What a year...

     Exactly one year ago today with the help from Carrie and my brother Scott and a little persuading from Travis County. I made the decision to stop drinking. There were others that supported me and guided me through the process of living without drinking. Not in any order, God, Sean, Richard C., Cliff , Richard T. my closest neighbors (Tom, Cindy, Jeff, Brenda, Kevin and Shannon) and of course my biggest fan, my mom. As the word kind of spread and as I told people about my decision I got a lot more support. One of my biggest supporters was an old high school friend, Peter Femino would inspired me to run and an old drinking buddy from my fraternity, Chris Stuttard who years ago also decided to stop drinking.
     Those first few weeks were the hardest, not because I wanted to drink but mostly because I was bored.  All my activities included beer, watching TV, eating dinner, hanging outside with friends, playing golf, posting on Facebook, you name it I drank beer.  It seemed like I had a lot of free time now that I wasn't drinking and a little extra money since I wasn't buying a 12 pack of beer everyday.  What was I going to do with all this energy and "extra" money.
     The phone call that changed it all. Scott called one afternoon and said "I have a crazy idea. We should do a triathlon together.  There is one in Lafayette LA which is midway between our houses. It's in September, so we have time to learn about triathlons and train". I've always been fascinated by The Ironman in Kona Hawaii so I said "...yes, that's a great idea, you're on!".

    Now I'm not going to go into great detail about training but I had a lot of work to do to prepare for my triathlon, so I started running. I was hooked immediately, all I wanted to do was run. I ran at least once a day, before work, during work or after work. Work was just filler between runs. I bought running books and got a subscription to Runner's World. Then I discovered trail running and got a subscription to Trail Runner magazine.  The more I ran the more the weight started to come off. When I stopped drinking I weight 219, I was fat!
     I've always been a bike rider so I wasn't worried about biking leg of the triathlon. I rode occasionally, just for the sake of riding and did some "brick workouts". A brick workout is doing two of the three activities of a triathlon back to back like, bike/run, swim/bike, swim/run etc...I learned the importance of these later, for now, I knew I had to do them so I did.
     Now the swimming part of the triathlon scared me to death. I can swim but it's usually from the diving board over to get my beer or vice versa.  I had Carrie video me swimming one day at the pool and had a buddy, Jonser (an Ironman), look at it and he gave me some advice, a lot of advice.  Clearly I needed some lessons or coaching. Reading our local newsletter I saw an ad for the Masters swim team "...no experience needed..." right up my alley.  One draw back I saw was the Monday and Wednesday team practices were at 5:30AM, the Sunday practice was at 6:30AM, I could sleep in a little. I signed up and bought the require training aids at a swim shop; fins, goggles, pull buoy and a kickboard. On my first day I really felt like a fish out of water.  People were putting in the lane lines, others were swimming, some were stretching, I was looking for the coach.  John came over introduced himself, asked about my swimming history and then said "why don't you jump into lane 1". It was open so I thought nothing about it, only later did I learn it's called the "slow lane". John was instrumental, he was patient, encouraging and always gave me the time I needed. He explained what I was doing wrong and why I needed to do it "this" way. He transformed me into if not a swimmer at least someone who could swim.
     As time went on my running got better, in time, form and distance.  My swimming improve 1000% which is easy when you start with zero.  Swimming became my favorite training activity. I looked forward swimming more then anything else and joined a gym that had a quarry so I could do open water swimming. I eventually moved up several lanes and now swim with Louise who has become my permanent lane mate.  We swim at the same speed and laugh between sets about how hard the workouts are, we give solace to each during each session.

     The Cajunman Triathlon came and went. Scott and I did great.  We both survived the swim and beat our time goal of 2 hours. We wanted to finish together and as we approached and crossed the finish line we grabbed hands and raised them in victory.  This really kicked off the obsession with training and racing.
     Since then Scott and I have both spent many hours reading, training and talking about triathlons.  We have both perused triathlons and other related events.
     So, where am I going with this...prior to this year not only was I not willing to commit to training for triathlons I wasn't physically or mentally prepared for it either.  Why? In a word, beer.  This year has been one of the most liberating years I've had.  Without drinking I have energy, I'm not hung over, I'm not fat, as I write this I weight 174 pounds.  Do the math, I'll help you: 219 - 174 = 45 pounds.  45 pounds!   I'm free of worrying about driving after I have been drinking.  I don't have to worry about being a bad example for my kids. I've learn to cope with stress and everyday crap without drinking.  My job performance is better.  I've read books I've always wanted to read...I'm free!
     This year hasn't been a solo effort. Without the support of my family and friends I surely would have gone back to my old ways and never been able to achieve the things I've done this year.

• Resolution 5K
• Dell Fit 10K
• The Warrior Dash 3 miles with 11 obstacles
• Thundercloud Turkey Trot 5 miles
• Rock-n-Roll San Antonio 1/2 Marathon
• Bandera 25K Trail Run
• Cajunman Sprint Triathlon
• Calaveras Duathlon
• Hike to the roof of Texas (Guadalupe National Park) 

     To all of you have supported and helped me knowingly or unknowingly, I say "I love you and THANK YOU!