Hello!

Hi everyone, my name is Steve, checking in from the Portland, OR area.

First off, I'm not a beginner triathlete, not really. I ran my first triathlon back in 1988 in Antioch, CA. It was a sprint tri in Contra Loma Park. I was hooked into the sport instantly, and the Bay Area in the late 80's - 90's was a great time to do tri's. I built up to my first crack at the IM distance in 1999, but the death of my mother that year cast a pall over my training, and I missed the run cutoff by 7 miles.

Then life kind of took over, tri's went to the back burner, and I bounced around the US. I left the San Francisco and moved to Boulder, CO, living there for 8 years, then I moved to Tucson, AZ, stayed there for about 6 years. When in Tucson, I finally earned my M-Dot tattoo at the 2009 IMAZ, which I finished in 16:14:09.

Finally, in 2012, I figured it was time to come back to the West Coast, and I moved to the Portland area. This was the best thing for me to do. I love this city! So now I'm getting back to living my life, and doing what I want to do. This year, I rode the Seattle to Portland 2-day ride, The Portland Century, and the Tour de Blast, an 82 mile ride from Toutle, WA to Mt. Saint Helens. In doing these rides, I've rediscovered the joy of being back on the bike.

Next year I turn 50, so for my "mid-life", I've decided to come back to triathlons. Since I need to have a big carrot to motivate me, I've registered for the 2015 Ironman Canada. And this time around, I don't want to survive it, I want to do well. My goal is to break 12 hours. I've got quite a bit of work to do, but the one thing that the Ironman has taught me is that I'm a hell of a lot tougher than I think I am. So I know I can do it. My personal mantra is "Don't tell me what I can't do!" I started this year at 230 lbs, and I am down to 205 as of this morning. My goal is 180 on race day, but I may try to get down to 165-170 lbs. However, I'm not going to kill myself getting there.

The biggest thing I hope to gain here is to have a good support network, to help motivate me, and whom I can help motivate, too. In 2009, I went completely solo, and while I did it, it was brutally tough.

Anyhoo, if you've made it this far, thanks for reading, and say hello! See you out on the road...

Steve