Finally saying hello.

I've been reading this site since the end of December and finally decided to say hello. I'm a 41-year-old mother of two and have been doing tri's and du's, initially just sprints, for about 2 1/2 years. In 2002 I turned 40 and wanted to do something big. I did an olympic distance for the first time that April and saw an application for The Great Floridian (iron distance) that October which was right after my birthday. I did that in 13:44 and qualified to be part of Team USA at the long distance tri world championships in Spain, which was last May. Worlds was an amazing experience, but I had a lot of medical setbacks before it. A broken toe, broken coccyx (two separate clumsy incidents!), and then what was diagnosed just before worlds as a "mass" on a cranial nerve. With a possible brain tumor on my mind, training wasn't thorough and the race wasn't very good, but I finished (4000 meter swim, 120K bike and 30K run) and was thrilled to be representing my country. Well, I don't have a brain tumor. It's neuropathy which I may have to deal with for years, but I definitely prefer this to a tumor! Now I'm gearing up for the Miami Marathon in Feb., St. Anthony's in April, and am trying worlds again this July in Sweden, as well as several local sprint du's and tri's. My husband (goes by ropkins on this forum) has recently started doing distance races. He did Great Floridian 1/2 last October and will do the Disney 1/2 IM this coming May.