The Mac's dirty secret.....GULP!

WEAK AND LAME!!!

Just kidding. Congrats on kicking the habit. It's hard to do, but worth it on so many levels. I suppose you're a little fiesty and independent like me, and it was depressing to think of myself as addicted to something since I saw that as a major weakness. It's nice to be liberated from that and know you're stronger than it, in addition to the many other positive health and odor-related effects.

You should have said something. I would have been slightly less bitchy to you.

"for those of you....."

Dude, if you're part of this site it's pretty much a lock that you are already battling an addiction!  At least this one is good for you (except for the whole interfering with work thing).

Just make sure that you write an entertaining RR for the HIM in November. =)

Dude, I thought you just weren't gettin any. Congrats on your accomplishment!! If you even think about lighting up again, let me know. I'll come down there and give you a kick in the a$$ with some golf cleats (metal). Then we can get in some training together.

Keep up the great work.

Wow, Keep it up and think of all the extra money you will have to spend on Tri gear. 

Great job and thanks for sharing your dirty little secret.

Take it one day at a time.  When the urge hits, get out and walk/run.  Brush your teeth.  Do pushups...

Cold Turkey 1 June 2002.

Nah, Russ isn't Jonesing.  We just haven't figured out for what..... 

Seriously, that's fantastic news....if you can, look at it as paying yourself forward in quality of life, health, and fun.  That's what's going on...

And your T1 and T2 times should really drop without having to spark up AND put out the butt.  So there's an upside there, too.

WTG Mac.  Giving up the death sticks is one of the toughest things I've ever done.  It's been 21 years and 6 months now, and I justify every dime I spend on triathlon by figuring it's way less expensive than smoking, in terms of my financial and physical health.

Hang in there, you're entitled to be ina foul mood for as long as it takes!

CONGRATS! 

Cold turkey August 1, 2000...

then my dumb-a$$ self lit back up again in the fall of 2003 and have been at it on & off until 30 days ago...

cold turkey again July 3, 2006 for the same reason as yours: to improve my training.

You will not believe the improvement in your training/performance/endurance, but the best part is justifying spending more $$$ on tri gear and registration fees what you have already stated: no more having hiding yourself out of embarassment. The past year my wife and kids never knew I was still smoking, and it tore me up inside hiding my weakness from them and living a lie in shame. No more.

So CONGRATS, and know you have support here if ever you need it - PM me if you ever get the urge!

You are an inspiration to other closet smokers here to kick it for good!

As an ex-smoker myself, I cannot understand the "hiding" the smoking. You cannot hide it. While they may not actually SEE you smoking, they'll still smell it on you. And only smokers can say that, "I don't stink after I smoke." It's because your smell is messed up from the smoking...... You do, too, stink like smoke. Yes, even if you do it outside, and are upwind of the smoke..... I tried all the excuses, too.... So quit lying to yourself. Been there, done that.

Congrats on the quitting!! I've been smoke-free since Dec 11, 2004, and thanks to tri-ing, I've stayed quit. Prior to being bitten by the tri bug, I used to start up every time my DH would deploy and quit when he came home, but no longer.

If only I lived in 'zona.

Good on you mate,

I started smoking in about 1980 (back when my High School had a smoking block...can you believe that!) I smoked fairly heavily in college and thereafter, a pack-and-a-half a day. I was living a construction-worker, barfly, bohemian lifestyle.

Chasing a job I moved away from the "big city" and away from the shows, bars, and urban hanging-out. I brought my MTB with me (I used it to commute when I lived in town)

I raced my first MTB race in 1992 and smoked on the way home from it (I was not DFL, which was my only goal at the time). It became appearent that ,like you said, this new hobby was incompatable with my old habits. I lived a couple of very conflicted years and smoking became less appealing, and more of a pain-in-the-.

I first quit in 1994, soon after taking up running. Those were my salad days. I back-slid in 1999 and hid my on-again-off-again smoking (poorly) until 2002. Ironically, sneaking a smoke in a non-smoking room in the New Orleans Marriott marked the point when triathlon appeared on the horizon as "the furtherest thing from what I'm doing right now" and the bug bit me...gently at first. I'm now smoke-free since March 2002. It's a tough thing to do, but absolutely worth it.

Addiction is a mean bastard, but I think I can take him, and so can you.

My best advice is to never let down your guard. A single cigarette in an unguarded moment can set you down the path again. The cravings and the creepy-crawlies get better over time. Sadly, though I still recall cigarettes with a certain fondness. In that fondness lies the seed of relapse. I know this and have to fight it from time to time.

Good luck