My story (long one)

Hello to all,
This is my first post!
I am a 6’ tall, 35 year old father of 3. I will give weight later.
A brief history:
I raced BMX from age 10 to 13. I was on swim team as well as a child. I jogged a little as a teen and again in my early 20s. I bought my first “real” bike as an adult when I was about 23. It was a mountain bike that I rode a lot, both on the road and trails. The reason for the 10 year bike lapse was my mother bought me a new BMX racing bike for my 14th B-day, to start the new season. I took it out two days later to show my friends and got it stolen. She said she would never by me another, and kept her promise.

I weighed in about 175 near my 26 B-day. I was pretty fit, then the accident. I had an accident at work shortly after my 26th B-day, I was unloading Air conditioning window units from a truck, when due to being over worked, I bent over and used my back to lift a over 100 lb unit. I felt the pain in the front of my left thigh first, then the worst pain in my lower back in the world, at least for me. Two ruptured disks!!! I have had moderate to severe back pain since almost daily. I have seen many doctors that wanted to operate and fuse the disks, but I was not going to do that. I met a doctor that suggested road riding, it sounded like a good idea to me, so I bought a road bike and put a clip-on aero bar on it. I had great success in the first year The Dr said it helped because I was stretching my back. I did the MS-150 Houston to Austin that year (1998). I have ridden every year since, this will be my 7th and my wife’s 5th!!!!
But, I always had back pain, Until last July 2003. I went to Six Flags with my family, my kids really wanted me to ride the roller coasters with them. Knowing I had the next week off from work for recovery, I rode several coasters. I thought I would be in bed for days, but the next day I felt great! In fact, I still felt great 3 weeks later when I went to see my Dr. He had no answer for me why I wasn’t in a brace. I told him I wanted to start working out, after a physical, he gave his blessing.
Seven months ago I weighed a whopping 280 lbs.
I started jogging in august. The first one was for about 5 minutes and equal to ¼ mile, maybe. I thought I was going to die. I kept it up, getting to ½ mile, then in December, I jogged my first mile in years, I was very proud. I am now jogging 3 miles at a time, and still very proud!!!
I still do not have ANY back pain, I can only thank God for this!!!
I have kept up the jogging, started swimming and stayed with the cycling.
I now jog 9-12 miles, swim 400 meters and ride 70-100 miles a week.
Last week my wife and I did a 85 mile bike ride in 4 ½ hours!
Yesterday, I jogged 3 miles at lunch, then, after work, rode 30 miles with a 19.3 avg (a personal best for me).
The MS-150 is in 2 weeks, I feel very strong. It will be a great ride!!
I have committed to several friends to do my first triathlon in Sept.
BTW, I have lost 40lbs as of Monday!!!
I now weigh 250lbs. still need to drop at least 30 lbs, 50 would be nice.
I feel as if I have a new lease on life. I am able to do things that I haven’t done in years. I want to do this triathlon for reasons unclear to me, other than to prove that I can do it.
Thanks for hearing my story, I am open to all comments (if they are good ones )
Joe