Hello from California

Hi everyone! First, apologies... for some reason the formatting in this post removes all of my paragraph spacing, so you'll have to read this in one big block. Like many, I've been lurking on the site for a few months. Today I'm turning myself in. I'm 40ish, female, 3 kids, 1 husband. I'm reality tv editor/writer (please don't hate me) and documentary filmmaker. I lived in NY until two years ago when I moved to the west coast. A long time ago I was a competitive swimmer and ran occasionally (soccer/lacrosse). Now I'm just 40ish. A few months ago I became very bored with my exercise program. Walking around the block just wasn't doing it. I realized what I needed was competition. So, I started training for a sprint tri for the 2013 season. At this point, I'm 9 weeks into the couch to 5K plan (aggressive version). Things are going pretty well. By mid-December I'll add swimming and biking into the mix - although I have been swimming occasionally (if you can call it that, flailing might be more appropriate) on Sundays when my kids have swim lessons at the Rose Bowl. I can barely do a 200m free. It's pathetic or amusing, depending on your sense of humor. To keep me honest, on track, and committed to my goal, I'm using STRAVA (which I love) and I've also been writing a blog, in part because I'm a writer, and in part because in my view the looming threat of public humiliation goes a long way to keep me motivated. It's called Cup of G (cupofg.blogspot.com) if any of you would like to join the fun and say hi. Thanks for the site and all of your wisdom and passion. It's been very helpful. You are all amazing and inspiring and I hope to join you as a triathlete someday. Just not tomorrow or the next day. Or next week. Yours, Gretchen