Positive Spirit

Hi All,
I've been lurking for a while and finally decided to come out of the shadows. First off, I just have to say this it the most positive, uplifting, supportive bunch of people I've never met. It amazes me to read the threads and see how you all encourage each other. It puts a smile on my face every time I read through this site. That being said, this is me in a nutshell.

I'm 31, around 6'2 195 but was about 60 pounds more when I played football back in high school. I became a runner to take the weight off and have run a couple of marathons under my belt at about 4hrs each. With a little knee trouble, I switched to cycling and now consider myself more of a roadie than a runner. This year, my cycling has become very strong and gave me the guts to do something I've always wondered if I could pull off. I'll be doing Ironman Arizona in April. I'm a slow swimmer but I'm dedicated so it is coming along. I really don't plan on becoming a triathlete for life but I do want to be an Ironman. My goal is mainly to finish the race so I will be using the energy from this site when the training becomes a little overwhelming.

Anyway, I just had to let you all know how nice it is to see the positive encouragement versus so much of the hyper competitive spirit out there.
Thanks,
Brett