Try to TRI

One hour. 60 Minutes. 3600 Seconds. That's all it was. One hour. 60 Minutes. 3600 Seconds. I told myself.

I was ignorant, there I said it. I didn't know that Triathlons were a sport. Sure, I assumed Triathletes were athletes, since well you know, Tri-athletes. I thought Triathlons were Ironman Races and that was that. 

The gym was hosting a 60-minute Indoor Tri. It was a 10 minute swim followed by a 10 minute transition. Then there was a 30 minute bike ride followed by a 5 minute transition. Ending was a 20 minute run. 60 Minutes. Well that's a nice thought, but why. Seriously, why? 

Commitment Day 5k, 2015

The day had come. January 01, 2015. The Commitment Day 5k. Literal months of training. And the first race Will and I would complete together.

Oddly we didn't have snow, not bad for Chicagoland on New Year's Day. It was cold and it was windy. Most of all? I was giddy with excitement. I was standing with and going to race with people who also were Committing to another year of a healthy lifestyle and challenging themselves.

Will said we'd run at my pace, whatever I was comfortable with. I had my gloves on and was wearing a shirt that had thumb holes; this was purposeful. I didn't want to have access to look at my watch or my Garmin. I wanted to trust the pace I had worked so hard to get to, and if I didn't get there, then I'd learn. It was my first real race.

Hi, I'm Slow

As my weekly Tuesday night 5k training went on, I picked up pace. I was proud of myself. I did however know that the very kind gentleman, Ken, training me runs a 4:30 marathon pace. So I always had guilt and would internally apologize to him the entire run. I never externally apologized because he's the type of guy who could be surrounded by disaster and still find something great in it.

My last week of training was upon me, Will had to work so I was on my own. It was just going to be Ken and I. It was a pretty decent Chicagoland night and that brought more runners to our local club. So we broke off into groups. In my mind we were breaking off into "Everyone else" and then "Ken who is stuck with Lori". In reality we broke off into two groups "Long run" and "Longer run". Wait, I was with "Long run"?

Joining Ken and I was a gentleman named Frank. We stepped outside and discussed our route. Frank introduced himself. I said "Hi, I'm sorry I'll slow you down". Frank stopped me. He said "It doesn't matter, we just want to run" and Ken agreed. Remember, I told you Ken could be surrounded by disaster and still find something great in it.

And we were off.

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

We've all heard the phrase before "A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words" and to each of us it means something different.

For me, I have a photography background so I'm over analytical and look for things such as exposure, grain, "true blacks" and "true whites" in black and white photography. I look for and practice the rule of thirds. Having now just typed that out, I think I just realized why I am horrible at the 'selfie' as they call it. I digress.

Life With A Chef

I was roughly 153 pounds in July of 2012. I met my boyfriend in July of 2012. Coincidence? No, just facts.

My boyfriend was roughly 150 pounds in July of 2012 and when I started my journey in August of 2014 he was still roughly 150. I was no longer roughly 153 pounds. In fact, I was much closer to 177 pounds; I was 176.6.

What happened? Well a lot. Life happened. I changed jobs going from a pretty fast paced job, to a sedentary job. I moved, twice. Those events happened later on my road upward away from 153 pounds. What happened at the start? I met a Chef.

Spin Baby, Spin

Days after joining the gym, Will went to a Spin class. To be honest, I'm not sure what prompted him other than he owned a bike that I had actually never seen him ride in the two years we had been dating. After he went to the spin class he told me about the Crazy Woman teaching it and how he talked to her afterwards, introducing himself. I had seen spin classes portrayed in media, and even the day that I was given a tour of the gym the Cycle Studio was pointed out to me.

Even after hearing Will's review of the Spin class I still thought "I don't see the appeal, you go into a semi-dark room, peddle as someone is telling you what to do, you sweat, listen to loud music, and get nowhere." Well that thought was before I had my initial meeting with a trainer, and that trainer I mentioned before, Kristine? As the fates of the world would have it, she was the Crazy Woman teaching the spin class Will went to.

Working a Monday-Friday 8-5 job with nearly an hour commute each way made attending Spin Classes pretty difficult for me. I was fortunate to have a Friday off in October and went with Will to Kristine's Spin Class. It's biking. I own a bike. I used to bike. I'd bike 20+ miles on a trail before I started my work day. I could do this.

I couldn't do it.

T.E.A.M. Weight Loss

T.E.A.M. Training. Education. Accountability. Motivation. T.E.A.M.

I was surprisingly more nervous than I thought to join T.E.A.M. Weight Loss. I knew it was for the greater good. Actually, I knew I could only achieve greatness from it. That's not to say that fear doesn't override knowledge in everyday life. I knew that everyone else on the team was with the same goal: Losing Weight.