April 2005 and the St. Anthony's Olympic distance triathlon at the end of April 2005.

I will say that I have never met a more dynamic person than Vicky. Her passion for triathlon and what it has done for her as well as what it could do for others is amazing. She kept me going through the tough workouts and the long months of training. But with her help I did complete all of my goals. During 2005 I competed in 3 triathlons and completed them all, lost 30 lbs and met some really cool people.

That is the short version that gets me to today. In October of 2005 my wife and I welcomed our second child Zachary. Between the demands of helping raise 2 children and my job I have slipped back into the sedentary life style. On a positive note I have not gained any weight back, I still hover between 265 and 270 and I occasionally meet up with some of my tri friends for a bike ride. But for the most part I am not active.

So here starts the story of my journey back to triathlon and down to my goal weight of 215 lbs. I will keep track of interesting thing in my life here ranging from family to work to triathlon and you can track my training log over on the right top of the page. I have some significant goals of competing in at least 4 races next season with a ½ Ironman at the end.

Listening to Dave Matthews Band radio at www.pandora.com

Just trying to do some quick configuration of this new blog feature in Word 2007.

Seems to work just fine J